A true legend of the game, Brad Gilbert knows a thing or two about adapting to new trends.

The American has been at the forefront of tennis for decades, picking up 20 ATP Tour titles as a player before coaching stars such as Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Andy Murray. With a long and diverse tennis journey, Gilbert has become a master at acknowledging the constant changes happening within the game.

Now having joined TopCourt, Gilbert shows fans his latest tips and drills, suitable for club players as well as aspiring pros, with the help of WTA star and fellow TopCourt coach Eugenie Bouchard. He also reveals how a split-second decision from his father shaped his tennis career, shares unheard stories from his time guiding ATP legend Agassi, and reveals how he boosted Roddick’s confidence playing on grass.

Technique: Gilbert encourages you to stay aggressive when moving forward to play the so-called ‘dunk volley.’ A short but intense move forward ending with a hard and short swing, it enables you to finish points with authority after executing a big play.

Drills: “Most pros hit anything between 60-70 per cent forehands,” says Gilbert. This is reflected in the American’s TopCourt class, in which he places an emphasis on efficiency of movement. With his six-ball “Find the Forehand” drill, Gilbert shows you how to raise your intensity as you run around your backhand to take control of the point with your forehand.

Follow Gilbert’s Tutorials at TopCourt.com.

Stefanos Tsitsipas’ passion and drive have made him one of the most feared competitors on the ATP Tour, yet the World No. 5 is also renowned for his relaxed off-court demeanour. This is clearly reflected in the 23-year-old’s Twitter feed, where he regularly shares a mixture of humorous, philosophical, and heart-warming messages.

“They are mostly meant to be fun,” Tsitsipas recently told ATPTour.com. “It’s like I have a wall and I write different things, and people can say their stuff. It’s just such a fun thing to do. I like the fact that I can look back to them in one or two years and I have a feed where I can preview all my past quotes and opinions I might have had. It kind of acts as a memoir.”

Tsitsipas has moved confidently to the third round this week at Wimbledon, where he faces Nick Kyrgios in a blockbuster third-round clash on Saturday. The Greek has won a Tour-leading 42 matches in 2022, and admitted his ability to keep calm under pressure has been a key factor in his success on Tour in general. This is a sentiment that was reflected when he tweeted out the message, “The quieter you become, the more you can actually hear.”

The quieter you become, the more you can actually hear.

— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) December 13, 2021

“I think sometimes you just need to… listen, absorb as much information as you can, and you can always just pick whatever you want,” Tsitsipas said. “You’re always allowed to pick your information that you want to keep for yourself.

“It kind of came to my mind during practice. There are times when you really feel like talking and analysing everything, and once you start becoming a little bit quieter, you can process information much more fluidly and much faster, and just everything works better.”

An elbow injury during the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals in November cast doubt on Tsitsipas’ participation in this year’s season-opening Australian swing. Yet the Greek showed no signs of rustiness on his return, representing Team Greece at the ATP Cup before storming to a fifth Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open. While Down Under, Tsitsipas familiarised himself with some the country’s renowned wildlife, and one creature in particular caught his eye.

“There was a conversation going on about the beautiful animals in Australia,” Tsitispas said. “Kangaroos are a very stereotypical thing that will always come to your mind when you think of Australia, but I did some research, I wanted to see what kind of animals Australia has that I’d never heard of. There were also dingoes, which I saw in one of the videos.”

Yet on 8 January, Tsitsipas announced “Platypus is my spirit animal” via his Twitter feed. With so many weird and wonderful options to choose from, what characteristics of the platypus appealed to the Greek?

“It’s a very humble sort of animal, not very noisy,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s cute. Also, as a kid I was a big fan of Phineas and Ferb, the TV show for kids, and Perry the Platypus was the hero there. I always loved him, he was one of my favourite characters, so that’s why.”

Platypus is my spirit animal

— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) January 8, 2022

Just a few weeks ago, Tsitsipas shared the message: “The future generations studying history will likely have to study tweets.” What would future historians studying his feed conclude about the nine-time tour-level titlist?

“[They would probably see] a fun side of me that sometimes requires less thinking than when I’m with other people and I have to instantly answer or say something that doesn’t leave me with much gap of thought,” Tsitsipas said. “I sometimes get creativity and those put those extra thoughts out there that I feel like I might have neglected or didn’t share enough of.

“It is kind of my own media place, where I can just express anything I want. If I might have any concerns about our world, and how this world operates and how this world functions, I might address it there.”

The future generations studying history will likely have to study tweets.

— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) June 4, 2022

Tsitsipas enjoys expressing himself via social media, but the 23-year-old is also aware of its downsides.

“I think as long as you use it once or twice a day, it is healthy,” he said. “The excess is the problem. Once you start picking up your phone and going straight to a social media platform to feel less bored, that’s not a good indication or sign.

“We need to use social media to express ourselves, we need to use social media to put out good content that will inspire others and make them want to pursue something in life. Social media is all about bringing people together, connecting people, and it kind of feels sometimes like it does the opposite to that to everyone around us.”

When it comes to his own social media use, Tsitsipas is careful to maintain a healthy balance, an approach he also encourages in those close to him.

“Just less social media,” he said. “Use it only when you have to use it, to do something really important. By decreasing, you can actually add more value to your life, I think. You can be more present in your everyday life and the important tasks that you have to fulfil, the things that you want to pursue. It can keep you behind if you spend too much time on your phone. It can be a really serious addiction.

“I have never really been on that side of social media addiction, but you are always one step away from it. My screen time is not that much, and I always try to push my siblings not to spend too much time on their phones. As an older brother it’s my responsibility to give a different perspective on how these things work.”

There was no slowing down for Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon on Friday afternoon.

The Serbian cruised to a high-class 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 third-round win against countryman Miomir Kecmanovic at the grass-court major. Having dropped just seven games in defeating Thanasi Kokkinakis in the second round, Djokovic matched that number with another sublime all-around display to overwhelm his opponent on Centre Court, breaking the Kecmanovic serve six times on the way to a one-hour, 52-minute victory.

It was Djokovic’s 24th consecutive win on grass, drawing him level with Australian great Rod Laver in third place on the Open Era list for longest tour-level winning streaks on the surface.

The six-time champion next faces another man in red-hot form on the grass in Tim Van Rijthoven. The Dutch wild card dispatched Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 earlier on Friday to ease into the fourth round on his Grand Slam main draw debut.

More to follow…

As the Wimbledon third round commences on Friday, seeded players begin to square off for the first time at The Championships. Three such matches are on the Day 5 docket, with Carlos Alcaraz meeting Oscar Otte, Novak Djokovic facing fellow Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic and Jannik Sinner taking on John Isner.

Ninth seed Cameron Norrie will close the day’s play on Centre Court against American Steve Johnson following Djokovic’s match.

In doubles action, third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski join sixth-seeded Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah as the day’s headliners.

View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw | View Schedule

[5] Carlos Alcaraz (ESP) vs. Oscar Otte (GER)

Alcaraz’s wait for his Centre Court debut continues, with this matchup slated for No. 1 Court, but the Spaniard’s bid to extend his best Wimbledon run is firmly in his own hands. The 19-year-old will look to control the proceedings against Otte with his all-action style as he continues to adapt his game to the grass.

“Playing on grass is so beautiful for me,” Alcaraz said after his straight-sets win over Tallon Griekspoor on Wednesday. “I like to play on grass and I enjoy playing here at Wimbledon.”

The fifth seed overturned a two-sets-to-one deficit in a tense first-round battle with Jan-Lennard Struff — his first grass-court match of the season — and looked more assured with his movement in his second outing.

“I felt more comfortable today than the first round,” he said. “But obviously, I need more hours on court, on grass, to feel more comfortable.”

So far he has spent over six hours on the London lawns, including his four-hour, 11-minute opener. By contrast, Otte has spent just one hour, 33 miniutes on court this fortnight. After racing past countryman Peter Gojowczyk with the loss of just four games, he moved past Christian Harrison after the American retired 15 minutes into their second-round match.

But the German has had plenty of practise on the grass this month, reaching the semi-finals at both Stuttgart and Halle. In those semi-finals, he tested Matteo Berrettini and Daniil Medvedev but lost a combined three tie-breaks in two defeats. With upset wins over Denis Shapovalov and Karen Khachanov, Otte brings a 7-2 grass-court record into the Wimbledon third round, including his second-round win.

[1] Novak Djokovic (SER) vs. [25] Miomir Kecmanovic (SER)

Djokovic and Kecmanovic are set to take their show on the road after two previous meetings in Belgrade, the home city of both men.

Kecmanovic is seeded this fortnight for the second time at a Grand Slam, having entered Wimbledon at a career-high of No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The 22-year-old lived up to the billing last month at Roland Garros, advancing to the third round before bowing out to Medvedev.

He once again faces one of the ATP Tour’s best in the Wimbledon third round as he prepares for his third ATP Head2Head clash with his countryman. Djokovic won their two Belgrade quarter-final meetings in 2021 and 2022, with Kecmanovic taking a set this April.

Djokovic went on to reach the final at this year’s Serbia Open — his third event of 2022 — and has since played his way into top form. He was particularly happy with his performance in his second-round Wimbledon win over Thanasi Kokkinakis, after he dropped a set to Soonwoo Kwon two days prior in his first grass-court match of the season.

“I think the quality of tennis was really high from my side,” he said Wednesday after a 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 victory. “Much better than the first match performance… I played with not too many unforced errors from the back of the court. Whenever I needed to put the return in, I did. So all in all just a really, really satisfying performance.”

🔜 Round 3 @DjokerNole defeats Thanasi Kokkinakis 6-1 6-4 6-2 to secure himself a place in the next round! 🙌

📹: @Wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Xzs9BtzAtq

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 29, 2022

The top seed will need another strong performance against Kecmanovic, who reached six straight tour-level quarter-finals from February through April, including a semi-final showing in Munich. But he was 0-2 on the grass this season before his four-set victories against John Millman and Alejandro Tabilo this week.

[10] Jannik Sinner (ITA) vs. [20] John Isner (USA)

Sinner outclassed Stan Wawrinka across four sets in one of the headline matches of the opening round, earning his first career grass win, then downed Mikael Ymer in four sets to reach the Wimbledon third round for the first time. The Italian faces an entirely different proposition against John Isner on Day 5.

The American is set for a big day, win or lose. With five aces, he will overtake Ivo Karlovic for the career ace record, currently standing at 13,728.

“Looks like Jannik Sinner will be on the receiving end of the record-breaker,” Isner said in his post-match presser. “I hope I didn’t totally jinx myself,” he added with a laugh, “but I think I should be able to get [five] aces in my next match.”

Isner followed a 54-ace barrage in a five-set win against Enzo Couacaud with 36 against Andy Murray in the second round. He was never broken by Murray as he earned his first ATP Head2Head win in nine matches against the Briton, and now seeks his second win in three matches opposite Sinner.

What a win for Isner! 🇺🇸@JohnIsner wins the battle against Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 and is now into the 3⃣rd round 💪

📹: @Wimbledon | #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/wanA9zzN8J

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 29, 2022

“For sure it’s a very, very tough match, especially here on grass” the Italian previewed. “He serves well. Hopefully I can read a little bit his serve, but it’s one of the toughest challenges, returning John’s serve.

“There are for sure some important moments, especially when he’s serving. So for sure I will try my best. I will not [have] so much rhythm, so let’s see.”

Also In Action

Norrie will enjoy the support of the Centre Court crowd as he looks to become the first Briton into the fourth round with a win against Johnson. The ninth seed is the lone British man still standing in the top half of the mens’ singles draw, with Liam Broady representing Great Britain in the bottom half.

Johnson, who downed home favourite Ryan Peniston in the second round, is one of seven Americans in the third round. (An eighth will follow upon the conclusion of the rain-delayed match between Jack Sock and Maxime Cressy.) In addition to Johnson and Isner, 23rd seed Frances Tiafoe and 30th seed Tommy Paul are also in the top half. Tiafoe faces Alexander Bublik on Friday while Paul takes on Jiri Vesely.

In the day’s lone match between unseeded men, Ugo Humbert faces David Goffin, while 22nd seed Nikoloz Basilashvili takes on surprise ‘s-Hertogenbosch champion Tim van Rijthoven.

Here’s a thought experiment: If John Isner hit ONLY first serves, would he win or lose more service games than his career average?

For clarity, the 37-year-old would still get two serves every point. But if he missed his first serve, he would hit another full-pace serve instead of a traditional second serve with more spin and less pace.

“I have a buddy who is super into analytics, and he is a really smart guy and he is a firm believer that is something I should do. Just going for two first serves,” said Isner, who on Friday is likely to set a new world record for most career aces, needing just five against Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon third round to pass current leader Ivo Karlovic.

“There have been some situations where I have had the mindset of doing that, where my second serves have been massive. Less of a kick, more two first serves and it has served me well in the past. The key is to really, really commit to it.”

If only there were a way to stress test the idea. Enter Alex Michaels, a data scientist for TennisViz, the provider driving new statistical insights for Tennis Data Innovations, including new metrics such as Balance of Power, Conversion and Steal scores.

Michaels wrote a program that extrapolated Isner’s Infosys ATP Stats career averages for first serve percentage (69.1%) and first-serve winning percentage (78.7%) over 1 million service games, randomising those percentages to simulate match play. The mission was to identify whether a strategy of hitting first serves only would result in Isner improving his mark of holding 91.8 per cent of service games.

“I wanted to simulate randomness of performance in a match,” Michaels said. “While John puts about two out of every three first serves into play, there will be times when he makes five in a row or 10 in a row, and times when he may miss five in a row.”

While hitting two first serves would be a massive tactical change, the data show that it would have a very minor impact. Michaels’ model reveals that Isner would win 91.4 per cent of service games, down marginally from his career average of 91.8 per cent.

“I thought it would be close to his normal rate or maybe even slightly better, given his first serve is so powerful,” Michaels said. “This of course doesn’t account for the mental side. You don’t know how someone will react to serving a lot of double faults and whether they can be immune to the pressure of hitting a big second serve at crucial moments.”

Isner also noted that real-world pressure may impact winning percentages. “What’s hard about it would be having the conviction to go for another massive serve at 6/5 in a tie-break after missing your first serve,” he said.

 
Photo: Corinne Dubreuil

While Isner isn’t ready to go ‘all in’ with the radical tactic, he says that there are some situations in which hitting two first serves is the right play.

“If I am playing Djokovic, I sort of know I have to do that,” the father of three said. “If I am playing someone ranked much lower than Djokovic at 70 or 80, of course he is still an incredible player, but it might be a little harder mentally to get myself up for hitting two first serves.”

Although hitting two first serves results in little change for Isner’s rate of holding serve, data show that players with more modest first serves would see a significant decline in the percentage of service games held if they adopted the tactic.

Michaels cited Frenchman Hugo Gaston as an example. The Frenchman puts about 60 per cent of first serves into play, wins about 65 per cent of first-serve points and holds about 73 per cent of service games. On Michaels’ modelling, Gaston would win just 62 per cent of service games if he hit two first serves.

Isner’s career 69.1 first-serve percentage tops the chart for all active players. He is fourth on the list of career first-serve points won (78.7%) behind leader Ivo Karlovic, Milos Raonic and Sam Querrey. He is second among active players for best percentage of service games held (91.8%), behind only Karlovic (92%)

The 6′ 10″ American is third on the list of second-serve points won (56.1%) behind only leader Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Rafael Nadal spread the love after his second-round Wimbledon victory on Thursday, speaking at length about three of the WTA Tour’s biggest stars. In his post-match press conference, the Spaniard was asked about Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff — both of whom were also victorious on Day 4 — as well as reigning US Open champion Emma Raducanu.

Nadal has been the subject of admiration from all corners of the tennis world, with many WTA players commending his legendary fighting spirit and his strong start to the 2022 season. World No. 1 Swiatek was on hand to see the Spaniard win the Australian Open final in January, and Nadal revealed he has been watching the Polish star throughout her 37-match win streak as well.

“I texted her a couple of times because it’s unbelievable the way that she’s playing,” Nadal said. “It’s unbelievable the way that she’s able to hold the concentration and the winning spirit for such a long time. I think it’s something very difficult to make that happen.”

Swiatek has not lost a match since February, winning six titles on her winning streak. Nadal gave his opinion on why she has been so tough to beat.

“I think when she’s playing well, it’s very difficult to stop her because her shots are little bit different, with a lot of power. She’s able to move well. When she’s [playing] with confidence, I think she has shots that are very difficult to stop for the rest of the girls.

“I like her. I think she has a very positive attitude, fresh air for the world of tennis. Happy that a good girl like her is having a lot of success.”

Raducanu returned to her home Grand Slam as a superstar after her shock US Open triumph last year, but has struggled to replicate that sort of form in 2022 and bowed out at SW19 in the second round. While Nadal stopped short of offering advice, he gave the 19-year-old a supreme vote of confidence.

“I was very impressed when I saw her winning the US Open,” he said. “I saw the final. The way that she played was unbelievable.

“It’s difficult to manage all this kind of success at a very early stage of your life. But I wish her all the very best. I think she is an important character for our sport.”

Echoing the Briton’s comments after her loss to Caroline Garcia, Nadal feels Raducanu’s US Open title could serve to take some pressure off in the bigger picture.

“I know she’s having a tough year, but on the other hand she already won a Slam at a very early stage of her career. That gives her, I think, calm to take her time to keep improving and to keep having chances in the near future. I really hope that she will.”

Nadal sees similar greatness in Coco Gauff, both on and off the court. He predicted the American to win multiple Grand Slams and was equally complimentary of her maturity off the court.

“I like her, the way that she talks to the crowd, to the press at the end of the matches,” he said. “She’s fresh. She’s natural. Looks very mature in her thoughts.

“I think she is a fighter. I like the way that she plays. She fight for every ball. Even sometimes when she’s not playing that well, she keeps fighting until the end, running for every ball.”

The 18-year-old reached the Roland Garros final this season, falling to Swiatek, and is now seeking her third straight fourth-round run at Wimbledon.

“I think, if she’s able just to improve a little bit with this physical performance that she has, probably we’ll talk about the player that she will be: [a] multi-Grand Slam winner.”