Juan Martin Del Potro

[5263]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

however at his long swing arc it just doesn't look very fast. berdych is similar. they both have very quiet swings (also because they hit quite flat and thus don't need so much extra RHS like nadal for example) but the ball really jumps off their rackets.

I didn't say it was bad or even didn't look fast.
Just that I think he has room to improve it, much like his serves.
Sort of a safe statement since almost anyone can improve some

[LeeD]

Mat's probably has trouble understanding the problems of hitting a tennis ball when you're a 6'5" player. It's not like you can grow OlivierRochus into a 6'6" giant and he dominates the game. Don't work that way.
And shrinking a Milos to Barrasetechi size won''t allow him to win either.

[Ash_Smith]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

I don't want to smart *** but technically the elbow in is a result of humeral EXTERNAL rotation.

you take the arm back and just like in the transition of an overhead throw the arm first externally rotates (elbow leads arm forearm lays back) which then reverses into internal rotation as the elbow slows down and the forearm whips through. the IR starts between frame 2 and 3 of your sequence and the ER before that is an important loading move.

apologies, I have my rotations *** backwards, its late here! - have now corrected.

[dominikk1985]

here is a good analogy that shows the ER to IR loop during the forward swing (minus the extension in the frisbee throw):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1y5WlOQfdQ

[dominikk1985]

Originally Posted by 5263

I didn't say it was bad or even didn't look fast.
Just that I think he has room to improve it, much like his serves.
Sort of a safe statement since almost anyone can improve some

I'm also not a fan of his serve. just like tomic (who is a lot worse though) it looks like he did not throw a lot of things in his youth. it looks stiff and robotic with not a lot of flow of energy through the body. he still hits the bal reasonably hard but that serve is not very athletic.

[5263]

Originally Posted by Ash_Smith

apologies, I have my rotations *** backwards - have now corrected.

Well done Ash,
and that's how it's done for those who can seem to admit a mistake.

[bradsm01]

Luvforty, no but more like Sampras's high elbow. Ash, I'll post a few pictures tonight so you can comment on it. Thanks

[5263]

Originally Posted by dominikk1985

I'm also not a fan of his serve. just like tomic (who is a lot worse though) it looks like he did not throw a lot of things in his youth. it looks stiff and robotic with not a lot of flow of energy through the body. he still hits the bal reasonably hard but that serve is not very athletic.

I really don't want to see what he could do if he tightens up his game, given
his size, attitude, and movement.
A few guys like that could possibly ruin the game for anyone under 6' 4", sort
of like volleyball or basketball.
I don't want to see that

[dave t]

Caught a match between del po and gulbis in LA - maybe a year or two ago (gulbis played great and won). Del po's groundstrokes were ok during this match - I've seen him hit harder but they were still decent. He definitely gets his weight behind fhs when he has time to set up. I did notice a big issue though (and it definitely could be related to his injury). His wrist/forearm does not seem to stretch/snap/whip the way most good players' do. This was especially apparent while serving. He could have a WAY bigger serve. Gulbis was a good contrast cause he was cracking the ball that night, you could really see the difference in wrist action. Gulbis def hit at least 10 mph faster with a lot of work on the ball.

[LeeD]

Tennis channel played a old or new match of Hewitt vs DelPo.
DelPo doesn't move nearly like a shorter player, has ape arms, and slow reacting compared to Hewitt.

[TheCheese]

I think he ends up hitting it flatter than he has to, so when he hits harder he can't do it as consistently as a Fed or Nadal. He doesn't get the increase in topspin that goes along with his increase in ball speed.

[sureshs]

And he shouldn't. Adding top spin will slow down the ball.

[aimr75]

He has a pretty powerful forehand.. have seen him practice first hand. One thing i did notice is how he drops his left arm down in the forward swing, then back up.. seems a bit different to a typical forehand.. dont know if it means much, just an observation

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...Mzidvdug#t=20s

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

ye, exactly. I watched him practice at the AO last year out on that court near the fence on the city side, just POUNDING forehands..

was amazing.

I noticed the left arm too..

What is "hard"? Ball velocity? Racquet head speed? Del po routinely hits the ball as "hard"/velocity as anyone on the planet. RHS? Not so much..... My own opinion, is that his backswing tends to compromise his ability to hit the kind of topspin that the big three can generate.....Than again, he also has a substantially higher contact point than the others that negates this disadvantage to a certain degree.

[sureshs]

His top spin technique is flawed though - at least it is not a smooth action. Some aspects of the push forehand are present.

Originally Posted by sureshs

His top spin technique is flawed though - at least it is not a smooth action. Some aspects of the push forehand are present.

And what is flawed in your opinion Suresh?

[aimr75]

Originally Posted by Timbo's hopeless slice

ye, exactly. I watched him practice at the AO last year out on that court near the fence on the city side, just POUNDING forehands..

was amazing.

I noticed the left arm too..

Its great watching them from that close.. was there yesterday, caught fed practicing among others.. then watched him at rod laver. Got some pretty good footage which i'll eventually upload

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by chico9166

And what is flawed in your opinion Suresh?

There is some weird wrist movement and arming of the ball. I cannot pin point it. I observed it several times last night.

[Cheetah]

Good vid here where you get a good look at the amount of delpo topspin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPvJ0WJ_4f8