Serve position

Another nice image to keep in my head. Look at how compact he is.

Serve: Fed vs Grosjean

I stumbled across this photo of some player (turned out to be Grosjean) and wondered what looked different from Federer. Couple things I can see:

• Fed's head is farther back, chin towards the ball, Grosjean's is leaning into the shoulder
• Fed's tossing arm and racket form a triangle, Grosjean's diverge
• Fed's wrist is pronated a bit more
• Fed's racket is closer to his head
• Fed's tossing arm is relaxed and slightly bent
  

Roger Federer - Preparing to serve

Roger Federer US Open 2006
Originally uploaded by Chance98

Straight back, shoulders at right angle to net, straight arm.

Fed's backhand

Notice:

• Wide step
• Shoulder rotation: 45º or so to the net
• Chin over the right shoulder
• Hitting arm tucked into the body
  
• Wrist laid back
• Racket behind head, facing up and towards the side fence, 45º or so

Photo credit: Nino H

Roger Federer: Overhead Preparation

Roger Federer
Originally uploaded by Arnaud Lerondeau

Notice the rotation, relaxed hitting hand. Head is following the ball, looking over the shoulder. Left elbow is way to the right.

Roger Federer - Practice Court

Roger Federer - Practice Court
Originally uploaded by mandj98

Open shoulders, straight hitting arm, left elbow bent, wrist laid back, eyes on the ball.

Federer serve position

I messed a bit with a video clip I found at TennisOne to better understand Federer's position and alignment when serving. I copied several frames and outlined the one with the tossing arm at the top of the cycle, and extracted the position of the ball in different phases of the serve.

Take a look at the diagram and notice these reference points:

1. The lowest wind-up position corresponds to the moment when the ball is almost at the apex.
2. The tossing arm is right above the eyes, and the head is nearly horizontal and over a foot behind the hips.
   
3. The tossing arm releases the ball at just over 6'.
4. The toss is about 11' high, or 5' above Federer's head.
5. Federer lets the ball drop about two feet before hitting it. This looks like a kick second serve.
6. The racket head reaches the top of the wind-up in the position shown, just when the tossing arm is at the top of the cycle.

I tried to replicate this position in front of a mirror and realized that the head should be much farther back than what I usually do, and it really feels kicked back much farther than usual.

Here's the original clip.

Serving in the sun

the bright sun
Originally uploaded by ducklover6993

Curious thing happened today when I was serving. At the top of the toss, the ball was exactly in the sun. I couldn't see anything for a few seconds after serving. After a few lousy serves, I gave up, relaxed, and started serving very loosely, with no tension at all. I just felt the racket handle leading the way. The serves came out great, with medium pace but nice top spin and good margin over the net. It was a nice feeling that I'd like to preserve and replicate.

Hitting at the top of the curve

I taped myself hitting forehands and realized that I'm hitting the ball way past its highest point. Take a look at the these two stills. The first one shows the ball at the top of its trajectory, just above shoulder height. The second is the hitting point, just above the waist, and probably 3-4 feet behind the first point.

You can see how much height and horizontal distance I've given up.

Another observation: in forehand preparation, Federer turns the hips and loads the legs, then explodes up and slightly forward, with the hitting arm moving down way below the ball before hitting. What I'm doing looks different, and I can't quite figure it out. For one thing, I load the legs, but then hesitate, and do this mini prep again just before hitting. The hitting arm also hesitates for a second, and goes nearly horizontally instead of down. Overall, it feels like I'm loading the right leg, then sort of swaying over to the left leg as I'm hitting. Federer just goes nicely straight up.

Today in practice I tried to do a couple things. First, I tried to meet the ball at the top of its trajectory, which felt much earlier than usual. I need to work on timing and it felt a bit awkward, but I was able to hit with great power and easily clear the net, because in many cases I was hitting almost at shoulder height and didn't have to hit up.

Second, I tried to make sure I explode up and forward/to the right, without shifting my weight from right to left foot.

Finally, I tried to see that my hitting arm was way below the ball before coming up for a hit. To do that, I had to start the swing earlier so that I have time to describe a smooth trajectory with my arm. The shots had much more top spin and landed with a lot of margin.

What frustrated me immensely in my last match was my inability to hit with pace. The oncoming balls had medium pace and lots of topspin, and I ended up either slicing or pushing them back. I think hitting aggressively at the top of the ball's trajectory would solve the problem.

It's alive!

My blog is. And Federer's winning streak:



It's that time of the year, the French Open is not far away -- will he finally find the guts to tough it out this time? But of course, he's got the K-Factor helping him out. Or at least the new paint job, looks uglier and grittier than the red and white nCode design, which is maybe just what he needs for the dirt at Roland Garros. (I'm still peeved at Wilson for selling me "Federer's racquet" that is nothing like what he plays. Fed's comments about his "new" stick always sounded a bit fishy to me.)

Closed stance on the serve?

Mental note to myself: serve works much better if I step back with my right foot while keeping it almost parallel to the baseline. The ball should be above me, not too in front, so that I get a feel of rotating around the imaginary axis going through my spine and my head. I get nice kick serves this way, and it feels like I can hit them as hard as I want.

Case closed

On Saturday I made a small discovery. I was practicing with a ball machine, hitting forehands off high deep balls. I was frustrated because I was expending a lot of effort only to see my shots land very short on the other side, or tap the net. I then decided to hit with a closed stance and stay closed all the way through the shot. Magic! It was amazing. I tried it in a match the next day and it worked wonders. I am now trying to hit every forehand I can from a closed stance. I think the secret is that setting up in a closed stance, with the left foot in front, forces a good shoulder turn, which helps generate power. I also think that the pros are able to hit with power from the open stance because they still get excellent trunk and shoulder rotation. For now, I'll hit from the closed stance and get used to the shoulder rotation, and overtime will try to get the same feel when hitting with the open stance.

Best tennis advice...

...for myself:

1. 10 steps between shots: I read in Tennis magazine that pros make 10-12 steps between shots. Tried it out and it works like magic. Much better than telling yourself to move your feet.

2. "Frame your shots" -- something I read in a TennisOne article. Imagine that your upper body is a frame moving as a whole through the shot, as if you're holding a beach ball. Helps me tremendously to hit deep and heavy forehands. Also works for forehand volleys.

3. Serve: set your right foot farther back. This is the opposite of pointing. I get a much better kick on the serve and use less effort.

4. Backhand slice, and volleys off a slow floating ball: let the racquet head drop to almost horizontal, and use the momentum of the racket to hit slices and volleys with a bite.

Enough for now, already too much to remember.