Dave Hagler Spacing Part 3

[johnyandell]

Let us know what you think!

[stotty]

Another good article about spacing and how to develop excellent spacing. Watching Medvedev at the weekend, it's amazing how often he gets a tad close to his forehand...he could do with visiting Mr Hagler.

A good friend of mine who was a very good player used to carve inside his sliced backhand with his approach shot down the line when the ball was low, similar to how Murray and Roger can do. He also used to carve round the outside of shoulder-high balls so that the ball would curl away from an opponent during its flight and even after the bounce.

It's amazing how slice can come into play when the margins between players are very marginal. It worked so well for Thiem against Medvedev until he somewhat overplayed the card.

I love the drills in the article. You don't see coaches over here employing drills like that, which is a shame because they work.

[stotty]

A friend of mine who is a coach inherited a handful of good 14 to 16 year-olds who left another coaching setup on mass exodus. He didn't poach the players, they just fell out with the other coach...you know how it is.

Anyway, none of the players could slice a backhand properly and had never hit sliced forehands ever. So he set about getting them to slice forehands and backhands for 15 minutes at the start of each session, using drills like David's where the players used clearing steps to run around and hit inside out shots one after the other. Six months later and the results are quite amazing. All the kids are now proficient at slicing on both wings and it seems to have established a better foundation for their volleys also. I think the clearing steps really make these drills and give added benefits across a player's entire game in many different ways.

It just goes to show that if a coach sets about working on something week in, week out then, over time, it can really pay off. Good coaching is a patient business.

[don_budge]

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Three interesting posts from way back in March of 2005. Compare the thoughts to today's thinking. Interesting.

https://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/forum/tennisplayer/63-welby-is-a-true-master#post3755