February 17, 2016

“That's a squash shot.”

Professional tennis looks more and more like squash.

That's my takeaway from the Memphis Open, an ATP World Tour stop that ended last week with Kei Nishikori beating Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4 in the finals. Under various names, the tournament has been played here for 40 years, and I have attended 35 of them.

In the serve-and-volley era, the points got shorter as the players got better. With serve-and-volleyers nearly extinct now, the points get longer as the players get better. Yes, there are big servers like Fritz, who had nine aces in the final, but that's nothing compared to the totals racked up by players such as John Isner and Ivo Karlovic when they played in Memphis. But the last four championships have gone to Nishikori, who has a more balanced game and often grinds out rallies of 20 or more shots.

Like we often say in admiration of great squash players, “you can't get a ball down on him.” And that was also true of lesser players like qualifier Michael Mmoh, an 18-year-old Saudi Arabian-born American who reminded me of Rami Ashour the way he moves along the baseline and up to the net to chase drop shots and redrop them. He hits and moves. He anticipates. He lunges. He explodes toward the ball. His power had fans applauding, but his gets were even more impressive.

“That's a squash shot,” John McEnroe often says in his television commentaries. Usually it's when a player stretches for a forehand wide, slides into it, straightens his arm and cocks the racquet back with the head high to get behind the ball, and slices it back. Mmoh, Fritz, Nishikori and the other pros hit lots of them. But this year I noticed it on the backhand side as well. A player with a two-handed backhand takes one hand off the racquet and hits a shot that, to my eye, looks remarkably like a squash retrieve from the backhand corner.

I also saw it on drop shots, for my money the most interesting shot in the game. Crowds love the gets where the player runs off the court to hit an all-or-nothing return of a drop. More often, though, a player like Mmoh or Fritz would “slide” into the retrieve (as much as possible on the hard courts) and redrop, then get ready for the next shot. Run to it, not through it. Again, a squash shot.

Are rising tennis stars cross training with squash? Not likely, I suppose. When I ran into Mmoh at a social event he gave me a blank look when I told him his game reminded me of squash. No matter. The important thing is that squash shots bring excitement and variety to pro tennis, which has swung from boring big servers to boring grinders.

You see one ace you've seen 'em all. And, please, no more four-hour five-setters. But a good squash shot on the tennis court is always worth watching.

A footnote: this year's Memphis Open used the new tennis ball developed by sidelined touring pro Robin Soderling. The pros apparently took it in stride but my wife, who hit with the used balls, said they're a lot heavier and slower after they fluff up. Monkeying with the ball ruined racquetball, if you ask me, but if designer tennis balls can make tennis more like squash I'm all for it.

John Branston is a freelance writer in Memphis who often writes for DSR. He can be reached at jbranston@bellsouth.net.