hmm, what's the purpose of holding the racket with the left hand if it doesnt have purpose in the unit turn bringing the racket back?
It improves body sequencing, lets you mirror the backswing according to what you see with your eyes. Above all, it sets up a reference point between your front and back shoulders, and influences the rotation of the hitting arm.
In a FH such as yours and MasturB, you want to make sure that the back shoulder always stays above the front in your takeback. This helps to make sure that your swing is "linear" and that the hitting arm is synced with the rotation of your body. This is the ideal for a stroke ("push") where weight transfer from the legs is key.
If you keep your back shoulder below the level of your front shoulder in the takeback, your swing becomes "rotational" and now the elbow springs away from your body and toward the ball. And this is ideal for a stroke ("pull") where hip and torso rotation figures heavily into the power.
Now, I imagine you've never had an issue with this, because frankly with your mechanics, it would feel REALLY awkward swinging with the back shoulder below the front. But, keeping that left arm is what helps the person set their shoulder reference point. Without it, you don't want you're going to get.
what do you mean bring it back by the hips instead? it's way easier and faster i think to do this with the left hand??
It screws up the body sequencing. If you use your left arm to set up the unit turn (and MOST people do this), it means that now the energy in the arms will drive the body, rather than the body driving the arms. Balance will be wrong, and you'll be arming the stroke.
Using the left arm also encourages the person to use the wrong footwork, that is to have the wrong foot "cross over" for the first step, rather than have the foot closer to the ball make the first step.
The difference in technique is subtle, but huge. You'll not only have a more rhythmic stroke, but the power will go way up.
The easiest way to drill this into your brain is to practice swinging without a takeback. This will FORCE you to use your body to drive the swing.
Finally, it also enables you to practice the "Federer see ball" method that's been discussed here. You keep your head still until you've set up the unit turn
with your body. Then, you let the head track the ball into the racquet.
And in fact, MasturB is doing this with his BH. Even though his footwork isn't correct and he's bending over sometimes, he's consistenly able to hit the ball at the correct point-of-contact with a lateral swing. Keeping in mind that a 1H BH and a lateral swing both push the POC out further in front, it's remarkable he hits the ball so cleanly. And the reason is because on the BH side, he
is using his body to set up and the unit turn and he's consciously holding his head still until the unit turn has been completed. Then he lets his head track the ball, seeing the ball behind the racquet string, and letting the arm find the correct POC. He instinctively makes pretty good adjustments when hitting the low ball and when the ball bounces high on him.
I've seen Fed use a lateral BH several times.
Federer doesn't open up his body in the way a normal lateral BH usually works. He uses a normal smile pattern, but he also has a lot more natural forearm rotation (due to inverting the racquet at unit turn), and so the body opens up a little more than usual on wide shots. That said, he doesn't intentionally swing across his body. You actually hit the ball more out in front than a normal 1H BHer usually do.
you will thank me later!
