Juan Martin Del Potro – Efficient 1st service 3.0
Juan Martin Del Potro (*1988 / ARG) became Argentinian tennis hero by significantly contributing to his country’s first ever Davis Cup win in 2016. “Delpo’s” definitive breakthrough on the big tennis scene came already in the 2009 season when he captured the US.Open crown, which remains his only Grand Slam triumph until today. His final triumph in New York against legendary Roger Federer (SUI) was at the same time Roger Federer’s most painful Grand Slam final defeat ever. Needless to say, the years after his US.Open triumph, have been significantly influenced by Delpo’s repeated wrist problems holding him away from the game for many months more than once. His so far most successful comeback came in 2016 when he made it (while beating world # 1 Novak Djokovic (SRB), in the first round) all the way to the final of the Rio Olympics.
As a tall player of 198 cm (6’6”), Delpo has quite some power potential, which he is using in all of his strokes. His body parameters and solid technique make also his service to a dangerous weapon, despite partly missing one distinct element common to the very best servers of the history. His career service statistics (until the end of 2016) are quite impressive – in the total of 5563 service games – 3272 aces (against 1100 double faults), 64% of the 1st services in and 74% winning percentage on the 1st service points.
Delpo’s service is very simple without any significant idiosyncrasies besides the decisive technical elements and fulfills well all of the elementary Service 3.0 (Tennis 3.0) requirements leading to the body energy dominance of the stroke. The main aspects are well visible on the video and photos below:
Body energy stored during the backswing/loading phase is being well applied at the impact and spent to a quite high degree in the follow through 1. More details can be seen at the photos below:
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 1 of 10 – concentration phase in a wide calm stance – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 2 of 10 – calm start – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 3 of 10 – toss / backswing – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 4 of 10 – loading – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 5 of 10 – transfer from platform to pinpoint stance, toss is rather quite high – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 6 of 10 – initiation of the push-off – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 7 of 10 – cocking / push-off, excellent eye control – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 8 of 10 – follow through 1 = targeted pronation, body energy is being fully transferred as the right hip and shoulder are fully integrated into the stroke and move far into the court – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 9 of 10 – follow through 2 = relaxation far in the court – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 10 of 10 – further advancement into the court – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 1 of 6 – start – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 2 of 6 – loading, toss is really high – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 3 of 6 – initiation of the push-off – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 4 of 6 – push-off / cocking – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 5 of 6 – full pronation shortly after the impact at the beginning of the follow through 1, perfect full body integration into the service – 2016 US.Open – NYC
Juan Martin Del Potro (*88 / ARG) – 1st service in practice – 6 of 6 – follow through 2 = relaxation with certain supination – 2016 US.Open – NYC
This article is just a partial analysis focusing on certain aspects, further photos and more detailed information are available upon request at drmgb11(at)gmail.com
Copyright August 2016 (video/photos) & January 2017 (text) by Dr. Martin G. Baroch
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