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6 comments:
not exactly the same, with the sabr the charge begins during the opponent's service motion. but it has around for many years, just not seen recently (or nearly as gracefully).
Fair enough.
I still say it's semantics -- and annoying ones at that. Martina pounced on weak second serves as they were happening and Seles stood way inside the baseline and tee'd off in a similar fashion.
johnny mac feels a similar annoyance, but i see it as a move away from the accepted defense posture of receiving a serve - a strong offense, exploiting the weakness of your opponent's second serve. there's a solution - if the opponent's second serve is routinely strong, there's no way the sabr would be successful.
i would like to see more players use it (like stanimal returning the favor in his match against federer!).
Did you see him last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert? It was brief but funny.
Maybe he gets no respect because he's a phony prick?
The greatest returners - Seles (the best), Davenport, Capriati, Hingis, Clijsters [current: Serena, Azarenka, Sharapova, Venus, Jankovic] - all stood/stand well inside the baseline to return, wait for the serve and then [perhaps] move even slightly further forward at actual point of contact.
I agree Federer is not the first to incorporate the "SABR" but there is a huge difference between standing well inside the baseline to return serve and rushing nearly inside the service box while your opponent is in the middle of their service motion, head up and blind to your movement.
I disagree that it's insulting - annoying perhaps - but not insulting as it's within the rules.
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