Women Players

[yarddog4]

I really enjoy the detailed information that you have made available to all tennis players. I have spent hours reading the articles and viewing the clips, and yet there is still a wealth of information here for me to cover. I continue to love the challengue of improving my tennis skills, fitness level and mental game.
My tennis profile includes being a left-handed, 55 year old female, at the 4.0 level. I have a few odd questions:
*Would you advise me to review and analyze mostly FEMALE players on this web-site?
*Is there any different advise you would give a female player verus a male player, or is it all pretty universal?
*Can a leftie tennis player benefit from closely viewing the stroke dynamics of a right-handed player? Can my brain simply translate the mirror image of what I am seeing?
I look forward to your comments---- Thanks!

[johnyandell]

The lefty question is the easiest and I think the answer is yes--just like a lot of righties learned from Mac and Connors and Navritilova in an earlier era.

The man/woman question is trickier. In fact we are in the midst of a research project with one of the top women coaches/educators about this.

There are some significant differences among the top players. Women often have much different action on the forehand with the left hand--less turn and then an earlier wider rotation the other way--ie, Davenport and Sharapova. Others, like Henin are more like the men. And the same for the younger players like Vaidisova. Henin's coach has actually restructed her game using Agassi (fh) and Sampras and Roddick (serve) as models.

In general though the women's game is less extreme in terms of grips and spins and that probably applies at all levels. The players aren't as strong and so hit flatter with more compact motions to try to get the ball thru the court.

There are a ton of sub-topics here. Alignment and footwork and posture are probably commonalities.

But another big mystery is stance on the serve--why do the women use the pinpoint so much more?

Bottom line is that experimentation will help any player, man or women, decide if an element is a positive and works in their game. I don't think there are any lines that are hardened completely.

[yarddog4]

Thanks a bunch for your input!
I realize that we all will probably have our own uniqueness in our styles. It makes it fun to experiment with different ideas and use what works best for us as individuals. It is an interesting challenge to put together the various components of a stroke such that you feel the most comfortable and allows you to have the greatest success.