Have a Question for Me?

[vmiller]

What about his argument that to avoid rotor cuff injuries, it is better to throw the ball off to the right?

I would think that's based on the argument that letting the humerus (upper arm) get above the plane of the shoulders is more of a risk to the rotator cuff.

But if you look at most current players that hit further to the left, their upper arm is still in line with the shoulder plane at contact, or close to it. The difference is that the shoulders must be tilted more for the upper arm to stay in line. Take a look at Roddick.

So, if this is the case, internal rotation is going to occur at the same angle in relation to shoulder plane, which I think suggests that there wouldn't be much difference, if any, in the amount of stress to the rotator cuff.

If anyone could prove this wrong or add any further information, that would be great.

[gzhpcu]

Hmmm...think you might be right... looked at Sampras... he really leans to the left when serving, with his left shoulder much lower than his right shoulder... so, the compensation is to go forward, but leaning towards the left....

[johnyandell]

Vin's info is more detailed than anything I have. Are you in med school at night Vin? Vic always talked about Tony Roche ruining his shoulder. I guess I'm not sure what the answer is, except to say if the whole thing is relaxed with the contact still in front, my instincts are it's fine. One thing for sure, that's the way the top players are going to continue to serve for the foreseeable future...

[vmiller]

Are you in med school at night Vin?

No, far from it. I guess I'm almost as much of a health and fitness nut as I am a tennis nut.

I hesitate to make posts like that since I lack the background, but I wanted to get some discussion going.

There's some mention of what I said on easitennis.com. For anyone who is a member, there is brief mention of it here:

http://www.easitennis2.com/members/ServeTilt.htm

They don't say why, but I figure it's because the arm being higher stretches the rotator cuff further and it's doing it's work to slow the arm down in a vulnerable state.

[gzhpcu]

BTW: Referring to Plagenhof's book again:

He has a table entitled: "Height of throw above the contact point among some top tennis players"

0-1" Newcombe, Graebner, Talbert
1-3" Seixas, Savitt, Palafox, Emerson, Osuna, Pilic
3-5" Ashe
6-9" Gonzales, Sedgeman, Hoad, Laver, Roche
9-12" Kramer, Mulloy, Richardson, Rosewall (1969)
12-15" Stolle, Ralston, Smith, Santana, Connolly
15-20" Smith, McKay, Rosewall (1952)
20-24" Lutz, Santana, Garcia, Drysdale, Barthe, Brough
24-30" Chaffee

P.S. John, Your article on the Sampras Serve, entitled the "left launch": doesn't this also illustrate Vin's point?

[johnyandell]

What was the point--it was a long post...

[gzhpcu]

That when you throw the ball more to the left, you lean more to the left, your right shoulder is higher, your left shoulder lower....

[johnyandell]

OK yeah. To tell you the truth I never look at the relative level of the shoulders. The reason is I think that happens automatically. It's the consequence versus cause thing again. Seen a lot of people mess up their motions trying to artificially create shoulder tilt, or whatever you want to call it.

On the injury issue, I am not qualified to have an expert opinion. Pete made it thru 20 years plus with that serve. But it would take someone with a knowledge of the differences in the motions and how that affects the internal structures--and someone not predisposed to one answer or another--to give us a framework.

[shootermcmarc0]

so when can we expect articles on the one hander in the advanced tennis section? what you did with the "building the modern forehand" section was just awesome.

[johnyandell]

eventually yes. there will be a great new one-handed bh article in Nov from none other than Bungalo Bill...

[shootermcmarc0]

Inner game and Visual tennis

I just finished reading The Inner Game of Tennis, and it completely changed the way I approached the game. I plan on purchasing your book as well (is it available here?). So I was curious, how do you feel about the ideas in the book? I read a few excerpts of your book from Amazon and it seems like similar ideas, using visualization and not trying too hard. I really look forward to reading it.

[vmiller]

I just finished reading The Inner Game of Tennis, and it completely changed the way I approached the game.

If you like that book, check out the CD titled Fearless Tennis by Jeff Greenwald. It's basically a modern extension of the same ideas. Because it's a CD, you can listen to it over and over on your way to matches and the ideas really start to sink in.

[shootermcmarc0]

If you like that book, check out the CD titled Fearless Tennis by Jeff Greenwald. It's basically a modern extension of the same ideas. Because it's a CD, you can listen to it over and over on your way to matches and the ideas really start to sink in.

Vin, I read the reviews on amazon and they look good. Thanks for the suggestion

[shootermcmarc0]

Hey John, I just rented your book from the local library today. Didn't get started on it yet because I've been swamped by school I have the one with the green cover, is there a revised edition or anything out there? The book they showed on amazon had a different cover.

[johnyandell]

Yeah that's the first edition. Out of print for several years. The second edition is the one with the purple cover you saw.