Stan Wawrinka in Boca Raton

[klacr]

Stan the Man was in Boca Raton, Florida this week. Doing a training block in prep before a trip out to Indian Wells.

Spoke with his coach Magnus Norman briefly as I am trying to broker a deal with Wawrinka and my facility. But that's another story.

Wawrinka was hitting with American Denis Kudla.
Stan's backhand was as impressive up close as it is on the screens or in the stands. Some very big hitting. And yes, he was working hard. Coach Norman has him putting in some serious road work with conditioning as well.

Great to see this quality up close and personal.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Tell him to put his shirt on, please. He's not easy on the eye...though my wife disagrees. He'd never get away with that at my club. Even John Lloyd was never allowed to take his shirt off.

[klacr]

Stotty,

My pictures of him may not be flattering but I can tell you the man has an upper body that is chiseled from granite. His pecs, his abdominals (of which there are 6 very large noticeable ones) are not glossed over, tight and pretty like a male runway model a la Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez. They are real muscles.

But yes, the shirt off look flies for the touring pros training at Evert Academy/USTA Training Center. At my private member only club, that is an immediate red card as are sleeveless shirts for men.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

The red card for the shirt off is a dead giveaway that the club is for rich people, and does not have many 4.5 and up players.

[klacr]

Geoff,

Rules are rules. We are a private, member owned HOA with an active tennis program for all levels. Relative to the amount of homes my community has, the number of 4.5 players and higher is actually quite good. Main reason is that we don't have golf. People move specifically to our community for the tennis program and the level of competition. If you are ever in South Florida please let me know as I would love to show you my facility.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

The LTA insist all affiliated clubs have a relaxed dress code so the game appears less stuffy and more accessible to working class people. They won't give clubs access to grants/loans unless they adopt a relaxed policy.

This sticks in the throat of many as Wimbledon adheres rigidly to an all white dress code, and is the stuffiest place on earth. Hypocrisy many call it.

Personally I like the all white rule. I saw Marty Riessen play at Wimbledon in the vets years ago. The sight stuck with forever since. He wore complete white...not even a tiny logo.

[lobndropshot]

For me the color doesn't matter as long as my outfit matches my racket bag.

[stotty]

Stan the Man was in Boca Raton, Florida this week. Doing a training block in prep before a trip out to Indian Wells.

Spoke with his coach Magnus Norman briefly as I am trying to broker a deal with Wawrinka and my facility. But that's another story.

Wawrinka was hitting with American Denis Kudla.
Stan's backhand was as impressive up close as it is on the screens or in the stands. Some very big hitting. And yes, he was working hard. Coach Norman has him putting in some serious road work with conditioning as well.

Great to see this quality up close and personal.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I have never seen Stan play live, just on TV. How much topspin is he putting on that ball? You can never tell from TV. Federer's has just a modicum of spin a lot of the time....or at least at Wimbledon it has. I often wonder whether Federer uses more spin on hard courts. Of Stan I have no idea...

[klacr]

I have never seen Stan play live, just on TV. How much topspin is he putting on that ball? You can never tell from TV. Federer's has just a modicum of spin a lot of the time....or at least at Wimbledon it has. I often wonder whether Federer uses more spin on hard courts. Of Stan I have no idea...

His forehand he slaps at, not loads of spin. his backhand he can do anything with it, heavy arching spin or flat lasers.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

He does not make the federer mistake: lifting the hitting heel off the ground too soon which degrounds his weight, and lifts his head. Stan stays grounded/planted with a deep knee bend and solid weight and hip turn into his bh, and hits hit better than Fed does for that one reason.

[don_budge]

The Federer Mistake...

He does not make the federer mistake: lifting the hitting heel off the ground too soon which degrounds his weight, and lifts his head. Stan stays grounded/planted with a deep knee bend and solid weight and hip turn into his bh, and hits hit better than Fed does for that one reason.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2015/02/8/Dubai-Final-Hot-Shot-Federer.aspx

You've been making this criticism of the Federer backhand for quite some time now. It's an interesting observation…but I am not certain this is just more than a difference in "style" although I think that I follow your drift.

But when Roger is cranking it up as he does in this backhand against Novak Djokovic in Dubai all of his weight is squarely on his front foot…just where you would like to see it. It doesn't seem to have adversely affected his balance either. It looks to me that the weight comes off of the back foot as part of the process of his swing.

But Stan Wawrinka does seem to be more deeply "coiled" into the ground and when he uncoils it certainly is a different ball than the Federer backhand. I attribute this more to style and the Federer style overall is definitely more appealing to my eye. He is more versatile overall whereas Wawrinka finds himself planted squarely on the baseline or actually some couple of meters behind it a lot of the times. He actually plays a bit farther back as a rule which is another factor that gives him this split second edge to get such great preparation on that backhand.

Roger's slice backhand is much more effective than the Stanislas slice also…another huge factor that all things being equal…I'll take the Federer backhand any day. We haven't even begun to discuss the backhand volley either…which is of course another variation of the backhand. Overall the nod has to go to the Federer backhand. What Roger is doing with his rear foot is not a mistake at all nor does it appear to be contributing to any weakness on that side either…it is fundamentally correct (FC). It is an artistic flourish or idiosyncrasy that he has evolved into.

I think that historically speaking too…Roger's perceived weaknesses on the backhand side have had a lot to do with his racquet. By going to a bigger racquet his backhand has definitely been beefed up. It is really a shame he didn't do this three or four years ago. It's hard to fathom why his "team" failed to convince him of the necessity of doing so.

[don_budge]

Shirts on…please. Unless...

Geoff,

Rules are rules. We are a private, member owned HOA with an active tennis program for all levels. Relative to the amount of homes my community has, the number of 4.5 players and higher is actually quite good. Main reason is that we don't have golf. People move specifically to our community for the tennis program and the level of competition. If you are ever in South Florida please let me know as I would love to show you my facility.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I have one picture of me playing tennis without my shirt. I was only nineteen years old and I have to admit…I was in shape.

It's a curious picture. My dear old tennis coach Sherman Collins prohibited us from playing without our shirts. He subscribed to the old Aussie school of thought besides being a disciple of Bill Tilden (in the tennis sense). To this day I would never consider playing without my shirt and I respect any club for having this policy.

Unless they have the same policy for women. If the men can play topless then the women can too. This should absolutely dispel any notions that I am not wholly down with equal rights for women and men. Misogynist.

The all white may very well be hypocritical. But it's one of the things that somehow fits in with the overall picture. The Wimbledon thing is a thing of the past much as tennis etiquette has gone by the wayside along with the advent of things like "Hawkeye". But it is refreshing in such a small microscopic thread with the past to have such a role. But it is true…so much has gone by the wayside it is only a symbol of something that is no longer. I remember the white balls.

Our club here in Sweden apparently has no rules regarding attire. The most poorly dressed tennis players in the whole world. The old guys play without their shirts and I found it offensive to my eye culturally speaking but my eye is learning to relax…or learning to turn a blind eye. It isn't pretty either way. In Dearborn, Michigan I belonged to The Fairlane Club for many, many years. What a great facility that is. We had this one member…"Slick Rick" with some dubious underworld connections who was living in the fast lane. He constantly had to be reminded that there was a dress code and he had to keep his shirt on. He was the only member that even thought about breaking this rather standard rule at nice tennis clubs.

Stan Wawrinka is ripped. I have always referred to him as one of the new breed of "RoboCop" tennis players. Tennis players were never so heavily muscled in the past and it always make me think that somehow PED's may have a role in the game now. Serena Williams by an oddity of nature is the most heavily muscled tennis player ever…of either men or women.

[don_budge]

You bad…nice scoop!

Stan the Man was in Boca Raton, Florida this week. Doing a training block in prep before a trip out to Indian Wells.

Spoke with his coach Magnus Norman briefly as I am trying to broker a deal with Wawrinka and my facility. But that's another story.

Great to see this quality up close and personal.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Great scoop! Wonderful coincidence coinciding with the article on the Wawrinka backhand in the latest issue of TP. Don't you think so? Very cool klacr…keep up the bad work! As in Michael Jackson "bad".

You bad!

[klacr]

thanks don_budge,

was a great sight to see Wawrinka ripping backhand after backhand after backhand without thinking about it. Just seemed so natural for him. I kinda know how he feels.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[bobbyswift]

During his training block what is his ratio of tennis to physical training. At his stage is there much technical training. Just wondering what this level player is doing during a training block.