Wegner "Finding the Ball"

[gugafan05]

Wegner says that pros hit their power by pushing the ball. He says they wait until the ball is pretty much on their strings and then they accelerate through the ball to give the shot all of the power vs. accelerating before the ball gets to the racquet. Well, I was wondering if you guys think it is better to do as Wegner says here or go the other traditional way and accelerate before the ball? Any comments appreciated.

[Tikiman53]

Well, my tennis coach tells me to contact the ball at your front hip and then push forward while brushing up. Is that what you mean?

[gugafan05]

Well, not really the contact point in means of location. I mean the point where you start the major racquet head acceleration. What you are saying is where you contact the ball. I want to know whether you accelerate the racquet before contact with the ball or at contact.

[gugafan05]

Well, I found out the answer in case anyone is wondering. The racquet head acceleration should begin on contact and not before to achieve the most power out of your stroke.

[skuludo]

How are you going to do that?

The only move I can imagine doing that type of shot with is a block and then right when the ball reaches the racket you accelerate. <-- This is a stroke without a tackback. Just one forward push. My theortical version of returning high speed serve with agression. (This is my theory because I haven't played any one who serves at least a 100mph. At 90mph I'm pretty sure I can take a full cut at the ball. I am currently making adjustments to take a full cut cause there is enough time.)

Also from my observations of the slomo videos on you tube of Roddick and lubicic both do there accelerations before contact point that is why it looks like the ball just touches the racket and flys off.

Looks like others do the same as well. I haven't seen any videos supporting Wegners claim.

[gugafan05]

You know, I see what you are saying because I have tried this and couldnt get it down where you accelerate right at contact. I have gotten it down to where I can it my acceleration closer to the contact point though. I personally think it is supposed be pretty close but not right on contact because that seems almost impossible.

[JohnYandell]

Guys,

Many descriptive phrases can be helpful to players, even if they don't actually match the facts. In this case they don't.

It's well established in quantitative studies done by respected scientists that acceleration peaks around the contact. It begins toward the bottom of the backswing, and rapidly increases in the few split seconds before the hit.

Everything after contact is deceleration. If you try to accelerate at contact, you might succeed and end up losing racket head speed when you actually need it.

John Yandell

[skuludo]

If you really want to see the difference just use a radar gun and clock your shot to see for yourself whether the wegner method works or not. Making any kind of acceleration before the ball contacts the string is strictly forbidden otherwise you are doing somthing that Wegner does not suggest doing.

You can also try this on a ball that isn't moving. Here you will see how Wegner's information won't allow you to hit fast.

If you get some super results report back.
I get the best by swinging as fast as I can to achieve top speed by accelerating right before the ball arrives.


I doubt Wegner follows this advice looking at his own shots.

[chess9]

Guys,

Many descriptive phrases can be helpful to players, even if they don't actually match the facts. In this case they don't.

It's well established in quantitative studies done by respected scientists that acceleration peaks around the contact. It begins toward the bottom of the backswing, and rapidly increases in the few split seconds before the hit.

Everything after contact is deceleration. If you try to accelerate at contact, you might succeed and end up losing racket head speed when you actually need it.

John Yandell

Amen.

-Robert