By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Lindsay Davenport gave out some great advice for competitive tennis players while commentating the third round match between Ons Jabeur and Clara Tauson on Tennis Channel from Roland Garros.
Practice retrieving drop shots.
“That is something that should be practiced more,” said Davenport. “They don’t do it enough…what to do when they get drop shotted. Very rarely do you see a practice where a player is drop shotted and they have to play that shot. Tauson is just not sure what to do with some of those. If you’re going to win tournaments, you’re going to have to come up against someone that might use that, like Ons.”
Davenport continued, “And it’s not even just getting there (to the drop shot). So then what do you do when you do get there? What grip do you have? What’s your mentality? So many players run with the slice grip then they are stuck when they get up there If they get up there in time, they have the wrong grip.”
Davenport is not only a former Wimbledon, U.S. and Australian Open winner, an Olympic gold medalist and an inductee into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, but a certified Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) coach and the new captain of the U.S. Billie Jean King Cup team. Probably her most cherished coaching job, however, might be to her son Jagger Leach, competing in the French Open junior championships and a commit to play college tennis for Texas Christian University.
Davenport’ television booth partner Brett Haber then relayed that 2022 U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev, who has a penchant for playing way back behind the baseline and more susceptible to drop shots, told Jim Courier in a post-match on court interview at the Australian Open that he actually does practice running up to retrieve drop shots.
“The only player I’ve heard recently talk about practicing what to do when they’re drop shotted is Daniil Medvedev,” said Haber. “He told Jim in Australia during that great conversation they had on court that they spent practice time because he plays so deep in the court to return. That he spent chunks of his practice time working on the sprint up to the net.”
Haber pointed out in the first game of the Jabeur vs. Tauson match that they should have a drop-shot meter to count the number of drop shots that Jabeur would hit. Davenport pointed out that Tauson was known for her hard ball-striking, but that she was not as adapt with her movement, especially on clay courts. To boot, as a young player, Davenport said players like Tauson may not be used to the variety of shots that a player like Jabeur hits, whether it be slices, drop shots or other speed and arc of shot.
Jabeur, who is coached by PTR coach Issam Jellali, defeated the 21-year-old Tauson 6-4, 6-4.
