Have a Question for Me?

[johnyandell]

That's all for right now. I will see them both at the USPTA in Orlando this fall so you never know.

[jryle1]

Hey John,

Hope you're well. Just wondering if there will be any further updates on the ATP forehand coming up from Rick or Brian or is that finished with?

Jonny.

[johnyandell]

No I haven't looked at the differences with his serve. He needs to play some matches on the stadiums at the tournaments where we film...

Thanks for the good words on the series...

[alexandrafranco]

I meant rhythm in regards to Nishikori's serve, I assume he kept the same toss and backwing in both versions of his serve or for that matter also Salzenstein. So in these cases, I wondered if there is/was a rhythm change? as I am trying both and feel that when in the platform stance I am still coiling when I release the ball and in the pinpoint I seem to be uncoiling already... so both serves feel different in terms of rhythm... just curious and like to experiment..

I have read Eng's article and also is threads on the forum.. but will go back to it. I'm loving your series on the serve and am looking forward to your piece where you will consider Don's trhread on the forum, on the rhythm and toss in the serve.
Thank you!

[johnyandell]

I don't have footage of him. In general the weight on the platform is going to be more evenly distributed at the release--makes sense because in the pinpoint your are dragging your back foot and can't put as much weight on it.

There is no such thing as one rhythm for either serve. It depends on other factors like ball toss and windup. Check out Doug Eng's article regarding that:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/tour_strokes/doug_eng/the_three_service_rhythms/index.html

Re: Jeff. We worked the same way I work with everyone. We filmed his motion. We studied it and compared it to a model (Sampras). We did some physical positions and visualizations on the court. Jeff started working toward the model. We checked his progress with more video.

[alexandrafranco]

Nishikori new platform stance

Hi John,
I just noticed that Nishikori changed to a platform stance..right up your preference Is the rhythm of the two serves the same? How do you teach someone like you did with Salzenstein to change?Is the weight in the same position at the release of the toss in both serves? It seems to me that with the pinpoint the weight at the release of the toss is slightl ymore forward than in the platform. Do you have footage of Nishikori both serves to compare? thank you,alexandra

[johnyandell]

Did you copy the file from the card onto your hardrive? The slider should be fine. But if not try the arrows for frame advance lower right on your keyboard.

[stotty]

In the tennisplayer archive, when I view a clip by moving the slider through a stroke, I can view every aspect of the player's shot. I can do so very smoothly and there are no jerky transitions from frame to frame.

With my own camera, when I load a clip I've taken onto Quicktime and move the slider to view a player's stroke, it jerks from frame to frame, and often I can never freeze the clip at the key moment because that key checkpoint has been lost between frames.

What do i have to do to get an archive-quality clip where I can move the slider and view a stroke so smoothly?

[johnyandell]

Yep interesting. Must be something to be on the other side of the net from the man...

[jimlosaltos]

Thx

Jim the expense would be astronomical because we would have to do multi camera filming and then analyze old style biomechanical manual digitization...

We may try to find out more from close observations of 1D views however. But nothing like the depth of the current studies.

Thanks for the explanation. Good luck with whatever you are able to work out. Thought you'd like to see the quote anyway, since you'd shown interest in the subject.

[johnyandell]

Jim the expense would be astronomical because we would have to do multi camera filming and then analyze old style biomechanical manual digitization...

We may try to find out more from close observations of 1D views however. But nothing like the depth of the current studies.

[don_budge]

Dancing With Myself...Billy Idol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQhOLjlFImk

He's dancing with the tennis ball...never out of step. Maybe a bit now...he's been around the world quite a few times. Getting a little tired to keep the beat up.

"My coach [Olivier Morel] said, 'He's always on the ground, he's always stable, he's never off balance and you cannot tell where the hell he's going to hit the ball.'

[jimlosaltos]

Side Spin

John, this is less a question than support / evidence for your comments about Nadal's side spin. I'll make it a question to fit the forum. Q: Do you plan anything specific to measure top pros' sidespin components?

Quote from double-bagle loser to Federer:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/jun/15/roger-federer-wimbledon-halle-final

"His ball … has so much stuff on it. It just goes through the air but it moves like left and right, it moves like a shank but it's not a shank. You think it's going to go long but it's, like, two feet inside the baseline. His ball is just phenomenal.

"The worst is when you're at the net, you cannot tell where he's going to go. With most of the players, you can anticipate. Because of his [stance], he can go down the line or cross-court. You think: 'OK, he went down the line most of the times, so let's cover down the line'. I'm a huge fan of Federer, I watch pretty much every match of his. I never have a feeling he loses matches because he's not good enough, it's mainly because he's either a little bit injured or it's a mental thing with him.

"I'm not saying he's mentally weak, I'm just saying he's a phenomenal player, he still is. He still has the game to beat anyone easily."

[stotty]

That's what I am on. In fact I checked on two. Something is off with your QT or your browser.

Fine at my end, too, just takes a little longer than the other clip to load. Try waiting a little longer, Julian.

[johnyandell]

That's what I am on. In fact I checked on two. Something is off with your QT or your browser.