As far as I know, we've only recorded the RPM's of a select few pro's including Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. Yes Nadal has more topspin than those 3, which includes a conservative player with a classical forehand grip. Well done him.
If we were to put every player on tour through the scrutinizing process of analyzing their average forehand (and Nadal's flat-ish, moonballing backhand is a separate issue entirely) topspin RPM's, would Nadal really still be coming out on top?
Nadal doesn't appear to me as having the most insane racket head acceleration on tour, neither is he the most solidly built player who you might expect to have the muscle mass and fast twitch muscle fibres to really bully that tennis ball into a pulp.
Nadal sometimes stops his follow-thru abruptly, which he wouldn't even physically be able to do if he was truly putting every ounce of power he had into accelerating the racket head.
Also his reverse-follow through would send his shoulder flying out of its socket if he truly swung as fast as he could upwards with the racket. The windshield wiper facilitates the fastest racket head speed because it allows you to safety dissipate all of that kinetic energy.
On top of that, the fact that Nadal aims his ball higher over the net than most players is naturally going to make the ball bounce higher upon landing - so a lot of people may confuse the high bounce being caused by massive topspin, whereas it's mainly caused by the ball simply falling from a greater height, thus bouncing higher.
Finally, he doesn't even have the most extreme grip on tour. He uses an extreme semi-western. Lot's of players out there use full western, maybe some even a little bit beyond this.
Look at this topspin monkey;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWyTEMmHoRY
THIS is racket head acceleration. Full western grip as well.
There must be others that put more spin on the ball than Nadal as well.
Does Nadal really hit the most topspin, or are there others that hit more than him but just don't get all the attention he does because they're not ranked no. 2 in the world?
If we were to put every player on tour through the scrutinizing process of analyzing their average forehand (and Nadal's flat-ish, moonballing backhand is a separate issue entirely) topspin RPM's, would Nadal really still be coming out on top?
Nadal doesn't appear to me as having the most insane racket head acceleration on tour, neither is he the most solidly built player who you might expect to have the muscle mass and fast twitch muscle fibres to really bully that tennis ball into a pulp.
Nadal sometimes stops his follow-thru abruptly, which he wouldn't even physically be able to do if he was truly putting every ounce of power he had into accelerating the racket head.
Also his reverse-follow through would send his shoulder flying out of its socket if he truly swung as fast as he could upwards with the racket. The windshield wiper facilitates the fastest racket head speed because it allows you to safety dissipate all of that kinetic energy.
On top of that, the fact that Nadal aims his ball higher over the net than most players is naturally going to make the ball bounce higher upon landing - so a lot of people may confuse the high bounce being caused by massive topspin, whereas it's mainly caused by the ball simply falling from a greater height, thus bouncing higher.
Finally, he doesn't even have the most extreme grip on tour. He uses an extreme semi-western. Lot's of players out there use full western, maybe some even a little bit beyond this.
Look at this topspin monkey;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWyTEMmHoRY
THIS is racket head acceleration. Full western grip as well.
There must be others that put more spin on the ball than Nadal as well.
Does Nadal really hit the most topspin, or are there others that hit more than him but just don't get all the attention he does because they're not ranked no. 2 in the world?
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