Federer article

[tennismaverick]

federer might be left eye dominate as agassi is.you want your dominate eye closer to contact so left eye dominate players have to turn their head more to achieve this.

That is a great observation. That would explain why many of the pros hit the ball slightly different from each other. If someone is left eye dominant they probably have a more square stance on the forehand because this would give them better vision, aim and comfort. If you are right eye dominant you probably hit with a more open stance which would give better vision, aim and comfort. How did you come up with that? I think their must be other neurological differences in players that account for why their styles differ.

[johnyandell]

Yeah but again then he'd turn less on the backhand, which he doesn't.

[shootermcmarc0]

seems like Philippoussis uses the straight arm like Federer too. What kind of grip does he use though? It looks conservative to me

[johnyandell]

Yes! In fact, I had stayed away from trying to understand Flipper's forehandsb because of this--thought that straight arm just seem wrong...but then the work with Roger opened my eyes. Paradorn does some of the same as well. The players are often the teachers.

I'd say Mark's grip is more like Pete's or even a bit more toward the top. So less extreme than Roger or Agassi for sure.

[lukman41985]

I wish I understood the whole purpose of closing the face of the racquet. We can clearly see it in Flipper in Shooter's nice attached image. Thanks Shooter! Whereas with Roddick, Haas, and some of the other players the closed face was a function of the grip, it seems to be different from Flipper and Rog (maybe even Paradorn, but haven't checked it out). Any ideas John?

[shootermcmarc0]

No problem.

Out of the three that use the straight arm, looks like Roger has the most variations. It seems like only the conservative grip guys are doing this.

[lukman41985]

Nope. It's not just the conservative grip guys. Look at my postings on Rafael Nadal's straight arm hitting position.

[johnyandell]

I would say again on the racket face you have to find the point at the bottom of the backswing--and first frame or so of the forward swing. The only time it is really closed all the way with Fed is on the way down in the backswing.

[shootermcmarc0]

yeah lukman you're right, nadal too. I looked at his clips again and saw it.

John, are there going to be anymore high speed video clips?

[dizzychump]

crosscourt,

Also, about the eyes. Conventional wisdom says we must focus as hard as we can on the ball at all times. I believed the same, until I read works put out by Arete Sports. Check out the Parallel Mode Manual: http://www.arete-sports.com/articles.shtml

I've just read that document. Very interesting. Has anyone an opinion on it, or use it?

In a nutshell you set your depth of focus on your contact zone and see everything else through peripheral vision. Apparently this is a more efficient way to use the eyes. You reproduce something called the Flow state and enjoy higher order psychological, emotional and spiritual benefits. You can step into "the zone" at will.

Think i might give it a try. Quite difficult to control your vision like this though I imagine. Another holy grail to investigate!

[johnyandell]

Not too sure it's possible--maybe it is but I have had a hard time with trying it myself. But maybe I didn't really devote enough time to it. Wonder what studies have been done if any of elite players and if they do something similar? Would be a holy grail of sorts if it worked instantaneously. Scott sent me the DVD but I really can't say I have the full handle on it at this point.

[lukman41985]

John,
You're saying it's possible the straight arm position could be a holy grail. Just trying to clarify. Thanks!

[johnyandell]

No some way to get automatically into the zone by where you focus a la Scott's thing.

[tasha]

Federer's head movement on the forehand

Think of a linesman at the service line calling serves. They focus on the line and let the ball come to them, just like Federer is alleged to do on his FH. They don't try to follow the ball from the server's racquet to the service line and then make the call.

[tasha]

Federer's Forehand--his grip

Has there been any notice that Federer seems to change his grip? While I agree that it is generally between Agassi's & Sampras' grip, there are times it looks more semi-western or beyond. For example, look what he does with his grip on the very first video in the first article. Looks to be changing it quite a bit toward the western from his ready position (which I assume is his regular forehand grip). Such grip changes would account for some of those 27 variations.