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VOLUME 1: THE FOREHAND
Part 9: Tennis (R)evolution 1
Technically speaking, most of what happens on the world's tennis courts has been done before. But once in a while someone rises above the clones and takes stroke-play to a new level, often by an amalgam of known elements that are re-interpreted by individual talent.
Jimmy Connors took (what was not unlike) the women's baseline game, powered it up and used it to flatten old school elegance.
Bjorn Borg's topspin whipped up new levels of consistency (and partially eclipsed Connors' game of risk), invented a dipping collection of grass-court angles and led the way for a generation of topspin clay-court grinders.
Pete Sampras showed what natural athletes and basketball players could achieve, if they took up tennis and learned to serve bullets.
Agassi could, over a given distance, whip the racket head through the air quicker than anyone I've ever seen (except maybe Seles), which gave him the potential to take the ball super-early with little loss of power.
Steffi Graf & Monica Seles each used a late-late loop to squeeze every ounce of racket head speed into their relatively flat forehands.
Serena and Venus brought natural power and athleticism to the women's court.
Rafa Nadal has added a forward contact to a Bruguera-type forehand and muscled up a double-loop beyond recognition.
And Federer takes classic strokes and makes their application magisterial.
The Underarm Throw
Traditionally, players have been taught to throw the racket head at the ball on a serve and swing at the ball on their groundstrokes. But as the desire for racket head speed developed, players began to use more of a whiplash 'swing' which is better described as an underarm throw.
To gain a better understanding of what I'm talking about, run your mouse over then scroll to the right to unleash Roddick in the smaller free-running animation.
I want you to imagine that Andy is NOT playing tennis in this animation. Rather, he has entered the World Racket Throwing Championships, in which contestants compete to see who can throw the racket the farthest (and highest).
However, there's one important rule: contestants cannot throw the racket overhead.
So what is the best technique to use when throwing the racket?
I call it the underarm throw, and you're looking at it.
You're also looking at one of the main contenders for flinging the racket a world record distance.
To turn this underarm throw into a tennis stroke, Andy has to keep hold of the handle and put a ball in front of the thrown racket head.
In itself, Roddick's underarm throw is not unique. However, I reckon Roddick the Younger threw up as much racket head speed on his forehand as anyone in the game.
What was radical in earlier versions of the Roddick forehand is the huge loop and how he used his thrown racket head to produce predominantly power, with enough topspin to harness the power and keep it in the court.
Run the main animation and in 1 thru 7 you can see Roddick react to a shorter ball and shove-step himself up the court to meet it.
You can also see Roddick the Younger's massive loop, as his elbow rises to shoulder height and the racket head rises way above his head. In both animations, Andy almost throws the racket back and into his super-loop with his left hand, which also gets the shoulders turned.
In 10 the racket head is pretty much behind the ball, which indicates there is little topspin intent in this shot. Rather, Andy has taken the ball at head height, allowing him to see more of his opponent’s half of the court ABOVE the net. From this vantage point, he can crunch the ball directly (and predominantly flatly) into either corner of his opponents court, with far less risk of hitting the net.
Dual Action: Palm up, Elbow through
Dual actions are everywhere to be found in tennis strokes (see Berasetegui in Chapter 11 and also the Nadal forehand in the final two chapters) and as Andy whips up from under the racket with the palm of his hand (in the small animation), the far forward contact allows him to throw the racket head ferociously through, for a pulverising combination of power and spin.
It is the perfect out front contact that draws the force from the underarm throw through, and makes this dual action of palm up and aggressive elbow thru possible.
Snipping the Loop?
Juniors often come to the senior game with a larger-than-life loop, developed early in their tournament playing days to make up for a lack of muscular strength.
But the questions such juniors should ask themselves (when moving up to the seniors) are these:
1, is the loop going to hinder other areas of your forehand game? And
2, can you downsize the loop and still get the same amount of power and spin?
The answers to these vital questions will differ from player to player.
If you click on the ANIMATION button at the top of the page and run any of the first few buttons, another free running animation will appear to the right of the main picture. Here, you’ll see the modern version of Roddick’s thumping forehand, in which the loop has been trimmed back and the racket head doesn’t rise quite as high.
Faster Ball, Smaller Loop
The problem with large loops is that they take time. And on fast courts and against big hitters, time is something you don’t get much of (and the higher you rise in standard, the less time on the ball you’ll get).
But rather than trim the loop off your main stroke, players might be better advised to develop different sized loops for different speeds of ball and surface.
For example, when returning a flat first serve, you could get rid off the loop completely, as a short take back and flatter hitting style are better suited to the returner's lack of time:
Jimmy Connors would be a great roll model for a flat return, as this is one area where his flat strokes are still relevant.
And when you need to generate your own pace, you size your loop in direct proportion to the time available (and also the degree of aggression in your intentions).
Agassi was a great example of someone who could play both with and without a loop: as well as being able to generate his own pace from a sizeable loop, he could scale his loop right down and use the pace coming from his opponents racket on a return. Djokovic, too, is a great on-court tailor who can trim his strokes as per requirements.
In 16 thru 20 the fallout from Andy's extreme underarm throw is on view, as the whole right side of his body spins through. This is the force running its course and the spinning through of the right side of the body has the added benefit of bringing Andy face-on to the net, from where he will move sideways to a more neutral position on the court.
