Hi Tom thanks for the reply I look forward to seeing you guys in action. Had a great training session yday, initially with my mate/coach and worked on regular stuff initially and movement. One shot I practiced was pivot but keeping my balance at centre of gravity neutral. What have found at times is I pivot and my weight transfer goes too much onto right leg and also after playing the shot I automatically prepare to play next shot by transfer my weight again onto right leg before seeing where it’s being returned. This wasn’t a problem if ball return to same sort of spot as previous shot but if he blocked to middle or slightly wider on fh I can’t get into position as I’m already in shot position. So he said play the shot and keep centre of gravity neutral and don’t prepare for shot till you know where it’s going, don’t assume it’s coming back to same spot. It made a massive difference to being able to deal with change of direction. Same applied when playing fh from middle or wide to down line, he said don’t prepare for next ball till you know where it’s going cos if I prepare for fh and it’s blocked to my Bh then there’s no way of being able to then get there or play a decent Bh, so he said always try to stay neutral and centre of gravity neutral so I can play any shot and move anywhere.
Also did serve receives as that’s an area I am really focussed on. I’m use to his serves which does make it easier though as been playing together past 3 yrs so focussed more on flicks. Incidentally 3 academy boys then turned up like Adam jepson whom u may know so had a chance to train with them and did a lot of serve and receive practice and got good tips. Also did kick for kick on fh and Bh which something I don’t get to practice with my usual partner as he’s more of a punch blocker not someone who spins much.
I think with serve receive I need to take time to see what it’s doing, I tend to jump in early. I remember seeing Dan’s video with timo’s coach where he was told to wait a bit let serve do what it’s going to and take it slightly later at this level. So that’s focus going forward. It’s a big jump receiving serves from academy boys compared to my usual training partners but didn’t do that bad.
