Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis: Week Three

I am in the middle of a six week structured improvement program inspired by one of Dennis Ralston’s books, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis. During this time, I am publishing a status update on the effort every Sunday. The previous posts on this topic are summarized below in case anyone is interested in a refresher.

• Week Zero: Introduction of the inspiration and arc of the project.
• Week One: How the “Davis Court Circuit” hobbled me for a few days.
• Week Two: The tyranny of the tournament calendar and training periodization.

For this six weeks I am focusing very specifically on improving my court mobility. In week one, I shared an image of a cardstock sheet that I made to summarize and track my activities in support of the improved mobility objective. The first category on that grid as recommended by Ralston is to watch better players and study their technique.

I can’t decide if I am more disappointed or relieved that no one called me out for the “Damn You Autocorrect” item in my training plan indicating that I would watch matches by Chris “Every” in addition to Steffi Graf to study their technique. Probably everyone knew who I meant anyway.

When Ralston’s book was published in 1977, video recording equipment was available on the commercial market but was not in widespread consumer use. Even if a household owned a VCR, there were very few tennis broadcasts to record. In the modern era of on-demand streaming content, I can easily find and watch matches from a wide variety of players.

I focused initially on Steffi Graf because her footwork is held in universally high regard. After watching a couple of her matches I would agree that her footwork was really amazing. The salient question for me is whether there is anything for me to learn from her technique.

Growing up the importance of the quick crossover step in recovering to the center was instilled into the very fiber of my being. The following clip illustrates the crossover step in action.

With the crossover step ensconced into the framework of what I consider to be good technique in footwork, I was somewhat befuddled by Steffi Graf. It is actually somewhat rare for Graf to take a crossover step. The following beautiful compilation of her footwork contains a couple of instances where a crossover step is made, but the low frequency is apparent.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxJLR-IzxEY

As a part of my “Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis” exercise, the drills and exercises that I selected was build on the assumption that the quick crossover step is essential. In fact I am focused very specifically on making the quick crossover recovery step more of a natural reflex. Since Steffi rarely uses the crossover, does this mean that Steffi actually had poor technique? Most definitely not.

The conclusion that I finally arrived at is that Steffi was very fast and had really quick feet. (See? This is the kind of profound insight that I bring to the table.) As it turns out, I do not have either of those attributes. So Steffi is probably not the player that I should study for technique because what works well for her will not work for me.

The takeaway from watching Steffi is that her footwork always exhibited a high level of sustained intensity. It is apparent in the compilation of her footwork in the video I provided above. It is even more impressive to pull up one of her old matches off YouTube and watch her footwork over a sustained period of time. I have learned that lesson and moved on.

My focus has shifted from players who were known for really good footwork to those that are not blessed with natural speed and quickness but who are still effective at the professional level. It is simply more applicable to my physical attributes and skill set. Watching a player with a skill level that is build off a tool that I don’t have in the toolbox is fun and awe-inspiring, but not all that practical.

This effectively concludes this week’s missive on footwork. I do have one post script to add.

I am fascinated by the contraption, shown in the Steffi Graf video.

I have learned that this is a classic toy manufactured in Germany known as the “Pedalo Classic.” Steffi is pictured using this device while dribbling a basketball across a gym floor. It is still being manufactured, but I cannot locate a source willing to ship it to the United States. Probably there are some liability reasons behind that. Despite that, or perhaps because of it… I want one.

1. Ralston, Dennis, & Tarshis, Barry, 1977, Six Weeks to a Better Level of Tennis, Simon and Schuster, New York, New York.