Saturday, March 6, 2010

ANALYSIS: The Gasquet Backhand

Richard Gasquet's backhand is a personal favorite of mine. It's the main reason I try to catch every match he plays. When it comes to one handers, it's like nothing we've seen. Sure Gustavo Kuerten had a massive one hander, but his extreme grip handicapped his variety. Gasquet's stroke is designed for limitless possibilities. Let's take a look at how and why -

Breakdown:

Takeback: Gasquet has a massive takeback on this shot. He uses his left hand to pull his racquet behind him and above his head. This results in a massive shoulder turn. As you can see in this picture his chin is actually over his shoulder and resting on his back. Anyone reading at home should try doing this - its almost as hard as licking your elbow :). It's simple physics - the more energy you store, the more you can release. Gasquet is making sure he is gathering as much power as he can before striking the ball. Why doesn't everyone do this you might ask? Well, a massive take back is time consuming and requires an increased sense of timing. Without perfect timing and early preparation it can be a big weakness of faster courts. Fortunately Gasquet has both, as proven by his success on grass.



Foundation - Gasquet is leading the shot with his right foot, stepping into the ball. Knees bent, hips relatively perpendicular to the net, and perfectly balanced. He employs a closed stance almost every time, as is customary with a one handed backhand. An open stance one hander is inefficient and frankly illogical (though have seen him do it when he's in a pinch). Unlike an open stance two hander you cannot use your other arm to provide leverage. The ball at this moment is only a couple of feet away from him and yet he is still in full coil.


The swing: Moments before impact, the butt of Gasquet's racquet is pointing at the ball. This is a good habit to form on both the forehand and the backhand. His left hand doesn't release the throat of the racquet until it drops to about hip height. There it stays or sometimes moves back, providing balance similar to a tightrope walker. His right arm is straight at the moment of contact, reducing the chances of mishits and timing errors. Contact is out in front. His head is still locked on the point of impact which is where it stays for much of the follow through. Again, that is another great habit for any stroke, as it keeps prevents you from opening up your foundation during a swing thus adding accuracy and power.


The Flick - This little portion of the swing is what allows for such variety and is what I believe is the key to this great shot. Gasquet's takeback and preparation for every backhand is extremely similar no matter how he plans to hit it. But how he maneuvers his right forearm and wrist at the moments just before and after he strikes the ball is how he can change the trajectory and pace of the ball so drastically. It is hard to describe in words really. And because it is such a quick and violent motion it is hard to understand unless you try it yourself. Fortunately, we can study this portion of his shot by taking a look at the resulting follow through.

The follow through - Just look at this for a moment. It's insane. If you were to superimpose two images of Gasquet's backhand, one during the peak of his takeback and one during the end of his follow through, his racquets would touch. Does your backhand do that? Probably not. And not many pros do it either. Granted his swingpath isn't always as extreme as the one in this picture but it is a good illustration of all the energy he stored up at the start of the swing being fully released. A more conventional Gasquet follow through is shown below. It is important to note that the follow through is a direct result of the flick as discussed above. A flat shot produces a follow through that goes across Gasquet's body and and a racquet that ends up about head level. A heavy topspin shot will feature a follow through similar to the statue of liberty's pose with his racquet high above his head.


Hope you've enjoyed this analysis!

Indian Wells Preview

A big breath of fresh air - that's what it feels like when Indian Wells rolls around, especially for me living in the midwest. A sunless winter full of snow doesn't exactly provide a cheery mood as I try to wait out the terrible lull in tennis between the Australian and the first Masters Series tournament of the year. Yes yes I know we've got tournaments like Rotterdam, Acapulco, Dubai, etc. Its enough to tide me over, but without the big guns such as Fed, Rafa, and Delpo I find it hard to make time to watch more than just the final.

Even Andy Murray can't bring his full dedication to these tournaments. He's been infamously quoted saying things such as 'If it was a Slam or something, my tactics and my game style would have been a bit different.' Kudos to Novak Djokovic though. He's been in the trenches since he left Australia, playing making the semis of Rotterdam and defending his title in Dubai. He thinks the players owe it to the fans to give their all wherever they go, especially when tournaments like Dubai offer the top players several hundred thousand dollars just to show up. I completely agree. Sometimes players just don't realize how well off they are. Hopefully Murray will learn a lesson from this and either change his outlook on these smaller tournaments or learn to keep his feelings to himself.

Roger Federer has been dealing with a lung infection for the past few weeks but is in Indian Wells now practicing which means (hopefully) that he will play for the first time since Melbourne. Rafael Nadal has confirmed that he will play as well, but no longer being ranked #2 means that it is possible he could meet Roger before the final. Not counting the Master's Cup, such a thing has not happened since the semis of Roland Garros 5 years ago! 8 of the top 10 men's players are slated to show up. The reigning US Open champ Juan Martin Del Potro is out with a right wrist injury and Fernando Gonzalez is opting out due to the tragic Chilean quake. Its a good field, and one that will bring us the biggest match ups since the Australian Open.

Novak Djokovic is my pick to win the title provided he won't succumb to fatigue during the tournament. He hasn't stopped playing yet this year, and is in the best form of anyone going into Indian Wells. Federer has been recovering from an illness, and Nadal has been taking it easy since retiring against Murray in Australia with yet another knee injury. Both of those guys should be fairly rusty. Murray should be very fresh, making him a major contender for the title. Davydenko, one of the hottest players of the year, recently pulled out of Davis Cup with an injury. That makes it hard to say how he will be feeling next week, but if it is anywhere near 100% he is going to be a major threat to the rusty Federer and Nadal.