Stroke Comparison: Mauresmo vs. Henin-Hardenne

[lukman41985]

What a rivalry!

I've already posted links to some clips of their matches at Madrid. I'm sure some of you also saw them play in Australia, at Wimbledon, or maybe even at Berlin.

Justine really has the advantage in the forehand diagonal and even though they are pretty evenly matched up on the backhand side, I would say Amelie has the edge because she can get the ball up high and heavy to Justine's backhand and then attack from there.

I really don't think this rivalry is getting much attention. Seeing as how many of the members here are very interested in the technical aspect of the game, I thought a stimulating discussion could result from comparing Justine and Amelie's forehands and backhands? What do you guys see?

Forehands:


Backhands:



I don't know what the velocity/spin numbers are for their forehands, but I'm positive Justine hits her forehand with more velocity than Amelie. Visually, Justine looks to have more racquet head speed. Also, look at how much further forward Justine makes contact on the forehand and how much more extension she has! Amelie probably hits with more spin. I don't think I've seen a professional with less extension on a forehand than Amelie. She probably has the most extreme grip in pro tennis (index knuckle between 4 and 5, heel pad on 5), men or women, or at least as Western as Robredo, Grosjean, and Nadal. Justine looks to be a 4/4. Whereas Amelie's forehand looks like it's driven only by the shoulder (by the way, she has some BROAD and DEFINED shoulders), Justine's forehand incorporates the shoulder, triceps, biceps, and ulnar radiation.

There's not much difference on the backhand side. Grips look the same (as detailed in John's first article on the one-handed backhand) but Justine looks to have a little more back arm opposition and subsequently stays turned sideways a little longer (as per John's article this month).

[jeffreycounts]

What a rivalry!

I've already posted links to some clips of their matches at Madrid. I'm sure some of you also saw them play in Australia, at Wimbledon, or maybe even at Berlin.

Justine really has the advantage in the forehand diagonal and even though they are pretty evenly matched up on the backhand side, I would say Amelie has the edge because she can get the ball up high and heavy to Justine's backhand and then attack from there.

I really don't think this rivalry is getting much attention. Seeing as how many of the members here are very interested in the technical aspect of the game, I thought a stimulating discussion could result from comparing Justine and Amelie's forehands and backhands? What do you guys see?

Forehands:


Backhands:



I don't know what the velocity/spin numbers are for their forehands, but I'm positive Justine hits her forehand with more velocity than Amelie. Visually, Justine looks to have more racquet head speed. Also, look at how much further forward Justine makes contact on the forehand and how much more extension she has! Amelie probably hits with more spin. I don't think I've seen a professional with less extension on a forehand than Amelie. She probably has the most extreme grip in pro tennis (index knuckle between 4 and 5, heel pad on 5), men or women, or at least as Western as Robredo, Grosjean, and Nadal. Justine looks to be a 4/4. Whereas Amelie's forehand looks like it's driven only by the shoulder (by the way, she has some BROAD and DEFINED shoulders), Justine's forehand incorporates the shoulder, triceps, biceps, and ulnar radiation.

There's not much difference on the backhand side. Grips look the same (as detailed in John's first article on the one-handed backhand) but Justine looks to have a little more back arm opposition and subsequently stays turned sideways a little longer (as per John's article this month).

Look at the ball on contact in the Henin one hander. You can see the ball pushing the strings back into the frame!

On Justine's onehander, you can see the butt of the racket pointing towards the left fence in her full drop position, which gives her more racket head speed as the butt of the racket comes around into contact. Mauresmo does not get the butt of her racket pointed directly to the left fence, so a little less racket head speed can be generated.

[lukman41985]

If you haven't already, check out the January/February 2007 "Tennis" magazine. On page 54, there is an interview with Amelie. One of the things she says in the interview is that she's been working on driving her forehand flatter, but can't flatten it out as some players because of her grip. She then says something to the effect of, "I'm 27 years old, I'm not going to change my grip." I was sad, but not surprised, by that comment. She should talk to Tiger Woods or even Justine about making changes for the sake of getting better. Justine has been working on changing her serve and her forehand. Tiger has made 2 huge swing changes in just 10 years on the PGA Tour.

Grip change aside, if she's working on driving the ball flatter, she should take a look at her countryman and friend Grosjean's forehand. His grip is just as Western and yet he can drive the ball a lot flatter when he wants/needs to:


Amelie's forehand needs more of a back-to-front component. It's hit in the same vain as James Blake's forehand. Blake of course hits his forehand much harder, I would say this is because of physiological reasons, because his grip is much milder allowing him to hit the ball earlier, and because on some balls he realy extends through the ball (but without much racquet tip rotation). Anyhow, their forehands are hit without much of a back-to-front component. They feature a mainly shoulder driven low-to-high component. This, in my mind, really seems to reduce (a relative term) the amount of racquet tip rotation and acceleration (which can be good or bad). That is NOT to say they have poor technique. They have great and beautiful technique obviously. Their forehands are the epitome of what Jeff described in his article from the December issue, "The Windshield Wiper Forehand" (http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/..._strokes.html).
Aside from grip, I think these two have very similar forehands. They look very similar at contact, 3 frames after contact, and even 6 frames after contact.


It is my belief that the #1 ATP and WTA players, Federer (and also to a lesser extent, Nadal) and Justine, have forehands that emphasize certain technical elements and employ unique techinical elements that allow them to hit the ball harder and heavier off the forehand side. Their forehands are much more fluid ane explosive looking I think because they seem to recruit and utilize more segments than just the shoulder.

[jeffreycounts]

Mauresmo

Lukman,

Did you see this month's edition of Tennis Magazine. There is an article about contenders for the French Open, and the author says that Mauresmo's forehand is what has killed her potential because it lacks penetration.

Jeff