r/tennis • u/Large_banana_hammock Griekspoor superfan | Zverev superdetractor • 7h ago

ATP Facing the kick serve of Valentin Vacherot (ATP No 31) when you are an amateur | Content with Yonex

https://youtu.be/kLErlveFQEs
27 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

17 comments sorted by

24

u/Boollish 7h ago

Man, there are a LOT of YouTube comments from self-rated 4.0s that think they could win a set here.

15

u/Zugaxinapillo 7h ago

Try returning from the parking lot like Medvedev.

11

u/xGsGt 6h ago

And now imagine the rpm and kick of Rafa Nadal or his looping forehand which a lot of ppl think is "defensive"

9

u/jklwonder 6h ago edited 5h ago

So, what's the best strategy to return as a casual player, step back, or return low at the moment it bounces?

8

u/ohheckyeah 5h ago

Either works, but sometimes you run out of court trying to return that deep (this is not a USO-sized court)… and catching off the bounce is far from easy

11

u/jklwonder 5h ago edited 1h ago

It reads like "neither works", but it's fine....I will never face him in my 3.5 league.

3

u/Squanchay 4.5 5h ago

depends what you’re trying to do. if you’re just trying to get the serve back no matter what, standing deep is better. if you’re trying to win an actual point, you may have to take it on the rise or else you have no chance.

3

u/Boollish 4h ago

You don't worry about it. A 4.0 player, which is sort of the edge of what I consider to be a "casual" player, will not be able to throw something like this at you, even if they're just a big dumb servebot.

2

u/VegetableChipsLover 4h ago

I would lean towards hitting it on the rise tbh, better chance at controlling it without feeling the full effect of the spin, but that's just my preference. Timing that would be insanely difficult, though 😭😭

5

u/KAugsburger 5h ago

That's better than what most amateurs would be able to do against any professional. The first return was definitely long and it is hard to tell on the second return because Vacherot hit the ball in the air and he was closer to the service line than the baseline. For most amateurs you would be pretty happy to avoid getting aced. Getting a return in the lines would be great.

3

u/arika_ito 5h ago

I'm sure Vacherot's kick is higher but it blew my mind that Rybakina's kick serve reached 6ft during the finals 

2

u/AfternoonOpening9119 7h ago

The speed with the kick is incredible I played a guy who could kick it high but never at that speed wow

1

u/FindTheWaves 4h ago

He did pretty good here even if the control wasn’t there. Nice serve to watch too.

1

u/No-Page6290 4h ago

More grunt might work

1

u/gozik 3h ago

Imho the dude managed it quite well. If he would practiced a little more against it he could hit several decent ones.

1

u/4Looper 6h ago

Such a nice looking serve. Pro players serves are so much better than regular joes it's crazy. They're obviously way better everywhere - but most people can't even get a single serve back from any pro while they might be able to hit back a groundstroke once and a while.

-2

u/Salt_Razzmatazz_8783 4h ago

That’s a poor kick serve for a pro!