Have a Question for Me?

[chuck62]

backhand volley

John,
Great article on the forehand volley this month. Please tell me your going to do the backhand volley next.

[johnyandell]

Uh, actually there was a backhand analysis included as half the article. The foundations of all that are in the Advanced Tennis section on the volleys.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/avancedtennis/advtennis.html

[jimlosaltos]

Milos Raonic's Serve, Video

John,

As a stopgap until we have one of your great, slow motion video's of Milos Raonic's serve, I've cobbled together one.

Would you care to comment on his serve?

I have a video embedded on this blog page. It's 720p (if it plays at below that, select that option). Click the "four arrow" box to play in a larger window if you wish. It includes several serves, at various frame rates and resolutions as well as one with stop-action.

http://www.fawcette.net/2011/02/milos-raonics-serve-close-up-in-video.html

Raonic his 50 aces in the last 12 hours, beating world #9 Verdasco for the second time in three days, and then Stepanek.

Although you'll hear about speed - up to 151 mph so far -- what impresses me most is an absolutely wicked twist serve to the ad court, and his mastery of every serve. More variety than from Isner or Karlovic.

And, a full court game that is fun to watch.

best // jim

[johnyandell]

Yeah without a high speed shutter or frame by frame you really can't say much. Two of the reasons I hate YouTube. It's clean and smooth and big but beyond that I'll reserve my thoughts.

We'll try to get him in IW. But doubt there is some technical magic bullet that he has no one else does.

[jimlosaltos]

Raonic Serve

John,

Glad to hear you might do video of Roanic at BNP Indian Wells.

Not only is his serve great, but he's a full-court player and fun to watch.

Can I talk you into sticking your neck out and making a qualified observation?

Meanwhile, he's my weekend-hacker thoughts on Raonic's serve:

1) He gets tremendous racquet-head speed from his flexible shoulder, and very-quick extreme pronation.

2) His service motion overall is pretty simple, and looks effortless.

3) Raonic's serve is old-fashioned. None of the rigamarole that new, competitive players are taught. Raonic's serve looks like that of Sampras or Federer, but without the trunk-torque of Sampras, or the shoulder turn of Fed. Feet are apart, in a solid base, good leg bend, goes up to the ball, but not nearly as far into the court as, say, Isner or Karlovic.

Contrast this with most 20-something players: Step the back foot forward, past the left foot, balance on your toes with both feet close together and your trunk twisted. Raonic's seems a lot simpler, with fewer moving parts to break down. It's harder to argue all that twisting and turning is needed, when Raonic can hit 151 mph without it. Helps if you're 6 ft 5 in.

4) Grip. Might be way-over on the Eastern backhand side, but he's got some long bones, the index finger is like a talon, stuck up and curling around 3/4 of the grip.

Just one viewpoint.

[johnyandell]

You might be 100% right. Or not. Treating myself to not thinking about it until and/or if I have some video.

[llll]

Typo In Article By You???

john i get an e newletter called tennis
in it they have a review article by you on federers serve
in talking about the grip
you say a milder version of federers grip would have the index knuckle sliding more from bevel 2 to bevel 1
did you mean slide from bevel 2 to bevel 3????

heres the paragraph

Like all pro players, Federer uses some version of a backhand grip. You could call it a continental, or a mild eastern backhand. If we look at the position of his hand on the racket bevels, most of the palm of his hand is on the top bevel, or bevel one. His index knuckle appears to be in the center of bevel two. This grip works well for high level players, pro players, college players, ranked juniors, even some advanced club players. But you can develop the same basic swing elements with a slightly less extreme grip as well. You could call that less extreme grip a mild continental. The heel pad slides somewhat more to the right and is positioned somewhat less on bevel one and somewhat more on bevel two. The index knuckle slides somewhat to the right as well, to the edge between bevel one and bevel two. This is an easier grip for lower level junior players and many adults. It worked pretty well at the pro level for John McEnroe as well.

[johnyandell]

Yep bevel three. Good catch!

Would you forward me that email? Can't remember who I might have authorized to use the article--just want to verify...

videotennis@metricmail.com

[summer]

Left arm during the (righty) forehand

Your installments in Advanced Tennis on the modern forehand were very enlightening. One small unaddressed question occurred to me, though, as I was looking at my daughter's forehand. What to do with the left arm and hand (assuming a right hand forehand) after the full extension during the preparation phase. Specifically, during the early forward swing her left hand goes down toward her left thigh with her elbow close to her body and near her left hip. Then just before contact her left hand rises, bending at the elbow, which stays close to her body. To me, this looks a little floppy and seems to lead to inconsistent contact - often "lifting" the swing and making the balls fly long. Watching many of the pro videos, there seems to be a lot of variation, but are there any common principles that would be helpful? Height of hand and elbow? Degree of rotation (ahead, even, or behind left shoulder)? How early does the left arm "sweep" out of the way for the forward swing motion? Is any of this important? If you've already answered this elsewhere just please direct me. Thank you so much! Really enjoying the site.

[johnyandell]

Thanks for the good words. And you have an excellent question. In fact I have contemplated doing an article on it.

What I think is that if you simply relax the arm after the stretch as the forward swing happens, it takes care of itself. It ends up at around contact with the elbow bent around 90 degrees with either the fingers or sometimes the palm pointing at the opponent.

On the over the shoulder finish it may be higher.

That's based on a quick look at Fed, Djokovic, Agassi and Nadal. They might be other variations.

Sounds like your daughter is doing something mechanical that is different and probably not ideal.

Scott Murphy actually wrote a great article on just this topic:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/classiclessons/scott_murphy/scott_murphy_opposite_arm_groundstrokes/scott_murphy_opposite_arm_groundstrokes.html

[10splayer]

John,

Is there any way you can talk Don into writing a few more articles? Just went back and read his only two contributions to this site. And I must say, I thought they were brilliant.

[johnyandell]

Post a plea in the Forum. He's been claiming he would for a while now.

[jryle1]

What's was the story with Fed's backhand against Djoker? Was painful to watch as a die hard Fed fan. Is it just confidence? I know he's getting older and the next few years are gonna get hard to watch but cringe...some of the errors off both wings. flashes of genius and stunning forehands and backhands but also a lot of errors creeping into his game as of late. Is this a result of him trying to play more aggressively or some other factor I wonder?

[johnyandell]

I couldn't say as I was up in the mountains and didn't watch the match? Anyone else?

[jryle1]

Do you have any videos of the Edberg volleys by any chance John or know of a source that has some good videos of it?