Have a Question for Me?

[johnyandell]

Joe,

Well that may be a little dramatic, hopfully nothing in tennis ruins anyone for life...but the backswing can permanently limit the potential of the forehand, or so it seems to me.

The backswing doesn't prepare the racket initially. So when players learn to start the motion with the backswing and move the hand too soon they tend to limit their turn and oftentimes end up with a huge loop.

Go check out Myth of the Backswing in Advanced Tennis--it's all laid out there.

John Yandell

[jkfisch1]

Teaching question

John

Can you expand a little on the quote I copied out of previous response from you concerning childrens forhand

"5. Can't say what the majority of teachers are doing--but I do know several high performance coaches who are personally shocked and saddened by the lack of extension and the size of the backswings of so many juniors--kind of ruined for life..."

I understand the extension gut could you expand on the "size of the back swing? Have 6 kids and when you say ruined for life on an aspect it grabbed my attention.

Joe Fischer

[grimmbomb]

We are hoping he is healthy so we can film him at Indian Wells this year. We have some footage but not enough yet. There is high speed footage of Marat on the Advanced Tennis DVDs. www.advancedtennis.com

Sounds good. And thanks for the quick reply.

[johnyandell]

We are hoping he is healthy so we can film him at Indian Wells this year. We have some footage but not enough yet. There is high speed footage of Marat on the Advanced Tennis DVDs. www.advancedtennis.com

[grimmbomb]

I was wondering if you will have Marat Safin in Stroke Archives any time soon?

BTW, best tennis site there is!! Keep up the good work!

Thanks
Bryan

[jasonahuang]

free trial of tennisplayer.net

Hey, is the free trial of tennisplayer.net still valid? I tried to reach you but I don't think you recieved my messages. Anyways, I was referred from the tennis-warehouse.com forums. I would like to have a free trial of tennisplayer.net.'

You can email me at jasonahuang@gmail.com

[johnyandell]

OK it's on Gman.

[gzhpcu]

John, it was GMann who offered to send you a VHS tape of Roscoe.
P.S., I PMed him a reminder...

[johnyandell]

No never got it--can't remember who--but if it comes in I'll put it up!

[gzhpcu]

John,
Someone was going to send you a Roscoe Tanner serve video sometime back. Anything ever come of it?
Thanks

[ruymendes1]

Cause of the progress

John,

I used to read a lot about tennis on paper and on the web, and take lessons two times a week, for an hour. Only play sets occassionaly.
When I change the routine, whith the addition of another three times a week play, with different opponents, I had significant progress.
Do you believe that someone only can achieve a strong development in tennis whith a minimun of five days a week contact whith the game?
Thanks,
Ruy

[johnyandell]

Alvero,

Excellent questions for which I don't think the answers are certain. Regarding the junior girls I would tend to let nature take it's course. If you teach them the grip shift, and have them hit both one-handed backhands and lefthanded forehands, you give them the feel to put the arms together.

Since the turn and the set up of the arms at the start of the swing and the finish are similar across the hitting arm combos, I would gloss over the exact positioning at first, and then film them. Chances are high they will be bent/bent naturally and then you can fine tune. But if I saw a kid who seemed to be hitting well with another combination, well, I would tend to encourage that!

On the serve, again, two different players, many differences in the motions...
pluses and minues to all the differences. You are correct that with Andy's stance he is never going to turn off the ball like Pete or even Federer. But with his quick motion that'd be tough anyway.

A hypothesis is that Andy might is getting more leg drive--trading that for rotation. Again, I think that the only way to tell what works is for players to experiment. Most younger players should start with a squarer stance. Now what happens? Is the natural rhythm quick with a low toss? Is it smoother and slower with a higher toss?

My own preference is for something like Federer--I think the quicker motions are a lot tougher for most players to master and be consistent with. BUT again experimenting based on how a player is coming along is the way to go.

I know those aren't really definitive answers--maybe because I don't believe in them--or at least we don't have the evidence to prove anything for sure one way or the other. I just think it's important to be strict with the core fundamentals, but also open to a range of variations that you see with top players.

Regards,
John Yandell

[alvero]

Boys Girls and backhands

Dear John,

I am enjoying your site tremendously. I like your writing style and the analytical tone of the articles.

I understand you are a busy man, so I'll try to be brief.

1) There appear to be a tremendous difference, mostly in the backhand, between girl and boys at all levels. Can girls be tought Kafelnikov, Safin, Nalbandian type of backhands without potential risk of injury. Or they should be tought the bent/bent type of backhand that most girls seem to prefer.

2) Some reputable coaches advocate Roddick's close together feet as a breakthrough in the modern serve. Having read your article on Pete Sampras' serve, the two lines of thought would seem to be advocating different views. Does Rodick' stance allows for extreme torso rotation? What's your take on this?

Thank you in advance,

Alvero

[johnyandell]

Yes, correct--but it won't save the Flash animation files--those can only be viewed on line. If you print the articles you will get an image of one frame of the animation.

[vmiller]

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