US Men's Clay Court Pics
It was a marvelous night at the Westside Tennis Club in Houston, Texas.
The weather was perfect. Mid 70 degrees, slight breeze and cloudless for the most part. The showdown was between the gun slinger, Texas born, hometown favourite Andy Roddick vs. the currently 5th ranked player in the world, Tommy Haas from Germany.
Andy Roddick put some muscle into good use, using his power serve to set the pace early in the game. Controling his serve but unable to break Tommy Haas' wonderful defence.
Andy Roddick's serve topped 140 mph at times, putting a lot of pressure on Tommy Haas. And took the first set 7-6 after cruising in the Tie-Break thanks largely to the serve.
But Tommy Haas is not ranked 5th in the world for nothing. He has a very well rounded game and it almost seems that he does not possessed a weakness. He served at about 115mph but with great location and unpredictibility. Going in the game, he seems to have a very good game plan. Attacking both corners at will and put a cross court drop to the forehand side of Roddick 10 times!! And won 9 out of 10 times he did his drop shots.
The the second set, he manage to break Andy Roddick's game and hold serve to won the set 6-4. Then in the third set, Andy Roddick looked out of gas (maybe he serve too hard) and his mediocre backhand top spin was the favourite target of Tommy Haas. Then when Tommy Haas was up 5-3... Haas delibrately took a rest to give Roddick a game by love. Conserving his energy for his serve at 5-4, and closing out the game with ease.
It was a great game to watch because both players played so hard and with quite a different style. Andy Roddick is a power serve, power forehand banger. Tommy Haas on the other hand is a ball placer, who make his opponent work hard and run like a rabbit all around the court.
Roddick could have use a better backhand to his overall game. His powerful serve would work well for him to be a serve and volleyer... but he is not. Tommy Hass does have a better defence, and better consistency. He does not have a killer finishing shot, but he does have a superior game plan (10 identical drops winning 9, was impressive).
***
Update on the new tennis racquet:
The O3 White is great to play with. I am still adjusting to the more powerful stick (my older tennis racquet are of the softer sorts), quite a few of over shot (constantly 6" or so), but the direction is right where I wanted it. I have to learn to put a little more spin on the ball or at times take a little off my swing.
The weather was perfect. Mid 70 degrees, slight breeze and cloudless for the most part. The showdown was between the gun slinger, Texas born, hometown favourite Andy Roddick vs. the currently 5th ranked player in the world, Tommy Haas from Germany.
Andy Roddick put some muscle into good use, using his power serve to set the pace early in the game. Controling his serve but unable to break Tommy Haas' wonderful defence.
Andy Roddick's serve topped 140 mph at times, putting a lot of pressure on Tommy Haas. And took the first set 7-6 after cruising in the Tie-Break thanks largely to the serve.
But Tommy Haas is not ranked 5th in the world for nothing. He has a very well rounded game and it almost seems that he does not possessed a weakness. He served at about 115mph but with great location and unpredictibility. Going in the game, he seems to have a very good game plan. Attacking both corners at will and put a cross court drop to the forehand side of Roddick 10 times!! And won 9 out of 10 times he did his drop shots.
The the second set, he manage to break Andy Roddick's game and hold serve to won the set 6-4. Then in the third set, Andy Roddick looked out of gas (maybe he serve too hard) and his mediocre backhand top spin was the favourite target of Tommy Haas. Then when Tommy Haas was up 5-3... Haas delibrately took a rest to give Roddick a game by love. Conserving his energy for his serve at 5-4, and closing out the game with ease.It was a great game to watch because both players played so hard and with quite a different style. Andy Roddick is a power serve, power forehand banger. Tommy Haas on the other hand is a ball placer, who make his opponent work hard and run like a rabbit all around the court.
Roddick could have use a better backhand to his overall game. His powerful serve would work well for him to be a serve and volleyer... but he is not. Tommy Hass does have a better defence, and better consistency. He does not have a killer finishing shot, but he does have a superior game plan (10 identical drops winning 9, was impressive).
***
Update on the new tennis racquet:
The O3 White is great to play with. I am still adjusting to the more powerful stick (my older tennis racquet are of the softer sorts), quite a few of over shot (constantly 6" or so), but the direction is right where I wanted it. I have to learn to put a little more spin on the ball or at times take a little off my swing.
posted by Soy Milk at 6:42 PM
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