Somdev Dev Varman ...

[munnabhai]

I think he can still work on his serve, but it would have to be over the off season. The news article earlier mentioned that he had some shoulder issue, he wouldn't have served 100 percent and wont work on that serve with a hurt shoulder. Its too risky, he might make the issue worse. For now he has to get by with his current serve. Hope he is alright.

[Peter]

But, aren't the commentators also hinting that he is not trying to use his serve at all, though.

The commentators (2 or 3 of them) were ambivalent in their support, and maybe leaned a bit towards Andy Murray. Also, they would just not stop blabbering during such an absorbing match. Streaming Yo Yo Ma would have been lovely

Am also starting to like the writing styles from India, England and Australia. Over in good old USA, it is mostly dumbed down and fed to the sheeple (see Reuters). Paranoia, political correctness & debt rule here.

[arjun2761]

.

But, aren't the commentators also hinting that he is not trying to use his serve at all, though. I mean, however well you serve, if you are hellbent on staying put where you are, and are of the mindset to keep sparring back a few times before entertaining any thought of taking charge, then you have already lost whatever serve advantage you could have had. I think this is the issue. I freuently find myself thinking, "heck that was a decent serve, and the return wasn't great, why don't you go for it right now". And I would find SKD go on with sending a loop back, and getting ready for a rally.

Jay

I'm not sure I saw any of that in the Murray match. Most of the time Murray had a pretty good return and Somdev had really no advantage of his serve.

Putting away the short balls was a big problem for him earlier as I recall he used to do exactly as you note in his match with Sweeting in Charlottsville a couple of years back. He has now improved this part of his game in taking advantage of shorter balls as well as in his volleys and also seems to have more of clue when he is pulled in by an opponent's drop shot. This is not a strong part of his game but is much improved from before. Perhaps, this is an area he can improve some more.

One area that he has really strengthened is his backhand. 3 years ago, I recall his backhand was significantly weaker than his forehand but now he seems to dictate/defend equally well from the backhand side as from the forehand side. Let's see how much he can improve from here on out. Top-50 certainly looks doable even with his current game but I think he will need to be more efficient and effective on his service games to go much higher.

[Varma]

...I'm not sure I saw any of that in the Murray match. Most of the time Murray had a pretty good return and Somdev had really no advantage of his serve.

Arjun,
You got to keep in mind that when it comes to return of serve, Murray is probably in the top-3 of the world. So I wouldn't judge Somdev's serve just from this match. If you go back and complie a list of things this forum has jotted down for him to improve when he started on tour 3 years ago, he is taking care of each of those...albeit at his own pace. But then again, the improvement he is showing in the ranking department is pretty steady and impressive. Without a doubt, Somdev is someone with a wise head above his shoulders and one who is very well aware of his strengths and limitations. Unlike Sania's case where most close followers (well, arm-chair critics ) would agree that she didn't persist in finding a good coach, it is very difficult to point fingers at Somdev and conveniently conclude that he is totally not taking care of certain aspect of his game. If you remember the discussions from his intial days on tour, service was one thing that we were least worried about. Even though it starts to come out as not so strong aspect of his game as he climbs up the ladder, I would still think he has decent enough serve (especially with his placement) to hang on to top-60.

- Varma

[jayakris]

I agree with both of you, Arjun and Varma. It may have been that against somebody who returns as strongly as Murray, may be he didn't have much of a chance to do anything else anyway. You simply need to have a very strong serve to really get yourself an advantage against such players. But I think Somdev can improve in doing it against quite a few of the top-75 players that he plays these days, if he mentally adjusts his view about what he can do with his serve.

Varma is absolutely spot on about Somdev improving on what he can do with the short balls. A while back I was not sure if he had anything with him, to take advantage of short balls. Now he does look to take advantage, though he still wastes some chances in matches. He will win a lot more matches, if he can win even 5 extra points that way (remember the simple thing that it is a 10 pt swing in point differential) .. Finding those 2 extra points and 3 extra points from some improvement or other, or from just mental adjustments, is the name of the game for him now - as you won't be seeing a drastic improvement on any specific big tools.

[v george]

But, aren't the commentators also hinting that he is not trying to use his serve at all, though.

The commentators (2 or 3 of them) were ambivalent in their support, and maybe leaned a bit towards Andy Murray. Also, they would just not stop blabbering during such an absorbing match. Streaming Yo Yo Ma would have been lovely

Am also starting to like the writing styles from India, England and Australia. Over in good old USA, it is mostly dumbed down and fed to the sheeple (see Reuters). Paranoia, political correctness & debt rule here.

It is so funny, Peter! This is a case where commentators do not understand or enjoy classical music of tennis.

[arjun2761]

...I'm not sure I saw any of that in the Murray match. Most of the time Murray had a pretty good return and Somdev had really no advantage of his serve.

You got to keep in mind that when it comes to return of serve, Murray is probably in the top-3 of the world. So I wouldn't judge Somdev's serve just from this match. If you go back and complie a list of things this forum has jotted down for him to improve when he started on tour 3 years ago, he is taking care of each of those...albeit at his own pace. But then again, the improvement he is showing in the ranking department is pretty steady and impressive. Without a doubt, Somdev is someone with a wise head above his shoulders and one who is very well aware of his strengths and limitations. Unlike Sania's case where most close followers (well, arm-chair critics ) would agree that she didn't persist in finding a good coach, it is very difficult to point fingers at Somdev and conveniently conclude that he is totally not taking care of certain aspect of his game. If you remember the discussions from his intial days on tour, service was one thing that we were least worried about. Even though it starts to come out as not so strong aspect of his game as he climbs up the ladder, I would still think he has decent enough serve (especially with his placement) to hang on to top-60.

I think most of this post is consistent with my views although it is written perhaps to disagree.

As far as judging Somdev's serve based on Andy Murray's returns are concerned, I have seen Somdev play around 10-12 times in the last couple of years either streamed or on TV and just about everyone tees off on his serve. I recall watching an unranked former college player who was teeing off on Somdev's serve in the first round of the C'Wealth games and he almost won the first set from Somdev before Somdev managed to pull through in that match.

[prassana]

Somdev's schedule after the US open???

[jaydeep]

Prassana, u can check that on his site which get updated regularly.

Sommy's schedule

After US Open he will be in action for Davis Cup tie in Japan.

US Open
Aug 29, '11 - Sep 11, '11New York, USA
Davis Cup
Sep 16, '11 - Sep 18, '11Tokyo, Japan
Izmir Challenger
Sep 19, '11 - Sep 25, '11Izmir, Turkey
Malaysian Open
Sep 26, '11 - Oct 02, '11Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Rakuten Japan Open Tennis
Oct 03, '11 - Oct 09, '11Tokyo, Japan

[prassana]

Thanks!!!

[cricketics]

Today I met Brian Boland, his coach from University of Virginia and he told me that Somdev is leaving for Tokyo soon.

[sameerph]

This is Somdev's updated schedule after davis cup-


Sep 19 Izmir challener,Turkey
Sep 26 Malaysian Open,Kuala Lumpur (ATP 250)
Oct 03 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis (ATP 500)
Oct 10 Week off or Shanhai ATP 1000 qualies
Oct.17 Stockholm open, Sweeden ( ATP 250)
Oct. 24 ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (ATP 250)

The entry lists for the weeks after this are not yet out. It will be intesting to see if he continues in Europe & play in higher level events in Basel /Paris where he may have to play qualies or takes more familiar route & plays challengers in USA (Charlottsville, Knoxville , Champaign).

He has 130 points to defend for the rest of the year ( 100 of which are next week itself at Izmir challenger which he won last year.) He needs to do well & reach at least SF or so next week. Than, he will need to go real deep in one or two of ATP events in the balance of the year if wants to end the year in top 60 or even better.

[bujilover]

He is also in the doubles main draw entry list of Malaysian ATP with Treat Huey.Lets make some merry Buji.

[munnabhai]

Somdev isn't playing in the Izmir challenger. Is he playing else where? Or is he taking a rest to take care of that shoulder?

[sameerph]

Somdev isn't playing in the Izmir challenger. Is he playing else where? Or is he taking a rest to take care of that shoulder?

It seems he pulled out at the last moment. He cannot play anywhere else as he was in the original entry list. It must be due to injury. In that case, it is hard to see him play tomorrow.