Are ‘no drop groundstrokes’ a problem?

[zill]

Most pros drop their racquet below the ball before starting the forward swing. I have come across Hewitt and Soderling who am convinced don’t drop and start their forward swing with Racquet pointing up. So the racquet is pretty much at ball level or slightly below just before making contact.

Is this non explicit drop or even ‘no drop’ a problem?

 

[S&V-not_dead_yet]

Most pros drop their racquet below the ball before starting the forward swing. I have come across Hewitt and Soderling who am convinced don’t drop and start their forward swing with Racquet pointing up. So the racquet is pretty much at ball level or slightly below just before making contact.

Is this non explicit drop or even ‘no drop’ a problem?

How much did Soderling and Hewitt accomplish?

Given that, do you think their strokes were a problem?

If you're looking for a one-size-fits-all stroke, squaring the circle with their strokes vs Fed/Djoker/Nadal/etc is a problem.

If you accept that different people hit the same stroke differently and that, if you have the luxury, you should choose a style which aligns with your physique and strengths/weaknesses, then it's not a problem.

Figure out what you want to accomplish and then select the right tool to do it. Don't start with a tool [ie racquet drop] and then try to solve every problem with that tool.

 

[Shroud]

voted no. It looks like Hewitt is using a western grip or more extreme than SW. So a more closed racquet face at contact can have a flatter swing path and still have some spin. Its hard with those vids to see if he was flattening things out. Which if you have a western the way to flatten things out is to hit with a flat swing path...

Said another way SW or Eastern grips probably do have a more low to high trajectory because they are not as closed at contact.

 

[AnyPUG]

Is this non explicit drop or even ‘no drop’ a problem?

It's a definite problem for almost all players without a world-class hitting ability - the exact hitting technique is the result of individual physiological and psychological factors.
It's a lot easier to let the gravity bring the racket down and swing up to generate RHS than keep it elevated.
If it's easier why didn't they do it? If certain physical and mental elements are making you hit a certain way, why not stick to it, especially if you have tasted success with it. I don't think anybody knows the real reasons (including them) - the technique they used made them extremely successful at the world stage of tennis and why would they change it?

 

[Dragy]

What exactly you mean saying RS has no drop?

 

[zill]

What exactly you mean saying RS has no drop?

Look at it in real motion. He starts the forward swing very early when racquet is up high. But he is loose when he starts swinging forward that looseness then brings the racquet down due to gravity as others have said. The majority of other players though drop their Racquet then starts swinging forward.

 

[Dragy]

Look at it in real motion. He starts the forward swing very early when racquet is up high. But he is loose when he starts swinging forward that looseness then brings the racquet down due to gravity as others have said. The majority of other players though drop their Racquet then starts swinging forward.

In my opinion, they are all quite similar. There’s no separate “drop” with otherwise frozen body.

 

[Mountain Ghost]

When YOU are playing at a "Pro" Level ... no matter how much racquet drop YOU might have before the forward stroke ... the way you GOT to that high level of technical execution and excellence ... was to have a low take back BEFORE ... and a low-to-high-only path DURING ... your ENTIRE forward swing ... ... ... at the start of ... and thoughout ... MOST of your tennis stroke development.

THEN ... you had the tools needed to perhaps flatten out the stroke a bit ... or have a slightly downward slope at the very beginning of the forward swing.

For pretty much every OTHER player on the planet ... the goal should be to mindfully have a full racquet drop at the back of each topspin stroke.

~ MG

 

[mad dog1]

When YOU are playing at a "Pro" Level ... no matter how much racquet drop YOU might have before the forward stroke ... the way you GOT to that high level of technical execution and excellence ... was to have a low take back BEFORE ... and a low-to-high-only path DURING ... your ENTIRE forward swing ... ... ... at the start of ... and thoughout ... MOST of your tennis stroke development.

THEN ... you had the tools needed to perhaps flatten out the stroke a bit ... or have a slightly downward slope at the very beginning of the forward swing.

For pretty much every OTHER player on the planet ... the goal should be to mindfully have a full racquet drop at the back of each topspin stroke.

~ MG

Perfectly stated.

 

[Curious]

When YOU are playing at a "Pro" Level ... no matter how much racquet drop YOU might have before the forward stroke ... the way you GOT to that high level of technical execution and excellence ... was to have a low take back BEFORE ... and a low-to-high-only path DURING ... your ENTIRE forward swing ... ... ... at the start of ... and thoughout ... MOST of your tennis stroke development.

THEN ... you had the tools needed to perhaps flatten out the stroke a bit ... or have a slightly downward slope at the very beginning of the forward swing.

For pretty much every OTHER player on the planet ... the goal should be to mindfully have a full racquet drop at the back of each topspin stroke.

~ MG

As a damn good ball striker I think he’s eligible to try a no drop forward swing. And he does an excellent job of that, especially the one handed backhand. You need to see it.

 

[nyta2]

Most pros drop their racquet below the ball before starting the forward swing. I have come across Hewitt and Soderling who am convinced don’t drop and start their forward swing with Racquet pointing up. So the racquet is pretty much at ball level or slightly below just before making contact.

Is this non explicit drop or even ‘no drop’ a problem?

to me, every fh with topspin is going to have a drop (eg. racquet starts below ball contact)...
how much the wrist/forearm contributes to the drop will vary from player to player...

at some point i studied the 2hbh... and similarly there are folks with "no drop" (eg. zero degree wrist/forearm drop - like hewitt, and others like nish with a 45degree drop)'

main ways you can drop the racquet below contact...
* knees
* waist (bad because your core rotation is now out of alignment)
* arm (at the shoulder)
* wrist/forearm
i'd argue the more wrist/forearm you use to drop the racquet head below contact, the more complicated the stroke becomes (arguably at the benefit of more topspin?)

discuss!

 

[GuyClinch]

Some of the shorter pros (Hewitt) hit a ton of high bouncing balls with tons of tospin. If incoming ball is higher you don't need as much racquet drop. When we play amateur players - he ball sometimes barely kicks up - so you will see a very loopy looking swing on that kind of ball.

Pros don't have "one" type of forehand - they can dial up lots of drop and tons of spin or hit a flatter ball - and they will vary depending on what they want to accomplish. You can't look at isolated shots and say oh that guy hits flat. He just hit flat on that ball from that pro. If hewitt was hitting against joe rec and his ball was barely bouncing he would likely hit a super high topspin WW shot.. back.. To not only give us a chance but ensure safety from a low bouncing ball that needs to go up a lot to make it over the net.

 

[onehandbh]

When YOU are playing at a "Pro" Level ... no matter how much racquet drop YOU might have before the forward stroke ... the way you GOT to that high level of technical execution and excellence ... was to have a low take back BEFORE ... and a low-to-high-only path DURING ... your ENTIRE forward swing ... ... ... at the start of ... and thoughout ... MOST of your tennis stroke development.

THEN ... you had the tools needed to perhaps flatten out the stroke a bit ... or have a slightly downward slope at the very beginning of the forward swing.

For pretty much every OTHER player on the planet ... the goal should be to mindfully have a full racquet drop at the back of each topspin stroke.

~ MG

Monica Niculescu disagrees with you.