Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Nadal's 130 plus MPH serve

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #16


    This photo was taken during the match against Youhzny. Don't think you get such an angle between forearm and racket shaft with an eastern forehand grip...

    Comment


    • #17
      Question

      Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post


      This photo was taken during the match against Youhzny. Don't think you get such an angle between forearm and racket shaft with an eastern forehand grip...
      I do NOT understand your post-do you agree with post#15 above?

      Comment


      • #18
        All I am saying is that IMHO it does not look like an eastern forehand grip to me.

        Comment


        • #19
          Just to clarify

          Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post
          All I am saying is that IMHO it does not look like an eastern forehand grip to me.
          1.The claim from TW was:
          "it is a grip between continental and and eastern forehand grip"
          2.I am not sure whether it is used in this picture
          3.I am NOT sure whether it is ALWAYS used by Nadal

          Comment


          • #20
            Great picture!

            Whatever else. What a great picture. But that 1st knuckle is awful close to a continental. The racket shaft-forearm angle is a great argument for pronation. We need someone with my Casio at 210 fps or even 420 to show what happens to the inside edge of the racket in the next frame!

            Comment


            • #21
              Compare to Sampras, First Serve Deuce Court Arm Action

              Need someone who knows how to flip Rafa to a righty. It would, of course, switch the picture to the deuce court. Then compare to the frame from the clip of Sampras's First Serve Deuce Court Arm Action #2

              Comment


              • #22
                Here you go....

                Sampras tosses the ball more to the left...

                Comment


                • #23
                  Pretty good serves!

                  Just judging by the pictures, you'd have to really like Nadal's action an awful lot, probably a little better extension than Pete. The grip is clearly not quite as far to the continental/backhand as Pete's, but it's not that far behind. I still think Rafa will figure out how to do everything he is already doing so well can be done with even more effect when he learns how to control just the little bit more pronation he will get as the grip goes a little further. After all, just 6or7% more and he is in the 140s!

                  don

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    The Nadal serve photo in this thread looks like continental to me. Definitely not eastern forehand - I don't know where that came from.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      grip

                      Supposedly John McEnroe
                      See

                      A quote below from a forum of
                      Jim McLennan
                      Essential Tennis Instruction

                      ---->
                      Phil
                      September 14, 2010 at 11:31 pm

                      P.S.
                      Do you know what the grip change was?

                      *
                      Jim
                      September 15, 2010 at 10:02 am · Reply

                      Phil – I am not sure. I did notice his wide serve to the deuce court was much improved (sort of like McEnroe’s serve that Bud Collins called the can opener) and I heard McEnroe say that the grip moved a little closer to the Eastern forehand – but this is just a hunch – somehow I either think or wish he went further to the Eastern backhand and found more action from that grip – I am and will continue to investigate – keep me posted if you learn something
                      best
                      Jim
                      Last edited by uspta146749877; 09-17-2010, 05:12 AM.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Originally posted by uspta146749877 View Post
                        Supposedly John McEnroe
                        See

                        A quote below from a forum of
                        Jim McLennan
                        Essential Tennis Instruction

                        ---->
                        Phil
                        September 14, 2010 at 11:31 pm

                        P.S.
                        Do you know what the grip change was?

                        *
                        Jim
                        September 15, 2010 at 10:02 am · Reply

                        Phil – I am not sure. I did notice his wide serve to the deuce court was much improved (sort of like McEnroe’s serve that Bud Collins called the can opener) and I heard McEnroe say that the grip moved a little closer to the Eastern forehand – but this is just a hunch – somehow I either think or wish he went further to the Eastern backhand and found more action from that grip – I am and will continue to investigate – keep me posted if you learn something
                        best
                        Jim
                        Know it... I posted the question to Jim...

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          In my experience when I move my grip towards an eastern backhand grip, I get more spin and less velocity, and when I move towards an eastern forehand I get more velocity and less spin. I am not actually moving to an eastern backhand or forehand, but moving the continental from an extreme continental to a weak continental.

                          If you hold your racket at full service extension with a strong continental or an eastern backhand you will see that it is tilted back to the left at contact which will impart more of a topspin component. If you hold the racket with a weak continental or a eastern forehand you will see that the racket if more straight up and down at contact which will produce a flatter ball.

                          In Chris Lewit's article on Developing the Kick serve (in the classic lessons section of this site) he advocates using a strong continental to develop the kick serve. He states that some velocity is lost, but not as much as with an eastern backhand grip.

                          I am guessing that Nadal moved from a strong continental or eastern backhand to a weaker continental, and this gave him less spin and more velocity.

                          Blake

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Jim disagrees with blake_b

                            Originally posted by gzhpcu View Post
                            Know it... I posted the question to Jim...
                            Please see that Jim MC. disagrees with blake_b about which grip is the best for speed

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              I am certainly no expert, but I have experimented with my own grip to learn how to get more topspin on my serve.

                              It is more interesting that Jim McLennan disagrees with Chris Lewit who wrote a four part series on the kick serve for tennisplayer.net. The following is Chris's full quote on the topic.

                              "Whatever you want to call it, I believe in this "strong continental," with the index knuckle very near bevel 1 (top bevel). This grip promotes heavy spin without slowing down the ball too much, as a more extreme backhand serve grip can do. I also believe players can hit the first serve with this grip, rather than making a dramatic grip change between first and second serves, which can hurt disguise. "

                              It is an easy experiment to perform for yourself. When I use an eastern backhand or strong continental grip my serve kicks considerably higher, but rarely hits the back fence in the air. When I use a weaker continental grip my serve does not kick as high, but often hits the back fence in the air. The same thing happens for a friend of mine, although I realize that two people's results do not constitute scientific proof. However, Chris has worked with a large number of students.

                              I would be interested to hear John Y.'s opinion on this subject.

                              I found the following older picture of Nadal in the Tour Portraits section of this site. It is a little hard to tell from the picture, but it looks like he already had a pretty strong continental grip.
                              Attached Files

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                John

                                Hi,
                                I would advise to put a post in a section
                                "have question for me".
                                He reads this section

                                Comment

                                Who's Online

                                Collapse

                                There are currently 8504 users online. 4 members and 8500 guests.

                                Most users ever online was 139,261 at 09:55 PM on 08-18-2024.

                                Working...
                                X