Federer on his own technique...

[EricMatuszewski]

The following quotes are taken from Q+A with Roger:

Q: Quoted:” He hits many times with lots of wrist action, and contact point far in front, a unique technique in the tour”. Was this taught, or just your personal hitting style?

RF: It’s my personal hitting style; this is how my game evolved. There is no secret behind it. I always had a fast wrist, which helps.

Q: What’s your best advice for hitting a deep “heavy ball” that professionals make look easy.

RF: Hit it high enough over the net and work on your stance.


Q: Do you have any tips on how to get a good serve?
RF: Well, best is to get a good Coach to teach you a good technique.

Q: Is playing with better players the best way to improve? How did you progress through the ratings?

RF: No, in my eyes having a good coach and self-confidence are the most important factors.


These quotes seem to fly in the face of much that I've read here.

I've read that the wrist contribution is relatively unimportant,
You should learn to hit the ball low over the net,
and that Coaching accounts for approx 10% of player success.
What do you all think these disparities?

Just trying to get some action going on these boards,
participation needs a shot in the arm. Let's talk!

[gzhpcu]

Well, if having a coach is so important, it is interesting that Roger has no coach most of the time, except Tony Roche for big events.

Also, Roger is just an enormously talented player who does not have to analyze and think much, he just does it. Just like Pancho Gonzales in the old days. Great serve just came naturally to him. So maybe, asking him technical questions, you won't get the type of answer that can help you. Probably difficult for him to explain well, it seems so simple....

The fast wrist he talks about is probably the SSC we were discussing.

His "hitting high enough" statement is pretty relative. What is "high enough" in this terms?

[EricMatuszewski]

Yes, Phil, that is interesting.

I took his coaching comments to be referring to developmental coaching. Peter Carter seems to have been the guy Fed gives most credit to, for developing him. A revealing interview can be found at:

http://www.abc.net.au/stateline/sa/content/2003/s900450.htm

He's also been quoted as saying "I've never changed my motion" In regards to his serve when someone asked if it "used to be more like Sampras".

And yes, "high enough" is relative. I'd like to see comparison data on this kind of clearance, as related to spin and speed of the groundstokes.

come on, there has to be someone else out there with some reaction to this!

[tennisplayer]

Actually, the wrist has no muscles, so all wrist movement comes from pronators and extensors - right? So pronation (which causes the wrist to rotate) can be considered use of wrist. Unless one thinks too deeply about this, like we tend to do - a player could legitimately consider it to be wrist action, no? Of course, there's extension as well, and a down-to-up movement (ulnar to radius), although these are not as pronounced as pronation... all in all, a lot of wrist usage!

[johnyandell]

Very interesting!

Agassi said the same thing once--"I use a lot of wrist." But that's not what the video shows. Same with a lot of this other stuff.

What great players feel and what they think and what they do and what we should teach, well, those can all be different things.

Words and internal feelings and pictures aren't always the same either. If you hit the ball like Roger that's not a problem.

It's the issue of playing from the inside out versus learning from the inside in.

Federer's hands are superfast though that's for sure!