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Todd Martin competed in his final Wimbledon in 2004
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American Todd Martin is no stranger to Wimbledon, having reached the semifinals twice in London, including taking an emotionally trying loss to MaliVai Washington in 1996. Martin, who reached the finals of the US and Australian Opens and reached a career high No. 4 ranking in 1999, is back at the All England Club playing senior doubles with Britain's Greg Rusedski.
I remember the first time I came over here in 1991, and I played 17 days in a row. It rained every day, and I swore I'd never come back again. But I did and still do.
You look at Sam Querrey and John Isner, and they are really quality competitors. John has forced himself to be quiet, but he's not a let-it-spill-off-my-back kind of guy, while Sam looks like someone could come out and sweep his knee, and he'd say, "All right, let's keep playing." They have a uniqueness to them athletically, and you look around, and that's almost the first criteria these days. Years ago, there were a lot us who were A-type athletes from the waist up, and our skills held us in good stead, but our legs were a B-minus to C-plus. Nowadays, there are guys who are like that, and they are laughed at. The best are all A to A-plus lower-body guys.
Movement is a big part of the game. You can't compare John to Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic, but John is unique because he's coordinated and graceful and he has some fast-twitch stuff, plus two weapons -- his serve and forehand -- that at any moment can be dominant. Sam is my size (6-foot-6) and moves like he's 6-foot-2, and he's similar to John. He has two big weapons, and he has a backhand that he learned how to manage. There are guys who have strengths and can't keep someone off them.
John, Sam and Andy Roddick hit their backhands different. Andy's stroke is closest to mine in the way I held the racket. A lot of the strength of my backhand came from because I couldn't hit a forehand when I was young, so when I saw the backhand, I hit it and developed my level of confidence. Then I realized that I needed to develop my forehand so I could hurt somebody. I think all of them have the potential to have pretty good success with their backhand. Andy has done much better with it in the last year or so. His slice is outstanding.
It's a matter of if your kid is bigger than mine, playing any sport, and if he can rely on one thing to smother the other, that's what he will do. I would imagine historically that they've had other weaponry where the mindset isn't there to know how to punish with the backhand. I learned to hit a forehand quite a bit when I was with my coach, Jose Higueras -- some because I wanted to learn the forehand and some because I wanted to learn the slice backhand. So we'd play games where all I could do was hit a slice backhand, so if I didn't want to lose, I had to learn to hit that shot, then cheat the court and look for a forehand. When I could use my two-handed backhand, I'd only hit my forehand at 80 percent, but when all I had was a backhand slice, I was forced to hit a bigger forehand to win points.
It's possible to do that with their backhands, too. They are never going to change their nature, and they are always going to be forehand guys, but John and Andy especially are doing a good job of trying to attack second serves with their backhands.
I'm consulting now at home in Florida, doing assessment for juniors, where kids come and see me for three to five days who I feel who can benefit from an objective set of eyes, since I have a good awareness of what goes on in the pro level and in college. I try to help and map out ways for them to make their paths more efficient. I'm telling a lot of kids to back off, that they are on the court too much and not doing other stuff to keep their mind clearer. It's also important at early ages to allow your general athleticism to develop. If you look at how many of the pros today are training off court, say in weight lifting, they are doing a lot of different exercises and using every different muscle in every different way to try and confuse one muscle from the other so the muscles don't get programmed in just one way. There is too much mindless beating of balls.
I work them hard and train them the way I was to where I think their skills can go and then evaluate them. I use a lot of what Jose Higueras did with others and me because the fundamentals and preparation don't change that much. The swings are a little different because we were more linear and they are more circular, but you have to get your body in the same position and load your body properly. I find it intriguing and a lot of fun. The only thing it doesn't do after I give my assessment is to satiate my thirst for working with kids, as it doesn't promote relationship building.
From what I hear on the grapevine these days, we have some U.S. juniors with really legitimate potential. It's a testament to what Patrick McEnroe, Jose Higueras and Jay Berger have been doing at USTA Player Development. But it's such a huge animal to deal with. I agree with a lot of what they've put forth, and I see signs of progress.