Wimbledon 2017: Venus Williams only improving with age as she left Johanna Konta wrong-footed

Nick Bollettieri discusses how Venus outfoxed the home favourite to remain on course for another Wimbledon title

Venus Williams is on course to win her sixth Wimbledon title (Getty)

Roger Federer will be 36 next month and Venus Williams recently celebrated her 37th birthday. Holy cow, does this mean that the older you get the better you get? If that’s the case maybe I should be hitting the road as a travelling coach again.

The amazing thing about these two great champions is that their games are still evolving. One of the things that struck me most about Venus’ semi-final victory over Johanna Konta was the way she has improved both her forehand and her serve.

Venus’ forehand used to break down quite often, but now it’s a magnificent stroke. She has improved it by strengthening her lower foundation and using her legs a lot more.

When you stand upright to hit a forehand you’re only able to generate power from the waist upwards and you often shank the ball. Now Venus is using her lower body more. She gets down lower to hit her shots, which is giving her extra power.

Before the match I thought Konta might have too much power for her, but boy was I wrong. It was Venus who outpowered her opponent and won most of the baseline exchanges. What she did was just unbelievable.

Venus has also improved her technique on her serve. Her shoulder turn is much better than it used to be. She served magnificently against Konta, making great use of the body serve. She could see Konta standing close to the baseline so she kept hitting body serves at her.

Konta just didn’t know how to handle that. I suspect she thought that hitting the ball early would help her to dictate the points, but she kept getting caught flat-footed because she was standing in so close to the baseline.

One of the things I think Konta needs to work on is how to change tactics in the middle of a match. At the moment she seems to know only one way to play, which is to try to hit the living daylights out of every single ball.

This will be a key to her future. She needs to have a little versatility in her game. There are times when you have to change the way you’re playing according to the way a match is going. She needs to know when to hit a defensive ball. By that I don’t mean just pushing the ball back, because you still need to try to hit the ball with power.

But, hey, let’s not be too critical. Konta has had a great Wimbledon and there was absolutely no shame in losing to such a great champion. Venus was so calm and so cool. What a credit she is to our sport.

Friday’s match of the day

Tomas Berdych has great technique but he has always come up short when he gets to the business end of a Grand Slam. Maybe that’s down to the physical demands of playing so many best-of-five-set matches. It’s never too late to turn things around, but it’s hard to see him doing that against Federer.

Four things in particular have struck me about Federer at this Wimbledon. Firstly, his serve placement has been so good that it has proved just as big a weapon as those guys with the huge serves. Secondly, you can’t beat Roger just by doing the same thing over and over again: you need to change things up against him.

Roger Federer looked good in the opening week, but then so did the rest of the Big Four (Getty)

Thirdly, it’s very difficult to surprise him: he seems able to read almost every shot that his opponents make. Fourthly, his ability to win rallies from the back of the court and at the net gives him a weapon that not many other players have.

When you add to that Federer’s qualities off the court as an ambassador for tennis it’s quite a package. If only he could go on for ever.

Tales from the IMG Academy

In the early years of the academy we used to hang banners in the indoor tennis centre recognising all the tournaments that our students had won. There was no doubting the most prominent one when we returned to the academy after Wimbledon in 1992. The banner celebrating Andre Agassi’s victory was already up there when we got back.

It still sends a shiver down my spine when I think back to Wimbledon that year. For a coach, there is absolutely nothing to beat the feeling of coaching a Grand Slam champion.

I remember especially the Wimbledon gala on the night of Andre’s victory. I don’t think there was a prouder man in the room when Andre got up to say: “There’s a man in this audience who helped make all of this possible, my coach and friend, Nick Bollettieri.”

A tip from the top

The best players are able to combine touch with power. When most club players go out to hit they concentrate on hitting the ball hard, but it’s also useful to work on your touch play. I recommend doing this playing mini tennis inside the service boxes with green or yellow balls. Practising your slice, touch and drop shots like this will help you to get a better feel for them.

The perfect tennis player

Each day during Wimbledon I’m building a picture of the ideal tennis player by looking at a different aspect of the game. Today: the serve. In terms of pure power on the men’s side I have to go with Milos Raonic, Ivo Karlovic, John Isner and Marin Cilic. Plus let’s throw in a leftie, Feliciano Lopez. Of the young guns who are coming through, I’m very impressed with Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov.

Historically, Pancho Gonzalez, Pete Sampras and Andy Roddick were among the best. Serena Williams has been the best of the modern-day women, while historically Martina Navratilova’s serve was awesome. The kick serve can also be a great weapon and today there’s none better than Sam Stosur’s. Looking back, Andre Agassi could also serve with great variation.

There’s certainly more to a great serve than pure power. You also need to be able to place the serve consistently where you want it. For that reason I would choose Serena Williams, Sampras and Federer as the best servers I have ever seen. Watching Federer serve here over the last fortnight has demonstrated again what wonderful variety the great man has in his game.