I rarely comment but this topic is very near and dear to me as I have just taken my game to the next level with massive racquet head speed. for some background, i'm a 4.0 player with technically very effortless and seemingly much more advanced strokes.
I recently learned this idea of "trust myself and swinging all out in practice" (to where I realized I could get another level of RHS and the ball would not go out). Before trying to incorporate this other level of active playing, I hit more like what Clay is demonstrating in the video above. He is not loading as much and not really describing the lag that can come from a hip whip action just ahead of the forward motion.
He is showing a lag that can happen with a modest hip action or step in that is unconscious and more "rally like", i.e. you are not trying to impose your full will on the other player. This is how most people talk about the lag (in the forearm SSC) That's how I played for several years, a lazy footwork style without small shuffle steps and tension in the legs and torso while I had my back swing dropping before exploding. My new coach, who played wimbledon dubs in the 70's and is somehow very modern in his teaching, is the first coach i've found that is teaching me this idea of waiting a second later and recognizing how much time I have after the ball bounces. He is focusing on full acceleration to full power during our training on hand tossed and net fed balls (not sure how I'll do with a heavy ball player hitting to me yet). He taught in Germany after his playing days, says he had Fed in his class when Fed was 8, and is encouraging me to not think. He says the European system is very different and he has relayed totally different metaphors to describe the modern FH and how to advance from an advanced recreational level. He has added a hop in my footwork as well to encourage active use of the lower body to explode. At times, I revert to a more linear impact through the ball and it goes long, but the philosophy is keep feeding, don't think about it and keep playing and the good athlete course corrects. Sure enough, that happens as he instructs me to be softer on the ball (brush on it and feel it roll across strings --even if you can't) and get around the ball with more RHS. it is full power with control.
I sort of agree with this description from above:
I believe the best theory is that if we had some kind of graph/display we would see the muscle relaxing to allow the racquet to drop - followed by the lower body muscles that eventually turn the hips becoming active. Followed by muscles in the shoulder area and becoming active in the final segement.
That's in a high level player in a rally stroke.
There are degrees on whether it's a rally stroke or a playing stroke. When watch pro's live there are 3 states: slow rally, neutral rally, and aggressive match play. The hip and leg action is incrementally more active with each. The lag more delayed and the release more explosive. Look at Fed 2004-2008 and his lag while he waited a split second longer for the ball is impressive, his whip and racquet head speed on another level to even other Top 10 players.
Pro's learn to hit each stoke with full abandon. It's the stroke that lifts Fed's back foot on the OHBH but doesn't while he's warming up. This is the level of acceleration that has him swivel in the air during a ballet type baseline drive of his or on his front foot when coming in during the 1-2 punch, but you don't see it in warm-up.
See the difference between the stroke at 1:06 and 1:36. 1:36 has what I'm talking about and closer to the match play velocity:
1:36 shot also has the hop I'm describing in the footwork.
The recreational rally stroke is more like what Feel Tennis says is the VROOOM. That's how I've been playing for a long time and it looks good, but is less consistently heavy. the other level is more active and requires better shape. There is racquet head acceleration with the VROOM but it's due to a wrap around from the smaller arm muscles near the forearm that optically make it happen. more Oscar Wegner-ish as he describes pulling for example. it also feels faster than it is perhaps. On video, i was always surprised how slow the stroke can still look. when i practice with this coach, it's a true whip with full abandon and my shoulders and body end up rotating completely. The post impact feel of it is like hitting nirvana, with quite a bit of unconscious stuff going on in the forearm muscles to get around the ball. at this speed, you cannot be thinking it, your muscles just have to have the neural pathways ironed in to move that fast. i also don't believe you can be thinking about closing a racquet head 5%, to me it just happens after having been trained along time.
Or send it right to the back fence. That's because the RHS needed to generate good topspin will have these kind of results when you miss.
