ETI 021 | Deep and Up the Middle

Time and Angle.  Tactics – plain and simple.

If you move the opponent well behind the baseline – you will have more time to respond, and their angle of play becomes smaller.

If that opponent is as deep but in one corner or the other, their angle remains the same but their cross court shot will cross the sideline at a steeper angle.

The famous Jack Kramer was known to play the ball deep and up the middle, whenever he had not gained control of the point with his serve or volley.

The same will work for you.

If you want more length and less effort on your forehand – check out STREAMLINING – using the template of an overhand throwing motion see how your legs, hips, torso, and even your non dominant throwing arm unlock a flowing streamlined forehand – REALLY

Drop Hit One Handed Backhands – a hidden practice gem!!

Start a rally; deliver a ball to the adjacent court when responding to “ball please.” In nearly every instance the swing is a drop hit forehand.

Sometimes those forehands are deliberate and practiced (that is good). Other times those forehands are wristy, in poor form, somehow not acknowledged as genuine practice opportunities.

Truly – practice makes permanent. Practice makes perfect only (repeat ONLY) when practicing perfectly.

But what of the one handed backhand? What of finding and becoming comfortable with a genuine eastern backhand grip?

In classes as well as observation of play at our club, nearly all players could improve this shot. The question is how. The answer – DELIBERATE BACKHAND DROP HITS.

If every time you started a rally, every time you took the ball out of your pocket, every chance you got – you performed a correct, graceful, flowing, one handed backhand – in no time at all you would grow more confidence, improve your consistency and accuracy, and come to terms with a genuine backhand grip.

As a holiday bonus, I am including one of the 40 lessons from within “Mastering the Backhand” – to share in more detail the nuances of this special drop hit shot.

Racquet back before the bounce – contact well in front – a long and deliberate follow thru along the target line.

Check it out – this stuff works.

Check out Mastering The Backhand to learn more, in the meantime make sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think of this lesson.

ETI 020 | Power Lines

Ours is a game of managing errors, of keeping the ball in play, and with each and every shot always playing the percentages.

Play the ball close to the line, you encounter the risk of an error.  Play the ball close to the line when the opponent is out of position, now the reward may outweigh the risk.

But worse, sometimes it is possible to lose points simply because you are never truly taking any risks.

With this in mind, consider the line of the incoming ball, and whether you return the ball back along that same line – and this play will always minimize errors.  You are playing essentially as a wall.  But if you change the line, such that you take a cross court and return if up the line, or you take an up the line and return it cross court – in those instances you are changing the line of play.

If the opponent hits the ball much harder (setting up a power line) then your decisions become much more important, said another way certain decisions expose you to much more risk.

I recommend always play back along incoming cross court power lines – minimize risk, let them change the line.

Developing the Junior Serve

I had the opportunity to present this seminar in September at the  2012 USPTA World Conference in Monterey California.

Forgive the following “tooting of my own horn” but the response was incredible, including standing room only in the double seminar room.

That said, the nut of the presentation concerned the mechanics of an overhand throwing motion, and how in many instances junior tournament players serve better and with far less effort when using the sidespin serve.  For the kick serve, truly, has far less in common with an overhand throwing motion, and often results in a serve that appears awkward and effortful.

I presented a video, courtesy Kim Shanley of TennisOne.com, that compared the service motions of Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova.  And this was indeed a sharp contrast where Serena tosses just high enough, Maria tosses way way too high.  Serena hits in a sidespin contact orientation, Maria in an exaggerated kick contact.  Serena is balanced and goes up to the ball, Maria leans way to the left and appears to be falling down.  And finally, Serena has a subtle back leg kick, Maria’s is massive – and to my mind that singularly represents the amount of effort used within the serve.

And for better or worse, in my (humble) opinion – most of the juniors are hitting kick serves and emulating Maria – and darn few appreciate just how simple, fluid and effortless Serena serves by comparison.

Using side by side videos that could be synchronized to the release of the toss, to the point of contact, or to elements on the follow through – the following screen capture stills (of the video) show significant differences.

Toss release

Both have their weight relatively “back”

But of the two Maria already betrays “effort”

After all, this is just a toss!

 

 

Impact

Serena is balanced and going up – note the line from her left foot to the racquet

Maria is leaning way left and moving down – again note the line

 

 

Leg Kick

Though many coaches train and emphasize this leg kick, I believe it indicates effort (or over-effort)

Do the comparison yourself.

 

 

As an active junior tournament coach, I see many players with powerful forehands, outstanding movement,   but often with remarkably inefficient serves.

These same players spend most of their time honing yet more power and spin on the forehand, while their serve, generally a kick, is rarely practiced and remains a liability.

To my eye the issue is two fold – first these same players must develop a strong and flowing overhand throwing motion, and second they must develop the sidespin serve before ever beginning work on the kicker.

Do any of these problems sound familiar?  (This goes for boys as well as girls)

• The toss is too high, often way too high, and generally drifts to the left
• The service motion stops with a hitch or pause in the middle of the motion
• The serve appears effortful and muscular – rather than rhythmic and flowing
• The player is unable to create much spin on the second serve
• The shoulder hurts – often connected to an awkward looking kick serve

The solution

Build a sidespin serve  (NOT KICK) using the balance, rhythm and mechanics of a simple and strong overhand throwing motion.

The basic elements of a loose and rhythmic serve or throwing motion include:

• Keeping the weight back and on the back foot as the motion begins – balance
• Unwinding the hips and shoulders to pull the arm forward – rhythm
• Leading with a bent elbow – this creates sidespin in the service delivery
• Releasing the ball with the arm in a straight line with the shoulders – this position cannot be found at contact in the junior version of the kick serve!!!
• Throwing/serving with a continuous motion – pitchers DO NOT HITCH – means servers must lower the toss

The Stanford Biomechanical Engineering department studied the services of WTA pro’s at the Bank of the West tournament.  The research examined possible causes of shoulder injuries that occur across the women’s (and by extension the junior) circuit.

The graphs below show considerably more force (stress) to the shoulder from kick serves.  Which, for better or worse, appears to be the predominant junior serve model.

 

Dr. Geoff Abrams and Dr. Mark Safran, Stanford University, 2011

 

 

 

 

Want to improve the flow and mechanics of your overhand throwing motion – and then overlay that on your own serve – then check out Streamling from my online coursework

 

ETI 019 | Fire the Extensors

Many elements are combined to produce the serve – and one of the secrets is to have all the elements firing in the appropriate sequence.

Timing – we have all felt the effortless hits and unfortunately we all have at one time or another, felt the effortful hits.

One of the most important sequence during the serve occurs with regard to the racquet drop and the knee bend.

In general, on the serve, one must fire in quick sequence large muscles first leading to smaller and then smaller muscles, culminating in a whip at the top of the swing.

As regards the racquet drop and knee bend, the best one I heard on this was from Vic Braden, who said, “Fire the extensors baby!”

Check this one out – it makes sense and will help – guaranteed.

 

 

Join me for a Great week of Tennis in Nuevo Vallarta!

The Marival Residences & World Spa has been named the 2012 Traveler’s Choice Awards #1 All-Inclusive Resort in Mexico!
They have also been named the #2 Top All-Inclusive in the World!

I will be part of a special tennis camp in Nuevo Vallarta at the Five Star Marival Residence Resort with Scott Borowiak Tennis and Golf Tours November 28-December 5^th

I am joining four other USPTA Coaches including Scott and Stanford Hall of Fame coach Dick Gould.

This is run by a lifelong friend of mine, Scott Borowiak, who has been coordinating tennis travel programs for over twenty years. We grew up together in Lafayette California in the 1960′s.  His brother Jeff, myself and many others were all trained by our first (and best) coach Blackie Jones.

I wanted to let you know that the tennis program includes two hours of instruction in small groups (3-5 people) followed by afternoon social match play and strategy sessions.

I will be teaching four or five people in small groups each morning for two hours.  Then in the afternoon (provided I am not surfing) I will be one of the featured pros working with larger groups.

Gravity footwork.  The Pete Sampras snap.  Pancho Gonzalez’ three fingered serve.  We will have some fun.  I hope to see some of you there.

This is a great opportunity for players of ALL levels to improve their game and learn from a variety of coaches!

Space for tennis players is limited for tennis so if you are interested I urge you to checkout the details soon at www.tennisandgolftours.com

Feel free to ask any questions about this event.

Serena Andy – and our THREE winners!

Wow!  Three sets in the women’s final.  And I have no idea how Serena shifted gears from 3-5 down in the third to capture the last 4 games.  And the men – 5 sets, 54 stroke rally, and at the end Murray got it right, in his 5th try in a Grand Slam final, much the same as his coach Ivan Lendl did winning his first title in his 5th try at this same event.  I guess this was fitting.

We had a tremendous response from you on your picks.  In the women’s Greg got it precisely correct !  He picked Serena over Azarenka 7-5 in the third.  Greg, choose something from our product line – and it is all yours.

The men’s picks were not as precise, we had two who picked the winner and runner up, as well as in 5 sets, both picked 6-3 in the fifth and truly that is good enough for me.   So the winners for the men are Joe Farah and Wan Rahman – go shopping in our product site and let me know.

Consider both matches when everything was on the line.  In both instances I suggest it was the serve that made the difference.  Azarenka served for the title at 5-3 in the third and was broken at love.  Yes Serena was stepping up, but equally at that point in time Vika needed something big and into the corners.  Equally, in the men’s 5th set Murray’s serving stats were well ahead of Djokovic – 70% of first serves in play, winning 71% of those points, while Novak got 45% of his first serves in play and won just 38% of those deliveries.  Two service breaks, 30 points won vs 19 for Novak, this fifth set was a formality.

Two years ago at the Australian Open the statistics were nearly reversed, where Murray served poorly, and Novak made him pay for it.  But Andy has clearly put in the work, evident in his narrow loss in the Wimbledon finals, his Olympic gold medal and now his first Grand Slam title.

Are you doing the work on your serve?  Not necessarily bombs and cannonball serves (remember that from the 60′s) but more about the confidence to place the ball to all parts of the service box, and to come up with the goods on big points when an unreturnable serve is needed.

Tell me about your serve – what are your projects – are you making progress?  And have you checked out our latest product run BTS 3.0

2012 US Open -pick the winners by Midnight September 5th!

Federer and Serena capture Wimbledon, Murray and Serena capture the gold at the Olympics, and Novak Djokovic looks to defend the title  he captured in his stellar 2011 year .

Serena is the story in the women’s draw.  Yes Azarenka is showing good hardcourt form, but with the best serve in the history of the women’s game – the ball is in Serena’s court and the title (as they say) is on her racquet.  She has continued to improve her fitness, she feels she is “Number 1″ in spite of rankings that may say otherwise.

As regards the men, the ATP Ricoh match facts tell an interesting story.

Federer, riding high with his 17th grand slam title and a 6-0 set against Djokovic – leads in the serving categories

And if you are only as good as your second serve, Federer rules the roost in first place winning 60% of the points on his second serve, and winning 91% of his service games, Novak is 6th at 87%, Murray is 18th holding serve 84% of the time.

Murray is at the top of the match fact board when it comes to the return   game.

Andy leads in points won returning second serve, Djokovic is one hair behind in second place 56 to 55%, Federer is 20th at 50% (most probably occurring out wide to the ad court).

And finally, his coach Ivan Lendl returns to familiar territory.

This could be Murray’s Grand Slam breakthrough.

But interestingly, I don’t believe Djokovic is serving as well as he has or as well as he needs to.

Djokovic is second in points won returning the 1st serve, Murray is 9th, Novak is 2nd in return games won, Murray is 5th and Roger 17th

Something about technique – check Novak as though a spinning top – he is totally vertical, no wobbling, and not off balance.  But further, look at his hitting arm and racquet – at right angles to his spinning torso.  Levers work best when at right angles to a turning axis – this one is worth working on for you and me.

Forecasting –  I am reluctant on this one.  In the main, I love this event, watching the tele day and night.  The coverage and camera angles are superb.  And the evening matches played under the lights in the Arthur Ashe stadium are truly spectacular.

So here goes – I believe both Andy and Novak are more prone to an early round upset than is Roger.  But if they follow their seedings, Andy will play Roger and Novak will play David Ferrer.  So the finalist who plays the shorter semifinal match will have the slightest edge.  As much as last years semifinal match between Roger and Novak came down to a match point ball on the line (rather than one inch out) I think this years title is up for grabs.  A toss up.  A contest.  No clear favorite.

Andy Murray Takes the Next Step – what comes after the gold?

Nadal is recuperating from his recurring sore knee(s).  Djokovic appears somehow listless.

Federer played out of sorts – what’s up with that.  And Andy Murray is breaking through.  Big time.

He was ahead in the Wimbledon finals until the roof closed and Roger found his winning form.  The match was close, the roof closure did make  the difference.

This time around I believe the courts were ever so slightly more dry than during the Wimbledon fortnight.  And where Roger can dominate when the grass court plays fast, something looked strangely different in his semifinal with Juan Martin Del Potro.  Uncharacteristic errors, a hesitancy, and perhaps more retrieving than we have come to expect.  As to Roger’s greatly improved backhand, that improvement has had more to do with topspin on the backhand wing.  For somehow his under spin return of serve from the ad court can be either lethal when skidding low, or just average when sitting up.

2 for 13 in break points against Del Potro, 0 for 9 on break points against Murray (including 0 for 6 in the critical third game of the opening set) and there becomes a story about his backhand return.  (Though that return has still been part and parcel of 17 Grand Slam titles).

Consider Andy Murray’s newfound strength of purpose.  He calmly told John McEnroe in post match remarks after beating Djokovic 75 75, that for the finals he “had a plan.”  And he spoke this with a smiling certainty.  As to Ivan Lendl, who was not present, but had kept in touch throughout the Olympics, there has been an undeniable steadying influence. “I spoke to Ivan Lendl after the Wimbledon final, and he said to me, ‘You’ll never play under more pressure than you did in the Wimbledon final,’ ”   “I’m able to deal with the situations better now, and I did. I felt much more comfortable on the court.”

As to your game and mine, let’s review Andy’s game with particular emphasis on balance.  Whereas Roger can beat you with his serve or his forehand, where Del Potro comes at you with a massive forehand, and where Rafa can dominate with a massive topspin forehand, to my mind Murray plays with much more balance, where he can hurt you with a balanced set of skills.  Certainly the match stats do in fact tell that tale.

In years past, Murray’s Achilles Heel was his second serve.  Somehow a delivery without penetration or even purpose, more or less spinning it in, and at this level of tennis that had not stood up to the competition.  But no more.  In the finals he won as astounding 63% of the points on his seconds serve, compared to 37% of points Roger won on his second serve.  More than anything else that was the whole story.   Murray had 8 winners on his forehand and 9 winners on his backhand.  Finally he outhit Roger, with 27 winners to the losers 24, and made almost half as many unforced errors, 17 to 31 for Roger.

When you or I have an off day, it can be us, or truly it can be something the opponent did to cause this.  Federer had a really off day – but to my mind we celebrate Andy as the cause of this, as the Gold Medal titlist, and as the next guy to wrest the stranglehold at the top of the men’s game from Roger, from Rafa, and now it appears from Novak.

If you compare points won on second serve, that statistic will always (repeat ALWAYS) indicate the winner of any match (professional or amateur).  Murray has significantly improved his game in that important area.

Next time you are on court, pay attention to your points won and lost on second serve deliveries – and keep your eyes open for a new release of BTS3 – Building the Serve from the Ground Up – our first and now greatly improved instructional course.

 

ETI 018 | The Heavy Ball

One of the most common phrases in tennis today is ‘hit a heavy ball’. So what is a heavy ball?

The incoming shot “feels heavy” when that shot has a lot of momentum.

Generally heavy shots are produced with a combination of racquet speed as well as body weight “against the ball.”

But (as always) there is more.  In addition, I believe it has to do with perception.  If the player times their racquet acceleration and weight shift – the appearance is of minimal effort – and that cue often surprises us when the ball arrives heavily.

Whereas when the player leaps, grunts, and whips the racquet – those cues may more readily help us to identify a ball arriving with significant momentum.

Heavy balls feel like they shoot through the court, seem to have more pace after the bounce, and often produce late or defensive replies.

Want to hit heavily (hold on here what follows is old school) – bring your body weight and racquet against the ball.

Let me know what you think…