James Blake Forehand

[ctaylan]

Hi John.

You have a lot of helpful tips and media in helping me improve my game.

Ever since James Blake and Lleyton Hewitt battled it out in the US Open a few years back, I've always enjoyed James Blake's groundies, particularly his forehand. I think he possesses one of the best forehands in the game today. It can be erratic at times, but when it's on, it's awesome. His forehand definitely has the characteristics of the modern forehand, but evidently is different looking than the other great forehanders. Will you be adding his forehand to the stroke archive any time? What makes his forehand unique? Any insight about his forehand will be greatly appreciated.

[johnyandell]

Thanks for the good feedback about the site! We will be adding Blake by the end of the year. I won't hazard any detailed analysis of his strokes til then at least. I would never say his or any player's stroke is "unique." The commonalities are usually much more important than the differences with other players. He seems to have a moderate grip but also a lot of hand and arm rotational variety--we'll see how accurate that is later...

[shootermcmarc0]

when he takes his racquet back, and starts the forward swing, it looks different. it looks like his racquet and arm are one piece moving at the same time, rigid almost. its not like federer's with the wrist release.

[stroke]

I have an interest in big forehands also, and how the top players do it. I was watching the Australian Open yesterday, the Hewitt, Chela match, and I really liked the look of Chela's forehand. I would like to hear some comments from John Y on Juan I. Chela's forehand. After watching him yesterday, he appears to me to be a player who could have a much better ranking than he has now, if he were to really want to move up. I think his forehand looks about as good as anyones, and you never hear anything about it. He is very consistent with it, good spin and power.

[EdWeiss]

Blake forehand

As James is from my neck of the woods (Connecticut), I thought I might note that his coach, Brian Barker, was a big proponent of teaching the Eastern forehand. He even changed kids with full Western forehands to Eastern forehands. He said they hated it for a year but eventually it made them better players. It looks to me that James may be a shade towards the Semi-Western - perhaps close to the Federer grip. It might be interesting to do an interview with Brian as he is very knowledgeable and a great guy. John, I sense a new assignment for me coming on.

[johnyandell]

Brian is a great guy. So Ed, Go for it. I'll send you an email address for him later. The question is: why 99% of all players should learn the eastern grip--that's a topic of interest to me if not general popularity. But it gets proven occassionally even at the pro level...


As for Chela, I don't have any video of him at this time to give you an opinion on his forehand. And you are right-his game is bigger than his ranking. If he hated everyone as much as he hates Hewitt, his results would be more consistent and more film worthy.

I think one thing to consider is the "flavor of the month" fallacy. Chela plays a good match so suddenly his forehand must contain the secret. It's not really like that. You'll find the same elements in all the top players forehands with similar grip structures. The reasons his looked so good were probably mental--watch for him to be out in the next round or so... Not to say we wouldn't film him but I think you get the point...

[stroke]

John, I hear you.

[jeffreycounts]

Blake Forehand

Stroke,

That is a good observation. Blake doesn't lay his wrist back the way say Federer or Nadal do. Hewitt is another guy who doesn't lay his wrist back much, but Blake does it least of all. It's weird, too, because he, unlike Hewitt, has a huge forehand. Blake can end points very quickly with his forehand. But it seems to me that his not cocking his wrist back would affect his forehand in some way, seeing as every player I've looked at lays his wrist way back almost 90 degrees as the racket is pulled to the ball.

But from contact on, Blake looks like everyone else. Great solid contact and good extension through contact, good hand and shoulder rotation. It's a mystery to me about the wrist. I think it probably helps him on return of serve, though, because there is less timing involved and he can meet the ball well out in front.

Jeff

[vmiller]

It looks to me that James may be a shade towards the Semi-Western - perhaps close to the Federer grip.

So is Blake's grip even more towards eastern than Federer's?

It might be interesting to do an interview with Brian as he is very knowledgeable and a great guy. John, I sense a new assignment for me coming on.

I think it would be very interesting.