It would be swell if someone with a good sense of neurology would give some physical description of Maria's form. Many claim she is (just a little bit) too tall for this sport, which does favor a low center of gravity. I guess I wish I could watch the matches, and would appreciate some descriptions of what she looks like, how she moves, on court. What color is her dress? Does she seem relaxed, is she bending her knees, or just her back? What about her facial expression as she hits her forehand? Does it indicate she is at her breaking point? Or does it indicate she can go even harder...? Does her legwork look natural, are her shoes making little squeak squeak squeak sounds, and does she seem comfortable when hitting on the run, at full extension? I am always amazed at the imbecile announcers who exclaim 'and that was on the dead run!' when describing a simple well placed shot. Those are among the least stressful, most easily decided upon for placement, in all of tennis. Now look what you made me do! Grrr.
I always thought being just a little bit too tall could actually work to one's advantage, in as much that you could take balls high, or low (if you are willing to get down on a regular basis), and really level out the flight path on high balls, using less topspin. In fact, lashing at the ball with backspin is devastating to opponents who are so accustomed to waiting for the ball to hop up to them. Ever try to return a serve that has nothing but backspin on it? It is likely you will miss the ball completely! You can make yourself lower, but you cannot make yourself more tall...it's in the knees, and thigh muscles. That's where all the action is. Using height to one's advantage would mean that one would need to lower one's self in order to have strategic shot placement on low balls, but the advantage of using this quick drop in body center of gravity would be that you can add extra spring into the shot by using the legs as they extend. In baseball, pitchers use the same leg extension technique to approach 100 mph fast balls, by driving the leg extension energy forward.
I admit I don't really follow the modern game. I see where players are forced to take the ball, on their modern unyielding racquets, and I inwardly cringe. No wonder they are constantly fussing with their strings. There isn't even time for the ball to settle into the strings, so no longer does one try for the middle of the racquet face. It used to be that by looking at a player's strings, one could determine whether or not they had skill at hitting. Today's players are forced to pick up the ball at the wrong edge of the frame. But I have good nerve-memory of tennis, and can pick up a racquet and have it mastered again in moments, when I feel like lacing up some shoes. Call me barracuda. Sometimes I need to lash out at things. Babolat left me cold, and my Wilson Staff is barely tolerable, since I find it's sterile and joyless to hit with, but necessary, when competing. Using a wood racquet is like using a wood bat when everyone else is using aluminum clubs. If what happened to tennis happened to baseball, infielders would bne wearing body aromour. Pitchers would need to pitch from behind sand bags.
Start with her dress color, please. Describe her earrings, and necklace, if any. Does she look as though she has sufficient synovial fluid? Some of us are flying blind.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57oBC_WLsYA (live dance version)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhkY28_9Ra4&list=PL44EE77EFFC6F97BF (high fidelity for headphone and in home use)
I cite Nadal as being the poster boy for the physiological ravages of modern racquet technology. Well, Agassi first, for being first to ruin the sport by figuring out the base line tactic, turning the sport into little more than outdoor ping pong, which cost him his back. Connors' game remained the same even when he tried the very worst material; steel. He was that talented, and kept his shots level. I know his mother had something to do with it. It took an Agassi to figure out what damage could be wielded with modern racqets. But I do maintain that the opposite is possible: once having experienced modern racquets, one can work in reverse, and produce power from wood rivaling modern wands, just with less accuracy. If you watch old matches, you would guess the film speed is slowed, or not working right, the projector broken. So maybe tennis is a sport which has been woken up...but I insist that classical body form has diminished because the racquets allow it.
Everything Rafa does is the exact opposite of what should be done. He plays with too small of a grip, and shoes to boot, just so he can take advantage of the light sabre like dynamics of the racquet, and awful speeds of the court. We have seen how players can now hit between the legs from behind and hit winners, just by making contact with the ball. Even a classic style player like Federer (I count him as one of the few who would still be a champion given a wood racquet) will make classless remarks about how he loathes the drop shot, and despite his illustrious career, he will never have the touch of a McEnroe, or Connors, or Sampras. Indeed I have watched Roger lose half a dozen critical matches because of the drop shot, or lack of it. He never saw it coming because he never learned of it's usefulness in warfare.
Instead of positioning the body frame for the ball, using classic physical form as was necessary with wood, we now require light speed reactions to ball speed, and throw classical form preparedness right out the window. Nadal takes every ball, no matter how high, and expends endless energy into putting more loopy topspin on the shots, so hypnotized is he by the spins that technology enables. Look what it has done to his body though. The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone and so on. I was awoken this morning with a 2.8 jolt, thousands of miles distant, and among the shadowed revelations I tried to recall, I also brought forth the entirety of precisely why Nadal's game fails. It isn't obvious. This deserves another topic in and of itself. In fact, Nadal should pay me to explain this to him, while he recovers. I'm not sure I that I would encourage my children to aspire to become pro tennis players, nowadays. It's almost as if the goal is to see how well one can contort the skeletal system and musculature to combat the abuse.
