Watching slow-mo videos of Safin's strokes I've noticed that instead of shifting his weight he lifts the leg he wants the weight AWAY from. Like on serve, instead of rocking back like Sampras and Federer he just starts his tossing motion and just lifts his front foot off the ground, which automatically shifts his weight to the back foot. I've found this EXTREMELY useful and I've already implemented it in my serve and it really helped me because I would never shift my weight completely to the back foot with the non-Safin technique. Another example is the forehand when he is looking to either win the point or volley. He goes into a closed stance then hits and as he follows through his back foot bends and lifts off the ground, once again automatically shifting his weight to the front foot (left foot). On the backhand he does it too - hits, follows through and his back knee bends, a little like Agassi's "baseball" knee bend on the backhand, but instead of twisting both the foot and the knee, Safin just lifts the back foot and places in on his left side.
Does anybody know anything more about this weight-shift technique because I think it's brilliant
Does anybody know anything more about this weight-shift technique because I think it's brilliant
