Lately, I’ve been receiving quite a few emails and comments about the current world number one, Novak Djokovic.
Many fans are baffled as to how a fantastic champion like Nole can often flub a shot that, for a professional of his caliber, should be routine… What shot am I talking about? The smash!
I must admit that I’ve always been very hesitant to comment on the “flaws” of tennis champions, as it feels almost like a crime of “lese-majesty.”
After all, everyone is prone to errors during play (I remember a completely missed smash by Sampras) and analyzing someone who is much better than me doesn’t come naturally. However, given the interest in this particular issue… I’ve also tried to make some observations.
An Important Premise
Following Nole’s career, one thing that might jump out and could partly explain some difficulties with the smash is that Djokovic has always had some trouble with shots above the shoulder. Indeed, there was a period when his coach, Todd Martin, tried (perhaps a bit daringly) to change the execution rhythm of his serve by altering the timing of the racket arm’s rise, as can be clearly seen from these images.
The Changes in Djokovic’s Serve Motion
From these images, it’s clear to see the change in the motion during the serve.
In teaching, in fact, two strokes that can influence each other (both positively and negatively) are undoubtedly the serve and the smash. The movement phases of hitting and impact are nearly identical, and modifying something in such an advanced stage of automatism in either of the two strokes could, and I emphasize could (since we are in the realm of hypotheses), have also created some problems in the smash of this champion, given that it was a weaker shot in his repertoire.
All this, naturally, with the benefit of the doubt…
A Curious Detail
At this point, I went in search of something more concrete and looked online for a video that could highlight Nole’s smash, and after a considerable search (as there aren’t many good videos that deal with this shot) I found a clip that showed a curious detail for a champion of his caliber.
During the execution of the hitting motion, Nole performs the downward movement of the racket more with a “palmar” flexion (opening the palm of the hand upwards) than with a “radial” flexion (flexing the wrist towards the thumb).
This can lead (and in beginner players, always does lead) to a less loose and fluid movement and makes a secure impact difficult.
Understanding the Differences in Racket Drop and Impact Orientation
To understand the differences, observe the two movements of the racket dropping behind the head between Nole, Tsonga, and Youzhny and look at the orientation of the string bed at impact: as you can see, Djokovic’s string bed faces much more upwards, which is not exactly the best thing if you want to have an effective smash.