Have a Question for Me?

[yandell17]

Dear John:

Thanks for your helpful reply. Let me reemphasize the benefit of a slightly closed racket face at the point of contact, say no more that 5%, It is secret sauce for both back hands and forehands. That tip comes from Howard Brody's book on the Physics of Tennis and maybe Al Secunda's book as well. In my experiments in trying to hit as hard as possible and keep the ball in (inspired by Brody and Braden), with a slightly closed racket face that became possible. I believe that extreme grips on backhand and forehand side do this naturally and it ("slightly closed" should be taught) as a fundamental part of the topspin game, not merely incremental elegance or just style. I am not within reach of my tennis library now, so can't get you the cites to Brody or Secunda, but they are from memory. Brody's diagrams showed that with a slightly closed face the spin would keep the ball in more. Depth another issue. Hit higher over net. (A Vic Braden teaching point.). I want to work off my Junior ranking so I am coming back to you. I am forever grateful to Visual Tennis and the video, and the double bend forehand, wrist back elbow in and slightly bent. Teachers did not emphasize that. Thanks also for the articles on the one handed backhand. Perhaps I missed it, but I believe that the one hander down the line is different from the cross court and the follow troughs should be different. (Lendl-like on down the line.) Your thoughts on the wrist were very helpful. Do the pros in discussion say otherwise though? I defer to you. I meant my remarks to part of the back hand discussion but as a novice on this site I wound up just asking you. Feel free to post this response in the backhand section. Oh, another compliment. I tried to convert to the two handed backhand, too hard. Not worth it. I listened to you and gave up the ghost. Giving advice like try Henman for the recreational player instead Guga/Wawrinka exaggerations is helpful advice. Dreaming and being practical at the same time. I will be back on pronation and the slice serve.

[John Yandell]

And ha! A junior member reflects not age but the number of your posts. Keep going!

[John Yandell]

Yandell17,

Nice login! And good questions. I hope I didn't demonstrate open face at contact...the model is for vertical. Astute though that maybe you saw Karsten, who easily has the best backhand of any of the demonstrators (and once had a world ranking in top 200) is slightly open at contact--more of a very slight hard slice drive... But I think everyone else is vertical.

As for the tilt. You do see it in some but definitely not all of the great one-handed backhands. Kerry Mitchell for one believes in it as a teaching cue:
https://www.tennisplayer.net/members...and_Grips.html

Rod Cross in Technical Tennis explains (somewhere) the relationship between necessary ball speed and the viability of the tilt. Myself I think it's a higher level thing that probably happens automatically. If it works for you, go for it.

As for the wrist, I believe the angle is set by the grip. In my model there isn't any conscious or mechanical wrist movement in the forward swing. If it moves it's minor and automatic but I believe in the straight arm all the way to the extension. The wrist may release in the wrap but it's not part of the technical swing.

[yandell17]

Two questions, but first a shout out. Visual Tennis and the video are great teaching aids which materially helped my game. Thanks for this site and your recent emphasis on the one handed top spin backhand. You don't touch in this video review on the angle of the racket face at point of contact. I believe a slightly closed face produces magically more topspin. Your face, Henman's, and your recreational players videos show a tad open. Wawrinka, Guga, Federer slightly closed. Can you comment. Second question, role of wrist if any on one hand top spin backhand. I believe that slight ulnar deviation (as on forehand) imparts some upwards spin prior to hit but low to high movement of racket of course imparts more. However, the so called wrist flick does come AFTER the hit and not before. Could you comment on role of wrist in one hander. I understand never flexion, but not fixed either before hit. Many thanks.

[John Yandell]

Seano,
Well said.

[seano]

Macaque -

I would agree with John about not over thinking about this, though it is an interesting question. The theory of loading the back leg to 50 to 60% calls Newton's third law into play, " for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction". By loading the back leg "back and down", it allows you to swing "up and through". In looking at weight distrubution, if you focus on the position of both heels, it will paint a clear picture of what is happening. IDEALLY, THE HEELS SHOULD BE THE SAME HEIGHT OFF THE GROUND IN THE LOADED POSITION. From the videos I looked at, when thinking about your question, it's seems the rear heel raises up more when starting the "hip over hip, shoulder over shoulder" portion of the forward rotation of the body. My answer would be the weight doesn't shift to the front foot, it remains close to equally distributed until the leg drive starts. If you shift the weight to the front foot, it would limited the driving force of the back leg.

[John Yandell]

Good question. My belief is that this is something you can't or shouldn't try to manipulate. I like the back leg loading as the racket is ready to enter the backswing or even a little before. But from there if you just focus on letting the racket drop and then the upward swing I believe the legs will take care of themselves.

[macaque]

Hello John,

I have a question regarding leg drive on the serve. I understand that the racket drop should begin at the same time when the legs drive upwards, and that the racket should reach the deepest position in the drop when the player straightens the legs fully and leaves the ground. Where it gets a bit fuzzy is the back leg loading. Top coaches such as Jeff Salzenstein, Rick Macci and Mark Kovacs talk about how most of your weight should be on your back leg when you are in the trophy position, and then the weight gradually transfers to the front leg. What's unclear to me is when exactly does this transfer occur. Does the weight transfer occur before the leg drive initiates, or should the leg drive be initiated while the majority of the weight is still on the back leg? When watching servers such as Sampras and Raonic, it appears that at the moment when their leg drive begins, they have already shifted most of the weight to the front foot. Is this a correct observation and does that mean that that weight transfer should occur before the leg drive starts?

Thank you John and all the best!

[John Yandell]

It could but you can just put them in the laid back position starting from the start of the forward swing. Feed them slow balls and ask them to consciously keep the wrist angle.

[rohit1]

Thank you John! I was wondering if the pulling from right hand coupled with speed of torso rotation effects the wrist laid back position because I have some kids who are unable to get the wrist lay back and they lack speed in the pulling motion.What are your thoughts on that?

[John Yandell]

Rohit,
Great question. My experience is that top players don't do things consciously. They do it by image and feel. For the rest of us it usually takes direction to develop that same unconscious skill. And thanks for the good word!

[rohit1]

Hi John! Big fan of your work
My question is regarding the Backswing article in the advanced tennis column. Do the Pros consciously put the wrist in laid back position and elbow tucked in at the beginning of forward swing or something else make it happen/ effect of something else in the stroke?
Thank you

[John Yandell]

Thank you!

[bobbyswift]

Thank you very much. As always you are doing an amazing job with the site.

[John Yandell]

Bobby,
Yeah I remember now you asked me about that before. I went and looked at our sources and they are meager compared to what we already have put up. Let me get through the next couple of issues and I can revisit...