Complaints about service

Several months ago, I wrote that perhaps I should change the name of this blog to "Women Who Can't Serve." The poor serving and double-faulting on the women's tour has has not stopped, and yesterday, the New York Times featured an article about it. Obviously, when otherwise good players--and good servers--like Sabine Lisicki, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, and Dinara Safina--repeatedly double-fault, the problem is psychological. (Sharapova, perhaps, can be cut a bit of slack because she has changed her service motion.)

One of the U.S. television commentators--I forget who--recently asked "Why now?" Why are players on the tour having so many service problems at this time? It's a good question, and one that deserves discussion. Throughout tennis generations, good players have suffered with service problems--one might painfully recall Gabriela Sabatini--but not in such great numbers and in such great proportions.

I read somewhere the other day that the service coach may be the next specialist in tennis. But would having a service coach solve the psychological problem? Elena Dementieva, who is now serving well most of the time, is an example of just how little the technical aspect may be involved in improving the serve of a top player: When she was having so much trouble, everyone who saw her serve in practice said that her serves were excellent. It was when she actually played in a match that she was unable to execute her serve.

The one top player I can think of whose service problems appeared to be more technical than psychological is Jelena Jankovic. Her serve began to improve a bit in the spring of 2008, and now, it is good enough to get her more points than ever. It is not one of the great serves on the tour, but the improvement is significant.

Billie Jean Kings says it's a mystery to her: "Throw the ball up and hit it," is her answer. Sounds easy, but the errant ball toss to which she refers is not really an arm or shoulder problem, except maybe in the case of Sharapova. It is a head problem, just as failure to close a set or a match (I'm thinking of the world number 1 here) is a head problem. I remain strong in my belief that a few sessions with a good hypnotherapist would do wonders for players like Safina and Ivanovic, but alas--their teams have not consulted one.