Have a Question for Me?

[johnyandell]

If I had your serve I doubt I would change it!

[stotty]

Stotty,
I would never say your serve is inferior! It's so frickin' precise and crisp. I have a theory that the lateral pinpoint is the vestige of the old days when you had to keep one foot on the ground and serve and volley predominated. Of course you brought the back foot around.
If it was truly superior though even for that I don't think you would have seen all the great s and v players go left foot landing: the only exception being Becker. My own opinion is that in general it reduces the potential for leg thrust and body turn. Note Jerzy lands on the left foot.

Interesting. I never drove up much even when I was young, and I land on the right foot because I was always on my way to the net. I was thinking more "forwards" than "upwards".The theory that lateral pinpoint is a progression from "foot on the ground" might be a good one. I had no coaching when I was young so instead I copied. I copied Nastase who was also lateral pinpoint and landed on his right foot. He never drove up much either. Back then it was all about being fluid and having a classic motion. Serves are uglier these days and there is less emphasis on beauty. Players "muscle" the serve much more and focus on hitting key positions. No one seems to care much about weight transfer and fluidness...at least not in my view.

Personally I would take Federer's motion above all of the muscular servers on tour. Nasty's wasn't bad either.

I saw Benoit Paire at Wimbledon who has a lovely motion. He barely comes off the ground yet can hit bazooka first serves.

[johnyandell]

Stotty,
I would never say your serve is inferior! It's so frickin' precise and crisp. I have a theory that the lateral pinpoint is the vestige of the old days when you had to keep one foot on the ground and serve and volley predominated. Of course you brought the back foot around.
If it was truly superior though even for that I don't think you would have seen all the great s and v players go left foot landing: the only exception being Becker. My own opinion is that in general it reduces the potential for leg thrust and body turn. Note Jerzy lands on the left foot.

[stotty]

John

What happened to lateral pinpoint? You don't see it much these days. It was very prevalent in the wooden racket era. What's the history? Why was it prevalent back then and not now? Did it lend itself better to serve and volley?

I don't understand the pro's and con's of lateral pinpoint? Is it technically inferior in anyway? Any thoughts?

Jerzy uses lateral pinpoint: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6mCgdyi8xU

And of course yours truly: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4joc07_stotty_sport

[bottle]

So, should one not participate in the next one hundred days, just play at tennis and other stuff, read, WORK, write about other things? That could be pleasant but self-destructive?

[johnyandell]

Or maybe it's the death and taxes one...didn't catch my interest and haven't read...

[johnyandell]

Phil,
I know you just love the Don Trump thread... it will all be over in 100 days...

[bottle]

As a former schoolteacher, I say the bigger concern (bigger than frequency or relevancy) is life of the discussion. A real discussion, in my view, is apt to become irrelevant and then relevant again in turn, but only if you give it that chance. Alles muss nicht in Ordnung sein.

[gzhpcu]

It is less about activity than it is about relevancy. At the minimum, just an additional thread for all non-tennis topics...

[johnyandell]

It's an interesting idea but we don't have that many active links at any given time. I think it's manageable the way it is.

[gzhpcu]

Jusy wondering: I am in some discussion forums, like cosmoquest, for example, which break up the forum into subforums by topic. Does the software used here support this? If so, one could break down the forum into subforums here. For example: tournament tennis, players of the past, technique, off topic, etc.

[johnyandell]

It's a sony 700 series. 240 frames a sec shooting in 2K raw

[seano]

What camera are you using to film in Toronto?

[johnyandell]

Less expert than you may imagine...my theory is if you have something that works keep it working...

[seano]

John -

I'm still investigating if it has shutter, I just heard of it today. Was giving a men's clinic early this morning, filming with my Sony RX100 IV & Casio fh100 but having to move around to do so. That's when the Soloshot3 was mentioned. Player wears a sensor and you place the robotic tripod in one place and it will follow the student. Thought I'd ask the video expert.