How hard do you hit?

Bergboy123 · Jul 4, 2014

When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

MarinaHighTennis · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

Actually I don't think they swing hard unless its a big shot. They use use their body and kinetic energy. I was taught to let your arm flow. Arm focuses on ball contact, power comes from your core and body

zaph · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

No they're not, they hit within themselves most of the time. Even if they do go all out, to be blunt, they have far more control and physical conditioning than you, and infinitely more than me.

Any player who swings 100% all the time will miss. To be honest, I am beginning to think the ability to hit expectionally hard winners is more innate, I'm not sure it can be taught.

I can't do it on my backhand, yet most other players and coaches who look at my shots say it is technically my better wing. On the forehand, a less technically sound shot, I have always been able to hit big winners.

To do it your weight has to be going forward, well that is nearly always true, you have to middle the ball, and the best way to describe it, you need a fast arm. That might not technically correct, but when I get it right, somehow I can inpart enough spin to force it into the court. Even off low ball close to the net.

It is however an all or nothing shot. Unless you're really in the zone, you will miss as many as you make if you turn the power up high.

The controlled rally ball, and placing your shots is much more important than hitting flashy winners.

user92626 · Jul 4, 2014

Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

Once I dial in and be able to play my best tennis, most of the time I swing as hard as I can. It's like competition running in which you try to exert as much power as possible to get ahead of your opponent.

Lately I am happy that I'm able to enjoy tennis more on the basis of strength instead of focusing on frustrating "how-to's" that I used to be preoccupied with in the past. You know what I mean?

zaph · Jul 4, 2014

user92626 said:
Once I dial in and be able to play my best tennis, most of the time I swing as hard as I can. It's like competition running in which you try to exert as much power as possible to get ahead of your opponent.

Lately I am happy that I'm able to enjoy tennis more on the basis of strength instead of focusing on frustrating "how-to's" that I used to be preoccupied with in the past. You know what I mean?

I don't think that is a sound way of playing. Trust me, you will meet some canny older player who will get your shots back, move you about and they will use different spins.

You will then miss. If you really can hit the ball flatout and still have a high shot tollerance, then think about turning pro. The reality is, I think if the quality of your opponents is increased, your power game will be found out.

Rubens · Jul 4, 2014

I try to hit the hardest shots than I can, while still preserving energy to last the whole session. To keep the ball in, I add spin and decrease net clearance a little.

Bergboy123 · Jul 4, 2014

Let me rephrase; I don't hit as hard as I can. I wish I could just hit harder though. I feel like if I take a good cut at the ball it's going to sail on me, and I'm always holding back!

AHJS · Jul 4, 2014

I f****** crack the ball everytime it comes over the net

wannabe good · Jul 4, 2014

MarinaHighTennis said:
Actually I don't think they swing hard unless its a big shot. They use use their body and kinetic energy. I was taught to let your arm flow. Arm focuses on ball contact, power comes from your core and body

OK, here is a guy using his body and kinetic energy, he lets his arm flow, and power comes from his core and body, yet he looks like he is going all out on this particular shot: http://youtu.be/aJqjFqhODZ0?t=20s

Bergboy123 · Jul 4, 2014

Part of me wants to blame my racket/strings for how timid I feel I must strike the ball, because I can't imagine people have to restrain like I am

wannabe good · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
Part of me wants to blame my racket/strings for how timid I feel I must strike the ball, because I can't imagine people have to restrain like I am

Are you joking? It's not the racket.

user92626 · Jul 4, 2014

zaph said:
I don't think that is a sound way of playing. Trust me, you will meet some canny older player who will get your shots back, move you about and they will use different spins.

You will then miss. If you really can hit the ball flatout and still have a high shot tollerance, then think about turning pro. The reality is, I think if the quality of your opponents is increased, your power game will be found out.

You don't understand. It's very sound and effective for me, or I would have been frustrated and quit tennis a long time ago. I can be very competitive and practical at the same time, meaning I don't like to lose and I'm not ignorant that I don't know if something isn't working and continue to put up with it.

I don't know your level, but generally speaking we recreational players are sometimes so poor with the how-to's and after a while we're convinced that we're forever restricted by it.

There are plenty of evidence to show what I mean by playing your hardest. You don't need to watch pros. If you play serious matches, best of 3 or 5, for a long time, you'll find out that after the second set you'd feel exhausted and can hardly lift the racket. You want to hit harder and send the ball deeper or neutralize opponent's deep shots, but your shots wouldn't go much farther than the service line.

wannabe good · Jul 4, 2014

wannabe good said:
OK, here is a guy using his body and kinetic energy, he lets his arm flow, and power comes from his core and body, yet he looks like he is going all out on this particular shot: http://youtu.be/aJqjFqhODZ0?t=20s

In the video above you can see a beautiful Dimitrov's forehand, and now here is another world-class forehand, but one that I don't like: http://youtu.be/dphBSPrSqys?t=42s

The second one is Berdych, looks so stilted and tense. Compared to Dimitrov, he looks like he is muscling the ball.

user92626 · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
Let me rephrase; I don't hit as hard as I can. I wish I could just hit harder though. I feel like if I take a good cut at the ball it's going to sail on me, and I'm always holding back!

You don't need to hold back. If you still have plenty of gas to go, shift it to generating topspin. That takes skill of course. You either close your racket face and/or employ more low to high action. The sky is the limit with topspin and pace. (That means, your strength is the only limiting factor). There's no such thing as a sport that requires the players to hold back strength. Sport is synonymous with strength.

Bergboy123 · Jul 4, 2014

user92626 said:
You don't need to hold back. If you still have plenty of gas to go, shift it to generating topspin. That takes skill of course. You either close your racket face and/or employ more low to high action. The sky is the limit with topspin and pace. (That means, your strength is the only limiting factor). There's no such thing as a sport that requires the players to hold back strength. Sport is synonymous with strength.

When I go for heavy heavy topspin, I find my balls landing short, or even losing power and being spin puffs. I guess I just need to find the balance between the two... Sounds so simple when I say it like that haha

Mick · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

those guys are pros and have been playing since they were 5 years old and are super talented. Of course you (we) are going to have a problem if we tried to play like those guys. They are world class players and we are not :shock:

Chotobaka · Jul 4, 2014

Quite a bit of TT comedy gold in this thread. More please.

user92626 · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When I go for heavy heavy topspin, I find my balls landing short, or even losing power and being spin puffs. I guess I just need to find the balance between the two... Sounds so simple when I say it like that haha

Then hit harder to have your balls land deeper also, or are you saying that's where you run out of strength? :shock:

KineticChain · Jul 4, 2014

the pros have very efficient swing mechanics, unlike most rec players. so yes.. they hit harder than rec players and use less muscle energy as well. they keep the ball in because of topspin and knowing when to pull the trigger on a flatter shot. they have 9,000 more hours of hitting than most rec players... so there's that too.

GoudX · Jul 4, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

Get someone to feed you balls and slowly increase the swing speed to the maximum that you can control. Then hit regular shots with about half of that speed.

If you want to hit harder then you need to do drills to increase your maximum swing speed, as just swinging closer to your limit will reduce control.

tlm · Jul 4, 2014

I think that my normal swing is probably around 75% of max, but at times i swing all out. Then it gets a lot more risky on whether the ball goes in.

GoaLaSSo · Jul 4, 2014

when you swing hard, you shouldn't be tensing up all crazy in your arms and thinking about smacking it as hard as possible.

For a hard shot, you should be using your full body and swinging very fluidly. Start with your feet. Really dig into the court with your feet. Twist your core and hips and build tension there, while setting up your hitting arm. Then you release all the tension in your legs and lower body into the shot.

Watch how much James Blake is twisting and setting up for his forehands. He puts an emphasis on using legs to hit hard. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kluhYnSlGZU

Personally, I feel like my usual standing swing is around 80% of what I can do. I don't tense up my arms though regardless of how hard I want to hit it.

LeeD · Jul 4, 2014

Not nearly as hard as I can.
I don't seem to always be in correct position to hit my hardest shots.
Those few times, I can hit pretty darn hard, with full fast swing, heavy spin, and lots of pace.
However, being slow afoot, slow to recoginize and react, I'm in position to hit maybe only 4 out of 10 shots, in singles. A hair better in doubles.

President · Jul 4, 2014

I push off the backhand, and hit hard off the forehand. The higher the ball, the more of my energy I put into the shot. Also depends how much topspin I want to hit with, when I want to hit a really spinny ball I really try to use a lot of strength.

GuyClinch · Jul 5, 2014

Pros hit like 60 - 70 percent max pace on a rally ball.. They have something extra in the tank if they are going for a winner. Fed during warmups hits like 20 - 30% pace (guesstimate).

I do think that the better amateurs 'hit out' - they arent hitting as 'hard' as they can but they accelerating the racquet through the swing and hitting with good zip on all balls. You should have a good finish too..

This is a 'comfortable' stroke but has a good lot of zip. When starting out you might either hit alot of balls way out (when trying to add pace with bad mechanics) or you might hit softly and let gravity pull it in.

The big jump is when you trust your stroke and trust that spin will help it go in..

gambitt · Jul 5, 2014

Mick said:
those guys are pros and have been playing since they were 5 years old and are super talented. Of course you (we) are going to have a problem if we tried to play like those guys. They are world class players and we are not :shock:

I don't think we expect to hit like the actual pros, but there are a couple of guys in their 30's at my club who only picked up tennis a few years ago and are now almost as good as the club coaches who used to play ITF events (close scorelines at least). These guys can generate easy power with great technique. Yes, they bread stick me every time.

GuyClinch · Jul 5, 2014

^^^This. If you have good technique - even if you swing faster the ball still goes in. So good players can swing out pretty well on alot of balls.

If your technique is broken when you try to add more power it just flies on you..

eelhc · Jul 5, 2014

For me, if I try to hit hard I'm not able to generate nearly as much pace as if I concentrate on making a good stroke. I hit the hardest when there's no tension in my arm/elbow/shoulder/hands... all just there to hold the racquet and along for the ride that the weight shift and body rotation generates.

As is golf... If I just concentrate on making a good stroke where the ball just happens to get in the way I get the best results. If I concentrate on striking the ball, bad things happen.

GuyClinch · Jul 5, 2014

Good point about the tension. FeelTennis guy says you should think about swinging the racquet fast - not hitting hard. "Hard" gives you the wrong mental picture and you tense up like you are going to swing a sledge hammer..

The tennis ball and racquet are both very light..so its all about RHS. The problem for some players is they can't do anything with that racquet head speed yet. I see this a lot on serves. Lots of guys/girls can swing faster but they are scared to do so - and they just dink it in..

Egoista · Jul 5, 2014

as hard as superman

Captain Ron · Jul 5, 2014

I've put some real hurt on the back fence!
Usually by the second or third game its time to get the ball in the court

TennisCJC · Jul 5, 2014

It is impossible to tell you why you cannot get pace and having trouble controlling balls without seeing your strokes.

For a basic rally ball, pros and good rec players don't hit 100% of full pace. But, they do take full swings with a good follow through.

Controlling pace is a function of RHS and swing path to get the right amount of spin and pace.

Also, you want to let weight transfer and core rotation be the driver for you pace as much as possible. Practice using loose grips and let core rotation provide the power.

Pezerinno · Jul 5, 2014

For low and medium height balls I actually swing pretty much as hard as I can - I find it easier in a weird way. I think it is because I generate a lot more spin so they always dip in. For higher balls I have a bit more difficulty (possibly because I play with an eastern).

Big_Dangerous · Jul 6, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball? Watching the pros at Wimbledon, I feel like they are swinging almost as hard as they can, and easily way harder than any of us.

Yet when I swing as hard as I can, I feel like the ball FLIES off my racket and is way long. Unless I have the perfect combination of spin and angle... Do you guys feel like you have to tone down your swing to keep the ball in play?

As far as pace and hitting that perfect forehand goes, I feel like it's more about the footwork and less about swinging for the fences. If you get the footwork right, then you can really hit some devastating shots.

easywin · Jul 6, 2014

I try to accelerate my arm to the maximum without using my torso too much on average groundstrokes.

If I really go for it I try to add upper body rotation. I think I got a vid of me hitting some groundstrokes where this is displayed if you are interested - not saying this is the right way though

could be just me

Fuji · Jul 6, 2014

I don't try to "hit hard" I just try to "swing fast." Big difference in mentality.

-Fuji

gull_man · Jul 6, 2014

Bergboy123 said:
When playing, how hard do you swing at the ball?

about 90%. in other words, you want to hit it as hard as you can, minus a little from that, so that the stroke is still smooth and kinetic transfer still takes place. if you go all out, it will be jerky and you'll lose power. if you relax your swing, and go at 90-95%, you'll still have the kinetc chain playing a part, plus it will be smooth and roughly as fast as you can go.

if you have proper technique - including topsin - every ball you hit will go in often enough. it will be smoothly struck with power, and it will have topsin which both lifts the ball over the net and brings it back down into the court.

(haven't read the other posts, but that is what i do)

LeeD · Jul 6, 2014

I swing between 25% to 100% during a typical match.
Conti grip return of serves and some volleys need very little input, while forehand groundie intimidating shots would require all of my 100%.

anubis · Jul 7, 2014

KineticChain said:
the pros have very efficient swing mechanics, unlike most rec players. so yes.. they hit harder than rec players and use less muscle energy as well. they keep the ball in because of topspin and knowing when to pull the trigger on a flatter shot. they have 9,000 more hours of hitting than most rec players... so there's that too.

They also use swing weights way higher than ours. My frame has a SW of around 335. The average pro is 375 or higher.

How hard do you hit?

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