What is ISR?
The Backhand Volley

John Yandell

ISR—internal shoulder rotation—it's an increasingly trendy term in stroke analysis. But what is it and how does it relate to the "other" paired shoulder rotation? That's external shoulder rotation or ESR.

Is it just confusing jargon? Or something real and important? It's the later.

These two rotations, it turns out, are present in all the strokes: serves, backhands with one or two hands. And volleys. And they are important in the generation of racket head speed. (Click Here to see the series in the Advanced Tennis section.)

So in this final article let's see what their roles are in the backhand volley. And then ask whether they are something that you should try to consciously generate—or not.

When I first heard the term "shoulder rotation," it confused me. In tennis teaching you are used to hearing this term used as it applies to the rotation of the torso. For example on a forehand from the ready position the shoulders and the rest of the torso turn away from the net in the preparation and then rotate forward in the swing to the ball and into the followthrough.