Correcting Common Stroke Errors (Dr. Jack Groppel

[broddan]

I was reading the article about correcting common mistakes. I noticed a thing about the serve where he was talking about - A poor backswing resulting in the "waiter's try" position and the result of that in the video is because of the grip in the serve. The first thing she should do is changing to continental grip, in my opinion. In other words, the reason there is a delay is because of the eastern forehand grip and that makes her contort her wrist and puts her in this very unnatural "waiter's tray" position.

[johnyandell]

Excellent point--you'll never get rid of the waiter's tray completely without the right grip!

[tennismaverick]

I think this is one of the greatest articles on this website and in many tennis books that I have read. It is so obvious that the body is doing most of the work and the arm is just going along for the ride on the pro forehand yet you rarely hear or read that. Its as if tennis experts just assume you know that or they are all taken in by the illusion that the arm is doing most of the work. Its very confounding why that is not spoken of more.

[DrJack]

Thanks for the feedback.

It's humbling to know that one is being able to
help.

Dr. Jack Groppel

[tennismaverick]

You're welcome. I also think that a player's wrist and elbow position are pretty much locked in place on the foreward swing of the forehand and don't noticeably change, for most pros, until after they hit the ball. I also think that for many pros the elbow and wrist position are locked on the backswing as well and throughout the swing until the very end when the arm wraps around the neck or whatever. Women pros seem to do this more than the men. I think Sampras's arm was pretty stationary throughout his swing but Federer seems to change the position of his elbow and wrist a little more. But overall it seems like most pros maintain the same wrist and elbow position throughout the swing. I read in another tennis book that you should try to keep your wrist and elbow locked in place throughout most of the swing. Do you agree with these observations and this instruction?

[DrJack]

Basically this is correct. I wouldn't think of anything being "locked" though in a tennis stroke. The hitting arm stays in the same position relative to itself from the start of the forward swing through the contact, but this isn't a result of muscle tension. Most players don't achieve this position on the backswing.

I say relative to itself for this reason. You can't generalize about the finish in the modern game. There are many. So the elbow may be flexed and the wrist laid back and the racket may come through on edge. Or the hand and arm and racket may also rotate as a unit without losing the basic arm shape. I believe the body is providing most of the power, but note I said the hand and arm "come along for the ride" in the preparation. The hand is more active in the forward swing--obviously it has to move to reach the finish.

John has done a very comprehensive job of going into all this in the Advanced Tennis articles. Read the ones on commonalities, hand and arm rotation, myth of the wrist, and then you are ready to read about Federer who seems to put all these elements together, including a few ways that other players may not.

[tennismaverick]

kinetic chain

What should a person focus on when implementing the kinetic chain? It seems too difficult to focus on the feet then the knees then the hips then the shoulders then the arms while playing a match. Also, if you push off with your back leg then it seems like the knees and hips take care of themselves so you don't have to think about that part of the sequence. This leaves you to just focus on the shoulders which makes it much easier. Does that make sense or is there a better way to do it?

[johnyandell]

This was also posted under questions for me, and is answered there.