Fast feet and unrelenting energy have earned the Spaniard a place among the elite.
1. Keep moving
At the risk of stating the obvious, I’ll start by saying Ferrer’s feet are his greatest strengths. The 25-year-old Spaniard is perpetually in motion. Whether he’s in the middle of a rally, waiting to return serve, or ?dgeting and shaking his legs in his chair between games, he never holds still. This has clear bene?ts—among other things, he gets an early jump on the ball and covers a lot of ground. It also has a less obvious advantage. By bouncing around, Ferrer lets his opponents know that they won’t get anything for free. He doesn’t give them any breathing room.
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2. Stay tenacious and tuned in*
It’s one thing to be physically tenacious (club players won’t be able to match Ferrer’s physical skills—he’s a rare athlete), but Ferrer is mentally persistent, too. His level of intensity and purpose for each point is amazing. He’s ready to move to the ball and execute no matter what happened the point before and no matter what the score is.
Because he’s so tuned in, he’s ready to go for aggressive shots when his opponents give him short balls. Ferrer doesn’t have the strongest serve or the most powerful ground strokes, but he’s opportunistic. That’s something anyone can learn with practice. If you have the same amount of preparation and concentration from point to point, you can suffocate your opponents.
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3. Be feisty, not volatile*
Sometimes players with Ferrer’s energy are susceptible to letdowns or temperamental ? are-ups that spell disaster. In the ? nal of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai against Roger Federer last year, we saw a little frustra-tion from Ferrer when he cracked his racquet over his knee at the end of the second set (Federer can bring out the worst in anyone). Usually, though, Ferrer remains intense and energetic without losing control of his emotions. He’s feisty, not volatile, and there’s a big difference between the two. He does an excellent job of preventing his energy from becoming a distraction.
4. De?ect, don’t overdo
Ferrer led the tour last season in three of the four return-of-serve categories. You’ll notice, though, that he doesn’t have an explosive return like Andre Agassi. Ferrer keeps his stroke short and puts the ball in play and deep. He uses the pace that comes at him and doesn’t try for too much. It sounds conservative, but this accounts for a lot of his success. It works especially well at the club level, where players are far more prone to errors than the guys Ferrer battles day in and day out.