Inside Tennis : Tags : drills

The "Circle C Spinners." That was the nickname Vic Braden gave to the group attending his clinic on Saturday because of the common errors with their swings.

Long-time tennis coach Vic Braden was the special guest of General Manager and top teaching professional Fernando Velasco at the Circle C Tennis Club in Austin, Texas. This unique opportunity provided those in attendance at the weekend clinic insight into improving their game. The format was simple: three forehands, three backhands and three serves while Vic videotaped you from behind the baseline. Then the group would retreat into the clubhouse to watch the tape and discuss the errors Vic found in their swings.

It's one thing to look for errors in real time, but when the tape is slowed to 1/32nd the problems become glaring. Vic's solution to the Circle C Spinners' common problem was simple: start low and end high. Most of the players were bringing their rackets back way above their knees and ending with a short follow through, causing them to rotate on their flat feet. Vic's suggestion: bring the racket back below the knees, stay on your toes, follow through and end high. It's that simple.

An afternoon with Vic and Fernando was enough to take the games of those who attended ever so much higher on the NTRP scale.

Check out the photos from the event:

If you haven't attended a Vic Braden clinic, you need to check it out. His humor and insight was a great benefit to all. And Fernando's hospitality and added critique made the event a truly special experience.

Vic Braden is a sports science researcher and licensed psychologist who has helped countless individuals realize their full potential in tennis as well as their professional lives. Most noted for his unique ability to produce amazing results in short periods of time, Vic has had a hand in nearly every facet of the game of tennis and has made immeasurable contributions to sports instruction as a whole. After many wonderful years in Coto de Caza, Vic has established the Vic Braden Tennis Colleges at premier resorts across the country. He is considered by many to be the best tennis coach in the world.

USPTA Master Tennis Professional Fernando Velasco is the General Manager and Director of Tennis of Circle C Tennis Club in Austin, Texas. Fernando is considered one of the top teaching professionals and managers in the country having been selected as "National Pro of the Year" by the USPTA and "International Pro of the Year" by the PTR. He is a sought-out speaker at National and International Tennis Professionals Conventions. He is ranked in the National USPTA, PTR, and National USTA and Texas.

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“If anyone's been listening to my commentary the past year then they know I'm in favor of using replay. I think it will make tennis more interesting.” -John McEnroe

I dropped out of tennis for a while. My wife and I had our first child; I started focusing on my career; moved to a new city. When I returned to the sport I quickly realized it had jumped into the 21st Century. I'm referring to this new technology called Hawk-Eye or Player Challenge. I was watching the '07 Rogers Cup when I first witnessed this impressive device for line calling and instant replay.

It does make tennis more interesting. But how is it changing the game?

According to the hawk-eye rules: Each player receives three challenges per set. When the player challenges a point and loses, the player loses that point and one challenge. If the player wins a challenge, he wins the point and the number of challenges remains as it was. If a player has no challenges remaining and they go on a tie break, he gets one challenge.

It's a rather fair system; a player can stop play and challenge a call. And if he is wrong he loses that point anyway. What it does do is break up the pacing of the game -- a bonus for Nadal who prefers this tactic to shake his opponents. And if the replay is in the challenger's favor, then its a huge psychological boost. In this way Hawk-Eye has become another tool in a player's gear bag; another aspect of player strategy adding to the psychological aspect of the game.

Personally, I think it's some of the most interesting ruling technology to come out of professional sports. But how accurate is it?

Using multiple high-frame-rate cameras, Hawk-Eye finds the exact 3D position of the ball at a series of time intervals leading into a bounce. From these 3D positions, a trajectory of the ball is calculated. Hawk-Eye uses this trajectory to project where the ball will first make contact with the ground and then how much the ball will compress and skid once it has contacted the ground. From this, the “bounce mark” is determined up to 2-3mm.

2007 Wimbeldon: In the third game of the fourth set, with Roger Federer a break down and serving at 30-30, he did not play at a ball near the baseline. He thought that it was out, the line judge thought it was out, the umpire thought it was out and a BBC freeze frame seemed to confirm this, too.

However, after a challenge from Rafael Nadal, Hawk-Eye showed the shot in. Federer lost his temper, declaring that the machine was “killing him” and demanded that it be turned off.

One of the biggest problems with this situation was the skidding of the ball following first contact, and the use of television-quality replay affecting the decision of the audience.

Television replays look deceptive because the cameras are at the wrong angle looking down at the ball. The ball also has a lot of motion blur and the cameras do not work at a sufficiently high frame rate to capture the crucial part of when the ball first touches the ground.

What television cameras see as the ball's contact area is actually up to 10cm further than first contact when accounting for ball skid. These frame rates are more accurate when viewing at the 100 fps of Hawk-Eye cameras (as opposed to 150 fps of tv cameras).

If Hawk-Eye technology was around in the 70s would we have still been witness to the fabulous tirades of McEnroe?

Probably.