Thw wonders of having the correct takeback

[Clay lover]

I really cannot empthasize the imprortance of having a good takeback when hitting the forehand. It helps you to square up to the ball properly and improves your timing tremendously. I think a lot of recreational players have problems with their takebacks which may be even more severe than their strokes themselves (of course the takeback is also part of the stroke, but you know what I mean). That is, a lot of people don't have a NATURAL takeback which would work to their advantage rather than hinder their natural swing. A lot of things can go wrong in the process of a high, loopy takeback from the moment you point the racquet upwards to the instant you contact the ball. An unatural takeback also adds extra stiffness to your arm which further hinders your ability to swing up to the ball correctly.

I have had a handful of better players giving me the advice to shorten my takeback and I regret realizing only by now how the shortening is supposed to be done. It's not the shortening of the deliberate and unnatural takeback you have in the first place, but rather making the takeback simple, relaxed and easy to time. "Let the racquet drop", as they say.

This has worked wonders for me. I think the takeback is a very important part of the stroke and should be kept as simple and natural as possible as recreational players improve. Once we get the feeling down then we could work on lengthening it for more power.

 

[ProgressoR]

Good point. My take wasn't bad but could be improved and fixing it is ironing out a couple of kinks I had in execution. More about use of wrist than anything else for me. You right in cutting out the variables and a good take back should minimise the chances of things going wrong in execution. Learning the proper take back has allowed me to have a better contact and follow through. Helped no end.

 

[lonux]

I think Gasquet is having a laugh right now

 

[Clay lover]

I think Gasquet is having a laugh right now

Gasquet needs to realize not everyone is talented like pro players if he is laughing

 

[dozu]

yup, take back is about 75% of the swing in terms of importance.

see my other post about the magic pill - swing the unit.... if the player tries to swing the unit (instead of the racket), then he will have a natural unit turn with relaxed arm.

'let it drop' has 2 benefits -

1) free power from mother nature (gravity)
2) smoother timing, as the player only needs to give a little nudge to something that's already moving, instead of trying to shovel something from a stand-still.

the other key element is racket face control.... too many beginners open up the racket face in the take back, and the whole stroke is doomed at that point.... forget about 'let it drop', they have to use the hand to close the face, resulting in a broken kinetic chain and choppy, handsy motion.

 

[athiker]

Re: takeback and "let it drop"

Rick Macci speaking about preparation and the unit turn takeback on a recent Tennis Academy episode on Tennis Channel: Unit turn, bringing racquet back by turning the shoulders, keeps arm connected to body, shoulder turns farther than hips and creates a "stretching effect" which allows you to "uncoil much more naturally".

One interesting comment he makes I had not heard before: "Secondly, I want you to push the palm away from the body, it keeps you from taking the racquet too far back and breaking the plane of the shoulders, "by pushing it away you are going to get this dropping effect for free and generate a lot more power into the slot."

I'm not clear if he is talking about only the "off hand" or both hands. In the video they highlight the left hand (rightie player) but watching him demo he may be talking about both the racquet hand and the off hand. He definitely does not want the racquet hand/arm to take the racquet back behind the plane of the shoulders.

In this video Fed seems to have both palms facing out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmhvKafCYsk

*Watching these slow-mo vids I'm always struck by how pros really lead their swing to the ball with the butt cap ala Bollettieri's flashlight analogy..."shine the flashlight at the ball".

Finally he mentions the back foot prep and pushing on the ground so "the ground pushes back": "When you load the system and put everything on the right leg, the positioning of the foot is critical...have it parallel to the baseline or a little bit in. What you don't want is it load up and have the foot facing straight ahead. What that does is it opens up the hip and shoulders way to soon and you're going to lose a lot of power."

So: "Turn the shoulders, load, uncoil by driving leg up and rotating the hip simultaneously...pulling buttcap into contact, recover"

For me actively thinking about the buttcap seems to mess me up, have to let it happen naturally, but thinking about driving my leg and hip up does seem give power and let the buttcap thing happen on its own.

Too cold here lately to test anything out but two cues that I will be paying attention to next time out is pushing "palms out" and "the drop".

 

[dozu]

^^^ take the magic pill.... if you try to use the entire body to swing the arm/racket unit around, all the good stuff happens naturally

racket drop with relaxed arm
flash light shining at the ball
loading of the right leg

I also want to say that 'loading the right leg' does not mean load 100% on the right leg, it's more like 70/30 with 70 on the right leg... if you have the 30 on the left, and also stick your left hip forward a little, it's gonna help the core rotation and prevent you from falling backwards.

 

[Lexer56]

In my experience, concentrating on leading with the buttcap or "shining a flashlight" at the ball helps to maintain a firm wrist and consistent racquet face angle through the swing.

 

[user92626]

Forget about "correct takeback". I couldn't even ask one 50ish man to keep his racket up in front of his chest in ready position. To me that's a very important start.

He keeps the racket hanging around his knee, pointing down, and when the ball comes, swing back and swing up & forward..and inevitably 7 out 10 shots go long because he couldn't judge well the amount of "up" swinging in relation to the ball.

 

[tennis_eel]

yup, take back is about 75% of the swing in terms of importance.

see my other post about the magic pill - swing the unit.... if the player tries to swing the unit (instead of the racket), then he will have a natural unit turn with relaxed arm.

'let it drop' has 2 benefits -

1) free power from mother nature (gravity)
2) smoother timing, as the player only needs to give a little nudge to something that's already moving, instead of trying to shovel something from a stand-still.

the other key element is racket face control.... too many beginners open up the racket face in the take back, and the whole stroke is doomed at that point.... forget about 'let it drop', they have to use the hand to close the face, resulting in a broken kinetic chain and choppy, handsy motion.

I'm pretty sure contact is 75% importance!

 

[dozu]

actually 75% for the back swing is pretty accurate.

this 75% is claimed by many golf teachers as the importance of a golf back swing, because the forward swing is just a natural unwind of the backswing.

 

[tennis_eel]

actually 75% for the back swing is pretty accurate.

this 75% is claimed by many golf teachers as the importance of a golf back swing, because the forward swing is just a natural unwind of the backswing.

So if you have a lovely backswing but something continually goes wrong at contact like your racquet face closes way too much... does the tennis ball go in the court?

Take back can be as ugly as anything as long as the contact point is consistent and correct.

 

[Clay lover]

So if you have a lovely backswing but something continually goes wrong at contact like your racquet face closes way too much... does the tennis ball go in the court?

Take back can be as ugly as anything as long as the contact point is consistent and correct.

But take back always affects the contact point, that's his point.

 

[tennis_eel]

But take back always affects the contact point, that's his point.

Yeah but the way you contact the ball is still the most important part of the swing none the less. Yeah having a consistent takeback is important but I still think the contact is the most important part of the swing.

 

[Clay lover]

Yeah but the way you contact the ball is still the most important part of the swing none the less. Yeah having a consistent takeback is important but I still think the contact is the most important part of the swing.

I don't think you can control your contact point without a good preparation, it's not like we're magically frozen in time at the point of contact to get the feeling at contact and can replicate that same feeling a thousand times over. Making good contact with the ball isn't a skill, while having good footwork, good preparation, good hand-eye co-ordination are. Or do you mean the SWING?

 

[tennis_eel]

I don't think you can control your contact point without a good preparation, it's not like we're magically frozen in time at the point of contact to get the feeling at contact and can replicate that same feeling a thousand times over. Making good contact with the ball isn't a skill, while having good footwork, good preparation, good hand-eye co-ordination are. Or do you mean the SWING?

Yeah I meant the swing. Sorry I see what your saying.

Having good footwork and take back is essential to getting that excellent contact point.

 

[aimr75]

actually 75% for the back swing is pretty accurate.

this 75% is claimed by many golf teachers as the importance of a golf back swing, because the forward swing is just a natural unwind of the backswing.

Do you mean 75% of whats most important in a golf swing is the backswing? The backswing is definitely important and sets you up for the forward swing, but i think that is way off..

 

[dozu]

75 or 65 or 85... that's not the point.

the point is that a good back swing is an indication of a good swing, period... and the reason I say 75%, is that among all the people I have helped with their swing, most of the corrections are made in the early parts of the swing... symptoms like -

lack of unit turn - just arm/hand drawing the racket back... player get racket stuck behind him, he is doomed.

player opens up racket face in the back swing, he is doomed, because he can't fire the kinetic chain (other wise ball goes a mile long).

lack of loop (loopy backswing vs. pendulum backswing maybe a preference thing, but I believe that loop helps timing and power). with a loop, the racket essentially is going in the same direction (in a circular way) from the time the left hand let go, to the end of the follow thru; where as a pendulum type backswing has a stopping point, making timing more difficult.

I can't really recall having to correct any faults in people's forward swing, because usually when he is in the right position from the top to the racket drop, the rest is easy... racket face at contact point is really no big deal... anybody with an eastern or SW grip has the palm as the reference at contact point, and the brain usually can issue good commands to the body to make good contact.

 

[aimr75]

I can't really recall having to correct any faults in people's forward swing, because usually when he is in the right position from the top to the racket drop, the rest is easy... racket face at contact point is really no big deal... anybody with an eastern or SW grip has the palm as the reference at contact point, and the brain usually can issue good commands to the body to make good contact.

I dont think its that easy.. lots of things do go wrong in the forward swing, hitting too late, hitting too early, hitting off balance, arming it, being too stiff, stunted follow through

but i was referring more to your golf comment, where a multitude of things become critical in the forward swing and isnt just a simple unwind of the backswing