Emulating your tennis idols: What are the benefits and the downside?

[yellowoctopus]

In my opinion, visually emulating someone with more refined/matured skills in anything is a good thing--it is an effective way of getting at the 'tacit knowledge'. Emulation is natural to us; we instinctively do this since infancy, as soon as our vision is developed enough to observe certain level of details.

Theoretically the benefits of emulation should also apply to Tennis, and I believe it does. However, tennis involves movements that require fine coordination of numerous bodyparts. This makes the emulation process of a tennis stroke very complex, difficult, and prone to errors.

Additionally, I also believe in the natural 'customization' of strokes by the player to his or her body type, capability, as well as the mental aspects. Certain elements of a player's stroke will not be effective to another player; therefore, emulation will actually do more harm than good.

It would be interesting to hear more thoughts and different views on this topic, thanks for your interest and contribution.

[LuckyR]

Visualizing Pro's stroke patterns can be a good thing since many folks learn best by seeing then trying to duplicate what they have seen. Others learn best in other ways. If the stroke of the Pro that the student is duplicating happens to match up well with their existing stroke and body type it can be great.

I would be a lot less in favor of emulating Men's Pro tactics since it would be the extremely advanced amateur who would play best using the percentage play of Pros. If one was going to duplicate tactics, the women's Pro game would be closer to the vast majority of amateur's games.

[actionflies]

I like to play like serena but my stick is not big enough :(.

[mtommer]

Pros - Successfully emulating a pro may get you to a high level of tennis as after all, they are a pro.

Cons - If you ever do make it to the top, most likely the players around you have figured out by now how to play the specific pro you're emulating. (;))

[Charlzz]

Pros - Most pros have pretty solid technique. If your technique is way off, it gives you a target to aim for.

Cons - It's hard to fully emulate everything. You can't always see things like weight transfer, how hard they holding the racquet, etc. As you make changes, it may feel completely unnatural. Some parts of the stroke are not that important to emulate.

It's probably better to look at several different pros and see what they do in common.

[35ft6]

The downside is that lot of the pros have incredibly idiosyncratic shots. Thousands of kids are introduced to tennis every year and they're all probably taught, at the beginning, to hit a more or less classical eastern forehand with an over the shoulder trophy pose finish. But by the time the most talented, tenacious, and athletic of these kids make it to the ATP Top 100, you'll notice most of the forehands are different, they've all embellished some of their shots. If you play enough to become a top pro, you've had plenty of time to make a crooked arm top spin backhand a la Sampras, or a over the head forehand a la Nadal, or volleys with a dropped wrist a la McEnroe work. But these are all shots of tennis geniuses that defy conventional wisdom, and they should be left in the hands of geniuses.

Most players are way better off copying perhaps less flashy players who have more straight forward technique. The groundstrokes of Davydenko, or the late Scheng Schalken and Saulnier, guys most tennis fans may find a bit boring.

The benefit is if you concentrate on the fundamentals, and try to copy the footwork, shoulder turn, and racket preparation. The downside is if you try to master a genius shot that you will never master but you never give up on it because you get 1 out of 10 in on a good day and that's proof that it CAN be done, but you need to practice it more. Like Nadal's forehand, he has such incredible racket head speed and timing, he generates an incredibly heavy shot although he barely drives through at all. But a recreational player doing that will be hitting moonballs and sitters for the rest of their lives. Bad. Those genius shots are not one size fits all type strokes, and in some cases, it only fits one person in the world.

[Bagumbawalla]

Obviously, common sense must come into the picture. If you don't have at least a minimum amount of common sense, then, emulate someone or not, your game will flounder.

It's like a beginner who wants to emulate Nadal, but plays on fast, hard courts, is 5'6" and 180 lbs, not strong, no stamina, no sense of court movement or tactics and the concentration of a puppy. It just won't work.

On the other hand it is good to be inspired by a professional that you admire and who encourages you to constant improvement and the exploration of your potential-- but with some common sense, please.

[Nanshiki]

I've learned a lot of really important techniques just by watching pro's play... I made probably the biggest jump in my tennis skill yet just a week or so ago by watching the way Murray was moving.

You also learn other stuff like really committing a full effort to reaching drop shots by watching Roddick. It remembered to exhale on the serve and other shots too by paying attention to his game too.

[benasp]

I try to emulate djokovic ie everytime a point get long i make a lazy drop-shot. Like djokovic, it doesn't work

[ztolltennis]

i think watching pros helps your game a lot, though some of my friends watch pros and I realize that some things they are trying to copy are not technically correct, or just very different from there own game. Because pros have been playing the same way there whole life it works for them, like with serves, there are many ways to hit one, but only practicing for a long time will make your serve better, your strokes dont have to look exactly like a pros to play like them.

[fuzz nation]

Watching the pros play in person can be really inspiring - Saulnier was a lot of fun to see up close in Newport a couple of years ago, btw. Smooth at singles and a rather creative doubles player, too.

The downside that I see in terms of the kids that I coach is that when they sort of try and emulate the pros, they pay way more attention to the racquets of those pros hitting the ball instead of the real engines behind those strokes, which are their legs and inherent footwork.

When a local college team came to use our courts for a match, one of our young lady sluggers was there to see them and was impressed with how well they all hit the ball. When I picked out one player with especially good movement, I pointed it out to my pal and after she payed attention, it really registered for her just how much work goes toward implementing better footwork in a match.

[35ft6]

^ Seems like bad footwork is the most notable thing about most juniors. Dragging their feet. I remember there was a huge tournament at my club, lots of good players, and the only thing my instructors wanted us to see was how these guys kept their feet moving at all times.

[defrule]

What has help my game most is not trying to emulate a professional's stroke but their footwork.

Two years ago when I started playing I was doing a lot of those "reach" shots where your feet are fixed and you're trying to reach and hit the ball.

I worked heavily on my footwork and especially recovering after a stroke, I had problems trying to recover fast on my one handed backhand but now I feel so much faster.

I can get to balls faster with better preparation as a result and not feel too rushed. Sometimes I do feel like I'm gliding over the court.

[wihamilton]

In my opinion, visually emulating someone with more refined/matured skills in anything is a good thing--it is an effective way of getting at the 'tacit knowledge'. Emulation is natural to us; we instinctively do this since infancy, as soon as our vision is developed enough to observe certain level of details.

Theoretically the benefits of emulation should also apply to Tennis, and I believe it does. However, tennis involves movements that require fine coordination of numerous bodyparts. This makes the emulation process of a tennis stroke very complex, difficult, and prone to errors.

Additionally, I also believe in the natural 'customization' of strokes by the player to his or her body type, capability, as well as the mental aspects. Certain elements of a player's stroke will not be effective to another player; therefore, emulation will actually do more harm than good.

It would be interesting to hear more thoughts and different views on this topic, thanks for your interest and contribution.

Well emulating the pros can sometimes work because the pros have rock-solid fundamentals. By copying a pro's technique there's a decent chance you'll inadvertently do all the things necessary for a fundamentally sound shot. However, indiscriminately copying your favorite player -- without understanding the fundamentals of each shot -- can lead to major problems. Trying to serve like Roddick because you think his abbreviated backswing looks cool is a really bad idea. Unfortunately, each player's idiosyncrasies are typically the most noticeable / most frequently copied. They're not fundamental to the shot and emulating them can often interfere / inhibit a player from developing the fundamentals.

[imalil2gangsta4u]

I agree with what fuzz said. You can only see what the racket is doing, but there is so much more going on including footwork, weight transfer, ect.

[Jay_The_Nomad]

Unfortunately, each player's idiosyncrasies are typically the most noticeable / most frequently copied. They're not fundamental to the shot and emulating them can often interfere / inhibit a player from developing the fundamentals.


well said.

+1

[35ft6]

^ Yeah, WiHamilton said what I did but more concisely and accurately. :(

[obnoxious2]

Tried emulating Sampras's serve once. My serve went to hell.

[benasp]

I emulated Roddick serve, work pretty well, I will post a video sometime

[Nanshiki]

Don't even try to imitate anyone's serve... you have to do what works for YOU to get the racquet head speed to where it needs to be. It has to be natural... to an extent.

Except for Federer... if you emulate him you'll probably be fine. LOL.