How ironic is it that the returning Taylor Dent – one of the few serve-and-volleyers left in the game – gets not one, but two of his tactical brethren in his first U.S. Open in four years?First, he got Fetchin' Feliciano Lopez. He beat him. Friday, he got the wacky Ivan Navarro, a player who is another anomaly: a Spanish serve-and-volleyer.
Absolutely old-school tennis once again. Over four hours. Dent hit 147 mph on his serve - 10 mph higher than anyone else in the tournament. He even broke the centre strap on the net with a serve, causing a seven-minute delay.
Most impressively, both fellas had absolutely outstanding hair at the end, even after all that effort and sweat. Navarro's first serve percentage was over 80 percent; Dent was at 70, even with all the heat he was bringing.
Here's some video of Navarro's freaky serve. It takes YEARS of practice to perfect this kind of thing, you would think. We're betting you have a guy who does something just like this at your club. Navarro also uses one racquet for serving, and another for returning (which makes tiebreaks a logistical conundrum). He constantly regrips his racqets on changeovers. All kinds of quirks.
