Re: "The Myth of the Tennis Tip" Article

[dschase]

While the greats like Sampras, Agassi, and McEnroe can't tell you now anything technical about their strokes, I'm sure they could when they were just learning the game. For example, I changed my forehand grip a few months ago and at first, I had to visually check my grip after every few forehands -- to make sure it was still the "new" grip. After a while, I didn't have to look anymore -- but would just do a mental check to make sure it felt right. Now (about 6 months later) I never even think about it -- I just grab the racket and it's automatically the "new" grip -- and if you asked me how I know I have the right grip on the racket, I couldn't tell you -- I just do it. I think this is the case with the pros -- things become "natural" to them because they have done it for so long and don't have to think about it anymore -- and they forget the process they went through to get the great strokes in the first place -- whether they learned through "feel" or "visualization", etc.

[johnyandell]

Yep that is kind of the point. Sampras for example was trained by Robert Lansdorp and learned to hold his finish etc. But what I believe is that those words translated into feelings and/or pictures inside his brain similar to the way you describe your feel on the grip.