Does Del Potro Close His Racket Face? (Topspin Forehand Tennis Technique) 

Thank you Hasan!!

🎾😊👍

Haha. Pretty interesting he would make a video only addressing me but I digress. I never said del Potro didn’t close his racquet but it depends on the situation which he correctly says. His video prior IMO did not articulate the difference between a take back and position of the racquet face from wrist lag and hip rotation which would of course be somewhat closed. Again it is something that one can not control and is intuitive in nature. I criticized his comment about all balls sailing long and into the net if the racquet face isn’t closed completely and closer to on edge, which is absurd honestly. If having the correct fundamentals then what happens afterwards is a result of said fundamentals and one isn’t consciously aware of.

And if the purpose of the video is to address the confusion and to more clearly articulate what he wanted to say I have no issue with that. However if he’s making videos to simply challenge any criticism from a poster or other youtubers (he has done so in past) is another issue he should deal with. I could say more but not here to tear down any content creator…

No. It is not "all about grip". Agassi has a more extreme grip than Delpo. Notice that Agassi does NOT close... ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-EB2vGIc5oPQ.html

Jeff you are 100% correct. Thanks for the support and keep doing a great job. Your content is awesome.

That’s because the Vic Braden coaching method “forces” beginners to adopt an Eastern grip which then requires a specific movement to close the racket face. Players using a semi Western (about 80%of all pros and advanced/College players) do this naturally and also players using a Western, which are far more than those who use an Eastern. Federer is closer to semi western than Eastern and uses open stances to create rotational power. Vic simply didn’t understand Western grips and the biomechanics of the open stance rotational swing, that’s why he liked to use Agassi as a model with his Eastern grip and the linear swing out of a neutral stance that is the core of the Braden method. Agassi produced significantly less topspin than players of today and even during his generation. Vic taught players and coaches to create a 30degree bend in the wrist at the ready position and keep it throughout the swing. Players today allow the wrist to layback naturally without any thought about how many degrees it is.

We’ll much of Vic’s research was done before short loose swings and players using the forearm prestretch. btw That was his ACTUAL fascination with Andre as he was one of the first to utilize this stretch/shortening technique. Also you should probably keep in mind that Vic was called “crazy” for telling people to use eastern when everyone was using continental. And Vic also said there is no perfect stance just the one for the right situation. And having worked with Vic at many of his clinics I can assure you we were all trying very hard to get people to close their racquet faces regardless of the grip. You are correct though much of the time when I tell players to close the racquet face they will try to do it with the grip. Vic did say that to gain the other benefits of an eastern you would have to work a little harder to close that face. Of course Vic would also say be your own coach and just take the information and research and do your best with it. Which is also why he would roll his eyes if anyone ever said “Vic Braden” system. 🙄 Wish more internet trolls got to meet Vic in person and see how open he was to these conversations. And no…Fed is on eastern.

@@JeffLewistennis Sounds like Vic would have been very saddened and disappointed hearing his “followers” making personal attacks on those who challenge his teaching ideas and methodology (calling them trolls). One of the frustrating and unprofessional behaviors of so many Vic Braden coaches I’ve met is the lack of flexibility in modifying and upgrading their coaching philosophy and skills, and that’s just not helpful to player development and enjoyment of tennis. We don’t teach kids in the classroom the way we did 50 years ago and tennis should be no different. Watching a bunch of kids standing in line waiting for their turn to hit a ball is disheartening. Watching a group of kids looking like robots with their elbows jutting out forced into Eastern grips with a 30degree wrist bend standing beside cones endlessly practicing 3 point landings and swinging their arm like a Ferris wheel at a ball sitting on a cone a foot off the ground is frightening. Who and why practice mastering a contact point below the knees? As for “short loose swings” there’s hardly a women on the WTA tour using ATP style swings, they have long explosive swings driven by core rotation. Tennis is an open sport with lots of room for flexibility around player development vs a cookie cutter one size fits all learning model. Btw, we can agree to disagree about Federer’s FH grip. It’s a composite grip, sometimes called a strong Eastern. Again, evidence of player hand anatomy, flexibility and preference. Re the video link below, do you think they coach kids in Spain, Serbia, Russia like this? If so, please provide a link. Please also take a moment to read the comment and replies to Steve Walters in the comments section of the video. Look forward to your response and thoughts, at least on the comments made. Note that they didn’t get a ❤️ from the channel or a response. What does that say about Vic encouraging conversation? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8PTd7Tfpv-I.html

Thanks for the comment Kent