Inside-Out strokes
phil oconnor
Ok, what cave have I been living in that I don't know what these
commentators are talking about when they say 'Nice inside-out
backhand'. It seems I've only started hearing this the last couple of
tournaments. I may have heard outside-in, inside-in, and outside-out as
well, but I don't know anymore.
What is this referring to?
Phil
Dean_...@my.sig.has.valid.address
Where've you been? These new strokes are revolutionizing tennis as we
know it! I think Gilbert has a video "The Ugly inside-out revolution,
you can do it too!", but let me explain what this is all about:
Normally, say when you hit a forehand, what do you do? You (assuming
a right-hander) bring the racquet back behind your RIGHT side in a
gentle arc, then swing forward, again from your RIGHT side, to contact
the ball. Seems simple, but we all know how tricky that can be. The
pro's can do this easily, so they came up with a tougher, and better
stroke method, the "inside out."
Now, instead of bringing that ol' racquet back behind your right side
to hit a forehand, imagine you bring that thing back behind your LEFT
side, twisting your forearm so the racquet face is forward, and the
racquet is poised to EXPLODE into the ball from your LEFT side (your
palm should be facing and parallel to the net, with your thumb
pointing to the ground, and you should be gritting your teeth. It
helps to take some aspirin or Vitamin-I to counter the unpleasant
side-effects that may distract your swing, like muscle tearing (the
pros are all in their still-limber teens and 20's, so they can adapt
this posture a bit more easily). You then move into the ball for your
"forehand," by lining it up on your left side and then NAILING that
sucker as you allow your contorted arm to snap back to it's natural
position! The twist of bone and muscle, not to mention the pronation
that develops as your arm spins out from the stroke, will give more
power to your return. An addtional benefit is that the return will be
TOTALLY UNPREDICTABLE! Your opponent won't be able to "read" the shot
because even YOU won't know where it's going! Witness the startled
look on the faces of your hapless opponents when you use this stroke
and you'll see the beauty in it.
So, that's pretty much it. I wish we could draw pictures here in
usenet because I know this is hard to explain in text, but maybe you
could rent the video?
:-)
dean
@ http://www.cashen.com
cashen.com
James Kershaw
In article <33C068...@cis.ohio-state.edu>, ocon...@cis.ohio-state.edu says...
>
>Ok, what cave have I been living in that I don't know what these
>commentators are talking about when they say 'Nice inside-out
>backhand'. It seems I've only started hearing this the last couple of
>tournaments. I may have heard outside-in, inside-in, and outside-out as
>well, but I don't know anymore.
>
>What is this referring to?
In the first instance it refers to an "off" backhand or forehand. Maybe this
is a cricket terminology, but it is what we use in Aust. :-). There are three
basic types of ground strokes. Cross Court, Down the Line, and Cross-Court the
other way. This last is the inside out.
For a right hander, this is hitting a backhand from right to left - AWAY from
the body rather than across the body.
In more precise terms (which I am not sure the commentators use), I use it to
mean a shot where topspin is applied to the inside corner of the ball, rather
than the outside corner of the ball.
This is quite common in high level doubles where jammed backhand returns from the
forehand side are (often) both off, and inside out.
Using the term inside out to imply an off forehand passing shot, dipping close
to the net would probably also count, but to me it seems wrong.
The other three variations don't exist (AFAIK).
Hope this helps,
James.
Jeffery Heath
Inside-out forehand is when a player runs around his back hand and hits a
cross court forehand, creating a great angle. Vice versa for the backhand,
a player runs around his forehand to hit a cross court backhand. Very
effective.