Have a Question for Me?

[4180]

learning tennis visually

John,

Great article! Although I am sure the "feed and tip" tennis teaching methodology has provided successful careers for many a teaching pro, I believe it is past time for the teaching world to evolve to the "visual and feel" method.

I see this process as identifying the base stroke model a student is trying to imitate, such as viewing a video tape of a pro's strokes, video taping the students strokes, making an off court verbal/written comparison of the two, followed by court time to implement the perceived adjustments based on the analysis. This should all be followed by more video taping and comparative analysis.

Although the cost would be higher up front, I believe in the long run the cost would be lower because, if it all works as we think, the learning curve would be much shorter. Beyond all that, I believe people would flock to a pro that was set up to do these things because the students would be raving about how quickly they progressed. What better way to build your business than the ravings of happy student tennis players.

I love it! Keep up the great work,

Joe

[johnyandell]

Joe,

Basically you nailed it on the head of the nail.

John Yandell

[vespasianvs]

How to hit a good flat drive?

Hi, Coach Yandell,

I think this question might be weird. I am using a 3.5/ 3 grip. But I am hitting a lot of loops right now. I want to hit some more flat drive winners like those of Federer's. Which article in this website deals best with flat drive winners?

Thanks

[johnyandell]

Assuming your preparation is sound, look at the Extension and Rotation article in Advanced Tennis--the extended finish is associated with deeper harder balls.

[vespasianvs]

Proportional Stringing

Hi, Coach Yandell:

Does proportional stringing, which strings each main and crosses at the tension according to their lengths, really work?

It is said to offer a larger sweetspot.

What is your opinion on it?

[johnyandell]

Absoultely no idea. Anyone else?

[uspta4201423750]

Hey John, I had a player ask me about having energy let down in the second set. I saw a bag check on tennischannel where one player showed an energy bar for her similar situation in matches. Is there an energy booster you recommend? Is there one most pro's use? Thanks, Harry Kingsley

[leis]

Torso Stretch-Shortening Cycle

John: I was coiling so much on my unit turn on both the forehand and backhand, that I noticed that I did not allow for a last second further stretch of the torso before uncoiling in the shortening cycle. Although the timing was tricky, it produced tremendous power. Is this observation accurate? If so, can you direct me to video footage that you feel best reveals this movement as it is hard to see

[johnyandell]

Guys,
I appreciate you faith that I have all the answers but I know nothing about energy bars. And, as for what you are saying Leis...huh? Why don't you look and post a clip for us that demonstrates what you are feeling.
John Yandell

[hyperwarrior]

Mr. Yandell,

What is your thought about Max Mirnyi's forehand?
Do you think his forehand is a better model to emulate for most club players than the Federer or Verdasco's forehands?

[johnyandell]

I think it's more about the component's than anyone player. Suggest you read thru the various forehand articles in the Advanced Tennis section.

The individual players are great for feeling and seeing the elements but it's more about creating your own forehand out of the parts and assembling them in a way that works for you.

[jperedo]

John out of curiosity have you ever measured topspin rates for recreational players?

[johnyandell]

Not really.

When we did the first spin study in 1997, some of my pals who were senior players (35s and 45s) helped with the camera tests. We never studied the numbers in detail but seems that on the ground the spin was around or over a thousand. I remember Scott Murphy (who writes for us) hit a kick serve that I think was over 4000rpm. But my memory is a little sketchy at this point.

[neaot]

Serve backswing question

Hello John,
First, I want to say that you have done a terrific job on this site. I hope you will continue to educate us the way you have done here. Great!!!

My question-
For the last two years I have been teaching my 10 year old daughter the serve, no spin for now, just flat, focusing on technique. The technique is similar to what you see from Sharapova. Our major issue has been the backswing, and she says that it feels unnatural to take the racquet back in a circular motion, and as a result makes her serve less consistent. Lately we tried to minimize (abbreviate) the backswing, sort of like J.Henin's and P. Rafter's. The consistency immediately improved, and the speed of the forward swing got much better (faster swing). I also noticed that the abbreviated backswing makes her rotate the shoulders back more than when she does the traditional circular take back motion, where shoulders don't rotate, they just remain close to perpendicular to the net. My daughter says that this abbreviate swing feels more natural. All the other parts of the serve- the toss, the back foot forward move, the jump up and landing on the left leg remain the same. Only the take back has changed. I've read that some coaches think that this abbreviated backswing can result in shoulder injury. Do you believe this to be the case today? Should I force her to focus on the traditional serve, hoping that once she gets older this issue will resolve itself, or let her do what she feels is more natural to her? Obviously, the priority is to prevent any future injury. Please try to respond as best as you can.
Sincerely,
L

[johnyandell]

Not sure how abbreviated you mean by abbreviated. I think that it is really hard to draw straight lines between technique and injury--some players never get injured with supposedly dangerous technique. I've heard it both ways about the alleged stress of the abbreviated take back, whatever that may mean.

Sampras was abbreviated compared to Mac or Fed. Andy's abbreviated motion creates a new power position to the side. What I would be concerned about is achieving the racket drop and also a contact point near the front edge of the body. You are videoing her, right?

Thanks for the great words about Tennisplayer.