Andy Roddick has explained why some players are struggling to deal with Alex Eala\u2019s relatively \u201cslow\u201d serve.<\/p>\n
The Filipina\u2019s rise into the top 20 has sparked a huge debate about whether or not she can win a Grand Slam with a serve that is outside the top 50 for aces and first and second serve win percentage.<\/p>\n
Serena Williams\u2019 coach Rennae Stubbs initially said that the 21-year-old could not win a major<\/a> with her first and second delivery but has since softened on that view after her Washington Open triumph.<\/p>\n Former British No 1 Greg Rusedski does feel she needs to improve her serve<\/a> but thinks with time, she can shore up that shot a great deal.\u00a0Now, one of the best servers of all time, in Roddick, has commented on this hot topic.<\/p>\n The 2003 US Open champion said that Eala \u2013 whose first serve can reach around 100mph but her second is often between 60-75mph \u2013 is so good at \u201ccrushing\u201d the next ball after her serve, therefore you need to do a lot more with the return.<\/p>\n Alex Eala: Serena Williams\u2019 coach highlights \u2018tennis etiquette\u2019 issue with Filipina\u2019s fans<\/a><\/p>\n Alex Eala: Tennis icon names WTA star more likely to win first Grand Slam before Filipina<\/a><\/p>\n Want more from Tennis365? Add us as\u00a0<\/span>a preferred source on Google to your favourites list<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>for tennis coverage you can trust.<\/strong><\/p>\n The left-hander\u2019s ball-striking ability often gets her out of trouble but by taking pace off her second serve in particular, it can flummox the opposition.<\/p>\n On Roddick<\/a>\u2018s Q&Andy show on Thursday, the American was asked if we could see more WTA<\/a> players intentionally adding slower serves or preparing specifically to receive them as part of their match strategy.<\/p>\n He responded on the latest episode of Served<\/a>, \u201cHere\u2019s the difference. It\u2019s not just anybody goes out there and hits a slow serve and they get away with it. It\u2019s Eala\u2019s ability to crush the next ball if you don\u2019t square up that return.<\/p>\n \u201cI was a returner who had a hard time creating pace on a slow second serve. Like I used to play Mardy [Fish] and he\u2019d hit this little bunny 81mph kick serve where I had all day, but he knew that I couldn\u2019t bruise him off the back end side. Right?<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore he wasn\u2019t in a rush to hit it. So the difference is it\u2019s not just making the serve or hitting a good return. It\u2019s against Eala. If you don\u2019t square it up, she\u2019s able to hit that middle ball, both directions, with pace on the next shot.\u201d<\/p>\n Roddick added that if you serve slowly, without much spin on it, to an Iga Swiatek<\/a>, she will punish you. However, when Eala beat the Pole at Wimbledon, she struggled with the youngster\u2019s slower delivery.<\/p>\n The former world No 1 continued, \u201cYou can\u2019t take someone who doesn\u2019t have Eala\u2019s ball striking ability or ability to hit directionally to the corners and just say, \u2018I\u2019m going to serve slower against Iga Swiatek\u2019. Welcome to your death.<\/p>\n \u201cLike that\u2019s not the way it works. It\u2019s being able to create enough pace to offset what Eala is trying to do on that next ball. I think Eala\u2019s serve or second serve, especially, is probably more effective with the slower version than if it was 10mph faster.<\/p>\n \u201cLike I think she\u2019s starting to kind of figure out how to use it as well and maybe not being obsessed with pace, but like, \u2018I\u2019m going to throw you this one and you better hit it\u2019. You better hit it firm. Otherwise you\u2019re going for a ride on the next ball.\u201d<\/p>\n GO DEEPER: Alex Eala\u2019s former coach tips her to achieve major goal by the end of 2026<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Andy Roddick explains why the \u2018slow\u2019 serve of Alex Eala is deceptively dangerous<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Andy Roddick has explained why some players are struggling to deal with Alex Eala\u2019s relatively \u201cslow\u201d serve. The Filipina\u2019s rise into the top 20 has sparked a huge debate about whether or not she can win a Grand Slam with a serve that is outside the top 50 for aces and first and second serve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}More Alex Eala News<\/h2>\n