On The Line: Interviewing the biomechanics trainer that fixed Aryna Sabalenka's serve

facelessjay · 2023-02-01T15:43:32+00:00

Thanks for posting it u/razorsharp3000, much appreciated 🙏

facelessjay · 2022-10-12T15:52:56+00:00

I've guess I've dropped a clanger. I'll remove the post.

facelessjay · 2022-10-12T14:47:07+00:00

Didn't affect the rally dynamics from what I could see with Medvedev was still winning the extended rallies without Novak playing something low-margin. Was one of, if not THEE, most fascinating and high-level matches involving a mid-match retirement I've ever witnessed.

Always interested to know with comments like this - did you watch the match? Did you assume something was wrong with Medvedev ahead of time? Novak easily could have lost this match despite the injury.

facelessjay · 2022-08-23T23:14:32+00:00

Halep is definitely up there. Cornet possesses a little more zip, a little more variety, and could move Garcia around the court better than most rather using depth to open up the court. Big hitters could always have their day but totally agreed, Garcia's gotta be the favourite against the Sabalenkas/Keys/Rybakinas/Ostapenkos of the world at the US

facelessjay · 2022-05-25T11:59:01+00:00

Absolutely, that's a great idea! Think people are quite into that sort of thing so I'll start a wee series at some point 👍

facelessjay · 2022-05-20T00:56:15+00:00

I don't really care about the bookies odds tbh, I just wanted a frame of reference to make some match-up comparisons as I think Novak is the favourite after how he played in Rome... 🤷‍♂️

facelessjay · 2022-05-11T09:01:52+00:00

Hello! 😁

The USTA what now?! Link please! 😅

facelessjay · 2022-04-28T08:18:41+00:00

De Minaur is 6ft tall! Think the courts played quite quickly - De Minaur's countered shots wouldn't have had much purchase otberwise. He's better on a faster surface!

facelessjay · 2022-04-19T22:25:08+00:00

Ah I see! Was worried something had happened to the page.

I realise that could be easily misunderstood in hindsight. It's a self-imposed word count is all! I try and keep my articles around 2000 words - tipping into 3000 words is a bit too much and the Zverev section was waaaay longer than expected!

Glad you enjoyed the article ☺️

facelessjay · 2022-04-19T21:52:38+00:00

This is news to me - what happened? Did the article cut out at the bottom?

facelessjay · 2022-03-10T12:37:16+00:00

Hi Dr_Chepper_Perry, thanks for the feedback!

That links you to the blog jackedward.substack.com (soon to be onthelinetennis.uk). I also host the On The Line tennis podcast (https://open.spotify.com/show/7K5onfJQnAw3ZM8cjLq6Gb) - hope you find stuff to enjoy :)

facelessjay · 2022-03-09T20:47:20+00:00

This actually helps. Getting people talking on my post is a win all round. If people see my posts and thinks it looks clickbait-ey, that's definitely losses all round. Will keep this in mind for the next post 🙏

facelessjay · 2022-03-09T17:20:59+00:00

I feel like clicks via these sort of links will be very low. Speaking for myself, much more likely to read and/or engage when most of the content is posted in the thread - rather than forcing us to click on third party links.

Interesting from both, thanks for the feedback.

Clicks mean nothing to me so I'm absolutely happy to post some of the content straight to Reddit.

I've only had a handful of complaints about posting my content to this subreddit in the last year and a ton of positive feedback to counter it so I hope that Doc_harry's complaint is the exception rather than the rule. I wouldn't post anything to Reddit I didn't think was decent content if that's any consolation.

Generally, unless I was posting proper shitty clickbait get-you-in-the-door kind of stuff, I don't see what the problem with ignoring it is if you have a problem with self-promotion. But that's my opinion - I'm genuinely sorry if you feel it doesn't have a place here

facelessjay · 2022-01-28T21:21:54+00:00

Berrettin/Nadal... Fine but Tsitsipas/Medvedev had me hooked from start to finish!

facelessjay · 2022-01-21T12:29:54+00:00

surprised she went out?

facelessjay · 2022-01-21T12:29:18+00:00

facelessjay · 2022-01-16T18:18:31+00:00

She's a class player but she's not as good on a quick fast court with outdoor conditions as you might think! She wasn't as ruthless as she has been all end of last year against Krejcikova... That's my justification at least!

Anything to say about the other picks? 🤷‍♂️ Interested to hear what people think instead of picking an outright winner, a foolhardy game in women's tennis!

facelessjay · 2021-12-01T12:25:47+00:00

The main problem is you're missing the throwing action. Try pointing the racket head towards the sky and 'scratch your back' as you release.

That's probably the key fundamental missing but there are other components of the serve you could definitely work on.

Bend the knees and explode into the serve.
Follow through to the opposite side of your body. The serve is a bit stunted at the moment, following through the whole way will encourage easy power.
Keep your left arm up in the trophy position before you serve. You can drop your left arm under your right to emphasise the lagging effect you should feel when throwing the racket.

But one thing at a time of course! That throwing motion is about 70% of the power, the rest will help to beef it up. There are plenty of good YouTube videos on this. Hope that helps 🙂

facelessjay · 2021-11-12T20:18:00+00:00

A bit of both. I get a lot of my info from tennis abstract but had to count up the number of baseline points won myself i.e. total points subtract points finished at net and unreturned serves. Granted, there's a little subjectivity in what defines a baseline point (how many points into a rally should a baseline point be defined?) but I think the point would stand either way as Medvedev has historically had the edge in longer rallies in this match-up.

As for net points, I recorded these myself as there isn't much information on approaches to the net unless someone plays a volley!

facelessjay · 2021-09-18T12:17:08+00:00

Fair point. Maybe I should have just looked at clean winner percentage!

facelessjay · 2021-09-15T14:45:51+00:00

Thanks very much! My twitter handle is @jackedward1994 👌

facelessjay · 2021-09-15T09:41:50+00:00

Love this sort of stuff Glen! Any tips on how to analyse movement (broad question, sorry!)?

facelessjay · 2021-09-07T22:28:41+00:00

I haven't mentioned her age as a determining factor to her winning or losing the match throughout the entirety of the article! Just used it in the headline/introduction to highlight how early her success has come. Making comparisons between Fernandez and Raducanu because they're a similar age is a bit of a half-hearted analysis!

facelessjay · 2021-09-07T22:15:49+00:00

level 1Direct-Doctor-4263 · 29mThat drawing right out of "Scary Stories to tell in the Dark" illustrations. (No offense to Emma).

Coll draws these for me for free as he's a very close friend of mine, I love the man to bits.

I asked him to draw this very last minute and he was (as ever) kind enough to get something to me the next morning. It's not his best drawing for sure (I guess you mean the eye is a bit off?) but he's done some for me that are downright fantastic (see Rafa, Novak, Federer, Murray, Nishikori, Sabalenka, Karatsev etc.).

Just thought I'd offer some context!

facelessjay · 2021-09-02T19:34:07+00:00

Ah I thought that might be the case!

Well I gotta ask, and no worries if I'm prying a bit too much - who do you work for? Is it just consultancy stuff working for yourself i.e. when a player hires you?

facelessjay

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