The Most Underrated Aspects of a Champion Part 1: The Transition Game

In conjunction with my fantasy tennis series, I am now introducing a second series involving what I feel are the most underrated aspects in cultivating a champion on the tennis court.

This series will invariably discuss the most unique and distinct elements needed to create a winner.   But these elements will be the ones that are not commonly talked about around the table at your local club.

So for part one, let's get going with one aspect of the game that is often blurred over by players at all levels: The Transition Game.

In my estimation, the one aspect of Andy Roddick’s game that prevented him from achieving his desired success is his transition game.   Roddick’s lack of ability to effectively progress from the baseline to the net has caused much havoc for the American in key matches, specifically against Roger Federer.   Roddick’s approach shots are neither well placed nor contain adequate depth, thus providing his opponents ample opportunity to set up for a highly functioning passing shot.  

Now, let's compare Roddick to Rafael Nadal.  Nadal arguably possesses the most deft hands on tour.  The Spaniard combines precision, touch and variety in crafting some of the most highly technical volleys on tour.    Nadal has made serious inroads at Indian Wells with partner Marc Lopez.  To put it simply, while a majority of points clearly won’t be ending with a fantastic “droppa” as Brad Gilbert would put it, being able to close points off at the net will definitely take a player’s game to the next level. 

It adds a degree of variety and provides players with a mechanism by which to effectively hone and integrate an aggressive style of play.  In supplement, it gives you one additional way by which you can close out points and, thus adds another method of attack that your opponent must guard against.

In the modern era of tennis, unless you possess absolutely supreme skills from the baseline ala Del Potro and Tsonga not being able to transition forwards with consistently positive results will leave you in an extremely vulnerable position as is to say you will be forced to grind it out with some of the biggest hitters in the game.   

The quintessential example of an underrated transition game that has proven to be absolutely brilliant is that of David Nalbandian.  Nalbandian's baseline game is extremely offensive minded, smooth and reliable.  Even though Nalbandian's ground strokes are undoubtedly precise and accurate, he must integrate variety and depth to compensate for a relative lack of power.  But Nalbandian also must look to approach the net which he does as well as anyone else on the tour.  

Nalbandian effectively approaches the net and when he gets there, is almost flawless.  Having watched endless quantities of matches over the last several years, I can say without hesitation, that David Nalbandian is without question the most impressive and consistent from the net out of all the singles players on the ATP tour.   

Tennis is like chess and if a player is able to maximize the resources they are given including court positioning, short balls and weak replies, not only will their ability to think on the court on a distinctly higher level increase exponentially, they will infinitely improve their chances of winning.