[jiffster]

Practice pictures I shot of Alizé before her first round match with Peer at the Sony Ericsson Open. Enjoy!!

[jiffster]

HowardH was talking about Alize's backhand being a weakness. I agree that it certainly can be, but I think sometimes her backhand can also be quite effective.

She hits it generally in two different ways...in a proper right foot forward position, and also in an open stance. You can see the difference between these two shots in the sequences below. When she gets herself in proper position and hits off her right foot she can generate a lot of pace and precision with this shot. You can see that she does have some follow through in her swing, as well as some low to high movement which generates some topspin. When she is hitting it well, it can be more of a weapon than her forehand. True, it is still a pretty flat shot, which keeps the ball low and with pace which can be hard to handle for her opponents. At times she was really hitting this shot well in Miami and it put a lot of pressure on her opposition.

Too often, however, she hits this shot with an open stance. Since she is not stepping into it, and strikes the ball with both feet off the ground, she generates very little pace. In this shot you can see that her followthrough is shorter, and the racquet head stays pretty level generating no topspin. The lack of topspin makes it more prone to errors. She does tend to block the ball back sometimes in this open stance, which is a very defensive shot. I think when she plays against the big hitters on fast surfaces she sometimes relies too much on this open stance position. To me, this open stance technique is the biggest problem with her backhand. But, when she steps into it and plays aggressively, it can be pretty deadly.

[Laechler]

[Laechler]

[HowardH]

Great work as always Laechler.

[jiffster]

[HowardH]

Great photosequence again Jiffster!

However the photosequences are very big, so maybe do it with a thumbnail? I use the free online service Imgur to create them, like this:







If you click on the large thumbnails it takes you to the big original version.

When I put the image on imgur it actually creates several sizes, they can be accessed here: http://imgur.com/IB8VX
http://imgur.com/jY09A,wP7qL

Poor baby

[cemozen]

[dafca]

Video from sparta prague open: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Endz-...eature=mh_lolz photos from sparta prague open: http://dafcadafca.rajce.idnes.cz/Alize_Cornet

[HowardH]

Thank you dafca.

[HowardH]

Much thanks to TF's resident photgrapher Rick. Alize's looking good.

Originally Posted by Rix643

Cornet

[HowardH]

Thanks again to Rick:

Originally Posted by Rix643

And one I found online. Judging from the outfit it seems to be from an earlier round:

[ralfreinecke]

I hope she will smile after Schiavone like
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ralfrei...in/photostream

[McPie]

long time now, I believe I made it for 2 or 3 months now

[HowardH]

It's good! I can totally recognise her in your drawing.