I always crack up at the idea of some of these sports having "coaches", like tennis. "OK, next time go ahead and keep it inside the white line...". I know, someone needs to help condition them, provide feedback on ways to improve footwork, scout their opponent's weaknesses, etc. But these sports like bowling, archery, golf, tennis, surfing, darts, swimming, etc. that people have been doing as an individual since 5 years old and could probably teach the coach how to do it crack me up.
He's been a lot better since switching racquets. Gives him more power on service returns. His racquet went from 90 square inches to 98.
His style of play is a little different, going to the net more. That's probably where coaching comes in. But I also think that after playing in thousands of matches and spending several thousand hours playing and practicing, you can't change everything. Not that I'd want someone to, but just saying that only slight or subtle changes can be expected at this point, at best.
As for Serena, I'm not sure if it was an illness, or what. But if you watch the videos, she couldn't even time the ball. And a normally 126mph serve was probably being hit at 70 mph at best. Maybe some sort of dizzyness, or something, that can affect the timing and power that much.
Also, it wasn't a 1st round loss, it was a 3rd round singles loss; 2nd round doubles loss.
She seemed fine in her singles loss.
It was right before her doubles loss, right before warmups, that she looked disoriented.
If I could find a clip of her during the warmups, you'd see how odd she looked.
