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Nadal's Serve...

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  • #16
    Sherlock Holmes and the Devil's Advocate...

    To continue and conclude this little visceral dissection of the Oscar Borras service lesson video with Rafael Nadal...courtesy of Christophe Delavaut.

    -Why is there no full swing video from 2010? The author concludes everything is alright and vastly improved with the view that ends with Nadal in the trophy position.

    -When Nadal is throwing the tennis ball...notice the footwork. If the throwing motion is similar to the service motion...why not copy the footwork?

    -At 6.39 Uncle Toni is between the coach and the student...at 7:03 is Uncle Toni being asked by Oscar to step back a bit. By 8:05 Uncle Toni is between the coach and the student again.

    -At 9:21 Nada has moved up to the service line to work on “power” from his new trophy position. But notice the footwork...now when he is working on power, the natural move is not to use the pinpoint stance. Once again this should draw some attention to his footwork.

    -Oscar spends an inordinate amount of time talking to Uncle Toni, while Nadal is constantly fidgeting around. Uncle Toni's interference in this session makes it virtually impossible to get anything of substance accomplished by the tennis professional. At the very least he decreases the likelihood. Nadal's body language is very inattentive and borderline disrespectful right to the very end of the video. He impresses me as being somewhat childlike. The author says at the end of the video “in my humble opinion”...and when I hear someone say that it makes me wonder if they are truly confident in what they are talking about.

    Of course everything that I have mentioned here is “in my humble opinion” or "in my arrogant opinion" as bottle once said (I liked it when he said that)..it’s only food for thought or mental gymnastics, much like trying to discern the truth from the propaganda that passes for news nowadays...and it goes without saying dear readers, take it any way you like. Good old don_budge is just playing a little Sherlock Holmes here. The Devil’s Advocate. I am only playing “worldsbestcoach”...why not? It's good practice to sharpen your claws a bit. I am honing my coaching skills...my coaching eye. Critical thinking. Besides...it's good training against the WMD's...weapons of mass deception.

    Rafael Nadal has of course a very adequate serve...afterall he did reach the pinnacle of success in the tennis world with it. I wouldn't necessarily call it a dominant serve. He doesn't need me to tell him how to improve it...does he? But I will bet my last dollar, my last Swedish krona...one of the remaining few, that these guys go to bed at night fondling their tennis racquets, standing in front of a mirror in their hotel rooms, wondering if their is any more potential to squeeze from their mortal bodies. Well, at least some of the time. Potential is the equivalent of room for improvement...that's what Sherman Collins always said. My dear old coach...my only coach, he was a like a second father to me in some respects.

    When I was a “competitive player” my coach advocated playing the “what if” game...much like the game the Pentagon plays. What if, for instance, somehow one day I found myself on Center Court at Wimbledon? How would I react? Would I think that it was all a mistake for me to be there? A fluke? Or would I play the game like I deserved to be there? He instilled the attitude in me not to be afraid to go into the opponents home court against a hostile crowd, somehow they seemed to get peculiarly hostile with me, and take it to him...the opponent that is. I didn’t always win, but I never shrank away.

    My little exercise here was only that. What if? What if I was the "worldsbestcoach"? What if I was Robert Lansdorp? What if I was Harry Hopman? What if I was Oscar Borras? What if I got a chance to coach a number one player in the world on some aspect of their game? Would I shrink at the opportunity? Or would I seize the bull by the horns and put my best foot forward? I wouldn't be afraid to give Rafael Nadal some advice on his serve...like stop bouncing the ball so much, stop pulling your shorts out of your butt and correct that backswing and fulfill your potential young man...but I would have to insist that Uncle Toni retreat to behind the glass partition. Under no uncertain terms.

    What's the harm...what the hell. We had a little time to kill between events. Now I have got to get going. A little business to take care of in the barn. Horse poop to shovel and stalls to clean. It's reality setting in. The wife's back is sore so I have to pinch hit today. I tease her...I tell her she is a "poop engineer". She really knows her shit.
    Last edited by don_budge; 11-06-2011, 08:13 AM. Reason: for clarity's sake...
    don_budge
    Performance Analysthttps://www.tennisplayer.net/bulleti...ilies/cool.png

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    • #17
      One last thing...

      Originally posted by llll View Post
      fyi
      there is a lawsuit going on between the nadals and borras
      rafa says the only thing borras did was waste an hour of my time
      It's always one last thing, isn't it? Larry, you didn't think I would forget you, did you?

      If anything I would think that it would be Oscar Borras suing for waste of time, but that would be ridiculous. He wasn't wasting his time. He was putting his best foot forward and asserting himself. I am sure that he gleaned a tremendous lesson for himself while partaking in the experience. It looks to me that Oscar was addressing the same issues that I perceive in the Nadal serve. He did raise the question of footwork. He was raising the question of the wrist position at the top. It could very well be that he was addressing the backswing as well...at one point I saw an inclination for him to take a full backswing when he was demonstrating the ball toss to Nadal.

      Don't get me wrong about Oscar Borras. This man is a tremendous talent as a tennis coach and instructor. He had his game plan written down, he had some video evidence to support his game plan. It's only that he did not get a complete and uninhibited session with his potential student. Our man Stotty has lamented on what a tough job it is to be a tennis coach...and that is one thing that makes it tough to be a tennis coach...the outside influences. Stotty's right, it is a tough job...it's a real balancing act in general.

      We sort of had a parallel discussion in the Ryan Sweeting thread where tennis_chiro suggested that serious changes were going to take a lot of time and practice not to mention getting into contact with Sweeting in the first place. These guys are surrounded by their support posse's and their job is to not let anyone get through. It looked to me that Uncle Toni was running interference the whole session.

      Oscar Borras must be a great coach to of (whoops, I mean "have") gotten the chance to work on the Nadal serve...it was no fluke that he was in such a position. It would be very difficult to have much of a lasting impact unless he was designated a full time coach because of the tremendous difficulty in implementing changes on such a high level of the game. As President Obama always says..."Let's be clear on that."

      If there is a weakness in the coaching in this example...it would have to fall on Uncle Toni for not letting Oscar do what he was hired to do.
      Last edited by don_budge; 11-08-2011, 12:43 AM. Reason: for clarity's sake...
      don_budge
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      • #18
        It just proves that yes indeed these players are always looking for ways to technically, mentally, and tactically improve their games. All of those guys are looking for ways to get better.

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        • #19


          straight from nadals FB december 8 this year

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          • #20
            Back where he started from right?

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