Video Analysis Lesson on Neutral Backhand

ACE Video

Thank you all for the amount of views on my last post.  It's amazing how those two words (video analysis) spring our interest.  Going forward I will compose a video lesson with video analysis of some of our players for your viewing.  This will helpfully give you an idea of what you might need to do on your stroke.  Additionally, I will take videos emailed to ACEacademytennis@gmail.com and break them down for you (please see www.ACEacademytennis.com for pricing).

Today, let's take a look at a player most of you guys might recognize from our last post.  Tim and his solid backhand.

The Neutral Backhand
Tim will be hitting 4 backhands in this video.  I will break his backhand into 4 different components and discuss one per shot.  This will help you focus on one at a time and follow from there.

1) Movement



When Tim is moving to his backhand we can see the 1st step in the process be his Split Step w/ Off-Waiting.  Remember, that a Split Step should not be straight up and down but rather have the the toes land in the direction where the ball will be.  This will help you get to the ball sooner as we can see Tim do here.  Once his toes face the direction where the ball will be met, he can then turn his hips and his shoulders to allow him to run to the ball.  From here we see 3 additional steps to set up to the neutral ball.  He doesn't need to take any additional steps as he is attempting to be as efficient and economical on his movement.  Too many rhythm steps can cause faulty adjustment and can afflict fatigue in a long match (be economical!).



2)Set up



Tim has begun to set himself up as early as when he is in Off-waiting.  His unit turn has allowed him to get into the beginning "slot" of the swing.  As Tim moves to the ball and is taking his last two steps, the set up process really begins.  We can see how he loads the back leg first, then steps with his right foot into a partially closed stance.  Momentum from the back hip transfers to the front hip allowing the right leg to load.  This is crucial as he will be able to acquire many characteristics of an offensive ball from here.  The swing has already begun and is in full effect.

3)Swing  



Backswing
From the Unit turn that we see here Tim will take the racket back with his shoulders not his hands.  Using the larger muscle groups minimize errors in movement.  The racket will stay on a plane parallel to the ground.  This is important as it will allow the shoulders to do all the work and not the arms or more importantly small parts like hands/wrists.  The middle of the string bed is level with his head which is the highest you want it.  If anything I would like to see his racket take back closer to the level of his back shoulder.  As he is taking the racket back we see the set up, which was discussed earlier, overlap in this action.  His back leg, the left, is now loading up to initiate his forward swing.

Forward Swing
Tim is now transferring the load to his front foot.  As he loads up in preparation for lifting the racket has now started moving down and forward.  We can see that the left elbow is away from the body providing an angle of separation that will allow Tim to create more force going forward into contact.  His right arm is back as well with his elbow at belly-button height, the ideal contact point for this shot.  As his racket speeds up to contact point we are able to see that it drops below the level of the ball; this of course is done so he is able to come from underneath the ball to produce topspin.  By pushing out with his left arm, his racket now comes up making contact at belly-button height.  This, again, is ideal as he can do many things from here.  Whether he will drive the ball, roll it, go short angle, etc he is not limited because he has caught the ball in a great position.  At contact point notice that Tim uses a double arm bend.  He has both the left and right arm bent right as he makes impact.  Tim has now made contact and is extending through the shot.  He does a decent job as the left arm should be extending out more to provide more force on the ball.  Again, this is assuming he is hitting a neutral backhand back cross court.

Finish
As contact and extension are made the follow-through is now commencing.  We can see Tim start to come around the body finishing right around shoulder level on his right side.  This can be either an elevated finish (over the shoulder) or inverted (slightly below the shoulder).  The finish will depend on what kind of shot he is attempting to hit.  In the neutral shot we see, an inverted or elevated would both be acceptable.  Notice how Tim has now brought the back foot (left) around.  This is critical as it add more linear and angular momentum to the shot.  Not only does Tim produce more momentum on the shot but he is able not to set himself up for the recovery.

4)Recovery


The recovery is extremely important as Tim must prepare to move to the next shot.  Once he performs his front foot pivot he is able to shuffle back.  On a neutral ball like this a recovery step is not needed but if the ball was a bit wider I would like to see Tim bring his outside foot, cross over the inside, and then shuffle back.  The recovery step is performed as it is a faster way of getting back to his position.

Remember that this backhand will have many of the main principles of the stroke but is not for ALL backhands.  One-handers will have a different pedigree of steps to follow.  Never-the-less, whether you hit a two or a one, the basic principles are here to ensure your backhand rocks on the court!
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