McEnroe Serving Way off Line
Are there takeaways from this delivery that might help you (and I ) ? YES !! Observe his “dual leg drive” up and into the hit – by staying balanced and getting good use from his back foot he maximizes his leg drive Observe his head with reference to something behind him and note how…
Jannik Sinner – sequential stills
The stills below are courtesy of my good friend Jim Fawcette – excellent camera man, he loves tennis, and he is my source for footage and so much more Look for his videos @JimFawcette. With apologies I am still processing this video, but for sure Jannik Sinner plays well within the top 10 and has…
Court Sense
“Court sense” speaks to your awareness of the court, your awareness of your opponent’s options, and how you might best respond to those same options. Decisions about “what to do” based on your and the opponents court position, and decisions about “where to be” to identify and antcipate their most likely reply. You need to…
Underspin Backhand
A bit of history here, back to my childhood coach Blackie Jones. He specified that all my drop hits to start a rally, or to reply when another court called, “Ball please” be topspin backhands with a full backhand grip. And he told me, most attack the opponent’s backhand, in your case they will be…
The Racquet Drop
Often a useful image is to point the butt cap at the ball And when aligned the player simply pulls the racquet into contact This pulling action occurs on the forehand and backhand and sometimes referred to as the “slot” Maybe this would be called leverage On the serve this “drop” occurs from a loose…
Mixing Things Up – Changing Length Speed and Spin
The drop shot Federer disdained the drop shot in his early years. But Roger believes it helped him capture the French Open in 2009 when opponents were often positioned deep to run down his shots At your end, if you are unable to hit through or around your opponent, or you are simply playing one…
Alcaraz Serve Live
Video courtesy Jim Fawcette ©jfawcette The following is research by Jim Fawcette “You had mentioned Ferero’s role in coaching Carlos Alcaraz. Searching, it looks like he came onboard in 2018, after being fired by Zverev. So … were Alcaraz’s strokes pretty much fully baked by then? I remember Fed saying something like “With serving,…
Alcaraz the Serve
Photo courtesy Jim Fawcette ©jfawcette More and more my observations are less “biomechanical” – just about basic positions that you can come to appreciate, and in some instances approximate on your serve Frame…
Djokovic – Prepared in Time with the Bounce – the Inner Game
The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey- perhaps the best tennis book… He described multitasking and mindfulness in the 1970’s before either term was popularly used Gallweys idea was to focus totally on the ball, and that any thoughts on how to hit the ball would interfere with the shot Minimalism – classically so Tom Stow was…
ETI 045 | Sidespin Serve
Pete Sampras, “I won 7 Wimbledon titles because I had the best second serve in the game.”
The second serve is about spin that will make the ball curve down as it crosses the net. Yes it may corner the opponent and either swing them wide and out of court, or kick up into their backhand.
ETI 044 l Topspin and the Racquet Drop
Consider the critical 24 inch hitting zone when creating topspin on a forehand or on a serve – to create this spin the racquet must be swung up from beneath the ball (12 inches) but carry upward after impact (another 12 inches) to create the rolling spin that more and more of us want in…
Chip Block Return of Serve
Simplify Hold your ground Take the ball early Certainly easier said than done But if you explore “time and angle” in these pages, a great deal of the game, if not the most important part of the game, is to learn how to use the court, and how shot selection varies with court positioning In…
Underspin Floater
At the 2022 Australian Open finals, Rafa Nadal used this shot to neutralize Daniil Medvedev, slow down the play, and essentially center Medvedev To my eye Medvedev is more dangerous from the corners if not on the run, but as the match wore on somehow he became more cautions with his shots And these floaters…
Follow Us
Recent Comments