Have a Question for Me?

[uspta4201423750]

serve toss

Thanks John; when in the 1,2,3 rythme should the bend come? I pictured 1,toss, 2 bend, 3 hit thanks harry

[timmytennis]

whats your perspective on BOTR. (balls on the rise)

Hi John ,
What your perspective about balls taken on the rise in pro tennis. whats the percentage of balls hit on the rise?...at the pro level. only on groundstrokes , not approach shots. thanks for your time. really enjoy your site.


best wishes,
Timmy Tennis.

If you have something specific to ask me, this is the place! I will try to respond to all posts.

I want to know what you think of the site and what you think I should do more of, less of, or differently. If you really like it, I won't mind hearing that either. I get a lot of my best ideas by listening, so start talking...

If you have technical questions, you can ask and I'll do my best to help. BUT as it says in the overview of Your Strokes, I'm not sure that this type of detailed, purely verbal technical discussion is always productive. In fact, I'm concerned that pontificating at length in response to written questions is often--or even usually--counterproductive.

Why? Because I believe that seeing is the basis for understanding when it comes to tennis. So don't be too upset if I express my honest reluctance to answer at length when I'm not really sure what I am talking about. That's why we created Your Strokes in the first place--so myself and the rest of the staff can actually see what you guys are talking about.

We're starting off with one subscriber stroke a month in Your Strokes. If it really takes off, we can always expand that--we can also post images here in the Forum if people make them available in the right format and size.

I hope we'll get a lot of other knowledgable people commenting as well!

[johnyandell]

Practice the components individually. Stand by the fence and note the height by measuring how high on the fence the toss goes. Extend and hold the tossing arm.

Find out how deeply the player really can bend by shifting the weight primarily to the front foot, then going down as far as possible without bending over at the torso.

Find a count of 1 2 3 that matches the rhythm of the motion when the knees go down. Start on one, toss on two, hit on three. The rhythm on the count should be even. If it's rushed between 2 and 3 the toss is too low and this can help the player feel it.

[uspta4201423750]

Hey Jon, any good tricks to get a player to get more knee bend and/or a higher toss on the serve? thanks, Harry Kingsley

[johnyandell]

I think it's difficult to draw straight line conclusions here. Agassi played Straight/Straight and stood in and took everything early. Nadal is Straight/Straight and plays back. Like I said it appears to be more a natural tendency than a decision.

I would definitely suggest though that you get to that continental. If you are bent/straight with an eastern like Roddick you've got problems. Article on that is coming in April.

Even if you are Bent/Bent you are heading toward Venus Williams ville--meaning it has to be more back arm. She truly hits it like a forehand with totally open stance.

I can't say I've studied it that way but that grip shift would likely push the contact forward. Makes sense if you use the bottom hand more like on a one.

Why not send in some video to Your Strokes? Very hard to say anything more without it and not even sure about this.

[uspta2801398569]

Backhand

I read your advanced backhand articles.. they were good
Besides just finding what feels natural.. In your opinion do you think one set of grips or another might have advantages over one another? Can one drive the ball more?,spin more? handle different types of shots better? or is one better for certain hitting stances?
Hitting arm positions
When I hold eastern/eastern my hitting arm as far as what i can seems to be altered. My impact seems to be a bit more comfortable closer to the body. and when using more of a continental (bottom hand) contact seems more comfortable when further in front. Almost like a one handed backhand position
Your Thoughts

[johnyandell]

The grips and the hitting arms are two different issues. Grips don't cause hitting arm positions, certain hitting arm positions require certain grips. They call it a two-handed backhand for a reason and all the variations make use of both arms in some combination. There doesn't appear to be a better or worse version--great players have used them all.

I'd read the articles over on the two-hander in the advanced tennis section.

Film yourself and figure out which configuration you are naturally. Then you can check your grips and compare yourself to players of the same type. You could be bent/bent, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't benefit from a continental grip with the bottom hand.

[uspta2801398569]

Two Handed Backhand Question

Hey John

You hear a lot of coaches talk about (for a righty) using their left hand as the dominant hand in the backhand stroke.. I don't know how much that holds true? or also I think does it/or depend on how strong your bottom hand? I could see if you used more of a eastern forehand with the right hand.
But using a Continental or eastern backhand with the right hand causes the right arm starighter through inpact causing less use of the left hand????
I have used a two handed backhand for the most part of my playing days.. I also can hit a great left handed forehand. Which means I should have a monster of a backhand according to many pro's who say
(it's the be all end all to having a great backhand!!)
Your thoughts
Adam

[johnyandell]

uh, it's there with a few responses.

[uspta1863382890]

a question for John

John,

I have a simple technical question: It looks to me, having looked at a number of the strokes in the archive, that pros toss the ball just as far out in front on their second serves as on their first (although they do appear to move the toss slightly left for right-handers) - is this your impression as well?

By the way, this is the third time in the past two days I've attempted to post this. Twice before it has appeared to have been submitted, but has subsequently not appeared.

Brandon Ferris

[uspta4201423750]

toss height

Hey John,

My 7 year old has a nice motion but his toss is so low that he doesn't have time to really see the ball and get full knee bend. I have a 17 year old on my team with the same problem. Do you have any tricks/techniques for breaking the bad habit? If not, my Joe Dinofor has some gadget that helps toss height (although I don't think I've seen it). Thanks, Harry Kingsley

[johnyandell]

Uh, answered above. Not sure I fully agree with Don's strategy but understand it. The potential problem is a permanent contact point that is too far back. In fact you see a lot of juniors with this problem. It's an interesting issue. Some people are very aggressive about teaching the kick like our friend Chris Lewitt who wrote two great articles about it. Others like Nick Saviano would delay this til later.

[uspta1863382890]

question

John,

I have a simple technical question: It looks to me, having looked at a number of the strokes in the archive, that pros toss the ball just as far out in front on their second serves as on their first (although they do appear to move the toss slightly left for right-handers) - is this your impression as well?

[uspta990770809]

The second serve toss position

Basically yes. The contact point amy at times be slightly further back, but the biggest difference is the left ball position. You might enjoy reading the article on Pete's second serve that goes into this in more detail.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/...rve_part8.html

When a student is learning the second serve, they need to toss the ball further back. I like to tell them: " Behind the right ear" to exaggerate. But this is just to learn the wrist action and get the feel of hitting up on the ball. If you actually hit the ball like this, it will appear to have a big move and spin, but it reality it will be sitting too short and any good player will attack it.

As the motion becomes familiar, the good players move the toss forward so that they can get penetration to go along with the spin. This is the way most of the pros hit their second serves, at least among the men.

But when your students are trying to learn the action, they need to keep the toss behind them and to the left to get the feel of hitting up and across the ball.

don

[johnyandell]

Basically yes. The contact point amy at times be slightly further back, but the biggest difference is the left ball position. You might enjoy reading the article on Pete's second serve that goes into this in more detail.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/tour_strokes/john_yandell/sampras_serve/sampras_serve_second_serve_part8_images/sampras_serve_second_serve_part8.html