Contrasts in Contacting Ball in Sweet Spot of Strike Zone

[doctorhl]

Federer/Isner match just completed in Miami is a good example of one who always manages to place his belly button the right distance from the ball to enable ball contact in the sweet spot of his strike zone(Federer) versus one who rarely does(Isner). There are some obvious reasons that one is better than the other at doing that, but having that kind of footwork, allowing one to be the right distance, sure takes a little pressure off of a person needing a perfect swing path or perfect swing timing. Intense footwork training for kids seems to be under rated in some places, but is gaining momentum.

[don_budge]

An old post from 2016...December I think.

It's always one more thing..."one point in time and space".


The concept of "It". The one place in time and space where everything is perfect.

One more thing..."it"

So there is always one more thing. After the student has mastered his "figure eights" and developed a gravity based and frictionless swing and the wrist is behaving itself...the whole thing is dependent on one more thing. Putting the ball in the path of the traveling racquet head. This can be very disruptive to the whole process.

There is basically one point in time and space where it all collides simultaneously, and perfectly...where the grip, the motion and all of the generated energy meet the ball. Any deviation from this one point in time and space will produce less than "perfect" shots as energy and potential energy will be wasted or erratic.

I call this point "it". Musicians get it...the whole craft depends upon it. Golfers get it. Tennis players get it. Great oraters get it. Anybody who successfully and repeatedly is accomplished in anything in any walk of life gets it. It's too bad more people don't get it...have you ever known anybody who just doesn't get it. But...itis not so easy as that when you are trying to deliver the ball to that one point in time and space in order to put the ball right where the ball should be, and when the ball should be there. When and where...time and space.

As tennis players, this in the end, is the object of our craft also...we seek to find that one point in time and space where everything is perfect. This relates to our serves, our groundstrokes, to those of us hitting the ball in the air still it relates to our volleys. It relates to every single type of shot under the sun. The quest as it were, is to get the grip right, get the feet, body and racquet into position, and then move all the responsible parts to get the racquet head to meet the ball the way we intend it to when we attempt any particular shot. The ultimate challenge for a human being is to have that kind of control over ones self to master such an endeavor. This is why golf and tennis are God's gift to humanity in terms of at recreation...possibly even more significant than that. There are physics, in a "perfect" world and there are the metaphysics in the real world as we know it. Rod Cross is great but he has left a huge variable out of the equation while focusing on some others. But don't get me wrong, he is fine in a certain sphere of influence, I think.

Perhaps a new thread...and a couple of more videos from Coach Don on the toss...in order to assist the student to find "it". Excellent job, Coach...btw.

[Error]

versus one who rarely does(Isner).

Isner? A top 10 player for-ever does not understand how to create distance and use footwork to get the ball in his strike zone? Only the mighty Federer understands distance and creating space? You actually said that the 10th best player in the world rarely gets the ball in his strike zone. I cant see your face to see if you said it without cracking a smile.

[doctorhl]

Isner’s serve puts him in the top 10. Without it, he would be hard put to stay in the top 10 hitting in the periphery of his strike zone. He makes pro level contact in the strike zone, just not consistently in the zone sweet spot. We are talking inches here.