Adjusting to high swingweight racquet

D

DaylightBlue

New User
A series of unfortunate events led to me getting 3 matched blades with a high swingweight of 307 and now I want to get better to adjusting to frames with a strung swingweight of around 337-340. I've been playing with these for about 3 months now and I honestly think it's really demanding to use.

Things that I found I have trouble with is swinging fast when trying to return balls with pace specifically on the forehand side. Volleys feel really good on contact but getting position is naturally hard. On fast serves which I am not prepared for I end up just bunting the ball back or shanking the ball. On the backhand side, with two hands I can just muscle the ball through. Another issue I found is that it gets really tiring the longer I play. I suspect maybe both of these things may be alleviated with stronger forearms so maybe doing forearm targeted exercises will help?

Key things that I learned while playing is early preparation and giving yourself space. Before I used to stand at the baseline and take fast full swings at the ball. Now I play similarly to Nadal in terms of positioning. I stand back to give myself time to prep my backswing and do my swing. The weakness now is when they give me a short ball. The fast low skidding balls also give me a little trouble. Running up to end the point proves difficult. Sometimes when I try to swing fast because the ball comes at an unexpected fast pace it proves difficult to keep my eyes on the ball, I rotate my upper body and there's a huge racquet lag before my racquet makes contact with the ball.

Is this a fitness issue or maybe I need to change up my strategy? I appreciate any tips you guys have.

EDIT:
I should have clarified that 307 SW is before it is strung with plastic wrap. I also swapped out the grip for a leather grip.
Static Weight 306g
Balance Point 6 pts HL
Swingweight 307

EDIT 2:
Also 18x20 string pattern
 
Last edited:
DaylightBlue said:
I've been playing with these for about 3 months now and I honestly think it's really demanding to use.
Click to expand...

Do you really think this was the best course of action? There’s nothing wrong with incrementally adding weight to a racquet. However, that was a pretty big jump you took there. I immediately think of form and technique suffering whenever someone struggles with the weight of a racquet. It kinda sounds like you’re better off lowering the weight and swinging faster. It’s just my opinion, but racquet head speed can just as powerful as swing weight.
 
Addxyz said:
He probably means 307 unstrung + 30 from strings.
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Maybe but tw at least quotes sw on strung values usually.

Would strings add 30pts?? I dont see that they would. Strings on average weigh 20g. If you assume that averages to 10g at 3&9 its not adding 30 sw points.
 
What you described about standing back doesn’t sounds great. Nadal stands back on return to be able to hip full drives off fast first serves. And sometimes to defend against subsequent attacks. You never mentioned serves, and frankly speaking it’s not typical for rec levels to face consistently so fast deep shots which rob you of time to prepare so much. Taking the tendency you mentioned - getting short balls quite often - standing far back is not the best default positioning.

What I suggest you to work on:
- Use both hands on racquet to take I back, high and early;
- Make your unit turn as early as possible. You should know you’re going to hit a FH as the opponent’s ball passes the net, if not earlier. And act immediately.
- Against deep balls bouncing close to baseline start your swing earlier. Don’t wait for the ball to bounce, then see it’s trajectory, then swing. Gauge it before bounce, initiate your swing, micro-adjust as you go.
- Generally, check if you’re using your body to swing. Verify if you are 90deg sideways towards the net at the end of backswing and you have your chest flat open towards the net by contact. Coil-uncoil can be executed quite fast, and your while body can accelerate any reasonable racquet with same efficiency.

BTW, what’s the balance of your racquets.
 
I should have clarified that 307 SW is before it is strung with plastic wrap. I also swapped out the grip for a leather grip.
Static Weight 306g
Balance Point 6 pts HL
Swingweight 307
 
How fast and far back is your takeback? If your takeback to ready-to-hit is late, you will hit late. DOH!! When using high SW racquets, you need to trust that the ball will lose the collision. Do not take the racquet too far behind you. The butt cap should still be facing the net, not a side fence.
 
I use a Wilson RF autograph for regular play. My tip would be don't even try or think to swing hard. Let the weight of the racquet work for you. Keep a loose arm and swing smoothly. With heavy racquets, you don't need to muscle it, just make contact and the racquet plows through the ball.

I keep my forehand grip very loose ... just holding with pinky and ring finger, middle and index finger barely holding.
 
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Shroud said:
Maybe but tw at least quotes sw on strung values usually.

Would strings add 30pts?? I dont see that they would. Strings on average weigh 20g. If you assume that averages to 10g at 3&9 its not adding 30 sw points.
Click to expand...
I did some research on average SW from strings and the consensus was about 30 SW. If I use especially FB poly that would make it more likely. I can definitely feel the difference between one that is fullbed and one that is not.

Dragy said:
What you described about standing back doesn’t sounds great. Nadal stands back on return to be able to hip full drives off fast first serves. And sometimes to defend against subsequent attacks. You never mentioned serves, and frankly speaking it’s not typical for rec levels to face consistently so fast deep shots which rob you of time to prepare so much. Taking the tendency you mentioned - getting short balls quite often - standing far back is not the best default positioning.

What I suggest you to work on:
- Use both hands on racquet to take I back, high and early;
- Make your unit turn as early as possible. You should know you’re going to hit a FH as the opponent’s ball passes the net, if not earlier. And act immediately.
- Against deep balls bouncing close to baseline start your swing earlier. Don’t wait for the ball to bounce, then see it’s trajectory, then swing. Gauge it before bounce, initiate your swing, micro-adjust as you go.
- Generally, check if you’re using your body to swing. Verify if you are 90deg sideways towards the net at the end of backswing and you have your chest flat open towards the net by contact. Coil-uncoil can be executed quite fast, and your while body can accelerate any reasonable racquet with same efficiency.

BTW, what’s the balance of your racquets.
Click to expand...
I have a buddy whose first serve is wicked fast, and frequently double faults when he's not at his best. I had trouble returning his serves when they get in so now I adjusted by standing further back. Obviously my friend isn't Nadal level serve but it's at the level that if I stand on baseline I almost never able to return his serve. This is not just a problem with serve. If they hit a shot that requires me to run for it, it immediately gets hard for me return the ball with a full swing.
I definitely try to take back as early as possible, but one of the problems with my taking it high is that I have to wait for my forehand to finish looping or else if I start my swing before it. I did experiment with the new gen forehand takeback but it was way too hard to use in a practical game for a rec player. My slow reaction + high swingweight makes it hard for me to move fast enough so that's why I stand back. I definitely try to perform the kinetic chain as much as possible, or at least I hope I'm doing it. It seems to me that the issue is that I am just nowhere near good enough to use this racquet right now.
 
giantschwinn said:
I use a Wilson RF autograph for regular play. My tip would be don't even try or think to swing hard. Let the weight of the racquet work for you. Keep a loose arm and swing smoothly. With heavy racquets, you don't need to muscle it, just make contact and the racquet plows through the ball.

I keep my forehand grip very loose ... just holding with pinky and ring finger, middle and index finger barely holding.
Click to expand...
Sounds like what I do, guess I just have timing and maybe footwork/technique issues.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I did some research on average SW from strings and the consensus was about 30 SW. If I use especially FB poly that would make it more likely. I can definitely feel the difference between one that is fullbed and one that is not.


I have a buddy whose first serve is wicked fast, and frequently double faults when he's not at his best. I had trouble returning his serves when they get in so now I adjusted by standing further back. Obviously my friend isn't Nadal level serve but it's at the level that if I stand on baseline I almost never able to return his serve. This is not just a problem with serve. If they hit a shot that requires me to run for it, it immediately gets hard for me return the ball with a full swing.
I definitely try to take back as early as possible, but one of the problems with my taking it high is that I have to wait for my forehand to finish looping or else if I start my swing before it. I did experiment with the new gen forehand takeback but it was way too hard to use in a practical game for a rec player. My slow reaction + high swingweight makes it hard for me to move fast enough so that's why I stand back. I definitely try to perform the kinetic chain as much as possible, or at least I hope I'm doing it. It seems to me that the issue is that I am just nowhere near good enough to use this racquet right now.
Click to expand...
Ok, so there's a hard serve case as well. It's easy choice- stand back to react, use compact swing to return, heavy racquet would actually help unless you try to go all the way round before swinging forward.
You don't strictly need to re-learn and use "modern forehand". However, if you feel you are late because of big arm backswing, try:
- compact takeback, just put the racquet to the side;
- full torso rotation into swing, let your torso carry that hefty racquet, don't leave your arm deal with it.
No other cheats available.
 
Dragy said:
Ok, so there's a hard serve case as well. It's easy choice- stand back to react, use compact swing to return, heavy racquet would actually help unless you try to go all the way round before swinging forward.
You don't strictly need to re-learn and use "modern forehand". However, if you feel you are late because of big arm backswing, try:
- compact takeback, just put the racquet to the side;
- full torso rotation into swing, let your torso carry that hefty racquet, don't leave your arm deal with it.
No other cheats available.
Click to expand...
Standing back does help me. I have not tried the compact forehand without a little bit of arming but I'll try it once this madness starts to die down. I guess the only other thing is to keep playing to see what works and what doesn't?
 
DaylightBlue said:
I cannot measure the sw but i do have one racquet with fullbed max power 17 with leather grip + overgrip
Click to expand...
as in final weight and balance....
we can probably get an estimate SW fro your 307sw unstrung..... (which should be around 337sw strung without adding any lead)
 
DaylightBlue said:
Standing back does help me. I have not tried the compact forehand without a little bit of arming but I'll try it once this madness starts to die down. I guess the only other thing is to keep playing to see what works and what doesn't?
Click to expand...
If you posted a video of your play, would be much easier to spot some major elements to address. Without, we can only go with general philosophy :rolleyes:
 
Welcome to the club buddy
I'm the proud owner of a 338sw 33cm balance strung pro staff 97 , was my first racquet so i wanted a tweener but ended up with a pro spec, thanks Wilson! Ironically, with retrospect I think it's the best thing that happened to me tbh.
I dont know your strung balance, I have guessed your strung static around 342g but you will need to add around 10-15g to the 20-18cm parts of the racket right where the handle ends. the racket will be heavier overall but also easier to swing, it's weird but trust me. If you give me exactly the final strung static. balance and SW i can give a more accurate number
 
Dragy said:
If you posted a video of your play, would be much easier to spot some major elements to address. Without, we can only go with general philosophy :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
When I get the chance I will try to record myself on my phone once the world recovers. Do you personally use a high swingweight racquet or what SW is your preferred racquet? I would like to hear how you or others have adjusted to high swingweights.
 
esgee48 said:
How fast and far back is your takeback? If your takeback to ready-to-hit is late, you will hit late. DOH!! When using high SW racquets, you need to trust that the ball will lose the collision. Do not take the racquet too far behind you. The butt cap should still be facing the net, not a side fence.
Click to expand...
I personally like taking back the racquet as far back as comfortably possible so when I start pulling my non-dominant arm away and starting rotating my upper body my hitting arm gets pulled immediately. When I position myself well for returning an incoming shot it's fine but when I'm rushed (hit with pace) it gets more difficult for me to do so.
giantschwinn said:
I use a Wilson RF autograph for regular play. My tip would be don't even try or think to swing hard. Let the weight of the racquet work for you. Keep a loose arm and swing smoothly. With heavy racquets, you don't need to muscle it, just make contact and the racquet plows through the ball.

I keep my forehand grip very loose ... just holding with pinky and ring finger, middle and index finger barely holding.
Click to expand...
I use pistol grip as the default grip for forehand, backhand, serve and when conditions are right, it feels great to hit the ball because my arm barely does anything. It's when I'm rushed this becomes difficult to perform my ideal shot.
 
DaylightBlue said:
When I get the chance I will try to record myself on my phone once the world recovers. Do you personally use a high swingweight racquet or what SW is your preferred racquet? I would like to hear how you or others have adjusted to high swingweights.
Click to expand...
Mine is over 400.

This vid helped and well practice practice. And fwiw you need to get the racquet balanced right and pay attention to MgRi.

 
DaylightBlue said:
I did some research on average SW from strings and the consensus was about 30 SW. If I use especially FB poly that would make it more likely. I can definitely feel the difference between one that is fullbed and one that is not.


I have a buddy whose first serve is wicked fast, and frequently double faults when he's not at his best. I had trouble returning his serves when they get in so now I adjusted by standing further back. Obviously my friend isn't Nadal level serve but it's at the level that if I stand on baseline I almost never able to return his serve. This is not just a problem with serve. If they hit a shot that requires me to run for it, it immediately gets hard for me return the ball with a full swing.
I definitely try to take back as early as possible, but one of the problems with my taking it high is that I have to wait for my forehand to finish looping or else if I start my swing before it. I did experiment with the new gen forehand takeback but it was way too hard to use in a practical game for a rec player. My slow reaction + high swingweight makes it hard for me to move fast enough so that's why I stand back. I definitely try to perform the kinetic chain as much as possible, or at least I hope I'm doing it. It seems to me that the issue is that I am just nowhere near good enough to use this racquet right now.
Click to expand...
Here is a better link

impactingtennis.com

Swingweight -

Swingweight As we saw in chapter mass and balance, if we only consider the collision of the ball and the racket in 1 dimension, we are fine only using the momentum equations and the law of conservation of momentum. We determined that the only factors that impact ball speed after collision are...
impactingtennis.com impactingtennis.com

It does seem to be 30pts. But I swear i saw an indepth article where they calculated it as less because the string spacing at the top is more open and less mass is toward the tip. So the assumptions like in this link are not exactly spot on.

In one of your links the actual measured values were only 20 pts
 
there's really no room for estimating the swingweight, it's essential you get that one right if you wanna go anywhere
 
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DaylightBlue said:
When I get the chance I will try to record myself on my phone once the world recovers. Do you personally use a high swingweight racquet or what SW is your preferred racquet? I would like to hear how you or others have adjusted to high swingweights.
Click to expand...
I use a pair of Yonex Ezone DR98 bumped to SW of 335 at 350g static. 7pts HL. I moved gradually from stock 315g stick through 340g 330SW setup. I sometimes face situations where I haven’t loaded enough, and I’m behind the baseline. So it’s impossible to produce a decent drive with just arm. Much more often I face issues with hitting backfence on the fly :laughing:
 
DaylightBlue said:
I'm already using 17 gauge. but maybe I should give it a try to see how it is. I was thinking about omitting one cross or omit 2 mains.
Click to expand...

I can feel a difference in swingweight between two matched rackets when the only difference was one was strung with NXT 16 and the other was strung with NXT Power 16. I cannot feel a difference when they are both strung with NXT 16. So...maybe you don't need a thinner string per se, but a lighter string.

Another thing you could do is use a hammer to strengthen your wrists.
 
Last edited:
DaylightBlue said:
A series of unfortunate events led to me getting 3 matched blades with a high swingweight of 307 and now I want to get better to adjusting to frames with a strung swingweight of around 337-340. I've been playing with these for about 3 months now and I honestly think it's really demanding to use.

Things that I found I have trouble with is swinging fast when trying to return balls with pace specifically on the forehand side. Volleys feel really good on contact but getting position is naturally hard. On fast serves which I am not prepared for I end up just bunting the ball back or shanking the ball. On the backhand side, with two hands I can just muscle the ball through. Another issue I found is that it gets really tiring the longer I play. I suspect maybe both of these things may be alleviated with stronger forearms so maybe doing forearm targeted exercises will help?

Key things that I learned while playing is early preparation and giving yourself space. Before I used to stand at the baseline and take fast full swings at the ball. Now I play similarly to Nadal in terms of positioning. I stand back to give myself time to prep my backswing and do my swing. The weakness now is when they give me a short ball. The fast low skidding balls also give me a little trouble. Running up to end the point proves difficult. Sometimes when I try to swing fast because the ball comes at an unexpected fast pace it proves difficult to keep my eyes on the ball, I rotate my upper body and there's a huge racquet lag before my racquet makes contact with the ball.

Is this a fitness issue or maybe I need to change up my strategy? I appreciate any tips you guys have.

EDIT:
I should have clarified that 307 SW is before it is strung with plastic wrap. I also swapped out the grip for a leather grip.
Static Weight 306g
Balance Point 6 pts HL
Swingweight 307

EDIT 2:
Also 18x20 string pattern
Click to expand...

You sound to me like you have a trio of frames with not enough head-light (HL) balance to move naturally for you. In the description of your troubles with them, you wonder about perhaps needing a stronger forearm and that those racquets are too sluggish for you when you're in more of a hurry dealing with a faster incoming ball. Classic symptoms.

I appreciate the idea of swing-weight as a spec, but that number by itself doesn't tell me much about a racquet until I know other specs. So I just look at those other specs. Once I figured out what I generally prefer in terms of the combo of static weight, balance, and also the flex rating in a racquet, it became much easier to sort out what can give me a more comfortable fit.

So instead of sweating the specific swing-weight of your Blades, how about just fill us in on what you're working with in terms of the static weight and balance among them when they're strung, overgripped, and whatever else. The easy experiment for you might be to simply add some weight to the handle of one of your frames to give it a couple more points of HL balance. That should take away some of the sluggishness against faster shots.

Whenever I weight the handles of my own frames, I add 1/2" lead tape under my grip (or overgrip). You can measure the balance of your racquets by simply balancing them on the edge of a table or counter-top. I had a pair of the 2015 Blade 98 and did not care for the balance of those frames in their stock form. Although they are what I consider to be relative middle-weight racquets, they only have a few pts. of HL balance. In contrast, my 12.5 oz. regular players are much heavier than the Blades, they also balance up at around 10 pts. HL and they're less sluggish for me like that.

The Blades don't need 10 pts. worth of HL balance - they'd be too twitchy and unpredictable like that. But you might find a better fit with just a little more HL balance tuned in there.
 
fuzz nation said:
You sound to me like you have a trio of frames with not enough head-light (HL) balance to move naturally for you. In the description of your troubles with them, you wonder about perhaps needing a stronger forearm and that those racquets are too sluggish for you when you're in more of a hurry dealing with a faster incoming ball. Classic symptoms.

I appreciate the idea of swing-weight as a spec, but that number by itself doesn't tell me much about a racquet until I know other specs. So I just look at those other specs. Once I figured out what I generally prefer in terms of the combo of static weight, balance, and also the flex rating in a racquet, it became much easier to sort out what can give me a more comfortable fit.

So instead of sweating the specific swing-weight of your Blades, how about just fill us in on what you're working with in terms of the static weight and balance among them when they're strung, overgripped, and whatever else. The easy experiment for you might be to simply add some weight to the handle of one of your frames to give it a couple more points of HL balance. That should take away some of the sluggishness against faster shots.

Whenever I weight the handles of my own frames, I add 1/2" lead tape under my grip (or overgrip). You can measure the balance of your racquets by simply balancing them on the edge of a table or counter-top. I had a pair of the 2015 Blade 98 and did not care for the balance of those frames in their stock form. Although they are what I consider to be relative middle-weight racquets, they only have a few pts. of HL balance. In contrast, my 12.5 oz. regular players are much heavier than the Blades, they also balance up at around 10 pts. HL and they're less sluggish for me like that.

The Blades don't need 10 pts. worth of HL balance - they'd be too twitchy and unpredictable like that. But you might find a better fit with just a little more HL balance tuned in there.
Click to expand...
If I understood correctly, do you mean instead of adjusting myself to racquet, I should keep adding weight to the racquet til it fits me? Just to reiterate, I don't have any tools to measure racquet specs like weight and balance.
 
what's this then? tennis warehouse specs?
Static Weight 306g
Balance Point 6 pts HL
if your racket is way overspec in the SW department, the balance is usually fricked too, yours must be more like 4ptsHL
In any case, just put 25cents coins right at the end of the handle and secure with tape
then the important part of grooving your strokes against a wall comes, good luck
 
DaylightBlue said:
If I understood correctly, do you mean instead of adjusting myself to racquet, I should keep adding weight to the racquet til it fits me? Just to reiterate, I don't have any tools to measure racquet specs like weight and balance.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's pretty much what I'm saying. It's not too tricky to tailor a racquet so that it works better for you and gives you a better personal fit.

The aspect of adding lead tape to either the hoop or the handle (or both) is also nothing much to be worried about because you can place it here and there, try it like that, adjust some more, and if you don't get into a better working layout for you, it's easy enough to remove it and go back to the stock layout. Some of the best alterations I've done for myself have happened without using any measuring devices or chasing any exact specs. I just tuned by feel.

With lead tape in my bag, I went out to a court with a backboard, added a little lead tape, hit some strokes and serves, and adjusted as I went along. No testing the patience of a hitting partner this way. Only a couple grams total placed at 3/9 o'clock on the hoop (I like 1/4" lead tape there) can be enough to make a racquet feel more steady through contact, but it might require 8-12 grams of lead (I use 1/2 inch tape there) added to the handle to bump the balance. It really depends on the racquet and what feels "right" for you when you hit with it.

Sometimes it's hard to know right away whether a round of home tuning will work, but again, no big deal. After a few outings, it's simple enough to re-adjust. Since it's hard for any of us to buy a racquet that's just right in its stock layout, I think that experimenting with $3 packs of lead tape can be an affordable option compared with buying and selling different frames or wrestling with racquets that don't match us very well.
 
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polksio said:
what's this then? tennis warehouse specs?
Static Weight 306g
Balance Point 6 pts HL
if your racket is way overspec in the SW department, the balance is usually fricked too, yours must be more like 4ptsHL
In any case, just put 25cents coins right at the end of the handle and secure with tape
then the important part of grooving your strokes against a wall comes, good luck
Click to expand...
That's the 3 numbers that TW wrote on a piece of sticker on one of the racquets. I think you're right because as it legit feels like a rock is attached to the throat.
 
ok so those are the actual specs not avergaes on their online reviews, that's very good
6 points unstrung that's +-4 strung with overgrip and +-5 strung with overgrip and leather grip
306+17 string thats 325 + 8 overgrip + 8 leather grip + 2 of tape = +- 341
that's around 20.77 MGRI.
this is my humble uneducated opinion, pro players can afford to play with low MGRIs because their "baseline effort" is very high and built up from hours of training so they can accelerate the racket easily. Nadal can play with a 20.3 because he has the muscle mass to yank that racket and not be phased by the effort needed because his "baseline effort" requires him to scream like a maniac every shot. Anyway, us casuals need as much racket head speed as possible and you get that from increasing the speed at which the racket wants to spin on itself when you swing it. too low is bad, your racket currently, too high personally makes my racket swing too fast and shank balls with the bottom part of the frame. Personally I play with a 20.97 but my limbs are long anyway ...
To increase your MGRI, add 15grams to 18-20cm mark that will push it to 21 spot on. just do it and try it out but give it an honest shot. Groove your stroke against wall and play with somebody then reevaluate.
 
polksio said:
ok so those are the actual specs not avergaes on their online reviews, that's very good
6 points unstrung that's +-4 strung with overgrip and +-5 strung with overgrip and leather grip
306+17 string thats 325 + 8 overgrip + 8 leather grip + 2 of tape = +- 341
that's around 20.77 MGRI.
this is my humble uneducated opinion, pro players can afford to play with low MGRIs because their "baseline effort" is very high and built up from hours of training so they can accelerate the racket easily. Nadal can play with a 20.3 because he has the muscle mass to yank that racket and not be phased by the effort needed because his "baseline effort" requires him to scream like a maniac every shot. Anyway, us casuals need as much racket head speed as possible and you get that from increasing the speed at which the racket wants to spin on itself when you swing it. too low is bad, your racket currently, too high personally makes my racket swing too fast and shank balls with the bottom part of the frame. Personally I play with a 20.97 but my limbs are long anyway ...
To increase your MGRI, add 15grams to 18-20cm mark that will push it to 21 spot on. just do it and try it out but give it an honest shot. Groove your stroke against wall and play with somebody then reevaluate.
Click to expand...
I'm going to be honest, I don't know what MGRI is. I'm assuming it as to do with inertia, low MGRI means the racquet is laggier to get to the point of contact and high is easier to accelerate. 18-20cm mark is just above where my replacement grip ends. So having more weight there will make it easier to swing my racquet through contact?
 
I personally never had any luck tailweighting a racket to make it swing lighter, but it's easy to try and easy to undo if it doesn't work for you.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I'm going to be honest, I don't know what MGRI is. I'm assuming it as to do with inertia, low MGRI means the racquet is laggier to get to the point of contact and high is easier to accelerate. 18-20cm mark is just above where my replacement grip ends. So having more weight there will make it easier to swing my racquet through contact?
Click to expand...
My last tweak with racquet was exactly adding mass to the throat just above handle. For purpose of speeding up racquet flipping. It worked.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I'm going to be honest, I don't know what MGRI is. I'm assuming it as to do with inertia, low MGRI means the racquet is laggier to get to the point of contact and high is easier to accelerate. 18-20cm mark is just above where my replacement grip ends. So having more weight there will make it easier to swing my racquet through contact?
Click to expand...
I am no expert and a very bad physicist but i look at it like a spinning top. Spinning tops are designed to spin as fast as possible and conserve as much momentum as possible once you give them an initial boost and they are designed to be very polarized meaning their mass is very close to their center of rotation. Same thing for the racket 20cm is the most practical and closest spot to the rackets center of rotation when you swing it so just do it, youll feel it, the racket will go by itself and kind of pull you into a follow through
 
Dragy said:
My last tweak with racquet was exactly adding mass to the throat just above handle. For purpose of speeding up racquet flipping. It worked.
Click to expand...
polksio said:
I am no expert and a very bad physicist but i look at it like a spinning top. Spinning tops are designed to spin as fast as possible and conserve as much momentum as possible once you give them an initial boost and they are designed to be very polarized meaning their mass is very close to their center of rotation. Same thing for the racket 20cm is the most practical and closest spot to the rackets center of rotation when you swing it so just do it, youll feel it, the racket will go by itself and kind of pull you into a follow through
Click to expand...
I taped 4 pennies to just on top of where my overgrip ends it did indeed make it feel like the racquet is now more pulling through by itself instead of me pulling the racquet through the contact point. So should I expect that it should be less effort doing groundstrokes but doing volleys and touch shots will be more effort?
 
DaylightBlue said:
I taped 4 pennies to just on top of where my overgrip ends it did indeed make it feel like the racquet is now more pulling through by itself instead of me pulling the racquet through the contact point. So should I expect that it should be less effort doing groundstrokes but doing volleys and touch shots will be more effort?
Click to expand...
No. It only works if you put effort into. If you move your arm just so fast, it won’t magically accelerate and crush the ball.
 
Dragy said:
No. It only works if you put effort into. If you move your arm just so fast, it won’t magically accelerate and crush the ball.
Click to expand...
I am not sure what you mean. To clarify what I meant is that now I require less energy to produce the same force (m*a?) up to contact point with introduced mass. The initial force to move an object from rest should be a little more than without the weight but the amount of energy needed keep it in motion is now less overall.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I am not sure what you mean. To clarify what I meant is that now I require less energy to produce the same force (m*a?) up to contact point with introduced mass. The initial force to move an object from rest should be a little more than without the weight but the amount of energy needed keep it in motion is now less overall.
Click to expand...
what @Dragy meant was - practice, practice & more practice
what works for others may not be the right setup for you. it pays to spend the time to setup and try/practice loads
 
DaylightBlue said:
I taped 4 pennies to just on top of where my overgrip ends it did indeed make it feel like the racquet is now more pulling through by itself instead of me pulling the racquet through the contact point. So should I expect that it should be less effort doing groundstrokes but doing volleys and touch shots will be more effort?
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fantastic, you should expect to have a very high quality well balanced stick in your hands that will make the job easier for you, stop worrying about the racket. now what you need to do is view some footage of your favourite tennis player (or better download it and take it with you) then go pound the ball against a wall for a couple of hours for a couple of consecutive days, set the racket in motion with an explosive hip thrust and then let the racket rotate on itself and pull you into a follow through. hit harder and harder BUT stay nonchallant in the upper body and active in the lower body, try to do the most with the least by sending the racket into rotation with your hips and let it do the racket-ball collision part. if you do it right, you can pound the ball as hard as you can against a wall for 3h because most of the work was done by the legs and the legs are some tough SOB. your hamstrings will be very very tight though, stretch those. that's all I got, good luck

Ps: the volley is not a strike like groundies, the volley is deflection of pace which requires a high recoilweight which you already have with this stick don't worry about it. here's what you do, you see a ball coming to you, literally just hold the racket face very loosely angled towards the open court and thats it, the ball will behave like you see on the pro tour dipping right over the net. if you want it to fly towards the open court with pace, hold it very tight. the volley is how tight you hold the racket + angle

disclaimer: im no expert
 
esm said:
what @Dragy meant was - practice, practice & more practice
what works for others may not be the right setup for you. it pays to spend the time to setup and try/practice loads
Click to expand...
I honestly rather improve my fitness/strategy/footwork than blame the racquet or the setup. Sure it's not my preferred setup but I don't care for mods unless I'm playing at a high level and every little bit counts. Although if someone gives me a suggestion I won't dismiss it without giving it a try since I appreciate the effort they take in giving me a response.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I am not sure what you mean. To clarify what I meant is that now I require less energy to produce the same force (m*a?) up to contact point with introduced mass. The initial force to move an object from rest should be a little more than without the weight but the amount of energy needed keep it in motion is now less overall.
Click to expand...
my 2 cents is that it affects timing. So with the added weight above the handle the same swing has the tip of the racquet slightly ahead of where it would be without the weight. Its not going faster exactly its just that the tip is in a different spot. Ideally you tune the racquet so its "quiet" meaning you no longer need to adjust the tip with your hand/wrist/ forearm muscles. IMHO its the constant need to adjust the tip that wears one out. If you tune it right you can just relax and the stringbed is in the right place for contact without doing anything. Should help your consistency too.

ANd 4 pennies might not be enough weight or too much. Get some poster putty and add till its too fast and slowly remove the putty to its just right. To slow it down you can also add weight to the tip. You will get to a point where you can relax and the swing is smooth and there racquet neither pull or slows as you swing it. Once you get it dialed, then add some lead tape that weighs the same as the poster putty.

For the volley it shouldn't matter that much and you might not notice much of a difference since the volley is more straight line than angular like a ground stroke.
 
polksio said:
ok so those are the actual specs not avergaes on their online reviews, that's very good
6 points unstrung that's +-4 strung with overgrip and +-5 strung with overgrip and leather grip
306+17 string thats 325 + 8 overgrip + 8 leather grip + 2 of tape = +- 341
that's around 20.77 MGRI.
this is my humble uneducated opinion, pro players can afford to play with low MGRIs because their "baseline effort" is very high and built up from hours of training so they can accelerate the racket easily. Nadal can play with a 20.3 because he has the muscle mass to yank that racket and not be phased by the effort needed because his "baseline effort" requires him to scream like a maniac every shot. Anyway, us casuals need as much racket head speed as possible and you get that from increasing the speed at which the racket wants to spin on itself when you swing it. too low is bad, your racket currently, too high personally makes my racket swing too fast and shank balls with the bottom part of the frame. Personally I play with a 20.97 but my limbs are long anyway ...
To increase your MGRI, add 15grams to 18-20cm mark that will push it to 21 spot on. just do it and try it out but give it an honest shot. Groove your stroke against wall and play with somebody then reevaluate.
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Which leather grip is 8g? Aren't they more like 20-30g?
 
I feel like I've strayed away from my original intent which was to find ways to adjust myself to the racquet. I think these racquet mods are great for having a smoother groundstroke but in a match where sometimes you're forced to run from one side of the court to another, it doesn't change the fact that it's still hard to get the racquet going right? I feel like this might be a fitness limitation on my end if what polksio says is correct and most rec players don't have training and fitness to accelerate the racquet easily.
 
Shroud said:
Which leather grip is 8g? Aren't they more like 20-30g?
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I only added the differential between a stock and a leather grip, the heaviest leather i have is 22g, stocks are around 12-14ish, depends on grip size really and how you close you apply it.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I feel like I've strayed away from my original intent which was to find ways to adjust myself to the racquet. I think these racquet mods are great for having a smoother groundstroke but in a match where sometimes you're forced to run from one side of the court to another, it doesn't change the fact that it's still hard to get the racquet going right? I feel like this might be a fitness limitation on my end if what polksio says is correct and most rec players don't have training and fitness to accelerate the racquet easily.
Click to expand...
you're a rec player with a 340 SW, around 4g that were supposed to be in the throat found their way all their way to the tip, to fix it and go back to how the racket was supposed to be balanced, we're telling you to add some weight to the throat to hopefully make things right, at some point you have got to trust somebody if you don't know what you're doing. personnaly i fell in love with my racket when i added a bunch of coins at 20cm but i had a pro staff 97 and i wanted to simulate an rf97 so idk maybe it's all mumbo jumbo placebo who knows man do what you will.
 
DaylightBlue said:
I honestly rather improve my fitness/strategy/footwork than blame the racquet or the setup. Sure it's not my preferred setup but I don't care for mods unless I'm playing at a high level and every little bit counts. Although if someone gives me a suggestion I won't dismiss it without giving it a try since I appreciate the effort they take in giving me a response.
Click to expand...
try shadow swinging a hammer. I used to warm up this way and need to get back to it. Do be careful on serves. I recall the first time going crazy and shoulder didn't like it too much. When you can shadow swing your shots with a hammer at full speed the racquet will be super light. That said I was up over 400 and well 340 is not that much IMHO.
 
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