Rebeka Masarova – top Swiss junior player in 2016-2017

Rebeka Masarova (*1999 / SUI) with her WTA ranking of #314 (as of July 18, 2016) is currently the world highest ranked player before reaching the 17th birthday. Rebeka, who won the 2016 French Open junior event a few weeks ago, considers service as her favorite stroke. She has Slovak and Spanish roots and is currently being coached by her mother. As practically all very successful Swiss female tennis players of the past over 20 years, Rebeka was developed largely privately outside of the regular Swiss Tennis Association program!

In the below-shown video of her serving point during a match at the 2016 European Junior Tennis Championships U18 in Klosters / Switzerland, we can see how Rebeka’s dominant service with a solid integration of the body energy into the stroke (well into the Service 3.0 quality) is putting her opponent under pressure and enables Rebeka to win the point with a solid body energy dominated forehand. This forehand is then of a bit lower quality than almost perfect Forehands 3.0 shown on the photos further below.

Solid transfer from the platform to the pinpoint stance, solid push-off, racket nicely lined-up and quite OK pronation on the service. The forehand would need a bit more space for the racket to travel further against the intended target.

Rebeka Masarova (*99 / SUI) – 1st service in a match – follow through 1 (= targeted pronation) – one of the decisive elements for a good service – 2016 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*99 / SUI) – 1st service in a match – follow through 2 (= relaxation) – 2016 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*99 / SUI) – 2nd service- topspin in a match – short after the impact, perfect eye control of the ball, the hips kick a bit back… – 2016 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*99 / SUI) – Forehand 3.0 in a match – short before impact – optimal body balance management is the main power source of the stroke, perfect eye control of the ball – 2016 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*99 / SUI) – Forehand 3.0 in a match – early follow through 1 – impact occurred well in the front of the body, which is perfectly balanced and powers the stroke, perfect eye control – 2016 European Junior Championships U18 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*1999 / SUI) – Forehand 3.0 in a match – 1 of 3 – backswing with solid loading – July 2016 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*1999 / SUI) – Forehand 3.0 in a match – 2 of 3 – active portion of the follow through (= follow through 1) with dominant pronation – July 2016 – Klosters / Switzerland

Rebeka Masarova (*1999 / SUI) – Forehand 3.0 in a match – 3 of 3 – follow through 2 – relaxation happens rather later – July 2016 – Klosters / Switzerland

This article covers certain aspects of the shown strokes (services and forehands) only and is not a full stroke analysis. More detailed information and further analytic photos of Rebeka as well as of many other world-class juniors and pro players are available upon request at drmgb11(at)gmail.com

Copyright August 2016 (photos & text) by Dr. Martin G. Baroch