Westcoast's ground game - FH + 2HBH

[westcoast777]

I'm back with more footage. This time the focus is on the groundstrokes.
In the past few weeks I have made the decision regarding the sport I will pursue throughout high school and beyond - tennis. No longer will it split time with basketball or swimming.
The bug has bitten me, I have the desire to be the best I can be - please help me along my way. As always, thank you for your input and willingness to help.

Forehand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H791F4cCJEE
Backhand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UB8eqtSYqDM

[westcoast777]

The forehand grip is a semi-western, 4/3.5
The backhand is bottom continental, 2/1 - top modified eastern, 3.5/3

[johnyandell]

Those are both looking pretty darn solid, wc.

[don_budge]

The fjord's of Norway...

Hej there westcoast777...I just spent a week in the fjord's of Norway with my father who is visiting from the States. The views were breathtaking and spectacular. Their economy is reputedly the strongest in the world. It was an interesting week.

I actually looked at your video's on the hotel computer...from the other side of the world. There were two red clay tennis court just outside my room on the third floor. It's always a pleasant sight.

I want to study the videos a bit more and I have some thoughts and advice that I want to share, so be patient. I'll be back.

[westcoast777]

A better forehand?

I have continued to work on the forehand with my coach. We worked on the inside-out path of the swing, amongst other things, that I believe has led to a more natural finish of the stroke.
This footage is from this morning, during my lesson.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AG9TGRI3JgE

[westcoast777]

Hej there westcoast777...I just spent a week in the fjord's of Norway with my father who is visiting from the States. The views were breathtaking and spectacular. Their economy is reputedly the strongest in the world. It was an interesting week.

I actually looked at your video's on the hotel computer...from the other side of the world. There were two red clay tennis court just outside my room on the third floor. It's always a pleasant sight.

I want to study the videos a bit more and I have some thoughts and advice that I want to share, so be patient. I'll be back.

Sounds like a great time, hope you enjoyed your stay.

Thank you for your continued interest in my development, I await your advice.

[GeoffWilliams]

Take one look at any pro fh. They launch themselves into it, with bent knees, and heavy leg action into the shot. They slap back the fh towards their own rear, for more stick acceleration. Today's game requires you to use all of your body, not just your arm. Very passive looking weight transfer, and no passion or emotional attack into the shots. At all. Get down, launch forward, slap back.

[tennis_chiro]

Good start

You are off to a great start WestCoast. I'm curious to hear what D_B has to recommend for you. I can assure you of one thing though; he won't be recommending that you jump into your shots. It's not in the old school manual that some of us are having a hard time giving up. Take a good look at the stroke archive, particularly at the shots hit from a "neutral stance". Players are often forced to do different things under various degrees of pressure, but you want to build your basic stroke around what they do when they have a choice. Certainly, you too are going to have to hit balls off your back foot, etc, but learn to hit your basic stroke in position whenever you can and learn to hit that shot well.

One simple thing I saw in your video that should not be difficult for you to address is the placement of your left foot on your forehand. It's important to get your shoulders at least sideways to the net, whether or not you hit with a closed, square or open stance. To help you do that, you want to get your hips sideways to the net as much as possible. So when you put that "plant foot" down before you hit the ball, your left foot should point at the side fence and be parallel to the baseline. Then, be sure to load that left side before you turn into the shot. I don't like to let my students jump at first. It's important to learn to turn through your shot. As you develop more proficiency, you will start to explode up through the ball more and more and you (or perhaps your left foot on your forehand) will leave the ground as that side swings forward; but even then, you will not be "jumping" into the ball. The release of power will take you off the ground (unless it is a high ball or some special case), but you will no more jump for power than an NFL quarterback would jump to throw a long pass.

Keep up the good work. Geoff is right; you need more lower body for power, but you are doing a good job developing a nice stroke there. Get the fundamental stroke right before you try to break the ball. You look like a pretty strong guy; you'll be able to do that soon enough!

don

[don_budge]

Lower body Fundamentals...ala Hogan

Part 1...

OK...here we are again. westcoast777...good to see your videos. Don’t forget about the camera angles. The shots of your forehand that are taken from the front and 30 degrees to your left are the best angle.

Let’s start out on a positive note and I congratulate you on your decision to pursue tennis as your first sports priority...this is a good one. Of course this doesn’t mean that you cannot pursue other things in your life as well...it is best to be well rounded, but tennis is deserving of a first rate priority if you are going to be serious about it. There are going to be ups and downs...and one can not overemphasize the importance of hard work and dedication. Throw in a little creativity and imagination...now it is a recipe for a wonderful and fulfilling lifelong endeavor.

After viewing your video image, it is also apparent that you have the necessary skills to be a very good tennis player should you decide to do so. The thing that I like most is the path of the ball after it is leaving your racquet...it has a nice controlled arch...good solid contact. Being left handed is a huge advantage and you should learn to take advantage of every little strategic nuance that goes with this advantage. Along these lines...it it paramount that you build your game around a service that can hurt your opponent at any given time and your forehand should be developed into a strategic weapon as well. In the beginning, for the first year or so, I feel that your backhand should be very solid defensively and you should have the ability to move your opponent around the court.

As the first part of the lesson and critique of your groundstrokes, I am going to pass along a very vital tip...from none other than Ben Hogan...the golfing icon. I have a tape of Ben Hogan and Sam Snead playing a match on an old TV series called “Shell’s Wonderful World of Golf”. These two golfing legends play a match at the Houston Country Club and afterwards both Snead and Gene Sarazan both exclaim that they have never seen a finer round of golf played than the one just completed by Hogan...he was flawless. At the conclusion of the match Sarazan asks both golfers for their comments on the most important part of the golf swing and this is what Hogan had to say.

“The most important thing of the golf swing to me, is the movement of the lower body from the top of the swing (“get in position” position). First of all, it starts down below with your knees and your hips. At the top of the swing you move the lower part of your body, not your shoulders...letting your shoulder, arms and hands bring you into position to hit. This is the first movement there (Hogan demonstrates that as he turns his hips from the top of his swing his hands come down into position without any movement from his hands) then you release at the bottom of the swing.”

After watching your video and reading my predecessor’s comments I felt compelled to comment on the importance of the action of the lower body in the swing...whether it be a tennis swing, a golf swing or swinging a baseball bat. There are certain fundamentals that one should be strongly advised to observe when transferring the weight of the body to most efficiently transfer the energy into the racquet head and subsequently into the ball. In order to make this most fundamental move to the ball...your feet must be in the proper position.

You must create a solid foundation from which to swing and to effectively use the lower body...like a good golfer does. I frequently say when comparing the two games that tennis is "golf on the run". When I first get a new student, the most important position that I begin to emphasize is the “get in position” position that you have seen me write about ad infinitum. This is the position which gives the swinger a solid and balanced platform to swing from. The position is created by three lines...one with the feet and the front foot is ideally placed six inches on a line in front of the back foot, the second line is with the hips and shoulders on the same line with the feet and the third line is with the racquet on the same line as the other two lines. If you can accomplish this on any given shot...consider yourself properly lined up. Also the tennis player is in a crouching position or “semi-sitting” position so that if I was to put my hand on your right shoulder from in front of you and instruct you to resist my push you should be able to hold your balance no matter how hard I am pushing...that is the solid foundation from which you would ideally swing. Remember that I said ideally...this isn’t possible all of the time, perhaps realistically only a small percentage of the time in a match situation.

Your feet are in the wrong position westcoast777...the wrong ideal position. More to follow.

[don_budge]

Ideal position from which to swing a forehand...

Part 2...

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/pro_men/roger_federer_09/rf_forehand/rf_fh_center/rf_fh_center.html?RFFHCenterNeutralStanceFront.mov

This is what your ideal forehand position looks like when you are examining arguably the best all around forehand in the game. Notice the position of the feet.

When Roger is in position to be really aggressive on the forehand side this is how he looks. When he lines up all of the vectors involved in his swing...his feet, body and racquet, he is in position and balanced to make his most effective swing. This is the position from which he will attempt most of his winners or forcing shots. If he is in less than perfect position...he instinctively realizes it and in turn he will play a more neutralizing or defensive shot. You can bet the farm, though, that Roger will do every thing humanly possible to get in perfect position as often as he can. He understands that this dramatically increases his chances of creating a successful shot...and enable him to dictate play. This is a big part of the struggle between two tennis players...which one will get in the better position more often when they hit their shots.

Lining up to the ball and ball position is every bit as important in tennis as it is in golf.

[don_budge]

Hitting from less than perfect position...is an art

Part 3...

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/music_videos/federer_fh_not_gone/index.html

In the music video "Forehand Not Gone", Roger Federer is hitting four forehands from less than perfect position. Notice though that he dutifully attempts to create perfect position at the moment of impact.

fh 1...backing up, left foot plants first and as he swings into the ball the right foot is backing up in line with the front

fh 2...moving to his right, right foot plants first and left comes swinging into line as he swings into the ball

fh 3...backing up, left foot plants first and right foot slides backwards into position as he swings into the ball

fh 4...backing up, left foot plants first and the right foot slides backwards into position as he swings into the ball

In the video Roger is swinging at four forehands and in three of them he is running around his backhand to his left. Since his momentum is carrying him to his left he plants his left foot first to assure himself that he has ample room to make his swing yet at the same time his right foot is backing up to bring himself into alignment with the ball. You see also that he must make a last moment adjustment by taking to the air to create just a bit more room to make his swing. Yet his head and body are perfectly still at the moment of impact.

In the single ball that he is moving to his right, at the last moment he plants his right foot a bit forward towards the net from his left foot as he tries to take the ball a bit earlier and at the same time his left foot is moving towards the ball so that at the moment of impact he is in as close to proper alignment with the ball as humanly possible.

The music video is simply a perfect example of how the forehand should be played when perfect position on the ball is not possible. Normally when I am watching Federer in a match, I like to watch just him without taking my eyes off him to watch the ball or his opponent. Coincidentally, I heard Rod Laver suggest the same thing. For instance, in the music video one can really appreciate the grace and perfect balance that Federer has when he is in the moment of truth...and that is when he has his body aligned to make his move on the ball from “get in position”. Even when he is actually in the air, off the ground, he is somehow able to achieve nearly perfect stability as he is swinging and this is evidenced with the still positioning of his head. He has the ability to achieve the Hoganesque lower body movement to the ball to initialize his swing...even with less than perfect position.

Another absolutely stunningly, brilliant music video...John. Catchy tune, too. The music coupled with the maestro's footwork and low center of gravity create...poetry in motion. Be still my beating heart!

[bottle]

Ben Hogan rides again. That defeatist guy at the New York Times is all wet. Successful, advanced level generic instruction in tennis, golf and rowing CAN BE DONE.

[westcoast777]

I've heard that the forehand is similar to a sidearm throw...if so, how?

Exciting news about the serve. As many of you may know, I have thrown right-handed all of my life yet serve and play left-handed (which I believe has led to quirks in my game, especially my serve). Less known, I have begun working with a new coach 30-40 minutes away from home after disappointments with two local coaches.
A small showing to a group hitting session allowed me to spend ~30 minutes with my coach one on one working on the relation of throwing mechanics to the serve. Long story short, he tinkered with the angles formed at the elbow and shoulder and...whoosh. After a lifetime of unsuccessful attempts at throwing left-handed, I can now throw almost as far as I can right-handed.
Then came the application to the serve. It began with a very weak continental grip, choked up on the racket, no tilt in the shoulders, throwing the toss far out in front, stepping in, all like a throw. A few progressions later...no longer choking up...a little stronger on the grip...less and less distance with the step...and then, "Start in a throwing motion, similar to the trophy position, and maintain the throwing mechanics"
Bang. Hardest flat serve I have hit by a long shot.
As I work towards smoothing it into a full service motion I'll be sure to post footage.

[don_budge]

Once again...Ben Hogan says:

I've heard that the forehand is similar to a sidearm throw...if so, how?

I learned more about tennis in the fifteen years that I was away from the game than I did the previous twenty five years...when I was playing. A bit of a joke...an odd oxymoron if you will, but so true in a sense.

When playing golf you are faced with a still ball and you have all of the time in the world to ponder about the correct technique that you must apply to it...to send it on its merry way. I came to the conclusion that playing golf was pure technique, in a sense. When I think about how this relates to the game of tennis...it feels like tennis is technique “on the run”.

Hogan...was a shaman. You had to only look into his eyes to know that he was a mystic, a wise man...somehow, some way. A man of few words...reputedly. His grasp of the golf swing, or his golf swing, was unparalleled at the time. He, in some ways, was the Tilden of his age...or perhaps the Gonzales. Maybe both. At any rate...he was and is and always will be...an icon. Arguably, the GGOAT.

He had this to say about the action of the right hand and arm in the golf swing. It sounds awfully close to the action of the tennis forehand. So simply put.

From Hogan’s “Five Lessons- The Modern Fundamentals of Golf”...another pearl of wisdom.

“Let us first study the correct motion of the right arm and hand in the impact area. It has always seemed to me that, in its general character, this motion is quite similar to the one an infielder makes when he throws half underhand, half sidearm to first after scooping up a ground ball. As he swings his arm forward, his right elbow is very close to his right hip. The elbow “leads” the arm-it is the part of his arm nearest the target as he begins to make the throw. The forearm and hand catch up with the elbow, and the player’s arm is extended relatively straight when he releases the ball. As he follows through, the wrist and hand gradually turn over, and his palm faces the ground at the finish of follow-through.”

Pay attention to your fundamentals. Don't be tempted to get the cart before the horse. When throwing sidearm or underhand...what is the correct position of your feet...westcoast777? How is the weight transferred? When throwing overhand...what is the correct position of your feet...westcoast777? How is the weight transferred?

[don_budge]

And now for the backhand...

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/music_videos/breaking_serve/breaking_serve_large.html

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/music_videos/mac_lendl_walking/mac_lendl_walking_large.html

I seem to remember having this discussion with you before. One hand or two? Just have a look at these two guys.

I know...I know. Everyone is hitting two hands these days. I know. But be different...for god's sake. When the herd goes one way...go the other. Take the "Road Less Traveled". Ignore conventional wisdom...think for yourself. Rebel!

There are a couple of reasons that everyone is playing two handed these days. One big one is a lot of players are started out at such a young age that hitting one handed is a question of strength. This is not an issue with you.

I am sure that if you continue to play two handed that you will develop a fine two handed backhand. But, at the same time, I am quite certain that it will limit you in your potential to be a "complete tennis player" in the classic sense. In the all court sense.

I rest may case.