Elbow lead during racquet preparation

[lukman41985]

John,

I know that the elbow leads in the forehands of Lendl and Sampras are idiosyncracies and that these idiosyncracies are elements that players seeking to model good technique should not focus on. However, it's my opinion that leading with the elbow on the forehand may be something worth copying.

I say that because if you lead with the elbow during the take back and preparation phase, the elbow lead naturally causes the shoulders to turn and the body to coil because the elbow lead pulls the torso along. That in turn gets the feet turning and moving. Just try it!

Since shoulder turn and body coil are desirable elements in good forehand technique, should we rethink whether or not we should emphasize leading with the elbow during the preparation phase?

In my opinion, it could be an easy way for players to learn the feeling of getting a good turn, just as the circular backswing on the serve is a good way to increase external arm rotation on the serve.

Perhaps you can experiment with the elbow lead yourself (if you haven't already), with the other contributors on the site, and/or your students?

[johnyandell]

It's not my preferred backswing but yeah it works great if you can execute it.

[lukman41985]

I guess that begs the question: what prevents one from executing it? How is it any difficult than a "plain, vanilla" unit turn?

[lukman41985]

Bump

[johnyandell]

The elbow has to go up and then come down. Once it goes up there is now an extra variable--compared to turns where the elobw stays in closer to the body.

In my view the simpler you can make the moves to the key positions the better. You see people with their elbows all over the place but not making the positions.

Too many players give themselves too much credit for being able to master the complexities of pro strokes when in fact they can't get the commonalities.

But like I said, it works great if it works.

[lukman41985]

I see. So the elbow lead is an extraneous movement that may be harmful in that it may make it more difficult for players to achieve a good hitting arm position--is that right?

[johnyandell]

I would say extraneous--it's just one way to achieve the goal. But it may prevent players from getting into the hitting arm position at the start of the swing if they don't master it perfectly. Plenty of high level players make it work. It's a question of where you are as a player and the relative quality of your other positions.