Name: Venus Williams
Country: USA
Birthdate: June 17, 1980
Birthplace: Lynwood, California, USA
Residence: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Highest Singles Ranking: 1 (February 25, 2002)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 5 (October 11, 1999)
Scouting: As we all know Venus is the older of the two Williams sisters. Venus has been one of the most influential female tennis players in history. Between Venus and her sister Serena they have made womens tennis a lot competitive and exciting.
Venus has a very solid all-round game. One of her key strengths is her movement around court. Venus is a very agile and fast mover around court and with a very potent forehand and backhand to match. Under pressure Venus tends to break down in two key areas, her second serve and forehand. Her backhand is very consistent and can also hurt you on short balls. Players need to look to take advantage of her second serve and move forward into the court. When playing big points from the back of the court make Venus hit as many forehands as possible and if coming to net on her forehand make sure you cover the line, because that is her favourite passing shot.
Name: Serena Williams
Country: USA
Birthdate: September 26, 1981
Birthplace: Saginaw, Michigan, USA
Residence: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Highest Singles Ranking: 1 (July 8, 2002)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 5 (October 11, 1999)
Website: www.serenawilliams.com
Winner US Open 2008
Scouting: Serena is one of the greatest women tennis players of all time. She has been at the peak of the sport for nearly a decade. Between Serena and her sister Venus they have nearly completely changed womens tennis for the better. Womens tennis is a lot stronger, faster and more exciting since they came on to the scene.
Serena has a very powerful all-round game which consists of strong ground strokes mixed with a powerful serve. Her serve is very compact and tends not to break down. Both forehand and backhands are equally powerful and dangerous. Serena is quite good at moving forward into the court but still doesn’t have the volleys to play a lot from the net. This is really the key weakness in her game. However, that being said she is very hungry to win, but some days in lower level tournaments she just doesn’t come out to play and tend to slip. When it comes Grand Slam time however wait to see her in the closing rounds.
Name: Roger Federer
Country: Switzerland
Birthdate: 8-Aug-81
Birthplace: Basel, Switzerland
Residence: Oberwil, Switzerland
Plays: Right Handed
Highest Singles Ranking: 1 (2-Feb-04)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 24 (9-Jun-03)
Website: www.rogerfederer.com
Scouting: Roger is of course one of the greatest players of all time. Roger is 5 times champion at Wimbledon and has also won the US Open and Australian Open. Thus, the French Open is the only Grand Slam to aloud this great champion.
Roger has one of the best all-round games on the tour. He has a big serve especially when it comes to big moments in the match. His movement is so fluid and has great anticipation, plus he also likes to mix up with a few serve and volley points from time to time (normally once a game and when he is leading in the game). His forehand is his stronger side and also makes the big shot with this stroke. If he does have a slight weakness is his backhand and his inability to make this shot when being rushed. If a player can stay in the ralley long enough you need to continue to work over his backhand and then try to push forward when possible and make him his a rushed passing shot.
Name: Ernests Gulbis
Country: Latvia
Birthdate: 30-Aug-88
Birthplace: Riga, Latvia
Residence: Jurmala, Latvia
Plays: Right Handed
Highest Singles Ranking: 46 (8-Oct-07)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 160 (25-Jun-07)
Scouting: Gulbis is one of the players on the rise in a fast way. I saw Earnests play juniors a few years ago and he is a big fella with an even bigger serve. His main weapon has to be his serve but the remainder of his game is also improving, this is the key reason why his ranking is also on the continuous rise. I predict Ernests to be in the top 20 by the end of the Australian Open next year.
As I mentioned Ernests has a very big serve and he likes to follow it into the net as much as possible. Currently, you need to stay on top of your returns and really trying to get some penetration on his second serves. Ernests also has quite a big forehand that he likes to really go after and hit, so you would need to really focus on his backhand side and just play consistent from the back of the court and you should have a good chance. All this is easy to say when you have a 200km serve coming down at you consistently, but in this case it is really not about the pace, but more about the height he gets on his serves. Because Ernests come down from a fair height when the ball bounces down the other end you will always seem to be hitting returns from over your head.
Name: Raphael Nadal
Country: Spain
Birthplace: Manacor, Mallorca
Residence: Manacor, Mallorca
Plays: Left Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Highest Singles Ranking: 2 (25-Jul-05)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 26 (8-Aug-05)
Scouting: Everyone knows who Raphael Nadal is. He is the current 4 times champion of the French Open, but not only is he dominant on his favourite surface clay, but his game is improving every year on all of the other surfaces. This is currently being shown when he has already reached the Wimbledon final twice.
What most people dont know is that Rafa used to play double handed on both sides so normally most players try to attack his backhand, but this is a lot more consistent that his forehand. Rafa likes to play at a consistent depth on the baseline so movement within your ground shots is vital. Plus you would really need to serve well because his return of serve is so important to his game. When playing Nadal the only chance you have is to keep points very short, try to hit one big shot in each rally and of course you must capitalise on it. Mixing up length of shots is important and also trying to bring him to net whenever possible. Rafa is one of the greatest clay court players I have seen in a long time, but his game on other surfaces can break be broken down, but definitely not easily.
