Roddick Hits FH Too Close?

[lordmanji]

is it me or does Roddick hit his fh closer to his body than say blake or mathieu and of course federer? i think this might explain the excessive topspin on his balls and lack of pace for a guy his size since you cant drive through the ball as much the closer you are too the ball.

additionally, when he hits the short fh he doesnt finish across his body but in front of it which i think would lead to less pace and more muscling the ball. if he werent as big and athletic as he is, his fh's would be even less powerful than the aforementioned slimmer guys.

 

[no djok]

Roddick chokes up on his racket when he is hitting and he also hits a windshield wiper forehand which is how he get all that topspin. He has mentioned before that he needs to flatten it out and hit through the ball more like he did a few years back. On that note he did hit a 101 mph forehand against Fed in Miami. Now thats some pace.

 

[Babb]

I won't judge a pro until I am one.

 

[ScovilleJenkins]

I won't judge a pro until I am one.

excellent wisdom....if only more people on this board would heed this advice

 

[daddy]

I for one think that he hits his forehand just fine. He misses a lot but thats more because of his style of play, going for his shots - sometimes more than he should. But his action seems fine to me.

 

[MajinX]

his forehand looks nice to me, esp the inside out one, what is more of a problem is probably hitting with more pace or better angle coz alot of ppl return his strokes and make him rally.

 

[Alexandros]

I for one think that he hits his forehand just fine. He misses a lot but thats more because of his style of play, going for his shots - sometimes more than he should. But his action seems fine to me.

Actually he misses quite rarely. Doesn't make many errors if you look up the stats in his matches, though doesn't crank as many winners as he once did.

 

[daddy]

his forehand looks nice to me, esp the inside out one, what is more of a problem is probably hitting with more pace or better angle coz alot of ppl return his strokes and make him rally.

Pros are used to speed so its more about his placement. They return anything hit at them, thats what they train for.

 

[MajinX]

Pros are used to speed so its more about his placement. They return anything hit at them, thats what they train for.

i guess hes gotta make his spots less predictable or hit shots that make his next one alot harder to return. He doesnt get many winners and most of the ones he gets are fast points and not many longer rally winnters.

 

[daddy]

Actually he misses quite rarely. Doesn't make many errors if you look up the stats in his matches, though doesn't crank as many winners as he once did.

Well not really. See there are two types of Roddick's play. One - flat fh basher ( rarely seen in the last couple of years ) and Two - spinny forehand hitter. When he spins his fh he gets it in almost all the time and makes no mistakes but he lost a lot of matches because he lacks penetration on that side and does not really do anything with it, its not a weapon and that was the main reason he was losing more in lets say 2007. The flat fh is his second nature and people worked hard to make him not hit it. Dubai this year is a perfect example, he took out Djokovic and Nadal in straights and hit some 100mph and harder fh's regularly. Yet he missed at least 10 sitters per match on both of the occasions I am talking about and generally his backhand was much safer shot. But apart from his serve, his forehand was the only real weapon and he could not win without it.

 

[CGMemphis]

I won't judge a pro until I am one.

BEST WORDS EVER on this site!

Can we get an admin to sticky that?!

Its so easy to sit on your couch on watch a match and judge whats right and wrong as if it were just that easy. Sad thing is, 90% of the guys on this forum couldnt take a game off a WTA pro, let alone a ATP pro.

Roddicks forehand is just fine, so what if he changes it some from time to time, this guy is top 10 in the world and has been for years. So what if he was never the next savior of American tennis, he will be just fine. He will wax anyone here, hands down.

 

[daddy]

BEST WORDS EVER on this site!

Can we get an admin to sticky that?!

Its so easy to sit on your couch on watch a match and judge whats right and wrong as if it were just that easy. Sad thing is, 90% of the guys on this forum couldnt take a game off a WTA pro, let alone a ATP pro.

Roddicks forehand is just fine, so what if he changes it some from time to time, this guy is top 10 in the world and has been for years. So what if he was never the next savior of American tennis, he will be just fine. He will wax anyone here, hands down.

This teenage thinking amases me. Well if we should all follow his logic about not judging pros until we become pros ( as if I am going to ) then only pro players would watch tennis ( I for one do not want to watch something I can not comment about ). Having in mind that there re like 1000 pro players, tennis would die just like that.

 

[CGMemphis]

This teenage thinking amases me. Well if we should all follow his logic about not judging pros until we become pros ( as if I am going to ) then only pro players would watch tennis ( I for one do not want to watch something I can not comment about ). Having in mind that there re like 1000 pro players, tennis would die just like that.

Its not teenage thinking sir, its simply very easy and the current culture of this forum to say "top player so and so" sucks or their game is off because of such and such. No mention of not commenting or make remarks about something, thats not my point. My point is that if you are rated #6 in the world, and you have been there for a while, be it years, you dont suck and you dont stay there because you have too much spin on your ball one match and flat the very next.

The statement "I wont judge a pro until I am one" is simply that those "1000 pro players" are generally in a whole different league than us club/weekend warrior/rec players. They would simply make us eat our lunch.

 

[daddy]

Its not teenage thinking sir, its simply very easy and the current culture of this forum to say "top player so and so" sucks or their game is off because of such and such. No mention of not commenting or make remarks about something, thats not my point. My point is that if you are rated #6 in the world, and you have been there for a while, be it years, you dont suck and you dont stay there because you have too much spin on your ball one match and flat the very next.

The statement "I wont judge a pro until I am one" is simply that those "1000 pro players" are generally in a whole different league than us club/weekend warrior/rec players. They would simply make us eat our lunch.

They play better tennis than we do, surely. We dont know as much as them about the game they play - surely. We are fans and are allowed to comment and have opinions on the matter - absolutely. The game they play depends on us, hard core tennis fans. The more we love the game and the more of us exist, the better it is for them.

No one said he is bad, question was - is he hitting the ball on his fh side closer to the hip than others ? The question is asked, I suppose, because someone else spoke of Steffi Graf's forehand being hit very close to the hip ( you do remember the lady who won 22 slams, and had the best ever womens forehand ). This does not necesarily means that he is bad, someone noticed something about the way he hits and asked us the forum members about it.

 

[Djokovicfan4life]

Thanks a TON, Babb, you really made my day.

 

[CGMemphis]

They play better tennis than we do, surely. We dont know as much as them about the game they play - surely. We are fans and are allowed to comment and have opinions on the matter - absolutely. The game they play depends on us, hard core tennis fans. The more we love the game and the more of us exist, the better it is for them.

No one said he is bad, question was - is he hitting the ball on his fh side closer to the hip than others ? The question is asked, I suppose, because someone else spoke of Steffi Graf's forehand being hit very close to the hip ( you do remember the lady who won 22 slams, and had the best ever womens forehand ). This does not necesarily means that he is bad, someone noticed something about the way he hits and asked us the forum members about it.

See we are now on the same page. Too many on this board think they can hang or that WTA pro's couldnt beat a guy off here or that because Federer uses Nike shoes or Wilson racquets their games will be the same if they buy his gear or that because sitting at home, watching a match on tv and Roddick hits a forehand into the net he sucks because he didnt follow through they way they thought he should, he sucks. Thats all I meant! LOL..carry on, carry on.

 

[Deleted member 22147]

He hardly takes the ball early.

 

[RoddickistheMan]

Yeah he just hits his forehand with too much topspin at times. His forehand is a bent elbow forehand that is pretty much std on the tour. Blake and federes are straight arm forehands. They say however that straight arm forehands are more explosive than the bent elbow ones. You look at verdasco, federer and nadal who all have straight arm forehands and they have the best forehands in the game. Roddick back in 03 could get as much pace as fed and blake with his bent arm forehand due to his muscle mass and hitting it flatter. hes actually hitting his forehand pretty nice as of late lets hope he can keep it up.

 

[baselinerT]

I won't judge a pro until I am one.

well it does say you're a Pro.