Have a Question for Me?

[jimlosaltos]

Fed's Serve Variations

John,

This is undoubtedly covered somewhere in your fine series on Federer's and others' serves, but let me try and post this as a trio of questions.

1) Does Federer have a variation of service tosses and if so what are they? Your recent slow-mo video showing the very subtle wrist arm variations in his delivery is great, and each toss looked identical to me. But Fed has several different serves and I hear analysts such as Darren Cahill and Jimmy Arias say that Fed varies his toss. Cahill: "Fed has several service tosses". Arias, as Fed hit an ace up the T that left Djokovic flat footed during ATP WTC, "Fed hit a T serve out of a fake kick toss." That wording is identical to what I remember Jim Courier saying of his own serve.

We've recently seen "toss cluster" graphics as part of the stats that dribble out from HawkEye. Nadal's cluster is remarkably tight, with a higher toss on the second being the lone variation apparent. But I haven't yet seen that for Fed.

2) Comparing two vidcaps here, which I took from public slomo vid (240 fps) and annotated, what stands out to my naked eye is the much earlier shoulder rotation on the T serve vs kick, and lower impact point on the kick. Makes sense? Not? {Great examples of your "Hoppity Hop" drill, by the way <g> }

[IMG]
FedServeKickVsSlice by james.fawcette, on Flickr[/IMG]

3) Fed's landing point seems to vary widely in my photos from match play at BNP IW. Is that the by-product of his shoulder rotation or impact point or what?

[IMG]
FedServeLandingPointstennis by james.fawcette, on Flickr[/IMG]

Thank you!

[johnyandell]

huh...yours went up but phil's did not... mine also stayed the same...will look into it...

[stotty]

Post numbering seems locked

It might just be me but everyone's posts seem to be locked on the same number:

bottle's 2566
Stotty 1356
gzhpcu (phil) 1029
...etc,

Any reason...or is it a glitch my end?

[johnyandell]

Jack,

Yes! I sent you an email.

John Yandell

[jhard225]

Private coaching

Hi John,
Are you taking any appointments for private, video-based coaching? My 14 year old son was ranked No. 2 in the Pacific Northwest when he was in the 12s. He sustained a shoulder injury and was out for 18 months. He's been back for 8 months and has developed a pretty severe issue with his foreward swing on his forehand. His coach and I have broken it down with frame by frame video, and had him model your key points, but he cant correct it. Based on what I've seen from some of your work in "Your Strokes", I think you might be able to help him.
Please let me know.
Thanks,

Jack Hardwicke
503-333-3645
jackhardwicke@me.com

[gzhpcu]

John,
I practiced this morning with a friend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8mSqoRozNA

Any tips for improvement? Thanks, Phil

[gzhpcu]

Ubersense works very well for me...

[johnyandell]

Seano,

I need a full time person just to research those types of questions...honestly there is on the hs camera front that I know of.

The way you might consider going is the new iphone which shoots at 120 frames a sec. With the ubbersense ap you can get a shutter too. Still not sure though how it will react to low light.

Giancarlo and I are investigating it.

[johnyandell]

Phil,

It's really great to have you back in the Forum and your passion is an inspiration.

There is a good demo of the higher, more forward elbow position in this article and it's relation to the drop.

I suspect you will really need to exaggerate this in your mind, but I am confident that if you can get your arm and racket higher you will feel a real difference in your ability to generate ball speed.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/teaching_systems/john_yandell/serve2/

[seano10s]

Any New Camera's

John -

With the new year upon us, Any new camera's/camcorders set for release that are an improvement over the Casio (f1, fh20, fh25 or fh100) with high frame rate and adjustable shutter speed? I appreciate your input.

SeanO

[gzhpcu]

Stotty,
Thanks for the heads up on the video.

Actually, when I stand in front of the mirror, and look at my drop when relaxed, it is at least a good 8-9 inches lower.

I suspect that I have programmed myself over the years (at least 55 years...) to tense up on the drop causing the muscles to shorten.

Will try John's tip of practicing the loose backdrop...

Another point: how about making sure that the swing takes place to the right of the body, instead of going towards the left? (somewhat similar to the men's modern forehand swing...)

[stotty]

I am sure John will find you a photo.

But I remember this article which may be of interest as it deals with a club player with a similar problem.

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/your_strokes/2009/todd_haydon_serve/todd_haydon_serve.html

You may want to post your clips on a separate thread. A handful of the coaches on the forum are very adept at teaching the serve and may offer some useful tips.

I just wonder if you lack a bit of flexibility. I coach a man in his 60's who is physically unable to achieve a full racket drop. Or it may just be that you have to educate that part of your body to go a little further...using kinesthetics as John prescribed. It's extremely hard to visualise what's going on in this area when you are actually serving. You will need to video constantly to gauge your progress.

[gzhpcu]

John,
Could you point me to a photo showing this more forward elbow position? Thank you.

[johnyandell]

Stotty,

The external rotation issue is interesting. Obviously the great servers have the most. But the average person doesn't have the same strength/flexibility combo. Only a few players can get the full drop with the upper arm in line with the torso.

The bottom line is that the racket needs to approach the contact on the right path. Unless it drops along the side of the body that will typically be too much on a diagonal from acros the back.

So a higher, more forward elbow position is usually required for players who struggle with this. Particularly if, like Phil, they have had a compact windup for a sustained period. I talk about that quite a bit in the new serve series.

I've found that windmill drill very powerful.

[gzhpcu]

Stotty,
Here is a side view:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxMc1nDgvnM

Here is a back view:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnLtNjQhKco

These were taken this summer. Thanks, Phil