Ryan Sweeting...Brian don't look

[don_budge]

I quote myself...

It's not such a big deal, Stotty. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. The guy has a defective backswing. His setup is perfect, he initiates his backswing nicely and from the still shot that our resident...Mr. Come up with the Goods, has supplied us, his delivery of the racquet to the ball is rather conventional and actually pleasing to my eye.

Sweeting just has this unseemly hitch in his backswing and a rather unorthodox and strange way of setting the racquet up to deliver the head to the ball. bottle would say he's "quirky"...he doesn't like the word strange when it comes to player's artistic license in their swinging a tennis racquet. But, if one was to use his swing as a model for a rollercoaster ride it might be a bit frightening for the customers, the riders in the cars. His backswing sort of defies gravity. It's not the sort of thing that one envisions when designing a service motion or a rollercoaster track, for that matter.

But I think that the most interesting aspect or question related to your post is...why? Why does a player of this caliber have such a glaring defect in his serve when a good coach like Coach Don could set this guy straight in a matter of hours? I would like to see tennis_chiro make Sweeting the poster boy for the figure 8's concept. Sweeting would have such a "sweeeet" serve.

What does this say about this young man's teaching? Who taught him how to serve anyways?

I think that both of you guys are making "Much ado about nothing"...with all due respect, of course. Sweeting has a defective backswing and that is all there is to it. I love his set up, the way that he initiates his swing and his athleticism. For him to deliver the racquet head to the ball in the manner that he does from his rather defective backswing is truly an athletic marvel.

This "hitch" can be corrected in an hour lesson...I am just amazed that his coach has not had the resourcefulness to accomplish this...the simplicity of this boggles my mind. He only needs to get the rollercoaster car (the racquet head) to the top of the hill in his backswing so that he can feel it begin the descent at free fall speed just before going into the loop behind his back. He's home free...with one helluva service motion. Rollercoaster of Love. Game, set and match. Could it be that the coach is not aware of this?

Correcting this "hitch" is not all about mph...it is about control, spin and strategy, after he masters the correct motion. Perhaps most importantly, correcting this hitch is about confidence. If it improves his service game by a factor of let's say 10% in these categories it may make the difference of 100 spots in his ranking. Never underestimate the importance of the service game! Don't forget too...that when the serve picks up, so does the rest of the game. I remember way back when, on good serving days, how it would have such an inspirational affect on my game. Getting free points off of service and winning easy service games is such a morale booster during the course of a match...and it also has an equally discouraging effect on your opponent's morale.

As a teacher...I make it a point to sell to the student, the simplicity of change. I would never in a million years let it into this young man's head that he has a serious problem. I would be remiss. Instead I would emphasis all that he does well, which is considerable, and point out to him the obvious...he only needs to correct the "hitch" in his backswing. If I can sell him on the idea that the payoff is 100 spots in his ranking it is going to be so much the easier.

The remarks about his attitude or competitive nature are another factor altogether. He may have some emotional defects or motivational problems. But then again it may be another indication that his coaching is not being managed properly. He may need a good tennis therapist.

I just wish tennis_chiro could arrange some sort of session with him, hypothetically speaking. Perhaps some sort of video conference tennis lesson in cyber space...a new function of tennisplayer.net. Just think if we solve this young man's service motion problems we have so many potential customers...there aren't too many perfect service motions out there on the tour these days to say nothing of the club players that would be marching to our little cyber space domain.

[tennis_chiro]

We are parsing words here

For once I find myself disagreeing with you, don...but just over one issue.

With a drastic case like Sweeting, I would never use Gonzales as an example. Gonzales has a perfect motion, something that Sweeting is unlikely to achieve. I would use Gonzales as an example for talented juniors but not for someone as flawed as Sweeting, where the damage is irrepairable. Sweeting needs radical surgery, and radical surgery never looks pretty. In his case, better to give an example of a player who has been thru the same and come out the other side with a decent, reliable serve. There are plenty of hideous looking serves out there on the tour, no doubt the result of where coaches have battled and chiselled away to produce more effective serves at the expense of flow and beauty...Sweeting may well be encouraged to attempt something along those lines. Better to give an example like Rafter or a two-part server because at least that will be achievable.

Below is a lovely clip of Victor Pecci playing Borg. Unlike many clips from that era the picture is reasonably clear. Take a look at Pecci's serve. It looks like the racket arm is moving off slightly earlier than the throwing arm, yet it still comes together for a decent flowing serve. If you go to 1hr 21 mins you get a clear look. I am not suggesting Sweeting do the same...it's just an interesting serve and an interesting clip. I wonder how Borg would fair these days against the giants of today.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diNZgd8m0tM

Stotty,
fundamentally, we both agree that it would take radical intervention to change that motion. Over a long period of time. This is where I have to disagree with Don_Budge. My experience is that it is very rare that someone who has hit as many balls as Sweeting can make the change we are talking about easily; theoretically, it is possible and even makes sense, but I haven't seen it. So I would want to get him into a good trophy position from which he could make a good drop (in this we are in complete agreement with Don_Budge), but I would want him to do it while he maintained a sense of rhythm.

As for Victor Pecci, nice piece of memorabilia. It's amazing how many guys like that we have just forgotten completely. I don't think I've ever seen another player from Paraguay. It's also nice to note how much even Borg tries to finish at the net on clay. He would have been murder with big racket heads and poly strings!

The thing about the different service motions that we are talking about here (Rafter, Pecci) that are in pieces: the sequential nature of taking the racket back a little ahead of the toss enables the player to focus on the backswing instead of the toss long enough to make the correction on the backswing and still be able to concentrate on the toss at the critical moment. But I'm not sure Rafter or Pecci is even a radical enough change model for what Sweeting has to do.

And...
Don_Budge,
I agree it is terrible to tell a player he has a problem. But I think Sweeting has a problem (only relative to accomplishing being a top 20 world class player) and I don't think he knows it. It may be an easy thing for him to change in a lesson standing next to an instructor, but for any change to carry over into the heat of battle; I think it will take a lot. I'd love to be proven wrong. I see that Sweeting has started his ranking decent and lost another first round qualifying match this last weekend. He'll probably have to qualify for Madrid or Shanghai, but he should get into everything else until the end of the year and probably next spring. It's a pity that he's going to a gunfight with a revolver while the opposition is using automatic weapons. This kid has the athleticism to have one of the biggest serves out there and it is such a shame to see that potential go unrealized. If someone doesn't shake him and wake him up from this mindless passage through this chance at greatness (he's probably working pretty hard; it's just mindless in our minds because we think something essential is missing!), he will struggle forward and he will probably improve with his ranking going up and down from 40 (at best) to 90 for a couple of years and maybe even become a solid 50 (which would mean he could make more money in 2 or 3 years than I've made in my 40+ years in the workforce). But that's the reason I would disagree with your suggestion to just go with the positive. My fundamental agreement with your attitude on not undermining his confidence is why I hesitated to approach him in LA. If I had the chance to help him, I would have to tell him the truth.

don
PS: D_B, you should like my article this week in 10sballs.com on Mardy Fish. Go to www.10sballs.com/author/don/