{"id":3233,"date":"2017-07-04T13:56:05","date_gmt":"2017-07-04T17:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=3233"},"modified":"2017-07-04T14:04:31","modified_gmt":"2017-07-04T18:04:31","slug":"drop-shot-artist-dustin-brown-meets-master-of-running-them-down-andy-murray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2017\/07\/04\/drop-shot-artist-dustin-brown-meets-master-of-running-them-down-andy-murray\/","title":{"rendered":"Drop Shot Artist Dustin Brown Meets Master of Running Them Down\u2014 Andy Murray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s one thing to hit a drop shot standing close to the net. It\u2019s quite another to execute it from the baseline. That takes extraordinary touch, and even more than that\u2014 guts.<\/p>\n<p>Dustin Brown does it all the time. In fact he does everything. He has an extraordinary drop volley, drop half volley and drop shot from the baseline. Using a casual slight-of-hand as his only disguise, the dreadlocked star sends his opponent scrambling forward.\u00a0 Most often he follows his magic in. Next he either lobs, passes or angles, leaving the other guy with nothing more to do than smile sarcastically.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/690164354\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.498316% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/690164354?et=UChVEVRARd55XzKGOFnhng&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=4B14EeLq3ycDlpv-ToXPTVOovifQlhx2tbPcDHK08VM=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"395\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<p>But there\u2019s one player on the ATP Tour who\u2019s nonplussed by this kind of thing\u2014 he goes by the name Sir Andy Murray.<\/p>\n<p>When Murray scrambles, there\u2019s a certain sound he makes. We all know it. It\u2019s a grunt that says: \u201cYou\u2019ve really pained me. You\u2019re putting me out making me reach for this ball.\u201d What follows is usually a drop volley of his own, a deft lob or some other smart shot for a winner.<\/p>\n<p>In Round 2 on Centre Court at Wimbledon, Brown\u2019s audacious drop shot squares off against the pluckiness of Murray\u2014 someone who has the guts to not only run down a drop shot\u2014 but to do something about it. Which tennis skill wins this battle? Let\u2019s look at some numbers.<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/807459208\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/807459208?et=Jgmb7nNQRax2z7UqHU8hrw&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=rGkCbE0U4uwjNvO9rfeBc_cxiJU0G3mcOpPECfbLPUY=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Brown\u2019s Use of Drop Shots<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In Brown\u2019s 4-set match with Joao Sousa, he played a drop shot a stunning 48 times. On 20% of the points, Sousa had to deal with that. Harrowing. Was it successful for Brown? You bet. Brown won the point when a drop shot was employed 26 times. It\u2019s a success rate of 57% when using the drop shot, which is more than anybody needs to be successful in this sport.<\/p>\n<p>Naturally Brown won the match. Interestingly, it took awhile for Brown to find his rhythm when using it. He committed several unforced errors and got passed a few times on his way to losing the first set. Brown apparently has a high tolerance for messing up that shot, and his opponent got weary and frustrated with the prospect of the drop shot on any given point. Brown used it liberally in the final 3 sets on his way to victory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What Kind of Drop Shots?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Not all drop shots are created equal. Of Brown\u2019s 48 drop shots, 26 were from the back of the court, in the area of the baseline. The remaining 22 were volley or half volley drop shots. On 2 amazing points, Brown employed both\u2014 a drop shot from the baseline, a move in\u2026 and a drop shot volley to win the point.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What About Murray?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Much to his fans\u2019 delight, Andy Murray is also known to employ the drop shot quite skillfully, but he\u2019s better known for running them down. This Wimbledon, however, Murray\u2019s dealing with a hip injury. Will it imperil him? Will it slow him down?<\/p>\n<p>In the first round, he faced trick shot artist Alexander Bublik, who certainly can and does use underspin to drop the ball short. Murray and his hip were tested. In his decisive 3-set victory over the Russian, Murray was forced to come forward and run down 22 drop shots. Was he successful?<\/p>\n<p>Yes he was! In fact, Boris Becker, who was commentating for the match, questioned why Murray would bother to run down so many, fearing he might hurt his hip even more. Giving his all on every point is the only game Murray knows. Of the 22 rundowns, Murray came out the winner 14 times. That\u2019s a dominating success rate of 64%. For what it\u2019s worth, Murray himself employed some kind of drop shot 16 times and won 10 of them.<\/p>\n<p>Think there will be a few drop shots in this appetizing Centre Court matchup? No doubt. The only questions are who will come out ahead in this equation.<\/p>\n<p>Even if the home crowd favorite and defending champion displays enough fortitude to win the drop shot encounter, all the running could rough him up sufficiently for the rest of the fortnight.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/805357930\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 70.370370% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/805357930?et=aKtRzDf3RdRWapsVkVPOyg&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=fINi6rPoQXeQUw5c6aa4n7EceIajARNm2C4K2vDif4g=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"418\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It\u2019s one thing to hit a drop shot standing close to the net. It\u2019s quite another to execute it from the baseline. That takes extraordinary touch, and even more than that\u2014 guts. Dustin Brown does it all the time. In fact he does everything. He has an extraordinary drop volley, drop half volley and drop [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2038,"featured_media":3239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,3,2,9],"tags":[16,789,1425,1411,48,21,1326],"class_list":["post-3233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wimbledon","category-atp","category-featured","category-news","tag-andy-murray","tag-british-tennis","tag-dreddy-brown","tag-dustin-brown","tag-tennis","tag-wimbledon","tag-wimbledon-2017"],"modified_by":"Yesh Ginsburg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2038"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}