Pro Groundstroke Depth

[vmiller]

Hi John,

I was watching Fed and Nadal in the Dubai final and it reminded me of a question that I've had for a while. Why do many of today's pro's hit a lot of their groundstrokes short? Many of Nadal's shots aren't even reaching the service line, and these are not clever angles I'm talking about. Many of Fed's shots weren't much deeper. I can't imagine they are all mishits or poorly hit balls, but then why would they hit a short topspin ball on purpose?

Maybe your Nadal forehand artile will relate to this. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

Thanks,
Vin

[johnyandell]

Good question. It may be how it just happens with that much spin with that grip--unless he wants to put it way up in the air. Personally I wouldn't want to deal with that ball myself. But the precise relationships between speed, spin, trajectory and racket path are still part of the big mystery. Generally you think that harder, flatter, and deeper go together, but...

[giancarlo]

Spanish Players Groundstrokes depht

Hello,

I might have some info on this "hitting short" trend. According to my Spanish coach, Joaquin Lopez, who was a professional and training with Moya, Corretja and Co. in Barcelona, this is done purposefully. The idea being that it is low risk, and please remember: a ball with 3500 to 5000RPM landing on the service line is virtually impossible to take on the rise. Since it's trajectory is really high. Actual data will be available in the near future so I hear.

Also, the Spanish guys are mostly trained on clay where this ball hit short with this amount of spin is truly impossible to take early. Bad bounce included.

Let me know if I can give you more info on this. I am tempted to inquire more info from Joaquin on this.

The best,

gc

[vmiller]

Thanks GC, and nice backhand by the way!

Don't inquire more on my behalf, but if you do for yourself, please share.

I may experiment with this shot since I hit it unintentionally anyway (relatively speaking). I've gotten complaints from opponents about short and spinny balls in the past, but never gave it any thought beyond the irony that I was giving them trouble with what I considered to be a poor shot. Hmmm ....

Being used to that shorter depth makes angles easier too!

Vin