Lesson Six

Hit again with Dan last night. I'm reasonably satisfied with the forehand. Backhand was erratic until I remembered to keep the arm straight at impact. Volleys were rusty again; then Dan asked me to use less arm and more body momentum: on the backhand volley, prepare by stepping to the left with the left foot, then move forward through the ball, without swinging the arm too much. Last time it also helped when my grip was relaxed and I released the racquet at impact on the volley, letting the racquet do the work. Serve worked OK; I'm getting more relaxed and the mechanics of the movement seem to be cleaner; Dan commented that the pop on my serves went up about 5% from what I had before. I'm still hitting serves down the middle most of the time; takes me some concentration to have it go wide; down the T is still the biggest chalenge. Here's Federer's backhand--the arm is straight: