Have a Question for Me?

[johnyandell]

nike,

Looked at the forehands. I hate youtube video because you can't go frame by frame and you have also filmed it very wide--hard to see you. Where is that court though?

From what I can tell the main thing I'd suggest on the forehand is to stretch that left arm across the body and straighten it out on the turn. Your elbow is bent and that is probably restricting your turn somewhat.

Timing is also a problem especially because you appear to be hitting the ball with some pace. You should reach that left arm stretch at the ball bounce at the latest. You may feel like you are waiting for the ball and that should be a good feeling! The rhythm will smooth out over time.

If you film again move the camera closer and try to fill the frame with the player. Also 1 Quick Time file is worth 100 you tube files if you really want to see what happens.

[nikae]

I made few videos last night, and the forehand is the most problematic for me.
Would you mind taking a look at it?
I am usually late with the forehand, but if I want to prepare earlier, I have to slow down the back-swing and I feel like I am waiting the ball forever....
I also have tendency to jump up or even backwards too much..I just cant identify the problem for sure

anyways, I have posted the videos here:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=1984

Hope you find some time to check them out

[johnyandell]

I think we just need to see some video and we can give you good feedback.

[were]

My strokes are worse they always break down and are very inefficient with no power and a bad trajectory.

[johnyandell]

Uh, you'd have to be more specific. Strokes, strategy, mental game? Sounds like a negative self-talk loop!

[were]

visual tennis

I have read visual tennis from front to back and nothing has worked for me. I may actually be worse than before. I try to visualize but that doesn't work. Nothing does. Any help.

[johnyandell]

We changed that on purpose because, thanks to you, we discovered a large number of unauthorized people and bots crawling over the site. All the financial info is stored by verisign on their servers so there was no threat there, but still we want to keep the site and the forum for subscribers.

[don_budge]

Sorry to bother you...again.

"Who's online" is actually a very interesting feature of the site. I often take a look to see who's online and see what they are reading. So many times I have seen that so and so is reading this post from an old thread...so I go to that post and start reading myself. It's fascinating to read interesting posts that have been written in the past and the quality of the discussions that ensued. Tennisplayer has quite a history...to say nothing of it's future!

Now I am even more curious as to who the "guests" are.

When you changed the timeout setting somehow it is no longer possible to see what the long list of "guests", whoever they are, are reading in the "Who's Online" option. I always thought this was an interesting feature of your forum. Is it possible to restore that that tiny facet of seemingly inconsequential information? Now all that you see is "Viewing Index" without knowing specifically the thread that they are reviewing. No biggy...for sure I am the only one who could possibly be remotely interested.

[johnyandell]

That's a good question! Allen Fox describes the actual tennis as a "reaction," based on muscle memory, practice, etc.

But Billie Jean King told me she visualized literally everything she did before she did it. Other great players may do this spontaneously or subsconsciously.

I think for the average player the idea is not to think in words, but to visualize and feel. So yeah, I think the best plan is to have carefully worked out (but always evolving) image keys for all your shots, placements etc. These positive images also contribute to the mental game!

[were]

image during play

John, while playing should you have the images in your head as you play and be lining up with them or should you be doing the stroke out of muscle memory?

[johnyandell]

It is more movement with the racket, but as I said hard to say it's wrong if the other elements work. Doubt you will start a world trend but who knows?

[pmata71]

Quite frankly I wonder...why EVERYONE else isn't doing it the way I do It doesn't make sense to me having to twist your hand all the way back to bevel 1 when you can just slide it forward just one bevel the other way.

I was taking a lesson on Friday, and after asking the coach, he told me that I should be turning the racquet and putting my knuckle on top, but that if this works for me, he couldn't think of a reason to tell me not to do it. He then went on to tell me that most every other coach would tell me that I had to switch the other way. So I thought I'd ask here. I mean there has to be some reason why all the pros do it that way right?

[stotty]

A guy at my club uses an extreme full western grip for both his forehand and backhands...and hits his backhand with the same face of the racket as his forehand. He plays well with it but was constantly made fun of and derided by others until Berasategui came along to justify such an unorthodox technique.

We've all tried to imitate him at our club but none of us can do it. He is self-taught and a very good player. Needless to say Berasategui continues to be his idol.

[johnyandell]

Great question. There was a Spanish player called Alberto Berasategui who did that.

I guess it doesn't really matter how you get there--might get a little faster string wear. My only thought is if there is some reason I am not thinking of why 99% of all players do it the other way.

Seems that you have a little more overall movement abd you would have to go a little further of course to get to a slice grip.

But if you are making or timing your turns correctly not sure it's a big problem.

Anyone else got a thought on this??

[pmata71]

Changing of grip question

Now that I've come back to tennis after several month layoff, I have decided to go back to my 1hbh and I have a question regarding the grip change between forehand and backhand...

I play with a semiwestern forehand, where my index knuckle is between bevel 3 and 4 (closer to 4 though). My grip for my 1hbh would be with my index knuckle on bevel 1 except I find it easier to just rotate the racquet slightly forward so my knuckle is on bevel 5 (I end up hitting with the same face of the racquet for both forehand and backhand). Is it ok to do this or is there a reason I should be rotating all the way back to my knuckle on bevel #1? If so what would be the benefit? Thanks in advance.