Commentary

Mark Philippoussis - A Critique

by Jim McLennan

Mark Philippoussis successfully defended his Sybase Open title on February 13, with a three set victory over Mickael Tillstrom. Philippoussis punctuated the match, as well as the tournament with a 137 mile ace on championship point. He has assembled quite a game, and appears poised to crack the top ten if not higher.

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Backhand - versatile and well struck
He has a powerful and relatively simple topspin drive he can dip or rip at will and his underspin backhand is one of the best on the circuit, not unlike that of the legendary Ken Rosewall. Philippoussis hits it with a firm wrist, driving the racquet action sharply through the ball. I wonder why more of the pros (Chang, Courier) don’t learn this type of hit.
Forehand - huge, massive power, great big windups, cunning crosscourt placements on the run. This is a major weapon off the ground.
Serve - 137 miles per hour, but curiously not as high a percentage of points won when the first serve is in play as Sampras and I think there is a reason for this.
Volley - didn’t see much at the net, unfortunate for someone so quick and with such a huge serve.
Approaches - often over hit, reluctant to close as tight as Edberg would have, and when closing that tight can you really imagine lobbing this big guy.
Movement - agile and quick for a big man, covers a lot of court, not exactly nimble when changing directions at the net, but this is not a liability when backed up with the power game.
Strategy and tactics - all about time and angle. Play the ball harder or sooner and you rob the opponent of time, move inside the baseline and the available angle of play increases, retreat behind the baseline and the available angle of play decreases.

Phil has a real chink in the armor here. He plays well behind the baseline, and varies his play between crosscourt and down the line, without any discernible pattern. Some of his biggest forehand drives were played 10 feet behind the baseline, when the available hitting angle was smallest. He varied his returns between crosscourt and down the line, but I never could tell when or why.

Great big windup, huge, massive power - this is a major weapon.

Taking a page from Tom Stow (Larry Stefanki who coaches Kafelnikov was trained by Stow, Scott McCain USTA player development was trained by Bill Crosby a Stow protégé) the return should be driven crosscourt to get into the point, and driven down the line when coming in behind the return.

Tillstrom has an attackable second serve (and I can readily imagine Sampras or Agassi standing well inside the baseline, Sampras approaching, Agassi ripping) yet Philippoussis rarely assembled an offensive shot sequence.

Pressure on the second serve places pressure on the opponents disposition when serving. When under pressure, things crack. Presently Phil has a long way to go here.

From where I sit, Philippoussis has a run at the absolute top of men's tennis when he learns the nuances of playing the ball earlier, and constructing points from inside the baseline. Presently, he gives up far too much ground (and sacrifices hitting angle) and appears to hit the ball rather than play the game. Summarizing his play during the week, he acknowledged “getting through” in his first match. Absent an attacking game, which is far different than having big shots, he will have to rely on getting through rather than getting over.

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