Have a Question for Me?

[stotty]

Stotty,
Good news about your player. We will meet eventually I have a feeling. Where is your club and how far from Boston Lincolnshire?

My club is 50 miles from London. I am a two and a half hour drive from Lincolnshire. Are you doing a workshop there too?

[johnyandell]

Stotty,
Good news about your player. We will meet eventually I have a feeling. Where is your club and how far from Boston Lincolnshire?

[stotty]

I would see where the left arm stretch is at the bounce of the ball. It should be fully extended to the sideline at about the bounce. You need video of course. If the left arm is still on the racket that could be the problem. I would work on him to make that checkpoint and the problem might self-correct.

You were right. He was holding on to the racket too long. We had a go at it today and he took to the earlier release very quickly. I can see the problem will soon resolve itself. Thanks for this, John. I would have wrestled with the problem a good deal longer without your help.

Looks like I won't make the 27th as I have to cover for one of my coaches who is away and who runs one of my key programmes. If things change I will let you know. I would love to meet you but it may not be this time round.

[johnyandell]

I would see where the left arm stretch is at the bounce of the ball. It should be fully extended to the sideline at about the bounce. You need video of course. If the left arm is still on the racket that could be the problem. I would work on him to make that checkpoint and the problem might self-correct.

[stotty]

I have a player who keeps his left hand on the racket longer than most as he takes the racket back into his backswing. He has a nice deep turn and I assume keeping the left hand on the racket longer contributes to this. My question however is this:

He struggles (under duress) to hit crosscourt when pulled out wide. Could the left arm be acting as a block in this scenario? Would I be best to advise him to release the left hand slightly earlier when pulled out wide? Is there a coaching methodology on this one?

[johnyandell]

Sean,

I really love hearing that. Trying to understand the game is what drives me and Tennisplayer.

[seano]

John

The information on Tennisplayer is second to none. I've been teaching for 35 years and recently analyzing how it has changed, most can be attributed to all the incredible information you provide. It keeps me highly motivated to keep learning and makes my job more enjoyable. I enjoy being smarter than everyone else . Keep up the great work.

Sean

[johnyandell]

Yes and coming slowly... Brian and I have been working on something else that could be big. Can't talk about it yet...but that pushed the article schedule back. Plus Brian has become so popular at Macci's that his teaching schedule is overflowing which is great!

[seano]

Another article from Dr. Brian Gordon's 2-Handed BH

John -

In the last paragraph of Dr. Gordon's ATP 2-Handed Backhand - The Forward Swing (Jan. 2015). He says that in his next article he will discuss an on court explanation. Is that article coming?

Sean

[klacr]

John

Not sure if you've read Daniel McCain's book yet but in it he talks how Federer snaps his wrist. I know you're not a believer in wrist snapping but can I run something by you.

In the case of Jack Sock, who seems incredibly wristy, how can his wristyness be explained? Is he just wristy prior to aligning the wrist up before contact...and does his wrist go passive just prior to contact and thereafter? Is his wrist contributing any power? is there any benefit in being more wristy...or does excessive wristyness make most of us more prone to error?

I find Sock's forehand downright amazing to watch. I would love to see his forehand slowed right down so I could take a look at what's going on in there.

stotty and John


I encouraged Dan to join the site and reminded him he gets a free 30 day subscription. I'd love for him to come on the forum to explain the statement that you brought up regarding the wrist "snap". It's easy to take out of context and perhaps the author didn't explain the idea clearly enough but its simply a matter of different adjectives and terminology. The snap phase was meant to describe the acceleration during the hitting zone. As another way of describing torque, forearm rotation etc. It is not as simple as a snap of the wrist like many of us have discussed and John has debunked and explained numerous times on this site and at other gatherings/coaches forums.
But I prefer not to put words in Dan's mouth as he is more than intellectually capable (he went to University of Michigan ) of explaining and answering your question on his own. I hope Dan makes use of the 30 day offer and chimes in.
Stotty, he'll be thrilled to know you enjoy his book.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

No prob. Recently someone I know asked Pete to show him his "pronation" on the wide deuce serve. Pete said: "I don't pronate..."

[stotty]

Great help and advice. Thanks for digging that stuff out for me, John.

[johnyandell]

Good question.

Look at this on a wide slice:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/high_speed_archive/phantom/Roger_Federer_HD_HS/index.html?dir=Serve/RF_Location&stroke=RF_1stS_Deuce_Wide_Front1_250fps.mp4

This article may help too:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/avancedtennis/john_yandell/federer_serve/serve_locations/1st_serve_deuce_court/

And this:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=1530

This may show it best of all:

http://www.tennisplayer.net/bulletin/showthread.php?t=1091

The racket needs to be traveling slightly more right to left to hit the slice. BUT that is a slight difference in the timing of the internal arm rotation, commonly and incorrectly called pronation.

And yeah you can do that with reduced and/or virtually no arm rotation after contact--but that is just giving up racket speed.

[stotty]

Serve questions...

John

A couple of quick questions:

Is pronation (the angle of the racket and contact point) the ONLY deal breaker in creating spin on the serve (being as the wrist is passive)? Does going for slice on a serve significantly reduce the amount of internal rotation a player can get?

[johnyandell]

Again I just do not believe, never did, and this is now backed up by Brian, that there is a forward flex or snap. It's true on some balls the wrist comes around and this will contribute to racket speed. But again, the players are trying to reduce this swinging of the hinge to align the racket face. The amount of lay back at contact varies wildly and if this was some fundamental factor you wouldn't see it the way you see it in the footage.

Not sure where or how Dan got his data. Just because it's in a book doesn't make it valid.