Review of my backhand

[andy]

John,

Thank you again for your analysis of my one-handed backhand this month. The advice you gave was excellent and my pro and I have already implemented your ideas into our lessons. A key was the recommendation to practice the stroke with an open stance. Both of us were pleasantly surprised at the improvement of the stroke when hitting with the open stance. It has corrected much of the exaggerated rotation, and also has greatly improved my footwork, as I seem to get to the ball much earlier and have time to step into the shot with a neutral stance, as opposed to the big step across. Keep up the great work!

Andy

[dexgodbey]

Andy's Backhand...

Hi John. Dexter here. Great analysis. Great site.

And Hi Andy.

I was able to learn to hit pretty good and pretty consistent cross court one-handed backhands, but could never get any feel for hitting down the line backhands. No matter what I tried (I'm pretty much self taught and don't have a pro or anything), some would go wide, some too far down the middle, some long, many in the net. No matter what I tried or how much I practiced (practiced what, you might ask?) I could never get a groove or any confidence. And the worst thing is that I couldn't fiigure out what in heck I was doing wrong.

Then, out of desparation I begged a favor from Rance Brown who is the Assistant Women's Coach at UCLA. Rance coached both of my daughters as juniors and my younger one played at UCLA, so a got Rance to give me a 5 minute lesson on how in the heck to hit a back hand down the line. It only took 2 seconds.

Just like you, I had developed the habit of that giant cross over step. Just exactly like John suggested to you, Rance spotted that in me immediately and told me to move my fat a-- so I could get my left foot more behind the ball and step FORWARD (what a revolutionary concept, huh?) and down the line rather than sideways and across the line.

3 seconds later I was hitting consistent down the line backhands, and I bet you've noticed a marked improvement on that shot, too. And then, with the step going in the right direction, the rest of what John suggested in his analysis falls pretty naturally into place, doesn't it?

The great thing about tennisplaner.net and John's work and his approach and analysis is that is is based on fact...not conjecture...not guess work...not the consensus of what seems poppular at the time...on fact. And with the high speed video we all get to see it and understand it so much better than any other teaching system.

It's awesome, isn't it?

Good luck with your game.

Dexter

[johnyandell]

Andy,

I was wondering how that had worked out--I'm delighted with the report! I really liked the basic elements and I think you have the potential to have a really solid, weapon like shot there... Glad you were able to incorporate it with the work with your coach. Either of you feel free to email me with any more comments or questions. And keep up the good work.. I hesitate to ask, but what happens when you and Mike face off??

Dex,

AND Dex, thanks for your kind words. Great story about your backhand too! Why don't you come out to the Mercedes/UCLA thing we're having for Allen Fox on Tuesday at 5:30pm. I have a free copy of his new book Winnner's Mind. Give me a call or email me for details.

John

[dexgodbey]

Hi John

I was hoping to get over to the MB Cup and I think you mean Tuesday the 26th? That's sort of the day I was targeting. It's just a scheduleing issue. I'll let you know. I'd love to see you if the scheduling works out. Naturally I want to come at a time when Taylor's playing, so that's part of the equation, too.

Love the new site.

Dexter

[andy]

Follow-up to John and Dexter

Guys, thanks for your follow-up. Dexter the development of the one hander down the line sounds like a great success story.

The changes in the footwork, as Dexter says, make a huge difference. I have been pretty successful on that front and the stroke has greatly improved.

However, I am having continuing difficulty with the over rotation. Although most of the time I am able to hit with the neutral or even open stance, my left hand and then shoulder won't stop following the racquet through and I end up facing the net. I know that severely hurts the stroke but can't seem to stop it. I have tried to get the left hand moving back and up as it should be but it ends up in a very weak shot and awkward movement. I tell myself that it may be from years of hitting a two hander but of course that doesn't solve the problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks again, Andy

[dexgodbey]

Follow Up to Andy On Overrotation

Hi, Andy.

I'm going to play a tournament match this afternoon and whenever I'm going to play a "real" match I try to look at some high speed video on TennisPlayer.net on some of the shots that are important to me plus maybe review a strategy article or something. Love this website.

And I happened to see your new post.

I'm not sure if it's approprate to pitch products here, but Phil Dent invented a teaching aid many years ago and I was lucky enough to help him with the project from a business standpoint. I love it to death, but it never did well in the market and it's no longer on the market.

It's a hinged racket (not to hit balls with or anything, but the way the hinge works requires excellent form or the head ends up in swinging the wrong way during the stroke and you can feel it and actually hear it immediately -- kind of hard to explain, but, in my opinion, an excellent teaching aid).

When still in the prototype stage Phil showed me in about 3 seconds how to hit a one handed backhand properly with the thing (unfortunately we didn't get to the foot work part of the stroke or it might have saved me a lot of agony over the years), and after swinging it just a few times the muscle memory started to deveolp and the correct stroke, without the overrotation, sunk in very quickly. Watch Taylor's backand videos here and you'll see the backhand stroke that this device is designed to get into the muscle memory of us mere mortals.

I know Phil pretty well and I know he still has some inventory and I'm sure he'd love to sell you one. John or your pro or others may have other suggestions to help solve the problem, but the Pivotal worked wonders for me...quickly, easily, and pretty effortlessly. So if you're interested let me know and I'll put you in touch with Phil or get one for you from him or whatever you want.

Dexter

[johnyandell]

Dex,

I did something with Phil about this before and a lot of people liked the product. Think we should do an article on how to use it and let the market take it's course...We'll talk in LA.

John

[dexgodbey]

Hi, John.

I personally love the product for a whole lot of reasons. I'll see if I can catch up with Phil and see what he has in inventory, etc., and what, if anything, he might want to do. He has an instructional video that goes with it...maybe there's something there, too.

And if there's something there, I'd be happy to do an article from a "normal" person's perspective.

We'll talk.

Dexter

[andy]

The Pivotal

Dexter,

I am very interested in the product. Can you put my in touch with Phil or give me his contact information to follow up? Greatly appreciated,

Andy

[dexgodbey]

Hi Andy.

I'm trying to get in touch with Phil myself right now. All I have is his private cell number which I obviously can't give out, and he moved tennis clubs recently which I just learned. I'll track him down and get back in touch with you through this forum.

Dexter

[dexgodbey]

Hey, Andy.

I talked to Phil yesterday morning. He's going to check his inventory and I told him we need to get a really good price for you and other TennisPlayer.net members. I forgot to ask him, but my recollection is that when he first took his product out to the retail market it was around $99 including the instructional video. I think I can get it for you at 1/2 of that or maybe even better. I'll negotiate the best deal I can with Phil and because of his teaching and travelling schedule, etc., I'll probably just end up getting it and sending it to you or something like that.

I'm also going to get the chance to go up to the MB Cup tonight for the Agassi match and Taylor v. Mardy Fish, so I'll get to see John, too. And, if Taylor has recovered from his heat exhaustion and can play tonight, I imagine I'll also see Phil so we can move another steip closer to a teaching aid for you.

It's in the works and, in my humble opinion, it is sensational. See you later.

Dexter

[lukman41985]

Dex,
This teaching device kind of sounds like the golf swing aid, Medicus Swing Trainer, but for tennis. The Medicus has a hinge in the shaft and if the club isn't swung with good rythm or put into the "slot", the hinge causes the club face to swing around wildly. The device that Phil Dent has in the works, tell me if I'm wrong, works on the same principle; the "slot" in tennis meaning the "hitting arm position" with the elbow bent, close to the side, and wrist laid back.

[andy]

Dexter,

Sounds great - I'm in. Thanks for your help and terrific follow up on this. I'm not sure of the best way for us to exchange personal contact information. Perhaps John would give you my info off his membership profile for the site.

I'll wait to hear from you. Enjoy the match!

Andy

[dexgodbey]

Hi, Lukman and Andy.

First Lukman.

Yes, the concept with the Medicus hinged golf club is similar. Interestingly, Phil talks about when he was a youngster learning tennis in Australia his coach had a wood racked, sawed through at the throat, and connected with rubber bands. Same principle. When you do certain things right you don't get bonked in the head with it. (Phil can tell a good story.) Phil used to use a very old prototype connected with rubber bands while coaching my daughters (one went on to UCSB and the other played at UCLA).

And Andy (and anyone else interested at this point), contact me at pivotal10s@yahoo.com. I just set that up in case others are interested in getting more details or placing an order. I met with Phil this morning and he's swamped with teaching and coaching, etc., and I volunteered to handle the logistics of getting some of these Pivotal teaching aids out. So shoot me an email with your contact info and I'll probably just give you a call to chat and take care of the details.

I had a lovely visit with John last evening at the Mercedes Benz Cup along with Allen Fox -- got myself an autographed book, too, "The Winner's Mind - A Competitor's Guide to Sports and Business Success." I'm excited to get into it. His "Think To Win" is on my shelf and well used.

The Agassi match was fast. He's amazing.

Unfortunately, both Taylor and Mardy Fish dropped out and I was really looking foward to that one. Oh, well.

Talk to you later.

Dexter

[dexgodbey]

Hi Anyone.

I just got chastised for my typing. I screwed up the yahoo address I set up for Phil and more info, etc., on the Pivotal Tennis Teaching Aid.

It is pivotal10s@yahoo.com.

I changed it in my last post, too, so hopefully there's no further confusion.

Sorry.

Dexter
pivotal10s@yahoo.com