Similarity in Head Position Between Nalbandian and Federer on the Forehand

[lukman41985]

Nalbandian and Federer both get to a similar sideways head position during the forward swing of the forehand, keep the head still at contact, and keep the head still until about 3 frames, or 1/10 of a second, after impact. Check it out:





If you've read Part 1, Page 1 of Roger Federer and the Evolution of the Modern Forehand, you might have read that "Federer keeps his head virtually immovable for around 1/10th of a second after the hit--way longer than anyone else." The footage of Nalbandian shows that this is not true. Again, if you read the aforementioned article, you also read that "as great as Federer is, he probably gets more miss hits than any other top player I've ever filmed, especially on the forehand side. Is it possible this is related to how far he turns his head during the swing?" Nalbandian, to me, is one of the cleanest strikers of the ball. Therefore, I would venture to say that the sideways head position doesn't lead to mishits. But, Nalbandian's racquet head speed and swing speed look slower than Federer's. Combine the sideways head position with super-high racquet head speeds and maybe, we have the formula for "frequent" (it's all relative with the Pro game) mishits.

[johnyandell]

Great video--but I don't agree. First of all you have to be careful timing things off 30 frame video and making statements about where things are before during or contact--since the contact frame isn't there on Nalbandian or Federer. There's a a lot less information in 30 frame video. Federer definitely turns his head further though--you can see that even in the 30 frame. Go look at a bunch of different ones in the Stroke Archive.

[lukman41985]

After looking at some more video, I agree that Nalbandian doens't turn as far sideways, but he keeps his head still after contact as long as Federer--almost 5 frames, which is what, 1/6 of a second?

[johnyandell]

Yep--he's probably a very resonable model...