Thread_of_Order @ThreadOrder

Alcaraz came out firing the forehand at 88mph through the first 5 games but then changed tempo, creating more angles, heights, slower balls, and was averaging 76mph in set 2. Lehecka loves hip-height power tennis through the middle, so this was a great adjustment from Carlos. Days courtesy of TennisViz and Courtside Advantage

This was arguably the most influential point of the match, a break point De Minaur created and dominated until the last shot in set 1. And it shows an interesting example of technique informing strategy at the top of the men's tour. De Minaur's quite uncommon eastern-leaning forehand grip and technique means it is much easier for him to hit inside-out rather than inside-in forehands from both central positions and his backhand corner. This means that he often ends up being predictable when he has these opportunities, which he has twice in this break point. Watch Djokovic really carefully when De Minaur has those forehands lined up (I've slowed down the 2nd one below to make this more clear). You'll see Novak split step and start moving to his backhand corner well before De Minaur makes contact. Now Novak also happens to be one of the best predictors of opponent shot direction of all time, but De Minaur also happens to be the most predictable elite player in this scenario (70% of these forehands go inside-out). Djokovic still had to make an extraordinary backhand pass to finish it off but getting in position to play the shot in the first place is probably the most interesting part of the point

keyboard_arrow_left Previous keyboard_arrow_right Next

José Morgado @josemorgado

4 days ago

Novak Djokovic is playing like this at 39 years old. Out of this world.

48 361 5K 158K 173

Zverev now 0-7 against Sincaraz and Djoker in 2026. Still only 2 top 10 wins

@joelmyerstennis Probably just a result of a hugely choked up grip needing more swing speed. You see longer backhand swings/open faces on transition/first volleys or when taking slower balls and wanting to add power to the shot. That supination is helpful

If we go through all the team pics the A.I. generated racquets are really something for gear freaks. This is like a blow-up balloon version of a babolat PD

Rafa Nadal Academy @rnadalacademy

2 weeks ago

And the final member of TEAM RAFA is… CARLOS MOYÁ! 🎾💙 Former World No. 1, fellow Mallorcan and a key part of Rafa’s team. Both teams are now complete! 👀 🔥 See you Saturday! #rafanadalacademyslam rafanadalacademy.com/noticias/jugad…

20 91 1K 132K 10

Alcaraz debuted some serve technique tweaks at Laver Cup. I tried to unpack them below. Short version is that he managed to lower the toss and speed up the motion without sacrificing the length of his swingpath. Also revamped preparation for reasons less clear. (VIDEO⬇️)

Pre-China tuneup 💪

Things like spin rates and groundstroke speed often get shown on broadcast but they're pretty incomplete in isolation. But if you capture each stage of a groundstroke you start to get a much fuller picture of the shot and the differences. For e.g it'll probably surprise people that Medvedev, one of the flatter forehand hitters, has the highest avg forehand net clearance of the Top 10. But he makes contact from further back, hits the ball more slowly than his peers, and yet still lands his shots pretty deep (reduced magnus effect forcing ball down compared to higher-spin peers). It's a pretty distinct shot shape to most of the rest of the top 10 and it's also a good example of how different contact inputs (contact point, speed, spin) can affect the outputs (net clearance and depth)

Incredible stat: In the history of the ATP rankings, no man has won multiple Grand Slams in a season without recording at least EIGHT top 10 wins during that year Alexander Zverev currently has TWO top 10 wins in 2026

The camera panning from the clock at 0:07 to Pierce Brosnan. Absolute cinema.

@LukeStarick To me that’s just part of the skill of being a good server. Low toss gets rewarded in these instances, and the best servers tend to have a low toss

There’s clearly a lot that can be done with shot clock stuff around the serve. 1). Only one toss allowed. Part of the serve skill 2) shot clock between 1st and 2nd serve. 3) shot clock shortened for an ace or unreturned serve. Some players get along pretty quick (Kyrgios, Alcaraz, Medvedev) showing that you can, in fact, play well without 20 ball bounces and 25 seconds every point.

Swish 🍒 Tennis @Zwxsh

4 weeks ago

Toni Nadal on the grand slam format: "It could be played to four sets, and in case of a 2-2 tie, play a super tiebreak instead of the fifth. "[Or] golden point after deuce, or a shot clock between the first and second serve." What do you think of his ideas? [El Pais]

29 0 41 51K 5

Massive tennis ball rant incoming. After playing Washington, Cincinnati, and the US Open, plus a full week of training in New York beforehand, I got a VERY good feel for the Wilson US Open balls we were using and know EXACTLY what they should feel like off my racket. They were good balls, and I have no complaints about what we played with at those tournaments this summer. But since coming home, my last two days of practice with Wilson US Open balls have been miserable. They are sold, marketed, and labeled as the same balls, but the way they come off my racket and feel couldn’t be more different. After that many weeks using the tournament balls, I know exactly how they respond. The balls I’m practicing with feel like literal green-dot kids’ balls: incredibly soft, dead, and going nowhere. I’m playing on a court with a similar speed to the courts at the Open as well just to be clear. I’ve tried balls from multiple cases to rule out a bad batch, and unfortunately, it’s been the same across the board. Other players I’ve spoken to since the Open have described the same thing. The amount of effort I have to use to just produce a regular rally ball with these balls is insane. I’m having to throw my whole body into shots and swing out of my shoes just to produce a solid rally ball. Beyond being frustrating, it feels like it’s creating bad habits (I would never swing this aggressively normally or else I’d sent balls to the back fence or mistime every other shot) I’m having to adjust the way I hit just to compensate for a ball that behaves nothing like the one we use in competition. That leads to the obvious the bigger issue and the reason for the rant: we need to be able to train with the same balls we compete with, and in the past I feel like this wasn’t usually an issue. It didn’t used to feel this way. There was consistency, and any small differences could usually be explained by the court or conditions. Over the last year and a half, though, I’ve noticed such a significant difference between retail balls from both Wilson and Dunlop and their tournament equivalents, which are supposed to be identical, that it completely changes how you want to construct points and take risks on shots and just play points in general. I’m not exaggerating it really is making that big of a difference at the pro level. The only positive I can take out of playing with these balls the last couple days is that it takes such more extra effort in every shot i hit at least it has been good cardio consistently having to swing so hard all the time 😂 It’s disappointing that this has started to feel normal. Training is a lot less enjoyable, and a lot less productive, when you’re spending it practicing with balls that are so different from what you’ll use when it matters. Okay, rant over. Everyone go enjoy watching the rest of the Open :)

Tennis twitter: what's the best ball machine?

At 7-5, 6-3, 5-3... Michelsen was 4 points away from winning the match and Tiafoe was a minimum 64 points away Tiafoe won the match There is no sport like tennis

C. S. Lewis, quit worrying and go do something real

He visto el último set del Alcaraz-Shelton y lo que más me impresiona no es que un tío que se ha pegado 4 meses sin jugar un partido llegue en su primer torneo a cuartos del US Open, se vaya al supertiebreak tras ir 2-1 abajo en sets y llegue a estar minibreak arriba. Lo que más me impresiona es que después de todo eso acaba perdiendo y el tío sale con una sonrisa de oreja a oreja. Es que ves la imagen sin contexto y piensas que ha ganado. Hay que tener una cabeza privilegiada para eso. Y haber echado mucho de menos el tenis, claro. Aunque menos de lo que el tenis le ha echado de menos a él 🥚🥚

Maybe in winter, but highly doubt they would train on indoor hard the other 7-8 months of the year, especially if most tournaments in summer are on outdoor clay/hard. He started going to Tennis San Giorgio in the early days (mostly clay), and he moved to Piatti at 13, which has year-round clay courts as well.

Daniil Medvedev will be the oldest player in the Top 10 when new ATP rankings are published on September 14th. At 30 years and 7 months old he will be the *youngest* oldest player in the ATP Top 10 since early March 2012 (Federer).