Watching your favourite tennis stars might be better for your game than you think. Try reviewing video footage of some of the pro’s, especially with your tennis coach.
You will be amazed at the tips and tricks that you can pick up to help your technique, and in this blog we focus on Stefan Edberg and his typical serve and volley game.
Forehand
Edberg’s forehand is consistent and hit with moderate pace, but it is not delivered with a great deal of pace. Perhaps because the grip is rather conservative and that his hitting zone is a little short, this results in balls not penetrating the court.
Backhand
Stefan has one of the best one handed backhands in the game, he is able to hit winners almost from anywhere on the court. Technically it is perfect and he creates a lot of coiling with the upper body and this results in a great utilization of the kinetic chain.
Edberg’s upper body stays sideways throughout the shot, which creates a very long hitting zone for the racket. This is one reason Stefan rarely ever mishits a backhand.
Slice
Stefan does hit an exceptional sliced backhand and has a technique that should be copied. His grip is continental with the index knuckle on bevel two. What he succeeds in his slice is that he gets his racket relatively flat and he moves the racket forward on a rather straight swing plane rather than swinging down a lot.
This straight swing action makes the ball go right through the court and then his opponents have a tough time to try and pass Stefan at the net.
Serve
Edberg does not really flatten out his serve and does not really go for winners. Instead his first serve is hit with spin, giving him more time to rush the net. His second serve is blatantly just trying to keep in court.
His motion is quite solid and he maintains a continuous arm motion and creates good separation angle between his hips and his shoulders. His grip may be considered as too extreme with the index knuckle more on bevel one rather than the usual bevel two.
Volleys
Stefen is one of the all time great net players in tennis history. Both with his forehand and backhand volleys he maintains to keep the racket head very stable throughout.
Also his racket face is relatively flat on contact and this allows him to hit the shot right through the court. His racket moves forward rather than downward when he plays a volley shot.
Stefan tends to keep a continental grip on both volleys with his index knuckle on bevel number two. His speed and agility at the net after his serve is excellent, and his ability to move backwards for overheads all combined to make a formidable serve and volley player.
Watching Stefan Edberg play almost a faultless serve and volley game is refreshing compared to most players tactics of baseline power games. It is far more exciting to watch even though quite rare nowadays.
