Timing of Leg Drive and Racket Drop

[vmiller]

Hi Brian,

Great article!

When you have a player who's leg drive happens too early in relation to the racket drop, as you discussed in the article, what do you have that player do to correct it? Do you use any drills that you can recommend? I have been working on this myself for some time and even with the help of a video camera, it is still quite a difficult problem to resolve. Mentally forcing the racket back earlier has resulted in some improvement, but not enough.

Also, when you say "power training in the gym" in reference to improving the ground force of the leg drive, can you provide any examples of training that you would suggest? Is simple leg strength development sufficient, or would plyometrics likely be required?

Thanks,
Vin

[BrianGordon]

Vin-

The easiest fix is position at the end of the wind up in terms of minimizing the length of the back swing - ie elbow at shoulder level etc. - if there is no extraneous motion in the back swing things become more complicated as the speed of the backswing must be increased - this is through motion of the torso early and leg drive late - and the subject of much of part 2 of the backswing - also carrying arm/racquet speed into the backswing (continuous transition) can help but as discussed may cause more problems than it helps.

I have no drills for this and only have had success experimenting with different combinations of factors - part 2 of the backswing may give you some more ideas about which factors to play with.

The power training I use is plyometrics on court and olympic style lifts off court. The kids do these with dumbbells rather than barbells and a description of basic execution can be found at the NSCA website:

http://www.nsca-lift.org/Perform/backissues.asp

in volume 1 number 6 - Power Training Using Dumbbells

It is important that these be done as part of a periodized comprehensive program after adequate neuromuscular conditioning is already present - still the dumbbells make these exercises relatively safer than the barbell counterparts - Brian

[vmiller]

Thanks Brian,

I think I get what you're saying. Keep the wind up and backswing simple to facilitate timing by eliminating the complication of excess motion?

Is your next article going to address the difference in degrees of closing the elbow during the racket drop? Players like Nalbandian, Guga, Rusedski, and Ivanisavich seem to close their elbow much more than players like Roddick and Sampras and they create more of a circular racket drop as a result. I would imagine that takes additional time and complicates timing? The circular vs direct racket drop has always intruiged me.

While I anxiously wait for your next article, can you recommend a pro that is a good model of a simple wind up and backswing that is conducive to good timing with the leg drive? Do you think Henin falls in that category? I ask because I have a very similar wind up to hers.

[BrianGordon]

Vin-

Simple is a good way to put it - especially the back swing path - maybe John can chime in with some good examples - he's much more familiar than myself - Henin - I'm not a big fan of the abbreviated wind up even with a good ending position but really that's only a personal thing and not based on mechanics - in my own game I find the timing detrimental to weight shift and leg preparation. Other than that, you could emulate worse.

I will be addressing the differences in loop patterns based on the joint motions used (ie elbow flexion) and have noticed the choice speaks volumes about the extent to which different joint rotations are used in the upward swing, among other things - I also find this an interesting and differentiating topic - Brian

[johnyandell]

The best backswing model on the site for players with problems in this area is Mark Philippoussis!


Also McEnroe and Federer. The simple semi-circular in my experience is the easiest way to get from A to B on time and also stay relaxed. The compressed motions take a lot more shoulder flexibility for one thing.

Check out the Paul Goldstein example in Your Strokes. He modeled Mark P. It opened up his motion even if he didn't reach the size of Mark.