There is no doubt who the two best tennis players in the world are and the fact that they dominate the sport is simple and that is because they’re masters of their craft with their amazing forehand and backhand. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are the type of player that don’t mess around and obviously cannot be taken lightly.
This year’s Australian open has had its speculation of upsets for the two top players. The likes of Ryan Harrison who had his shot with Novak Djokovic and Bernard Tomic who had his shot with Roger Federer. Both failed in their matches by not even winning a set.
Novak Djokovic kept pushing around Ryan Harrison. Ryan Harrison struggled to keep up with Djokovic’s forehand that basically kept Harrison on his heels. Djokovic kept pushing the envelope by sending his forehand returns all the way to the baseline which kept Harrison more on defense then on offense and this seemed to be a trend the entire match as Djokovic went on to stomp all over Harrison.
The same story was happening to Bernard Tomic, who had said that “[he] was playing his best tennis” and “this is the perfect time to play Federer”. Sadly, none of that really showed in the match besides in the second set. Roger Federer has a power punch with his ammunition of a forehand and backhand that he possesses and was clearly too much for the young Tomic.
How do you beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic?
Take the iniative and end the rally, it seemed that Ryan Harrison and Bernard Tomic were there to mess around and continue a rally, which is not necessary in any means. Why mess around with the two best players, when Harrison or Tomic could just end rally. Make them move around and strike and do not end up on the defensive side of any rally. That spells trouble and defeat. Harrison and Tomic should of pushed them to each side of the court and strike and take them out. If a player does exactly what Harrison and Tomic did and just keeps the rally going by sending their returns to the same exact spot that they just returned it to is insane because you have given Djokovic and Federer the power to control the point, which they will control it.
Here are ways to win, it might seem obvious, but for some reason no unranked player has shown me yet that they can beat them. For all unranked players taking on Djokovic or Federer:
1. Don’t mess around
2. Take initiative and end the rally
3. Do not keep rallying with them and hoping for an error
4. Move them around the court and then STRIKE
These are the methods to pull off an upset or even put up a good fight.
By: Richie Boswell
Rh Factor Sports Blog 