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John,
Sorry to bother you, but I was very curious about the issue you raised with Roddick's backhand grip structure. Check out this video. I paid close attention to the frame 2 frames before contact and to the frame 3 frames after contact.
Throughout his backhand stroke, his right arm and wrist looks so very awkward--it's contorted in a way I haven't seen in a top player's two-hander except for maybe Guillermo Coria. The right wrist looks bowed and unnatural. This seems to be a result of him holding an Eastern forehand grip with his bottom hand. The variation he seems to be going for is the bent/straight. I say this because his left shoulder is higher than his right shoulder and he's really trying to drive that left arm straight--and he almost does straighten it all the way. But because of his flawed right hand grip, which should be an Eastern backhand not an Eastern forehand, he is not able to get his body into the shot as well as the true bent/straight players. Is there a connection betwen the flawed grip and body position? I think so. I think his body falls backwards in this clip in order to somehow compensate for the weak position that the bottom hand is in. Just compare this video of Roddick to the Flash clip you posted of Lleyton in the grips section of the bent/straight portion of your backhand article.
What ends up happening is that Andy looks like he's using the flex/flex variation, because both arms have a slight bend, but he's straying from the correct technical checkpoints for that variation as well by having the high left shoulder.
Yikes! But still, Andy's backhand is improving. At Wimbledon, it's held up. Just goes to show you how much talent and guts this kid has to overcome technical pitfalls. Will TJ or Fed expose this weakness? Can anyone explain this issue to A-Rod? If he heard about it, he'd probably laugh. After all, with that backhand he did get to number 1 in the world shortly after winning the U.S. Open--and oh, he is still a top 5 player! Not bad...
I'd love to hear your thoughts John. I have a feeling that you'll make me wait for that, like the rest of the Tennisplayer community. Regardless, thanks for inspiring me to look into this issue.
Sincerely,
Lukman
Sorry to bother you, but I was very curious about the issue you raised with Roddick's backhand grip structure. Check out this video. I paid close attention to the frame 2 frames before contact and to the frame 3 frames after contact.
Throughout his backhand stroke, his right arm and wrist looks so very awkward--it's contorted in a way I haven't seen in a top player's two-hander except for maybe Guillermo Coria. The right wrist looks bowed and unnatural. This seems to be a result of him holding an Eastern forehand grip with his bottom hand. The variation he seems to be going for is the bent/straight. I say this because his left shoulder is higher than his right shoulder and he's really trying to drive that left arm straight--and he almost does straighten it all the way. But because of his flawed right hand grip, which should be an Eastern backhand not an Eastern forehand, he is not able to get his body into the shot as well as the true bent/straight players. Is there a connection betwen the flawed grip and body position? I think so. I think his body falls backwards in this clip in order to somehow compensate for the weak position that the bottom hand is in. Just compare this video of Roddick to the Flash clip you posted of Lleyton in the grips section of the bent/straight portion of your backhand article.
What ends up happening is that Andy looks like he's using the flex/flex variation, because both arms have a slight bend, but he's straying from the correct technical checkpoints for that variation as well by having the high left shoulder.
Yikes! But still, Andy's backhand is improving. At Wimbledon, it's held up. Just goes to show you how much talent and guts this kid has to overcome technical pitfalls. Will TJ or Fed expose this weakness? Can anyone explain this issue to A-Rod? If he heard about it, he'd probably laugh. After all, with that backhand he did get to number 1 in the world shortly after winning the U.S. Open--and oh, he is still a top 5 player! Not bad...
I'd love to hear your thoughts John. I have a feeling that you'll make me wait for that, like the rest of the Tennisplayer community. Regardless, thanks for inspiring me to look into this issue.
Sincerely,
Lukman
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