Nalbandian BH Comments Please?

[johnyandell]

Here's a movie with some comments from a subscriber. Anyone else care to comment?

John,
I don't know how much you have studied David Nalbandian's
two-handed backhand, but I'm sure you'd agree it is one of the
best in the men's game. I recently noticed something he does
which I haven't seen anyone else do: when he hits a backhand
from a neutral stance, especially when he hits up the line,
Nalbandian moves his rear (left) foot back towards the middle
of the court instead of swinging it around towards the alley
on the followthrough. This keeps his rear hip back and seems
to put all of his weight onto his front foot.
I've tried the move and it seems to give me better balance
and better control, especially when I hit up the line. What
do you think? Is this just an incidental thing that
Nalbandian does or do you think there might be good
biomechanical reasons for teaching it?

[lukman41985]

Nalbandian's not the only one. This is a great observation, and you can see this footwork technique with other players on shots other than the backhand down-the-line. For example, Federer kicks his back leg back and to his left on short forehands when hitting from a neutral (square) stance:

I think the technique is used to allow the player to follow through the line of the shot better. By holding the rear foot back, or moving the rear foot in the manner described, one is forced to stay in the shot instead of swinging around. This technique directly contradicts the thoery, laid out in this forum, that good forehands require an "exit" step. These footwork questions are interesting, but in my mind, ultimately counter-productive. I think that analysis should start with what the player wants to do with the ball, and how he/she places the ball with whatever power/spin combo using what motion with the racquet, and then, finally, how does the body supplement this racquet motion.

[marius hancu]

I think this contributes to the linear transfer of weight into the shot by putting more body behind the shot and also to keeping the balance (remember the behind leg of Shapapova on serves?).