Tour Strokes: Justine Henin Serve

[johnyandell]

Would love to discuss my latest article, "Tour Strokes: Justine Henin Serve"

[tennis_chiro]

John, I'm wondering where you would classify the serves of Stich, Krajicek, Smith and Gonzales on that Push/Pull spectrum. One of the concerns I have is the tendency to leave too much weight on the back foot during the toss. Look at pictures of Sampras in your high speed archives here. His racket head is only halfway from trophy position to power drop when his right foot leaves the ground. His entire weight is on his left foot and his CG has moved out over his left foot and even a little in front of it. Certainly, he has gotten additional push from that right foot, but when he makes that last tenth of a second acceleration up to the contact the right foot has already left the ground.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/high_speed/High_Speed.html?PeteSampras1stServe.mov

don

[johnyandell]

Don,
That's Ben's distinction. But what i learned from him is that it's not about getting up into the air--it's about what the push does to the back right hip. That elevation is apparently a big biomech key. As for the other guys--don't know. Don't really have the footage to evaluate.

[dipperhitter]

I find it kind of surprising that John Yandell is just now writing about this and never got credit in the media for his contribution. What is the truth here?

[nytennisaddict]

John, I'm wondering where you would classify the serves of Stich, Krajicek, Smith and Gonzales on that Push/Pull spectrum. One of the concerns I have is the tendency to leave too much weight on the back foot during the toss. Look at pictures of Sampras in your high speed archives here. His racket head is only halfway from trophy position to power drop when his right foot leaves the ground. His entire weight is on his left foot and his CG has moved out over his left foot and even a little in front of it. Certainly, he has gotten additional push from that right foot, but when he makes that last tenth of a second acceleration up to the contact the right foot has already left the ground.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/strokearchive/high_speed/High_Speed.html?PeteSampras1stServe.mov

don

i always thought that too... ie. that the slow mo vids of sampras appear to me that the bulk of the push is coming from the left/leading foot. is that an illusion (ie. the right foot is doing quite a bit of pushing, and the left is just adding to that momentum)?
for me, when experimenting with the platform, it always felt like it was putting quite a bit more pressure on my front knee (compared to pinpoint, where i'm able to more comfortably push off both legs). maybe i'm just tossing too far out in front (like for a pinpoint, thus making me reach more).
any thoughts on this anyone?

[johnyandell]

The push of the back foot accelerates the back hip and according to Bruce Elliot that acceleration is critical. Not sure what we can prove what the ideal distribution is when is, but weight on the back leg is key. It's probably something very close to this;

https://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Serve/1st_Serve&stroke=RF_1stS_Ad_Side1_250fps.mp4&new=

[arturohernandez]

One other thing that goes unmentioned is the will of Justine and Carlos to make changes. My sense is that the best players are all willing to improve their weaknesses. They are not happy with staying where they are. Just heard Emma Navarro say on television that she is just worried about playing her game. She doesn't worry about the opponent. Worrying about yourself might get the Easter Bowl. My guess is that the pro circuit might require retooling something that appeared good enough until it wasn't.