Play With Margin
Both women love to step into the ball and drive it through the court. It’s not as readily apparent when watching them play on a screen, but at court level you can see their shots don’t have a great deal of shape or net clearance. On this day, Pegula was getting the better of the exchanges, hitting cleaner and more consistently.
“Pegula is a pure ball striker,” says Mark Kovacs, a high-performance coach who has worked with numerous Tour players. “Her movement and timing are so finely tuned that her contact points on both the forehand and backhand rank among the most consistent on the WTA Tour.”
Krejcikova was -10 in winners to errors. Moreover, she didn’t look in control of her instrument all match long. Even for instinctively offensive players, you still need to be able to go conservative when things aren’t working. Lower the aggression, put a little more spin and height on the ball and aim for bigger targets. If things start clicking and the scoreboard follows suit, then you can open the shoulders again.
Control the Toss
Krejcikova had a tough serving day. She connected on only 42% of her first serves, and tossed in seven double faults. In the second set she gave herself a Bronx cheer, raising her arms to her box after connecting on a first serve following numerous consecutive misses.
Even pros can struggle with the fundamentals. On her first serve, Krejcikova’s toss would sometimes drift too much directly over her head. This would leave her flat-footed without much forward momentum. She occasionally got away with it, but often missed her mark. When she managed to put the ball farther in front of her body, her serves had better pace and consistency.
