Interactive Forum October 2016: Simona Halep

[johnyandell]

Simona Halep

Even wonder why at 5’6” Simona Halep has had so much success of the women’s tour? She has been ranked as high as #2 and has reached the final of the French and the semis of Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. When you watch her in person from close range you see one factor is her fearsome intensity.

But look at her extremely clean ball striking on both sides. And yes there are the technical questions/issues we have learned to ask/observe on Tennisplayer. What parts of her forehand are ATP? What’s unusual and not unusual about her backhand? And what element, like so many women pros, is missing in her serve?

Your thoughts please.

[johnyandell]

MP4 Version

Simona Halep

[stotty]

I like her backhand. I think it's great. I love the way she keeps her upper body in the shot on both forehand and backhand. She really stands up to the ball and I like that. But, yes, the backswing on her forehand is, well, on the long side.

On the whole she is a terrifically well balanced player.

Not sure about the serve. The hand, arm, racket rotation isn't great. I tend dislike serves where the player rocks back without initiating the process with the arms. I remember at one time her elbow on the serve was way too high. She seems to have remedied this in recent times and done a good job on it. Just shows how adaptable these top players are when a savvy coach points these things out.

I was hoping more people would weigh in on the Halep serve. I have more observations to point out but would love to hear what others think about her motion.

Stotty

[klacr]

I like watching Halep play. She is a middle weight that handles herself like a heavyweight and is not afraid to go toe to toe with any of them. Great shape and fitness.Her attitude is getting better and her coach Darren Cahill is getting her to be more independent, figure things out on court on her own. In WTA events, coaches can be called on court. Darren not a fan and getting her to figure it out. Props for that.

as for technical, Stotty does a great job in diagnosing the forehand and backhand.

But that serve...wow, look at that hand, arm, racquet rotation (or lack thereof) . We've seen it in many players, and Simona Halep can be added to that list. This is a widespread problem. Andy seems to have fixed his, I hope Darren "Killer" Cahill can do the same for Simona.

Would someone like to mention that high ball toss as well?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

I like watching Halep play. She is a middle weight that handles herself like a heavyweight and is not afraid to go toe to toe with any of them. Great shape and fitness.Her attitude is getting better and her coach Darren Cahill is getting her to be more independent, figure things out on court on her own. In WTA events, coaches can be called on court. Darren not a fan and getting her to figure it out. Props for that.

as for technical, Stotty does a great job in diagnosing the forehand and backhand.

But that serve...wow, look at that hand, arm, racquet rotation (or lack thereof) . We've seen it in many players, and Simona Halep can be added to that list. This is a widespread problem. Andy seems to have fixed his, I hope Darren "Killer" Cahill can do the same for Simona.

Would someone like to mention that high ball toss as well?

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

I like her backhand. It's solid. I actually much prefer her grips (the lower hand) to Serena's. I also prefer the way she takes the racket back.

As to her ball toss, it's high...disproportionately high relative to her motion, isn't it? I suppose the question one should ask is, are there any advantages in having a very high ball toss? Is there anything to be gained?

Stotty

[klacr]

Stotty, on the money with he toss. Thank you.
I think you and I are the only ones venturing on this Simona Halep thread. I have real trouble watching that lack of rotation during the contact phase. Many students come to me with this problem, I always end up correcting it but at first sight its a bit alarming. Any player that has that just always looks off on the serve. No matter what level the player is! Murray, Sharapova, Halep, etc etc.

But let's get to your point on the toss. High toss, how do you personally correct that? Berdych has same issue but not sure if Goran his coach is going to tweak it at this stage in Berdych's career. Maybe he will. Whatever it takes to get better.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

i think she has great technique on both sides,very surprised she has not won any majors yet.Clearly her height doesnt limit her..

[johncraig]

On this serve example Simona appears to be too far in front on contact, and therefor reaching out to the point where shoulder rotation cannot happen (or will be greatly reduced) in the swing. Compare this contact to where Federer, Sampras and others with excellent shoulder rotation make contact. Of course Pete had the greatest rotation probably in the history of the game. His contact was more above him than in well in front, where the power of the shoulder is diminished.

[johnyandell]

Yep bent over at the waist forward--and as with a lot of elite women players no real hand and arm rotation past contact.

[sjhara]

I do agree with the hip issue.

I think that looking at some of the similarities between forehands and serves help point to this.

In the WTA forehand backswing the tip of the racquet is more back and up (Halep), Similarly in the serve-WTA players tend to take a longer swing (more of a pendulum swing) with the tip back and up.
In the beginning of the ATP style forehand, the tip and racquet is more forward and out to the side (as Halep starts her forehand). Similarly in the serve, the tip and racquet stay more forward and out to the hitting side before crossing back behind the body-elements more along the lines of an Andy Roddick serve. By leaving the tip and racquet forward and out to the side the ATP server generates more rotational acceleration around the long axis of the body, as well as makes the server serve taller. Halep goes in to the short axis of the hips too soon so she can’t maximize the rotational acceleration of her body. This also makes her serve from a shorter height.

I think we see this in many younger players as well as recreational players-particularly on second serves.

The ATP serve movement, back and down behind, also leads to more of a tilt in the torso, which is present to some degree in most ATP serves.
The “ATP” windup and tilt tend to be missing from WTA serves with some exceptions-Justine Henin-Hardenne, Lindsay Davenport, and Samantha Stosur