Taylor Fritz Answers Tennis Questions

I'm Taylor Fritz.

I'm here today to answer your questions from the internet.

This is Tennis Support.

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TTMEF says, Has anything significantly changed about

how tennis is played over the last 10 to 15 years?

I've had this talk with some other players.

I feel like people mix up their second serves

substantially more than they used to,

and I think the reason for that is the balls.

The ball that we use predominantly,

it just doesn't bounce as high

as a lot of other balls that we use

and that we used to use more often.

So for me, I think when the balls really jumped more

and kicked more, you were seeing most people,

I kind of feel like they just threw in kick second serves

and that was kind of the go-to.

I feel like it's changed a lot.

People mix up the location, the spin a lot more.

And I've been saying that for a while,

and I kind of recently kind of put it together

that I think it's the balls that are influencing that

because you just don't get the same out of a kick serve

with the balls that we play with now.

It's a, you know, a harder ball, more pressurized.

If you bounce a basketball that's full of air,

it's gonna bounce higher than one that's not as blown up.

So I think the balls nowadays that we play with more often,

they're just a bit softer,

which it feels great off your racket when you're hitting,

'cause it kind of, it sticks on your strings

a bit longer that softness.

It makes the ball a bit easier to control.

But it also makes everything a lot slower.

It's not gonna bounce off the court as much.

I mean, I can talk about how people are constantly

complaining about how the game is a lot slower,

the courts are slower.

All the statistics say

that the court speeds haven't changed.

I agree, the court speeds probably haven't changed,

the balls are just substantially slower

than when I started playing.

ExtraordinaryAttyWho asking,

Does grunting make you hit better?

Probably not, but it's like,

almost like you get into like a rhythm,

and so you're just like exhaling.

Some people it helps.

Realistically, probably not.

From SpacAndMorty,

What's your best serve improvement tip?

I've got lots, but for me,

the serve is a lot of different things

working together at the same time.

And I think the keys to that are

have good balance, keep your weight back in the beginning.

You know, I think a serve should be very slow.

Everything should be slow

up until that moment when you're about to hit it,

that's when everything kind of speeds up.

Think of a serve like an archer pulling a bow back.

This is something my dad told me a lot growing up.

You're slow, slow, slow, slow,

until it's time to hit it

and then that's the release.

Austin_Aaron_Conlon asks,

Is Nadal-Djokovic the most competitive rivalry

in tennis history?

I think Nadal-Federer is, to be honest,

but when you word it like most competitive,

to be honest, I don't know.

If you look at the numbers

and the stats, it might be.

Ben5544477.

I don't understand why there's big

momentum shifts in tennis matches sometimes.

Confidence is such an under looked factor in tennis,

not just in matches but just in careers as well.

So I'd say that's a big reason for the momentum shifts.

One person plays a couple good points,

hits some good shots,

they're gonna feel like they can go after that more.

They feel good about doing it.

Whereas, you know, a player that's maybe been playing well,

they've been playing aggressive,

they've been making these aggressive shots,

they start missing some, giving some free points away.

Now maybe they're gonna hold back a little bit.

It's easy for things to switch,

and some people especially

are just such strong front runners,

like they'll play so much better

if they just have a bit of a lead.

They'll just kind of run away with a match.

Revolutionary-Wall42 asks,

Do lefties have an advantage?

The short answer would be yes

because when you think about it,

tennis is very much a game of rhythm and feel,

and throughout the course of your life playing tennis,

you will be playing upwards of 80% righties,

so you're gonna be much more versed

in hitting off of a righty ball.

Lefties just have the advantage

of people aren't as practiced playing against them.

Reddit user asked,

What to do when someone is constantly lobbing?

That is very annoying.

It still annoys me today.

It annoyed me a lot when I was 10 or 12 years old.

When I was 10 or 12 years old, I just lobbed back

and said, I'm gonna do it better than you.

I would say really try to develop a high flat forehand.

If they lob it up, go catch it on the rise

as it's coming up, step up,

just get that [beep] outta here

and they won't do it again.

Or you can lob back,

and then when they go to lob, run in the net.

The worst thing you can probably do

is if you don't feel comfortable lobbing yourself

is let it bounce, go all the way back,

let it come up, let it come down.

Just take it on the rise and just crank that ball.

BoringBoo asks, What's tennis elbow feel like?

I think I might have it, that or fiddler's elbow.

What's the difference?

What's funny is tennis elbow

is not even like really caused from playing tennis.

I feel like people get tennis elbow from like golfing.

A Reddit user asked, Is more spin always better?

No. The short answer is no.

A lot of times you're gonna play in situations

where to finish a point, you want to drive the ball flat

and through the court because if you get balls

that are pretty worn out and you spin it,

it's kind of just gonna hit the court

and just sit up and just bounce there,

and it's not gonna really go through the court.

If you're playing someone who's a good mover,

they're gonna love it.

They're gonna get all these balls

if you're just over spinning.

So it's important to know

when it's a good time to lift and spin,

and when it's a good time to really line a ball out

and flatten it and hit it through the court.

OK-Drummer9073, Has a tennis player

arguing with an umpire over a decision

ever yielded any positive results?

Probably not.

I feel like once they make a bad call,

a call, even if it is a bad call,

it's gonna stand, you know.

I think we have some video review in place,

that's not arguing with the umpire, you know.

But arguing with the umpire

maybe lets you get some anger out

and lets them know that

you're not happy when they made a bad decision.

But nothing looks stupider

than when a player's arguing with the umpire

and they are completely wrong.

KappaBETTING says, Tips on reading opponent serves

and receiving them?

If you've looked at my return stats the last couple years,

then I would also need the answer to this.

But for me, the best thing is just pattern recognition.

Typically people are gonna want to go back to the spots,

the serve spots that they're having success with.

Over the course of playing someone,

you can probably get a feel

of where their favorite spot is,

where their least favorite spot is.

So in the moment of seeing their serve, maybe it's not easy,

but you can definitely make an educated guess

by just the patterns that they're looking to serve

and what they've had success with.

EnjoyMyDownvote says, What's your go-to strategy

when you're down 0-3 or 0-4 in a set?

0-3 and 0-4 are two very different things.

Lemme just first start saying that.

If you're 0-3 but serving, it's one break.

For me, one break, two breaks,

entirely different ball game.

To be honest with you, if I'm down 0-4,

I'm probably taking the L in the set,

and I'm going to try to figure out

what I need to do to win some games.

Or controversial take, lose the set 6-0,

because I have a theory

that when you lose a set 6-0 against someone

you're not supposed to lose 6-0 against,

you're gonna win the next set.

Like the person just, it kinda messes them up mentally.

Try it sometime.

o2000 asks, he doesn't ask actually.

He just says, My forehand has got worse. [laughs]

Dude, I'm sorry to hear that.

A big part of it is like my forehand,

anyone that knows tennis,

I have a bit of an unorthodox forehand,

but by no means is it a bad forehand, I make it work.

I think the fact that it was very just different

kind of made me wanna like change it,

make it look a little prettier.

I kind of thought it could get better,

so I kind of, I think in a way tinkered with it a bit,

and then just lost that feel of what made it so good.

And it took me a while,

but eventually I kind of just looked back,

and this is something you could do too.

You just, if you have video,

what were you doing when it was good?

And for me, yeah, it took me going back

and watching some old video,

and breaking down some things,

and then kind of just repetition,

just doing it over, over again in practice.

And you know, I feel like I kinda started to get it back,

I started to feel what works for me.

But it's easy to just kind of just lose the rhythm

and, you know, create some bad habits,

'cause the littlest thing can make a big difference.

HHRock, Why do tennis players

choose the tennis balls they will serve with?

Each ball as you're playing with it,

it gets more worn out.

I'm looking for the newest one,

the one that's got the least use on it

if I'm the server because the balls move faster

through the air, faster off the bounce

when they're newer.

When you look at these, they're all brand new.

I can tell they just came out of a can.

As they get play, you'll notice that

just the fuzz kind of comes up and out on the ball,

and then that just makes it substantially slower.

Conwild asks, What's the best string tension

for my tennis racket?

There's tons of different things that go into this,

and so I'll break it down for me.

I've got an 18 by 20 string pattern,

which is a more closed string pattern.

Not as popular nowadays on tour anyways.

Most people play 16x19, 16x18, 16x20,

a more open pattern.

What a more open pattern's gonna do for you

is gonna give you a bit more pop, a bit more spin.

I like the closed pattern

because it's easier to control a flat ball.

It's easier to kind of go after the ball a bit more,

which, you know, I like to do.

So I try to generate the power myself

and get the control outta my racket.

I string depending on the conditions as well.

I'd say I typically hover around 53 pounds on the main.

I go a little bit looser on my cross strings.

That is also pretty common if you play with mixed strings.

A lot of people will string the cross a little bit looser.

If you use an all poly racket, all the same string,

then it's more common just to go same tension throughout.

I'd say the more open string pattern,

you might want to go a little bit

more tighter to get control.

A more closed string pattern like mine,

you can maybe go a bit looser.

I'd say where I'm at is pretty in the middle.

You know, you just gotta feel it out.

If you feel like the ball's flying on you,

string it tighter.

If you feel like the ball is,

you're not getting enough spin,

it's not going, not getting any,

you know, pop off your racket, string it looser.

Ok-Many-7443 asks,

How easy is it for you to switch rackets?

If your friend gave you one,

how much would you underperform?

When I was a junior,

I was playing a very big tournament

in the lead up to French Open.

Very strong, everyone in the tournament

was top 100 in the world for 18 and unders.

I wasn't a favorite by any means.

I think I was ranked 60ish

in the world juniors at the time,

so I was very average level to be playing this tournament.

We're going to Belgium.

I left my racket bag on a train.

Happened very fast.

I noticed that I left it when I stepped out.

Doors were closing, gone.

It was gonna take a couple days

for me to get my exact racket there,

so I used at the time my girlfriend's racket

who was also playing the event,

and you couldn't get a more different racket.

Different strings 'cause I didn't even have my own string.

So different strings, different grip size,

different string pattern, different brand.

It was nowhere near my racket.

And I didn't even practice with it before the match.

I practiced with like one friend's racket one day, another.

And anyways, I took it out, played my first round.

So the only time in my entire life

I've golden setted someone, which is 24 straight points,

you win a set without losing a point.

This does not happen really ever in tennis,

and especially at a high level.

And the guy I was playing was, you know,

he was making jokes about it.

He is like, Wow, I've never thought

I'd play my whole life with a, you know,

not win a set, not win a point in a set.

And it was pretty funny after the match

when he heard from someone

that I wasn't even playing with my own racket.

But I guess the answer is no,

I don't think I'd underperform.

You know, I think potentially in a tight situation,

that's when the issues could come up

because you're playing with something

that you're not used to.

But you know, overall, for me,

I feel like I can kind of pick up any racket

and, you know, perform to close to same level.

Middle-Annual-8360 asks, How do you deal with pressure

and fear during a tennis match?

Sometimes you just feel that pressure and fear more,

and sometimes you don't.

But you can't be scared to lose the match.

That's when the fear and the pressure really sets in.

SpacAndMorty asks, Where do you serve?

High percentage versus more difficult to return.

For me, it's both.

I'm going for the lines, I'm always going for an ace,

and I'm trying to do it at a high percentage.

And at the end of the day,

if I'm serving above 65%, it's a great day for me

'cause the quality of those 65% serves that are going in

that I'm going for, I'm always going for aces.

Farhip asks, Can someone more versed in tennis

please explain the no coaching during matches rule?

Why?

Every sport allows coaching during games.

This must be an old question

because we now do allow coaching, which I hate.

Coaching is allowed in other sports,

which they're like, you know, team sports.

I think what makes tennis so special

is it's such an individual sport,

and not just the physical aspect

of you are playing another person.

There's also this mental battle going on

of having to figure things out on the court for yourself.

So I've always been a big advocate of no coaching

and, you know, I hope we go back to that at some point.

A Reddit user asks, Courts being slow or fast,

what does this mean?

I mean, this means different things to a lot of people.

On a very just basic note, some courts are a lot slower,

there's a lot more sand laid on it,

it's a lot rougher,

so the ball really sticks in the court

and just stops almost.

So it really slows down the court.

And then fast is like,

you ever go play at like a public park,

the courts haven't been resurfaced in 10 years.

You hit a ball, it just shoots through.

It's like it's a fast court.

The sand on the court's very worn down

and it'll shoot through.

All right, guys, that's all the questions.

Hope you learned something new today.

Until next time.

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