Lesson #14 with Eldon

4/24/09 Friday 10:00A. M.

Chico Racquet Club

 

Today turned out to be a beautiful day.  It was a little cool in the morning and a little breezy, but almost perfect weather for a lesson.  Eldon and I hadn’t worked together for about a couple of weeks so we had a number of things to review.

 

I was very much looking forward to this lesson since I had a number of questions.

My biggest concern as of late has been the development of a penetrating forehand drive.  There’s been progress here, but the essence of the stroke has been somewhat illusive to me. (I should add parenthetically that my lack of comprehension in the matter has contributed to me over hitting at times in practice and walking away with a sore shoulder.) I went into today’s lesson hoping to maybe solve this puzzle or at least to understand the mechanics of the stroke in a way that would help me to be able to put it into my match play.  

 

The way today’s lesson evolved was very interesting. 

 

1.)        Eldon told me he had read my latest commentary on my match with Sydney.  He reported that my growth was evident from what I had written and the fact that I indicated that I was beginning to neutralize Syd’s game with my strategy and shot selection.  The fact that Sydney hadn’t run me around was proof of that.  What remains now is for me to be able to take advantage by playing more aggressively at the appropriate times, i.e., penetrating shots that take Syd off of his game, shots that shake his confidence.

 

2.)        We then moved on to my concerns about my forehand stroke production.  I told Eldon that I had noticed in practice that I was hitting my forehand down-the-line quite well at times and that I felt the ball stay on the strings longer with this stroke.  But this was not the case when I hit crosscourt.  In that case I felt that I often had very little control, the ball was flying off, sailing on me and that my contact time with the ball on the strings was very short.   Why?  I wanted to know what was going on here.  I could understand that in going down-the-line I felt like I had more contact time with the ball because the swing path was moving diagonally out and through the ball. Hitting crosscourt felt different, though, since the swing path seemed different.  It wasn’t as easy to hit out through the ball going crosscourt, and consequently for me, it felt like I had less contact time with the ball and less control.

 

Eldon’s response here was basically that I was losing control due to my head moving too much.  I was looking up too soon, curious to see where and how my shot was landing on the court.  He said the idea is to feel like you are catching the ball on your strings and that the contact time feels longer, not shorter.

 

3.)        My next concern was that of footwork and forward momentum.  I had been revisiting this situation the last few days thinking about my semi-open stance and the fact that I have always had difficulty transferring my body weight in my forehand drive when utilizing a semi-open stance.  My weight always seems to get stuck on my back leg.  I load up on my back leg but don’t get my weight fully transferred to my front leg in the completion of the shot. (The semi-open stance is very contemporary among most professional tennis players and most young amateurs are being taught that stance.  Eldon says this stance evolved from clay court tennis players who derive better balance when sliding into their shots.)

            I was thinking that this lack of transferring my weight properly might be what was contributing to my tendency to over hit with my arm and upper body which at times resulted in a sore shoulder and rib cage.  (Eldon had commented various times after seeing me hit on the ball machine that I seemed to be tight in my upper body in my attempt to create more power in my shots.)

            Upon hearing this, Eldon was immediately ready to suggest that I try hitting some forehands with a relatively closed stance where I was stepping into the ball with my lead left foot, thus insuring that I was transferring my weight off of my rear right leg onto my left as I completed the shot.  Eldon then suggested, also, that we video tape both stances so I could see what I looked like.

           

So this is what we did:

 

 A)  First Eldon had me hit forehands by stepping into the ball with my left leg utilizing a closed stance. I was moving my weight from my back foot to my front as I hit through the ball.  He wanted me to experience what this stance felt like and to try to get use to it.

 

B)  Then Eldon turned on his video camera and had me hit forehands with the semi-open stance that I was used to.   After hitting about 15 balls, Eldon rewound the film so I could see what I looked like hitting those shots with the semi-open stance.  What did I notice?  I saw that my right foot was usually way too parallel with my left, meaning that I couldn’t push off and transfer my weight effectively.

 

C) The third step was to then hit more forehands with the camera running, but this time I would hit with a closed stance.   After 15 balls or so Eldon stopped the camera and reran it so I could take a look at myself.  What did I see?  I saw myself transferring my weight quite effectively by hitting with a relatively closed stance.  I liked it.

 

Eldon had convinced me that I should be hitting my forehands with a closed stance, that this style was going to be much more effective for me, especially since I was developing the style of an attacking all court player!  And attacking players are stepping forward into the court with frequency.  So hitting with the closed stance was the answer to putting more power naturally into my forehand stroke!

           

 

Some other thoughts and ideas in lesson #16

 

a.)  According to Eldon the direction of your shot is determined by the path you draw with your palm and not the wrist.

 

b.) Three elements you need to know in order to play well————yourself, the court and your opponent.

 

c.)   Given a short ball to approach the net, follow going down-the-line, not crosscourt——–you’ll have a bigger lane to hit into.  It’s an easier shot.

 

d.) The 80-20 percentage depends on your particular opponent——-better players avoid 80-20% patterns of shots i.e., Nadal, Federer, i.e., a common opponent consistently tries to pass crosscourt or down-the-line in an 80-20% pattern as you approach the net.  He normally goes one way more than the other and thus, the so called 80-20% pattern emerges.

 

e.)  Closed Stance——The position of ball——–going crosscourt a little more out front and to left——–going down-the-line——take the ball out front but a little later and more to right—you do not want to put feet in that direction in order to conceal your shot direction

 

f.)   Moving into the court as an attacking player on hard court it’s very important to have more of a closed stance in your forehand stroke.  This is the natural stance one assumes in moving forward.  You are creating forward momentum as you move towards the net and thus your natural footwork is going to have to be closed as you step forward into the court to strike the ball.  A semi-open stance will be useless here.