Have a Question for Me?

[uspta4201423750]

p.s.

King Van Nostrum is a legend on Long Island

[johnyandell]

Not sure you can. Playing style is mostly a matter of personality. You can try something like having him play points and the game is to win 11 points all on winners or forced errors. But players develop in their own way at their own pace. The more confident he becomes the more he will be willing to try things.

[ralphoaxaca]

John

I recently joined your web site and must say I have gained immediate results! To define my background a bit; I'd probably classify myself as one of the better players in Merced County.

But now the reason for writing you is this......

The section on grips has made an absolute day to night difference in my forehand. Now I'm hitting the ball in the sweet spot almost every time I hit it!
What made the difference? Well, first I want to say I always thought I had an Eastern grip but after reading your article on grips, I realized my grip was neither of any of the grips you described. In short, my index pad was on the side bevel but my heel pad was sitting on the 2nd bevel (2nd bevel from the top, left to right). So to I lined up my heel pad to sit on the same bevel as my index pad; which matches your description of the Eastern Grip . Bam!!! the difference is unbelievable; I'm swinging freely at the ball and it feels great to drive the ball!

As for the serve; I've always felt my serve was always lacking a rhythm to it; only sometimes achieving the feeling of hitting the sweet spot. It's embarrassing to tell you how many years I've experimented with the back swing and not achieving any results. Then I read "back drop" article about Paul Goldstein and John McEnroe. Then I tried the exercise you recommended where you swing the racquet in a full circle; next thing I know my serving arm seems to move freely through the serving motion and now it feels like I'm hitting the sweet spot a lot more often (day and night difference again!).

I know I've read this article about the racket drop but I still can't quite get my mind around it as to why the exercise works and how it's making such a big difference? Can you describe again what this exercise is doing to improve the mechanics of my serve?

I need a quick remedy on my two handed backhand.........for about the last month or so all 3 of my strokes; Forehand, Serve and Backhand have been working really well at the same time! Then of all of sudden; my back hand is out of sync! For a time I was able to deliver a quick clean cut at the ball; my arms seemed to swing freely through the stroke. It basically felt like I could swing as hard as I could and still hit the sweet spot while keeping the ball in play.

Now at times it feels like there's a hitch during the swing. I've tried to remedy this by stepping forward with my right foot as the ball approaches me; rather than moving my left back first to get me into a ready to hit position. This foot work seems to alleviate the hitch, but having trouble incorporating it while on the run.

Do you have any rhythm building or foot work exercises for two handed backhands like you do for the Serve?


Ralph Serrano Oaxaca

[ahile02]

John,
On the subject of hand/arm rotation on the forehand, should one start the rotation of the hand and arm (to produce the windshield wiper movement and increase topspin) just slightly before contact? What's the earliest one should begin hand/arm rotation


I'm always had some issues truly "feeling" the kinetic chain on the open stance and it feeling natural. Whenever I load my back leg and try to explode off of it, I end up jumping up, throwing my whole balance off and it ends up just being counter-intuitive to what the open stance forehand is supposed to do. It seems like I'm merely jumping into the air, sending my momentum up, but not forward. Any tips on how I can actually correctly use the kinetic energy from the ground-up and not just jump? Should the back leg/foot pivot before exploding up? Any drills or anything like that to develop a natural feel to how the kinetic chain works through the open stance?

[johnyandell]

For Ralph,

The circle windup enlarges the size and changes the shape of the backswing. It's is easier to make the drop this way unless you have a super flexible shoulder from god.

As for a "quick" fix on anything, including your two hander, I don't really believe in that. Also, as I have said many times here, to comment on a stroke without seeing it is folly. The one thing you could check is the timing of the turn. You need to be fully turned with the racket ready to start forward at the LATEST when the ball bounces on the court. Aside from that I have no idea about the look or shape of your swing. So send in some video.
(See Your Strokes for how.)

John Yandell

[johnyandell]

For ahile02,

I don't think it's possible to give a certain split second for the wiper to start. Remember that the hand and racket rotate somewhat in any forehand. The wiper is just more extreme. The answer is to focus on the finish. Visualize how much you want the hand to rotate at the end. If you feel this let your body decide when to start. You can't micromanage this--even in the high speed footage at contact it's impossible to predict the amount of wiper.

As for the leg, again the same issue. This is not a mechancial movement. You do not jump. By coiling hard on the outside leg the push should come naturally from the legs as part of the forward swing. Focus on the preparation and the finish.

John Yandell

[thad]

backhand volley

would like your help if possible
i am working with a women on her tennis
she is a 4.0
her best shot is her 2 hand backhand
her grip is a little less then 1 beval over on both hands
2 yrs ago a pro told her that if she wanted to volley good she had to go to
a 1 hand volley on the backhand side
she has tried very hard but her backhand volley is not good
today i said why don't you think about going back to a 2 hand backhand volley
she asked me what grip should she use on both hands
i hit a one hand backhand
so i had no idea what the answer was

what are your thoughts on the above
and where could i go to read about how to hit the 2 hand backhand volley

thanks
would appreciate all thoughts

[johnyandell]

yeah great question. if you can find a copy of my book visual tennis there are teaching progressions there for that. A continental and an eastern is the grip combo.

If the player mainly plays doubles and doesn't do a lot of approaching where she has to hit low first volleys, and isn't some athletic poaching type, it can actually be a better shot. Frew McMillan hit two handed volleys off both sides and won slam doubles.

However, the main issues--I see it with girls high school players on my team--are strength and development time. You might have to hit thousands and thousands of volleys to get that one-hander down, particularly if you aren't very strong and need perfect technique. How many lower level club players are going to do that?

[uspta2801398569]

Backhand

Hey John

So often I hear coaches talk about the use of the left hand (right handed Player) for the backhand. "That Its the be all end all to hitting great backhands" You also hear coaches say percentages like 70% is used with the left hand.
How could you even possibly measure something like that!!
I am righty but can hit a ball really well left handed. Does that mean I should have a incredible backhand. When you watch a lot of the slow motion backhands you see the hands laid back through impact and many frames after..
Is the right hand used in the finishing/deceleration of the racquet phase?
How? and when is the left hand used? Is the left hand used more only when try to put extra spin on the ball? I notice when I play with different grip variation such as a eastern/eastern I guide more with my top hand! But when I use my usual continental bottom hand and semi-western top, I feel less need for the left hand unless I want to generate spin. You also see a lot of women players using less dominent grip positions with the bottom hand and more of the men with stronger! Why is that?

Adam

[tica1]

Forehand and The Federer Forehand

I just have one question regarding the forehand, and specifically Federer's forehand. We know from Hi-Speed video research that the pro's do not use the wrist in strokes such as the forehand and serve etc. but that it is in a laid back position. From reading Jeff Counts work he says that it generally goes from a laid back position of up to 90 degrees to a 45 degree angle on contact(what he calls the wrist release).

My question is about the first federer video in the first article on his forehand. If you look at it, it looks like he supinates the wrist and then quick pronates it on conact. Obviously this is not happening, I'm wondering though is this, as Jeff said in one of his recent articles, the hitting arm supinates backwards before the racquet is "pulled" to the ball and then the wrist release from the laid back position to the roughly 45 degree angle on contact. Is that what is happening but it's happening so fast in that video that the human eye thinks that it is actually the wrist supinating and pronating...

one other question is about the hitting arm positions...as you know, the angles in the elbow etc. and the whole structure remains fixed from the lowering of it till slightly after contact...my question is at what point does the wrist release after contact and when does the hand and arm rotation start.

[wicky10s]

Torso rotation

Hi John,
I wonder if you might do another in depth piece at some point on torso rotation on the forehand side that specifically looks at the relationship between the angle of the lower body when it is set up to hit in relation to the angle of the upper body at the top of the backswing.
I notice similar timing and set up positions by many of the top pros(particularly in the center shots) and I think it would be great to have you dissect and relate these two major parts of the swing with video analysis.
It's notable to see time and time again on the backswing (in the open to neutral stance) that the feet(and hips) set up about 45 degrees to the baseline while the shoulders rotate farther around to 90 degrees. It also seems as though positioning and setting up the loading leg is critical to the timing of the downswing and has an effect on the position of the hand at the top of the backswing . I wonder what the que is for knowing exactly where and when to plant the foot of the loading leg.This all might seem simple and obvious but I think that the relationship between the loading leg and torso rotation angles are very important and sometimes illusive parts of the timing process.
What do you think?

[johnyandell]

Tica,

I think you are confusing wrist release--or forward flexing of the wrist with hand and arm rotation. The hand and arm and racket, including the wrist, come down to the bottom of the backswing closed or slightly closed. They then rotate backwards to find the hitting arm position and the start of the forward swing.

On the forward swing the hand and arm now rotate counterclockwise, depending on the amount of wiper. Suggest you look at the new forehand series.

The wrist releases forward at various times after contact. This should just happen and will if you are relaxed. You shouldn't be trying to make it happen.

[johnyandell]

wicky,

Check out the article I wrote years ago on Commonalities Across the Grip styles. The loading of the leg can be taught as roughly simultaneous with the stretch of the left arm and the top of the backswing on a ball in the center. But the sequence falls apart with enough movement--turn usually preceding leg loading.
If a player has the basic positions though he will probably do this naturally.

As for the hips/shoulder thing. No doubt there is a separation, and the shoulders turn more than the hips. I think there is even research that shows the greater this separation the more power...

But I am not a fan of the 45 degree foot angle--even though it obviously happens. Wish someone would count a few hundred center forehands and see what the average angles are.

I just looked at the first 12 or so Fed Center FHs and only 4 are truly at 45 degrees. About 4 were parallel like this one:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/rogerfederer/rogerfederer_forehand/rogerfederer_fh_center/rogerfederer_fh_center.html?FedererFHCenterOpenStanceSide.mov

And the rest were inbetween.

In teaching what I see is that when players consciously try to do the 45 thing, they end up restricting the overall body turn--yes there is a separatio but forcing this 45 degree step often means that neither hips nor shoulders get turned enough.

[wicky10s]

Hi John,
I reviewed the commonalities article. such a great piece.
Especially the timing paragraph..which has been my issue for a while now.
Will you expand on your thoughts about the 45 degree angle stance? I am a little confused.
Thanks

[johnyandell]

My experience is that when players try to plant at 45 degrees they end up not getting turned fully. Think it's better to try to turn the feet sideways to feel the full shoulder turn and then just adjust ball to ball without thinking of it.