putting it all together...

[visionxcl]

Pete Smith : Sampras 2 step volley
Jeff Count : drive elbow up and out
Bungalo Bill : crashing wave

Recently my game improved quite a bit using the following trick on my forehand - drive my rear shoulder into my chin before looking up, giving me a bit of the Federer no look effect; however it was somewhat inconsistent...

I now realize that on my good days my elbow was driving forward and up; and I would feel the "wave crash" at the end as a natural result from centrifugul force and the fact that as the elbow stops the forearm naturally drives around - it looks like a windshield wiper, but as Jeff says, it comes after the elbow and is a passive effect, that really keeps the ball in.

Further, on my good volleys, I feel the wave crash effect, as my volley ends always on the same side, not crossing over the body, because when the body and elbow stop the rhead "crashes" into the contact point with great acceleration over a few inches and the stopping motion of the body keeps the swing from crossing over.

Finally, it seems to me the footwork described by Pete Smith should apply to groundstrokes as well.

In conclusion: put Pete Smiths footwork article; Jeff Counts ground stroke article, and Buffalo Bills articles together adn VOILA! The results are incredible... now if only I could learn to do all this with muscle memory and not think so much!

[johnyandell]

Great report! It sounds as if you are synthesizing info for yourself and that is the only way it really works, I believe.

Try this. Make a list of all your points from the articles. Now sit down and actually visualize--see what comes to mind when you think of each one. Rerun the images, play with them.

Now open a new folder in your internal mental hard drive. Name the image and save. Now when you go to the court, open the file view the image. Imagine especially what you FEEL when you imagine. If the image spontaneously changes--and it will--save the new version as well.

Do this as a ritual EVERYTIME you go to the court.