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By Vic Braden
After many years of doing biomechanical studies with Dr. Gideon
Ariel and Dr. Andrei Vorobiev at our Coto Research Center,
it has become quite clear that one link in the body seems
to be more important than others. That link is the upper arm,
from the elbow to the shoulder. However, it’s the link
that is often overlooked, as there seems to be a large segment
of the tennis playing population that prefers to concentrate
on the forearm to control the ball.
When one has the chance to watch Andre Agassi in super slow
motion, one sees his upper arm go all the way under his chin
before he allows his racquet to move away from his target.
This provides him with a larger safety zone in case his timing
is not the greatest on a given day. The problem is that when
one watches Agassi hit at 30 frames per second, the false
impression given is that Andre uses his wrist on his groundstrokes.
In a three-dimensional presentation of Agassi play- ing only
in skeletal form, it’s easy to see that he fixes his
wrist well before the impact point. His wrist is still fixed
more than a foot after the impact point, while he lifts his
upper arm to-ward his chin.
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