The New York Times article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444443504577603251303470774.html

This article is quite opposite (and opposed) to what I preach, the Play Like the Pros motto. I developed my techniques because they are the easiest for kids and for amateurs of any age. Effortless, natural tennis for beginners. Great for the body. Over 90% success. These techniques are the reasons why top players succeed. Whether they discovered them as a result of practice, or whether coaches taught them, it is clearly the reason for their success. Why shun them? Don’t people copy, in all other sports, the top performers? The best athletes in their field?

The NY Times article not only shuns copying pros but is also full of the old techniques, which stunt development. In Brazil, I helped with a college study that compared the modern to the conventional and concluded clearly that the new techniques have results well above the norm. It’s a century old debate. Who will win?

Eventually, the one that works better, or to put it more simply, the one that works…. But these developments need to be know. Please pass the knowledge along.

And please feel free to e mail me your comments.

Power is quite a significant factor, but since most players, male and female, have this capability, the key to advance is the difference between winners and unforced errors, specifically applied to each set. Top players may flounder somewhere in between, but the winner, usually, is the one that keeps the head clear and the ball in the court.

Astoundingly, sometimes the loser has won more points than the winner. But guile and efficiency combined are of more value than ever.

Players that can overwhelm other players with power can be counted with one hand on the second week.

There are some players that tower over their opponent, size-wise. They are not usually the faster moving ones.

All of this makes up for a wonderful display of competitiveness, extended and augmented by the sheer excellence of the top ranked players.

Will anyone earn the right to share those top spots?

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are here to defend that realm. Rafa Nadal is not.

Serena, on the other draw, that one of the “weaker sex” and a cadre of pretenders to be as strong a she is, is in full flight, or perhaps fight. Being the US Open and the reigning player to beat, Serena creates another kind of spectacle. The perception, while watching her, is almost as if she has to abdicate, perhaps by nerves or unforced errors, that kingdom which she’s so apt to hold.

Regardless of who’s your favorite, enjoy this superb show. Rather than becoming too emotional, learn the ropes as if you were the one on court. There are, as they usually say, TWO SIDES to any contest, two sides to Life.

New York is the scene of the last of the Slams, for some players a bonus, for some others their chance for fame.

The task can be grueling, the weather overwhelmingly hot.

Even hurricanes can take their toll.

And some players want to play like hurricanes, want to overwhelm their opposition, in task two weeks long.

I vote for Serena and Roger, but it may be a kind of miracle if they both win and share the showdown. Too many obstacles, too many players wanting to steal their recent crowns.

This is the sport at its most brutal showdown. It’s not the slippery, cool grass of Wimbledon, the slow clay of France.

It’s more like the imposing cement boulders of the city, the monster created by human hands.

Capacity crowds close to 25,000 and about 100 million spectators in the USA alone. You are nakedly exposing your mettle and your inner strength, close to everyone around you, but still alone.

Titans work, a power display with a dose of touch, of feel, of consistency. Uncanny ability, at its most.

The greats will most likely survive!

Should his current hold at the top continue, he will again be considered a candidate as the best ever player to grace the courts.

So is Serena Williams, who as of lately has shown an impressive form.

Fewer are the challengers that could stop this reign.

The press is fickle. Many had predicted Federer’s decline and a retirement in sight. It will be interesting to see what the comments will be now.

It will take a lot of focus and effort to be prepared for the US Open.

It is also a very hot summer in New York. Playing in the evening, for those best endowed, could be an advantage galore.

We should not be too surprised at surprises.

The difference between top 20 players, both in the men and women, is today far less than in the past.

The only player that I would expect to repeat the United Kingdom success is Serena.

Why? Because she has exhibited so much accuracy and serving power, accompanied in the Olympics with same from the ground, that she could still stand, regardless of New York conditions, well above the field.

Further, exploitation by Murray of a Federer’s forehand hit too close to being too early resulted in an unusual stream of errors from the reigning Wimbledon champion and number one in the world.

It was Federer’s most unexpected performance in a final of the one title that has eluded him in consecutive tries, the Olympics.

But it was also one of the best matches Murray ever played.

Part of the problem could have been the semifinals, in which Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro in an incredible, length record breaking contest that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. That match was taxing for 30 year old Federer, while Murray’s semifinal was a much shorter one.

Another part of the problem was the fervor of the crowd in supporting Murray and keeping him on a high. That kind of atmosphere is usual for Davis Cup and leads to many surprises. We could consider this a home match for the usually defensive Murray and it absolutely spiked him into attacking every ball he could.

All the gods shined on Murray, who was due for an epic day in his home turf.

May the Olympic Champion rise to many more epic-like wins.

The stakes are the same, apparently, but the rules have changed. Best of three sets instead of five, except the final’s match.

While it is less of a physical effort to play a shorter format, the demands for perfection are unusually high. Players that non-challantly take their time to get into the subtleties of a focus-tactics-power-precision performance may soon find the exit gates.

There is a balance between tightness and relaxation, between trying too hard and staying a bit at ease, and it needs to be found or ascribed to from the very beginnings of each match.

The shorter format may be to the advantage of a vintage precision performer versus the exuberance and power play of the youth. Some may exhibit both.

Where will the difference be? Most likely, on the percentages of first serve.

His best game has again resurfaced, and this should be his best chance to capture an eluding title that will put on his illustrious career an exclamation point.

While Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have a good chance, Rafael Nadal’s absence makes the draw easier, most likely, to the number one seed.

There are numerous other competitors that could give these seeds some strong opposition.

But the fact is, grass makes these top players dominant due to a more complete, sounder game.

England must be craving for an UK champion crowned on their own turf.

Wimbledon Olympics is Andy Murray’s chance. He’s shed enough tears already and does not want he and the country to cry for him more.

But Federer looms above the field with a majestic demeanor: he is the turf’s last conqueror, the reigning star, ready to squash any challengers dream.

For him, this double can happen, in this beautiful scenario, only once in a players lifetime.

No more. A very few. Why?

A zillion reasons are heard. Kids are lazy, too many video games, too many options to play other sports, too much cost, etc.

But the real reason escapes the experts: American’s excelled when tennis was played conventionally, flatter, slower, and with a lot of attention to detail and to footwork. Nowadays tennis is played with a combination of spin and force. Today, the control is in your hands. The game, made faster by racquet technology, needs a different form of ability, where you speed the ball by acceleration much more than by racquet speed.

Today’s players find the ball slowly, then accelerate brutally not in the direction of the shot, but up and across, thereby increasing control exponentially while keeping ball speed at a max.

It is not perhaps the tennis you’ve have had in mind to play. But be advised that there are joys in the new ways that go well beyond what you expect: magnifying your instinct, your feel, your powerful nature, and reaching your potential best.

Only those players than have adopted or adjusted to the modern way will succeed at Wimbledon’s Olympics and later at New York’s US Open.

My choice for an American champion is Serena Williams in both.

Andy Murray came out firing in a rare display (for him) of power and an attacking game.

Murray was close to go two sets to one, but slightly changed his tactic towards the end of the second set. Rather than variety and looking for errors on Federer’s forehand early, he resorted to rally longer to Federer’s backhand, which today never broke down.

Federer hit some superb shots to end the second set, then the skies opened up early in the third and the match was continued with the roof closed.

No wind, perfect conditions, and a slight glitch on Murray’s serve did the rest. Federer’s brilliance came through like lightning, and the match was not close anymore.

Murray knows he was close to an epic result, and he shed tears and an emotional interview on court after the match. The love and support of the British for his task was so admirable, so heart-wrenching his dedication to engage himself in playing a better, more convincing game, so close to his ultimate potential, that I had tears myself.

While admiring Roger Federer, my heart was with Andy Murray and suffering his loss.