Tsitsipas's Backhand, Ruud's Defense, Sinner's Easy Power, Alcaraz's Serve | Coach's Mailbag ft. Hugh Clark

On the Coach' Mailbag, Thread of Order author Hugh Clark joins Gill Gross to answer your questions about professional technique and various tennis topics. We'll start by discussing Stefanos Tsitsipas's one-handed backhand in response to the recent video by Intuitive Tennis claiming it's "not bad." Comments include: an argument that Casper Ruud's big match struggles are technical not mental, is it true peaking Carlos Alcaraz better than peaking Jannik Sinner while average Sinner is better than average Alcaraz, should coaches and players focus on strengths instead of fixing weaknesses, why do Americans serve bigger on average, what are the changes Alcaraz is making to his serve technique, what we would do if we were tasked with coaching Novak Djokovic, and much much more.

00:00 Intro

03:56 Tsitsipas Backhand

10:40 Ruud Mental vs. Skill

18:28 Peak Alcaraz & Sinner

21:45 Sinner Easy Power

24:30 Focusing on Strengths

30:25 American Serves

33:05 Alcaraz Serve Technique

37:10 Weird ATP Forehands

40:09 Stop Double Faulting

43:38 Footwork Importance

46:41 Coaching Djokovic