Interactive Forum February 2015: John Isner Backhand

[johnyandell]

John Isner Backhand

Here is a 500 frames/per second high speed clip filmed recently in LA of John’s backhand, during training with his new coach Justin Gimelstob. I won’t get into the before and after aspect (yet anyway) but would like to get input of what everyone in the Forum sees here!

[johnyandell]

Quicktime

John Isner Backhand

[tennis_chiro]

The positioning of his traps are a major issue. It can be addressed easily, as that is a setup done through corrective elongation exercises. Small muscle groups dictate a lot with the stroke. I'd do a lot of work with this guy being in a squatted position, and writing on a chalk board in front of him while maintaining proper balance (it'd also get the shoulders in the corrective position I want, and allow the small muscle groups to do what they specifically need to do as well as get him to properly use that beautiful rotator cuff which he uses on the serve). Shoulder positioning is key, and you don't want to block out something like a rotator cuff, or not sequentially fire certain small muscle groups in the chain.

I am sure his coaching staff knows this and is doing a lot of basic set up work here to correct it all. ...

HS,

I can't speak for the European trained coaches, but I think it is pretty safe to say that US coaches, especially the ones who get to work with the top level pro players, have no training in anatomy, kinesiology or biomechanics to have any idea what you are talking about. It's questionable whether someone who did have that training would be able to get a player in the top 100, much less the top 20, to take on the kind of restructuring addressing the problems you are alluding to would entail. They are more likely to point out that he is a little late in his preparation and wasn't able to get his weight all the way to his front foot as he completed the stroke, instead pulling off and working the ball with his talented hands. Obviously, it should have been done well before Isner got out of his early teen years, or maybe even while he was in college playing against relatively lesser competition for four years. Unfortunately, I don't think Isner will ever change his backhand into the weapon he needs it to be short of an almost complete restructuring of his approach to the way he hits it; not going to happen. His best backhand will continue to be the one he runs around to hit his forehand and that is his best bet for success on the pro tour.

It's interesting to note that Justin Gimelstob was a great striker of the ball and racked up a tremendous junior career because of his superior ball striking ability on both sides. He actually had a great one-handed backhand. Justin is very bright and well aware of a lot that is going on in current "tennis science". (Did he bring JY in to help him analyze Isner's backhand and make suggestions?) But I doubt very much he would have any idea of what you are talking about with "setups", etc. I'd be very curious what his approach is to get Isner to take a little more advantage of the times he has to hit his backhand; he can't afford to hit a neutral ball back that allows his pro opponent to keep him on the move. My suggestion would be he may miss a few more trying for more on the backhand, but he was going to lose an overwhelming majority of those points anyway; he should find some way to turn backhands he can reach into at least a few points that he can capitalize on. If he just hits the ball back on his backhand as he tends to do now, he will continue to lose 9/10 of those points as he does now, at least against anyone else in the top 20 (I wonder what the real statistics are. Craig Shaunessy would know.)

The stroke itself looks pretty much like the Brian Gordon ATP model, but there is no weight in the shot; it's all hands, strong hands to be sure, but no where near what 240 lbs. needs to be able to produce on that side when he does get time to set up to hit his backhand (partly because most of the time he is going to get there so late, he can only throw up a completely defensive shot).

don

[johnyandell]

Here is a hint. Look at the position of his arms at contact. Look at the distance particular between his top arm and the torso. Look at the distance of his contact to the side--in comparison to our new Berdych footage or Novak or Rafa.

[hockeyscout]

Why tennis player don't just watch Jimmy Conners, or call him, and get him to teach them how to hit a two handed backhand is beyond me.

[johnyandell]

The spacing of John'sa arms is too close to his body. Especially for the arm configuration which is close to straight/straight.

Connors is great on the straight straight arms and the spacing. Also closed stance and of course a model of controlling the contact height. But his bottom hand grip is not very strong--think this is one reason why he hit so many that were close to completely flat or even slice.

His take back is compact--almost ATP except for the angle of the racket face which is open. He would have a hard time today controlling the heavy topspin in the game and taking it that early.

[stotty]

Thanks for pointing that out...

The spacing of John'sa arms is too close to his body. Especially for the arm configuration which is close to straight/straight.

Connors is great on the straight straight arms and the spacing. Also closed stance and of course a model of controlling the contact height. But his bottom hand grip is not very strong--think this is one reason why he hit so many that were close to completely flat or even slice.

His take back is compact--almost ATP except for the angle of the racket face which is open. He would have a hard time today controlling the heavy topspin in the game and taking it that early.

Thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't notice how close his arms were to his body. Funny how I can look at a clip so many times and not have noticed that. I guess it's crucial to rectify things like that during a players development as John is now stuck with it.

Funny about Connors. I always thought he's be fine in today's game with his open-faced two hander as he wouldn't have to fight the battle of reversing the topspin back again...on the contrary I thought he would be able to use it to rocket the ball back quicker. He also braces better than anyone else I can think of. It's still one of my all time favourite backhands...

[johnyandell]

You could be right. Just afraid Nadal's forehand might knock the racket out of Jimmy's hands--or if he took it as early as when he was playing it would land 12 feet long...

As for John it's interesting that actually is a result of the improved arm position at the turn from his work with Justin...he may be evolving toward something much better...time will tell...

[giancarlo]

It would be great to see 20-30 shots. The question I ask is why this shot was chosen? Is their more perhaps - any forehand and serve?

The take back is beginning to look a lot more like Delpotro's or Cilic's. There are some other shots, and it's more apparent there, but the bent arms on take back make more and more sense for tall players with massive wing span.