Andre Agassi
Backhand Return of Serve
by Jim McLennan
The receiver has a problem - to read the ball as it
comes off the server’s racquet and move quickly towards it. The server
varies placement, speed, and spin in order to deceive. The less well the
receiver sees the ball, the more effective the servers guile. The slower
the receiver moves, the more difficult the return.
On the Pro level, a whole school of sports
specialists known as “vision trainers” has evolved. The vision trainer
works to improve depth perception, refine posture and poise (which in turn
improves vision), and sharpen convergence and divergence skills
(retraining focus on incoming or outgoing objects).
In the old days Connors was known to “see the
ball” extremely well, and (not) coincidentally his return of serve was
legendary. And now, Andre Agassi has this uncanny vision, and as Connors
before, is far and away the preeminent returner in the modern game.
There is a story that Agassi was at the baseball
batting cages with friends, he tired of the drill so he charged the
pitching machine and continued to make contact, to the wide-eyed amazement
of his friends.
The object of the following analysis is to define visual, postural, and
footwork techniques that you may copy. And, though Agassi receives serves
in excess of 100mph, his style will assist you as you return serves of
lesser speed and difficulty.
First to notice (as in the forehand return article) is the readiness, and the
cat-like quickness to the ball. Play the above video through at normal speed a
few times, listen for the servers hit and be amazed at Agassi’s
quickness. Listen again for the servers hit, at that instant Agassi’s
posture is excellent, his knees and ankles are flexed, his back is
straight, waiting to pounce.
Agassi waiting, knees and ankles flexed, back straight, eyes
focused.
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As Agassi waits, the quality of his vision is critical. His head is
absolutely level, not tilted even the slightest amount to either side.
Binocular vision (seeing with two eyes rather than one) and depth
perception are most acute when a line between both eyes is exactly
horizontal (try looking at something in the distance with your head tilted
to one side or the other to verify). In the 1970’s William
Harrison of La Jolla created a training system called “Vision
Dynamics”. Principles included enhancement of depth perception and
improved ability to read fast moving balls, so his material was aimed
primarily toward baseball batters. Interestingly, George Brett,
perennial batting average leader, was one of Harrison’s protégés.
I became aware of this system from the overlap of the material to Tom
Stow’s insistence on posture, balance, and the absolute control of the
head during the stroke. Harrison had many exercises that were meant
to improve the convergence and divergence of the eyes as objects moved
toward and away from the subject, as well as vision exercises performed
simultaneously with various balancing exercises, to reinforce the
relationship between visual acuity and balance (Interestingly Tom Stow
served on Harrison’s advisory board).
So, as Agassi reads the ball
and moves to the backhand, study his eyes. He glides, and this gliding
is critical. There is no extraneous movement up and down, no
movement side to side, and no movements that disturb his vision. Head absolutely still, total focus, total
concentration. Moving as
though a panther to its prey.
No extraneous movement up and down, or side to side, nothing to disturb his
vision.
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Reexamine your own commitment
to watching the ball. Certainly, “watch the ball” may be an
extremely overused phrase on the teaching court. But in this example, watching the
ball is more than paying attention, but rather it is studying the ball and
nothing else, it is keen focus; it is impeccable attention while at the
same time preparing the racquet.
Can you prepare and not lose sight
of the ball? Said another way, can you prepare and not move the ball
from the center of your vision? Having studied
examples of Agassi’s backhand return, my overriding impression is of incredible concentration, and
perfect vision.
Unit Turn
As Agassi
moves to the backhand, his back is straight, his shoulders and hips turn
as one, and his eyes track the ball. The right leg unweights,
he shifts to the left leg, and moves neatly to the ball. With a
simple and balanced turn, all resulting moves are graceful and efficient. And though he is moving quickly, somehow powerfully, there is still the
impression of grace. This quickness comes from how soon he reads the
ball and equally from how soon he reacts. On both counts Agassi rules.
And now to the nuts and bolts
of the stroke. Simple preparation, it can be said again, simple
racquet preparation. Agassi employs the briefest of backswings, his
wrists move neither up nor down. His racquet moves quickly,
effortlessly. Not a big backswing. Not a high backswing for
the chip return. Not a low backswing for heavy topspin. Just moving
the racquet back and forth.
As he turns, the right leg unweights, he shifts
to the left leg, and moves neatly to the ball.
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Agassi backswing is short, his wrists move
neither up nor down.
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At contact his head remains level; his eyes
follow the ball into the strike zone.
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Finally, the hit is just
as simple as everything that has gone before. But again look at the
eyes. His head remains level; his eyes follow the ball into the
strike zone, and back out again. Agassi feasts on another
return.
Recovery
Agassi moves wide to the backhand return. After impact he lands on his
right foot then quickly steps out with his left. At this instant his
recovery posture is excellent. He is leaning back to the center of the
court, his legs have arrested any further movement toward the ball.
Stopping on his left foot, Agassi moves his right foot back toward the
center, but still steps under (instead of out) and gets a running start.
He follows with another running stride, then transitions to a shuffling
move as he nears the center of the court. Again, first he runs, then he
shuffles. Most of us mortals do the opposite, using a shuffling movement
to get back to the center, when a running move is quicker and more
efficient.
Finally note his shoulders and hips. With each recovery step his
shoulders are square to the net, neutral as it were so he could arrest
this recovery footwork at any moment to turn and move to the next shot.
But somehow his hips are turned more in his running recovery, and more
square to the net during his shuffling steps. Pretty slick. With each
step, Andre is ready for the next hit.
Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think
about Jim McLennan's article by emailing
us here at TennisONE.
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