Congratulations! You've just been put in charge. No, you're not the coach--you're the boss of everyone involved, including the coach. You have about two weeks to do your job. So, what would you do for/with any or all of these players during your time of ultimate authority:?
Petra Kivitova
Li Na
Sam Stosur
Sloane Stephens
Venus Williams
Simona Halep
Maria Sharapova
Feel free to add the names of players who need your help!
13 comments:
Kvitova. First, medical exam to determine whether or not she has been battling mono or other malady. Second, remove the little hitch from her serve (keep the elbow down and tucked more) and get her to increase the shoulder turn. Third, get her to close stance and step in to almost all forehands (fewer unforced and more power). Fourth, get it into her head that she has to go on court to destroy her opponents, never again to say, "I was waiting for mistakes," as she did against Sharapova in Australia. Fifth, let her know that she should not lose to anybody, given her talents; point out how often she has relinquished 4-1 and 5-1 leads. Sixth, point out that passivity is OUT, not acceptable. Seventh, tell her that either she takes this seriously, or should quit and go home, get married and raise children, this last is something that I know she has set as a goal already.
Halep. Go back to her service motion from 2009. She video of the Paris Indoors. It was a deadly serve. Everything else is fine. Great footwork. No mental issues. Great groundies. Maybe get her in to the net more often when she makes an opponent reach for the ball. yielding a weak return. Go Simona! She MUST improve her service motion, keeping the elbow below the shoulder until the backscratch position is reached, a la Serena and Pete.
Sharapova. Lower the service toss to get rid of the slight pause in the arm motion. Her shoulder injury was a direct, avoidable but not avoided result of the high ball toss.
Robson. Eliminate the little hitch in the service motion. Laura gets the elbow up above the shoulder and as a result must then lower the elbow quickly before going up to the ball. It's wasted time and disrupts the smooth flow required. Make her watch Pete and Serena. Continue to work on getting off the mark quicker, and make her cut off the corners on wide balls that land near the service line, rather than waiting for wide balls to come to her. She possesses the most perfectly struck forehand on the tour, better than Kvitova's, because INVARIABLY, she gets the front foot down even when having to hit, under pressure, from an open stance.
Azarenka. Sumyk has improved her forehand by having her hit as many as possible by stepping IN and closing stance whenever time permits. She must learn to keep the elbow below the shoulder until later in her service motion. The 'trophy' position is bad tennis when it is reached early in the motion. The elbow should not get above the shoulder until the backscratch position is reached. See Pete and Serena.
These are terrific. I'm fascinated by Kvitova - somehow she has to believe, as Doug says, that she should never lose to anybody. And this has to be a positive - a source of confidence to go out and destroy her opponents, not a source of pressure or fear of losing.
Well done! And Doug, isn't the trophy position actually unsafe if it's reached too early? It seems like that would put too much stress on the shoulder.
Yes, Diane, it places stress on the shoulder for a few reasons. The arm goes way up, elbow above the shoulder, then, at the last second, the elbow must drop down as the racquet goes toward the backscratch position, and then back UP high and the racquet then comes up to the ball. It takes extra time to go up down and up again and many even slow down or stop somwhere in there which makes it necessary to jerk up suddenly to get to the dropping ball toss. Here are two videos that show the RIGHT way to do it. One is Serena and one is Pete.
Serena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-rWgP6OvAY Very good.
Pete: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QL1sglyouU AT !:40 Even better; more trunk rotation and stops the elbow at the moment of contact to make the forearm whip around the elbow.
There's more to it but ... some other time. Many players manage to serve well with inefficient technique, but note that neither Pete nor Serena EVER had a serving injury related to the arm. Back, yes, but not arm or shoulder.
Also, beginning with a trophy position compromises power. Properly, as with Serena and Pete, the serve goes from slow to fast, constantly increasing speed, with no slowing and no pauses (hitches). Watch those Sampras and Williams videos carefully to see how the back shoulder stays low for a long time, the trunk turns away from the court initially, and the elbow DOES NOT get above the shoulder until late in the delivery.
I've always found it a bit odd that so many top players do have some type of service hitch, because of both safety and inefficiency.
I have a torn rotator cuff (not from tennis), and try to be conscious at all times not to put undue pressure on my shoulder joint. And it isn't just serving that will get you--failure to twist your core sufficiently when stretching to get a backhand can be painful.
Can't help noticing that no one has offered any suggestions for Sam Stosur. Is that tacit recognition that her issues require a sports psychologist rather than a tennis coach?
Beth
This isn't about coaching--it's about any way in which you would help the player.
I agree. The problem with the serving arm getting up high early is that instead of a smooth slow to fast acceleration (Pete and Serena) there is a sudden jerking of the arm up to speed. This is the source of the shoulder stress that destroyed Sharapova's rotator cuff. Now, many serve the wrong way, but do not really try to clobber the ball, so the stress is less for them - those who just use the serve to put the ball in play. For a big-time serve that will not work for long, if at all.
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