What We Learned From The US Open

This years US Open was a demonstration of the depth of tennis and something of a changing of the guard.

I like Wozniacki's game. Nadal is proving himself to have the determination to improve more so than any player I have watched in my 50 something years in the game.

The question becomes, is there anything we mortals can learn from the best in our game? What lessons can we take away from the watching of tennis on TV that is possible and realistic to our games?

I would love to see this post become a bulletin board of comments of what each of you learned when you watched.

I will start with a few observations of my own to give you the idea and then open it up for your comments:

1/At the end where were all the big hitters? Other than Venus, long gone.  Despite the fact that all players on TV have the capability to hit the ball hard, the cream (as it always has been) were the players that were the most steady and consistent--not to say they didn't have teeth at the appropriate times.

Djockovics' defense was what beat Federer. Wozniacki played steady and dominated until she faced Zavonereva and lost because she wasn't steady. Steadiness has always been the trademark of Nadal and then there was Clijsters who I thought was the best example, maybe ever of how to play the game of tennis v. just a ball basher.

Clijsters against Zevonereva hit steady, solid shots. Corner to corner, but with good margin for error. Then the INSTANT she had a void she filled it!  I never in all my years saw anyone do this as well as she did.

In the past she would struggle because of periods, in seemingly every match where she would go somewhere else and hit a string of unforced errors. Not any more. She is now the epitome of tennis excellence.

While she does have put-away-power, it is her willingness to play consistently and play defense, like all the rest of the top guys, that makes her the champ she is!!

2/ The importance of returning serve is getting its due.

3/ Somewhat related to comment 1, the game is divided between those that can only bash the ball, and those that understand how to construct points and play the game, both offense and defense. The later are the ones you found in the later rounds.

4/ Unforced errors are the biggest enemy of them all.  Case in Point :  Toward the of Roger Novak match the stat came up that Novak had 30 unforced up to that point, Fed, 50.  Many of Fed's mishits were clearly out of frustration of Novak returning balls that Fed thought he should have won.

OK, so there is an idea of what I am looking for in comments.

What did you all learn?