Have a Question for Me?

[eaglesburg]

Racket drop looks good. Extend that tossing arm and create more shoulder tilt!

I'll work on that. Does my whole toss motion need to be changed though? I start rather high but I'm not sure if that's an issue and if I should start lower.

[johnyandell]

Racket drop looks good. Extend that tossing arm and create more shoulder tilt!

[eaglesburg]

Here's my serve:

http://youtu.be/ST98NvqXjMY

Today I was working on the racket drop.
Do you think it is close enough to perpendicular with my torso or do I need to work on it more? I am having trouble telling even though it's 240 fps.

Thanks!

[johnyandell]

As hard as a perfect motion let's you! Fun to know the speed but that is outcome...focus on the process of building a motion and control of spin and placement.

[eaglesburg]

John,

At five foot three inches and 125-130 pounds, how hard should I be looking to hit my first serve? My second serve?

Thank you!

[johnyandell]

Opponent's! See the ball but if you try to focus too hard it makes the eye jumps much harder.

[eaglesburg]

That your mind is somewhere else or thinking too much where it is. Or worried too much about a few errors.

Remember you cannot track the ball in focus all the way from the opponent. Soft focus off the racket. You need hard focus at about the top of the bounce--see the blur of the seams rotating.

And remember also the player with the most spectacular mishits of all time is Roger Federer.

Thanks John.

When you say "soft focus off the racket" are you talking about off of my racket or my opponent's racket?

[johnyandell]

That your mind is somewhere else or thinking too much where it is. Or worried too much about a few errors.

Remember you cannot track the ball in focus all the way from the opponent. Soft focus off the racket. You need hard focus at about the top of the bounce--see the blur of the seams rotating.

And remember also the player with the most spectacular mishits of all time is Roger Federer.

[eaglesburg]

John,,

On my forehand, the form is getting better and more natural but I am still having issues with making clean contact and my day to day fluctuations. Today wasn't going so well, so I figured it was my head pulling, but these videos show otherwise. Yet I misjudged the ball and hit near the tip and bottom on both balls. When I hit these types of balls I can just feel the unclean contact sapping my power and depth and just dropping a spinny, low short ball.
This is even more confusing for me because even though I consider my forehand my best stroke, I don't experience these problems or fluctuations on my other strokes, except for my two hand backhand on occasion.
However, sometimes, thinking about bending my knees more and getting lower helps a little.

What advice do you have on this?

http://youtu.be/Mxq-y2Fu264

Thanks!

[johnyandell]

No. Although both shots can be hit open the weight goes forward on the front foot it's very similar. This would a classic example of over analysis. Load the back leg--step forward neutral or closed. Keep the posture upright. There is no need to analyze what amount of weight is on what foot...

[eaglesburg]

Please let me know if the following observation is accurate in your opinion:

On the two hand backhand the weight stays on the back foot more, while on the one hander your weight comes much more forward through the shot and often completely onto the front foot.

[johnyandell]

Thank you! Working on this big forehand series but after that sure. Look at the three currently in Advanced Tennis--forehand and one hander...and tell me what your thoughts and/or questions are for further pondering...

[bobbyswift]

Would love to see upcoming articles on return of serve both first and second. Also on passing shots and approaches. You always have an amazing insight. Thanks

[johnyandell]

I dropped your backhand clip into the rowvid url and looked at the frames. A lot of the balls are too extreme to see much but on the ones you can set up for your turn is late. You want that to correspond to the bounce--full shoulder turn (not necessarily the step but the turn) at the bounce.

Re: the forehand. it looks way better and I am not sure with those blurry frames that you could nit pick forehands one and two... In general for spacing issues and contact issues the approach is exactly the same as with any other technical aspect--create the hitting arm position and the contact position as physical models. Create the corresponding image. Use the image as the blue print. Here is a good model image.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Novak_Djokovic_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Forehand/ND_FH_Inside_Out&stroke=ND%20FH%20InsideOut%20Front3%20250fps.mp4

Look at the spacing of his elbow to his body and how far in front the contact is.

[eaglesburg]

How do my movement and backhand look?

https://youtu.be/ijTr9G2Le4M

Also, on my forehands, my coach and I have noticed that often when I am not hitting it well I am opening up a little early and getting too close to the ball.
You can see the lack of spacing and resulting lack of extension the first two forehands of this video: http://youtu.be/5i7d0f7Ss-Y
How can I improve this?

Thank you!