09:03 PM
12/21/24
12/21/24
August 29, 2012
Drop Shot Picks Up at U.S. Open: The drop shot, once regarded as desperate on hardcourts, has come back into vogue, reports USA Today. Roger Federer, who thought of it as "sort of a panic shot" in the past, is now using it to throw off heavy hitters standing at the backline. "I just realized it was very hard to hit through the guys time and time again, because they track down everything," he said. "Maybe by using the drop shot a bit more they have to play closer to the line; then it's easier to hit through them again."
I love how sports have this way of ebbing and flowing; similar to the NFL, which goes from pass-heavy to run-heavy and then back again. Jamie Moyer or Greg Maddux, in the age of brute sluggers, using the old-school art of pinpoint control to generate mishits.
Especially for someone like Federer who's going to slow down and isn't the hardest hitter to begin with, this is a tool that can help him maintain a competitive advantage over the heavy hitters as he ages.