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Hey John,
Yesterday, we got really lucky and caught an unscheduled practice session with Haas and Safin at Legg Mason for about an hour and a half on one of the outer courts. First of all, those guys were just nuts. Unbelieveable to watch them bang it from about two rows off the court. Was also really cool to see them without the formalities of a match and see them interact with everyone a little more, and get a sense of their personalities. Definitely one of the best things i've seen at legg mason in probably the last five years we've been going.
Anyhow, as they were serving, I thought it was pretty interesting how seemingly casual safin was about the footwork on his serve - especially compared to some of the other pros out there yesterday. It was clear that his footwork is a big part of his rhythm on his serve, but it seemed like the power came pretty much exclusively from his upper body. After going back and looking at some clips today, it was interesting to note that he definitely doesn't get very high off the court when he serves - he gets a fair knee bend but doesnt come close to the elevation of say, federer. Yet Safin obviously can still blast em 140? I keep watching clips of him but I can't really put my finger on what it is about his motion that lets him generate such pace, and make it look seemingly effortless.
Do you have any insights on his serve? What do you notice that he does differently that allows him to generate such pace with seemingly all upper body- or am I way off on that? (Or is he just a freakishly strong human being?)
Also, I was wondering if you had any clips of Sam Querrey's serve? I was only able to find one really low quality one on youtube, but he looks like he has got a fairly similar motion to safin, and obviously if he can blast 10 in a row past JB he must be doing something right.
Thanks a lot!
Scott Newman
Yesterday, we got really lucky and caught an unscheduled practice session with Haas and Safin at Legg Mason for about an hour and a half on one of the outer courts. First of all, those guys were just nuts. Unbelieveable to watch them bang it from about two rows off the court. Was also really cool to see them without the formalities of a match and see them interact with everyone a little more, and get a sense of their personalities. Definitely one of the best things i've seen at legg mason in probably the last five years we've been going.
Anyhow, as they were serving, I thought it was pretty interesting how seemingly casual safin was about the footwork on his serve - especially compared to some of the other pros out there yesterday. It was clear that his footwork is a big part of his rhythm on his serve, but it seemed like the power came pretty much exclusively from his upper body. After going back and looking at some clips today, it was interesting to note that he definitely doesn't get very high off the court when he serves - he gets a fair knee bend but doesnt come close to the elevation of say, federer. Yet Safin obviously can still blast em 140? I keep watching clips of him but I can't really put my finger on what it is about his motion that lets him generate such pace, and make it look seemingly effortless.
Do you have any insights on his serve? What do you notice that he does differently that allows him to generate such pace with seemingly all upper body- or am I way off on that? (Or is he just a freakishly strong human being?)
Also, I was wondering if you had any clips of Sam Querrey's serve? I was only able to find one really low quality one on youtube, but he looks like he has got a fairly similar motion to safin, and obviously if he can blast 10 in a row past JB he must be doing something right.
Thanks a lot!
Scott Newman
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