Garbine Mugurusa’s Wimbledon
Spain’s Garbine Mugurusa has reached the finals of the 2015 Wimbledon Ladies. With it, she joins four other Spaniards who have achieved this rare feat. Many will be able recall the famous of the four Aranxtz Sanches.
Mugurusa has achieved what Lucie Saforova achieved in the French-Open of this year, reaching a Grand-Slam finals’ for the first time. For many players and this could even include the top ten in the ranking, being in the draw in the second week of Wimbledon is a formidable challenge. Considering the toll the elites took in the first three rounds of this year’s Wimbledon, this is understandable. It is in this situation the young South American born 21 year old Spaniard Mugurusa has broken the crust that held her in the second rung of players for two years.
For players to get a berth in the draw of 128 is a life’s ambition. No player in the main draw is there by reputation but only on merit. It being so, there is no such thing as an easy match even in the early rounds of Wimbledon. The aura of Wimbledon and the hype kindles and pushes the performances of every player. It is especially so in the new comers and the players with a ‘knocking on the door’ lable.
The missing net game
Grass court Tennis is all about mastery of the net game. The uneven bounce on the grass makes the passing shot a difficult proposition. To convert this disadvantage into an advantage, the net game is the answer. In this Wimbledon the players who were using this ‘grass advantage’ to an effective level among men were Roger Federer and Canada’s Pospisil. Among the women no one used it as a basic tactic. The player who used it substantially is Mugurusa. She got on the average around 16 net points in every match throughout this Wimbledon.
Mugurusa is tall and that is not always an advantage. Being tall gives a good reach but also make reaction slow. I do not think she can do the serve and volley like Federer or any other women’s net player of the past effectively, yet. In her match against Poland’s Agnieska Radwanska especially in the third set, three things gave Mugurusa the match. First, her first serve which did not work in the second set, began to function again; then, her cross court return-of-serve started to land in the court as winners; and the third, she played very effectively at net.
Mugurusa’s adaptability
I cannot yet say that Mugurusa is a net player. In fact she is far from it but she was willing to be adventurous and change when she was losing. She had many critical situations and time and again throughout the tournament and it was the net game of hers that made her win the matches from the first round to the semi-finals. Fundamentally net play needs very quick sighting and reaction. When playing at net, a player gets only one third of the time of a ground stroke. What more, there is no such thing called a rally in net play. With any volley below the level of the net is very difficult to put away, the drop volley with the use of touch is a vital addition a player must have to play at net. One other stroke is an absolute necessity in the net game. That is a ‘cracking’ over head, which is a smash. It should not be returned by the opponent. In this year’s Wimbledon I may not be wrong to say that too many smashes were returned.
Future of Grass
The Wimbledon grass in the pre quarters is another story. The patches we see on the court gives nightmares to players when it comes to coordination and timing. Only consolation a player has is the knowledge that it is the same to the opponent as well. This is one reason why grass encourages the net game. This is not an issue to players and even if a player makes it to be one, there is nothing anybody could do to change it. The other factor of grass such as cost and labour will always make a question mark hang on the grass courts.
Count down for the crown
In the men’s side Djokovic and Federer have the best reaction level for grass. Andy Murray is also in peak and has the home crowd advantage and really wants to make grass court Tennis to be British dominated. It is said that Wimbledon has made a Scotsman to win the English heart. It is well known that Murray worked for Scottish separation in the recent referendum. On the other side of the draw, France’s veteran Richard Gasquet stunned the world beating much fancied Swiss Wawrinka on Wednesday. It was a memorable match where the final set went 11/9 and much will be said about this match in the weeks to come. Gasquet looks wells settled on grass and cannot be discounted for a berth in the finals.
Serena Williams has reached another Wimbledon finals dispatching Maria Sharapova in a brutal 6-2, 6-4 victory. Serena has no intention of letting this title slip by in favour of Mugurusa in the finals. I believe Serena has two targets – one to equal Steffi Graf’s feat in grand slam titles and of course the million pound sterling purse which is everyone’s target. However, Mugurusa is not the type who will hold back and she has nothing to lose. So the fight on Saturday should be a fitting finale of 2015 Wimbledon.
George Paldano, former international player; Accredited Coach of Germany, National coach, Davis Cup and Federation Cup Coach; ITF and USPTR;