The first video is back in March 2010, more than 3 years ago:
Elliot had already an interesting backhand. Good grip, stepping in to the ball, contact in front and good extension. The backswing was too short because he was a bit late with his preparation, but overall very promising backhand.
Three years later this is how Elliot is swinging his backhands:
2)
All of these five videos are really interesting. On some shots Elliot was able to keep his head down at contact and follow through to reach maximum extension. the first and fourth video are good examples. Elliot does remind Federer on those two videos. Shot number three was a difficult shot where he was forced to move back and hit the ball on the rise. He managed to save the shot due to a great unit turn. He started rotating his shoulders with a big step back with the left foot and then he hit it from an open stance position. We have been practicing a lot these high bouncing balls on the backhand side and Elliot's success on his backhands depends on his ability to hit his backhands at shoulder level. To improve I think Elliot needs to step in to the ball with his right foot a bit more. On most of his backhands Elliot hits it with a big step to the outside (closed stance). Where this is the right thing to do for some shots, sometimes we need to take a diagonal step forward with the right foot (neutral stance). The neutral stance is great because when attacking it helps to keep the ball at a good height and so it allows us to have greater angles available and to shorten the reaction time of our opponents. When defending the neutral stance is useful to make sure that the ball doesn't bounce too high. Of course to use the neutral stance we have to bee quicker on our feet. I've noticed as well on Elliot's backhands that his right arm is not completely extended at contact which would be nearly impossible to see with a normal video. Next post we will see Elliot's backhands from the side view
Hey Andre / Elliot
ReplyDeleteReally awesome improvement in your backhand I remember watching you play 2 years ago and you have really developed your backhand alot
I definately think the biggest thing you can improve on is footwork and having the right hand straight at the start of the forward swing
Something different i noticed when I compare your backhands to federer at the start of the unit turn he doesnt have his right hand so straight and I think this is reducing the ammount of power you can feel. I think at the start keep your arms neutral just like in the ready position and then when you go for the forward swing straight the right arm I think this is central to getting power in the two hander kinda like a flick (not sure how to describe). Watch a few videos.
Relax with the arms and turn with your body then straight the arm and stay sideon
I play with two hands so its difficult for me to understand where the power comes from but I think it might help