It's not really unorthodox, that serve and volley. A lot of players, pre-Federer era, play that way.
Yup. I grew up watching McEnroe, Edberg, Becker and even Henman.
I guess I was not able to describe it correctly. Was not referring to serve and volley per se as being an unorthodox style, but the way Brown mixes up his high risk winners even of the serve of Nadal with volleys and baseline drop shots. McEnroe was the commentator in the match and he even mentioned there must be some sort of record in terms of the number of drop shots made and 2nd serve average speed in that game. Nadal was not able to second guess Brown's move.
Some more Brown unorthodox-ness during the game: He wouldn't be penalized for delay in serve as I think he averaged ~10 secs. He even serves before the ball boys have assumed their positions outside the court. As you know, Nadal has this ritual of taking his time toweling before serves. Brown also on reception keeps one of the playing balls on his pocket. McEnroe was commenting what is the strategy for as this prevents Nadal from choosing that ball to serve with. Brown even after a missed first serve tries to get and use the same ball for the second serve!!! Baka nasanay sa Jamaica na walang pulot boy.
I enjoyed the net battles between the two, with Brown unexpectedly winning most of the the battles with his reflex volleys and feinted ball placement. Larong matanda, but effective.
From the commentary, they mentioned Brown now has a 2-0 head-to-head record vs. Nadal, both wins in grass, the first one being a one sided affair in Germany. Any player got a better record?
Cheers.
