klacr Strokes

[klacr]

Kyle I see your serve somewhat similar to Feliciano Lopez. Look at your his at trophy position. Very similar nothing like Pete Sampras. Your separation angle might not be as good as Lopez hard to tell with out frame by frame. But that would appear to be flexibility. You have a great looking game potentially. One other question to me is the size of your forehand volley. You are very comfortable striking it but I am pondering would this swing work for modern player. Rosewall Laver all had similar size technique as do I. But with modern pace not sure if that works.

bobbyswift,

I'll take that comparison to Lopez! Thanks. Guess I'm naturally flexible. No exercises or stretching out of the ordinary.

As for my volleys, in my initial post I mentioned I was not happy with the ones that I taped and will be taping those again. I agree with my backswing on forehand volleys. They are much better than what it shows. I got a bit careless and ball high and preditable. Put me up against a hard hitting modern player with pace and spin and I'll shine. I'll post up some better volleys in the future when time of thread is appropriate.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

A lot of good observations men....


Kyle,

It's kind of frustrating, cause I know we could work through this if we were there, but here would be my first approach.

Can you see in Jeff's "live" version, how at the top of the backswing (with the shaft standing straight up) you first start to turn your thumb down, and then reverse it? (supinate) I believe this is the culprit.....


Verify this, from the same position, continue to turn your thumb down, (pronate) and notice how the elbow begins to extend....It will also tend to get the face of the racquet to lay down and lesson the wrist extension..

Like to see you try that, and go from there.

10splayer,

Great eye! I do see it and that subtle shift could make a big difference. Will ponder it and see if I could get it continue turning down. Thank you.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

The funny thing is, I bet Kyle is the best player in this thread....

[GeoffWilliams]

Kyle I see your serve somewhat similar to Feliciano Lopez. Look at your his at trophy position. Very similar nothing like Pete Sampras. Your separation angle might not be as good as Lopez hard to tell with out frame by frame. But that would appear to be flexibility. You have a great looking game potentially. One other question to me is the size of your forehand volley. You are very comfortable striking it but I am pondering would this swing work for modern player. Rosewall Laver all had similar size technique as do I. But with modern pace not sure if that works.

All top doubles players snap back their forehand volleys. That is, they snap back against the rear take back, when they have time, and when not, they simply block without snap back, so it's important to realize he's hitting these off feeds when he has time. I doubt it's the same when he doesn't. I can hit 85mph on fh volleys when I have snap back time. So can Kyle I'd wager. (I out weigh him by 20lbs though! Ha, ha.)

Klacr is also "hitting down" on top of his fh. When I do that, it feels better than w/wiping up. Yeah, he's cramped on double bend, but lots of players are also. Can't ask to change that to a delpotro/fed/nadal straight arm. He could reach back more, turn sideways longer, and then rotate with more kinetic energy, but that's all I'd ask for.

I changed my fh after the Gordon piece. But it took thousands of dog walking shadow swings to add the snap back to the fh. I still don't coil enough, or cock against my twisted torso enough. That's the most common factor in all good fh, whether they use type III or not: they coil at an angle to the net post, in open/closed/neutral stances, it's irrelevant to the good fh, the coil against the torso is the same. Righties coil to the right net post, lefties to the left net post, so that their shoulders/chest, form a straint angled line to that post.. Whether using non dom arm to point/coil or not, the coil against torso is the common denominator.

Kyles fh coil is not facing the net post, but only straight to the net.

[10splayer]

To clarify....

Supination "opens" the racquet. I also believe that the weight of the racquet head snapping back supinates the forearm even more...So if one starts the pull from this very supinated position the racquet is going to want to open even more...All the straitening of the elbow in mid swing, violent wiper action, etc. is a result of a player with a very high IQ trying recover from this position.

I think if you look at most all good players the racquet works from a slightly closed position (at the pull) to square as a result of the passive, motion dependent supination.

That's how I see it, but I've been wrong before.

Btw, I really like your backhand volley...

[bobbyswift]

Kyle I see your serve somewhat similar to Feliciano Lopez. Look at your his at trophy position. Very similar nothing like Pete Sampras. Your separation angle might not be as good as Lopez hard to tell with out frame by frame. But that would appear to be flexibility. You have a great looking game potentially. One other question to me is the size of your forehand volley. You are very comfortable striking it but I am pondering would this swing work for modern player. Rosewall Laver all had similar size technique as do I. But with modern pace not sure if that works.

[10splayer]

Here's an animation of what I'm talking about in the above post. Watch how Kyle uses his shoulder rotation to start the sequence, which is followed by the pulling of the arm forward, followed by the racket which is in the slot position.

Two other standouts for me are Kyle's awesome use of his left arm. He really keeps his left hand on the racket head (right by his right ear) to get a great shoulder coil. And then start the uncoiling of the shoulders by sweeping the left hand to his opposite side.

And second, his balance and center of gravity are fantastic. He is not leaning forward or backwards. Just a solid center of gravity around which his upper body rotates.

A lot of good observations men....


Kyle,

It's kind of frustrating, cause I know we could work through this if we were there, but here would be my first approach.

Can you see in Jeff's "live" version, how at the top of the backswing (with the shaft standing straight up) you first start to turn your thumb down, and then reverse it? (supinate) I believe this is the culprit.....


Verify this, from the same position, continue to turn your thumb down, (pronate) and notice how the elbow begins to extend....It will also tend to get the face of the racquet to lay down and lesson the wrist extension..

Like to see you try that, and go from there.

[klacr]

I love your posts, bobbyswift. Your comments never go unnoticed by most of us I'm sure. Always interesting and to the point.

It's amazing how many people immediately saw the same problem in Klacr's forehand...some in a slightly different way perhaps, but nevertheless it's the same hymn sheet for most of us. I think 10splayer sees it well when he notes the shaft of the racket is pointing up too long and right up until the last moment. I have just seen tennis_chiro has chimed in so it will interesting to see what he makes of it. He's an interesting poster, like you.

How does Jeffrey load a video up on a forum like that? I have never been able to do that. I have always had to link to Youtube.

Amazing contributions from all. My forehand it is quite obvious from how high I am on my approach to the ball. Obvious to me on video. I knew I was not getting below enough but to see it on video really surprised me. keep the thoughts coming guys. Clearly my forehand can be a bigger and much more importantly, a more consistent weapon than it currently is.

bobbyswift, racquet on my trophy position pointing in wrong direction? I think I see your point. Do I even have a definitive trophy pose? My arm and action are pretty quick my racquet does not spend a lot of time at any point. I like where you are going with this but it may be due to some other factors as well such as my shoulder turn.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[klacr]

No, that is not me... that is a friend of mine I play with a Norwegian...

Unfortunately, this is mine.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMc1nDgvnM

and my forehand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP9kc6KnHy8

Don't forget I am not a youngster like Kyle, I am 69....

Young at heart Phil. Age is just a number. You're 69, I'm 32 going on 72. Maybe a gap in our years, but not our passion for the sport of tennis.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

If you look back on my comments I think you will see what I am saying.

I love your posts, bobbyswift. Your comments never go unnoticed by most of us I'm sure. Always interesting and to the point.

It's amazing how many people immediately saw the same problem in Klacr's forehand...some in a slightly different way perhaps, but nevertheless it's the same hymn sheet for most of us. I think 10splayer sees it well when he notes the shaft of the racket is pointing up too long and right up until the last moment. I have just seen tennis_chiro has chimed in so it will interesting to see what he makes of it. He's an interesting poster, like you.

How does Jeffrey load a video up on a forum like that? I have never been able to do that. I have always had to link to Youtube.

[bobbyswift]

I feel in trophy position your racket face is pointing in the wrong direction on your serve. But like a lot of the components of your serve. On the backhand it appears to me you don't use the left hand to help lower the racket. It comes off too early and is similar to your forehand swing path. Jeff has done a great job with the clips. If you look back on my comments I think you will see what I am saying. Also with Ferrer his elbow is more extended and will not change shape into contact. Your contact is like Federer but that is a big change in a very short space from the picture.

[klacr]

I for one, love your serve. One minor difference I see to Roscoe's is that he leans more into the court, with his right leg kicking backwards, whereas your left leg goes off more to the side...

Just an observation, not saying which is better...

I agree Phil. Noticed that as well. Certainly a few things on my serve I need to adjust. Certainly need to be more upright on my serve with better posture. My low and quick motion does not help in that regard. Tiny adjustments. All good.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Right here, I can see where you are going with it. Is this a good motion for your arm at this stage of your career? Do you like the feel of it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h7YibWR5Iw

No, that is not me... that is a friend of mine I play with a Norwegian...

Unfortunately, this is mine.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMc1nDgvnM

and my forehand:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP9kc6KnHy8

Don't forget I am not a youngster like Kyle, I am 69....

[hockeyscout]

Right here, I can see where you are going with it. Is this a good motion for your arm at this stage of your career? Do you like the feel of it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_h7YibWR5Iw

[hockeyscout]

I am flattered that you like my toss... you are being very generous... But what thread are you referring to?

BTW: I had an erratic toss and managed to correct it by starting with the palm of the hand facing down (Vic Braden again...)...

You had a video of it on the YouTube thing, and I recall getting some advice on it previously from you. Hopefully it is the same guy LOL! I'm afraid we're sometimes not patient enough in practicing the toss of the ball over and over again, this klacr video was a reminder to get back on it! It sure needs to be exact to pull this one off!