Delray - Update!

[johnyandell]

Yeah but it was quite a run. He seems to be coming into his game.

[stotty]

Did I underestimate Francis?

Maybe, but he was playing a guy with a forehand grip and a hint of waiter's technique on his serve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAz77c8S9Ts

[johnyandell]

Did I underestimate Francis?

[tennis_chiro]

Yep Paul said I would never show this to Pete because he believes his backhand is fine.

I had the same discussion. I wanted Pete to try to drive through the ball the way he did on his down the line pass on grass. But not only did Pete feel his backhand was fine and Paul didn't want to sow any seeds of doubt, but Pete also felt he was better off rolling his backhand rather than trying to drive a flatter ball with Agassi, et al. I still think he could have been better on some of the slower surfaces if he had driven the backhand more. But he did ok!

don

[johnyandell]

Yep Paul said I would never show this to Pete because he believes his backhand is fine.

[gsheiner]

Interesting anecdotes John. If I remember correctly , you also once discussed Pete Sampras's backhand with Paul Annacone and got a similar response that Pete wasn't interested, even though Paul agreed with your analysis.
Maybe we can meet next year in Del Ray.

Glenn

[johnyandell]

G,
Thanks! I spoke to Jay Berger who is now coaching Sock and asked him if Jack had interest in trying to improve his backhand. I love Jay because he has a certain dry humor. His answer with a smile: "Absolutely not."
Jonas Bjorkman was coaching Milos in Delray and he and I looked at high speed footage of Milos's bh. He saw the same things I did. But he is uncertain whether he will show Milos.
As for Chung's serve, also spoke to Neville Godwin who is coaching him. We agreed to look at footage in Miami.
There a a few top players who have made technical changes. But you are right that's hard and rare.
Sorry we didn't run into each other in Delray.

[bottle]

Love the part about Paes. Couldn't believe him the first (and only time) I saw him in person, which was at Davis Cup in Winston-Salem.

[gsheiner]

John,
Agree with your comments about how great the Del Ray tournament is. Spent 3 days there this week and saw almost everybody up close.
Was watching Chung warm up yesterday with just me and a buddy as the only people there..

Agree with almost all of your technical comments. To my amateur eye, the problem with Chung's serve is that he doesn't have enough forward hip lean and therefore doesn't get his weight onto the front foot enough before going up. Thus, very little pop and a major liability at his level.
On the other hand, his mobility and technique off the ground are superb, especially the two hander which he hits with a very stable core allowing the arms to come through beautifully as opposed to Milos and Sock who overrotate as you describe.

Steve Johnson is another fellow who I believe has a technically flawed two hander but he has developed a world class slice which he uses extensively and has built tactical patterns around. This is probably the direction that Milos and Sock should go as I'm not sure they can fix their two handers at this point.

Another treat for me was watching Leander Paes on the back courts with two other doubles players. Still seems to have some of the world's best hands ,even at age 44. Maybe some day Tennisplayer could analyze his volley technique.

Tiafoe is another interesting player to watch technically. I know you analyzed his serve a few years ago, but i would be interested in your take of his technique on the groundies.

Cheers,

[johnyandell]

Would love to discuss my article, "Delray - Update"!