flat ball with APDC

[odyssey]

Hi,

Many people say it is difficult to hit flat ball with APDC. I have tried it and also think it is. Is it because of it's power level, or does it require any other technique to flatten the ball? If it is really the matter of technique, how do you guys change or adjust your swing style to flatten?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Sup2Dresq]

Hi,

Many people say it is difficult to hit flat ball with APDC. I have tried it and also think it is. Is it because of it's power level, or does it require any other technique to flatten the ball? If it is really the matter of technique, how do you guys change or adjust your swing style to flatten?

Thanks in advance.

I think its technique.

You should swing across your body, while extending out. Think shoulder to shoulder with no dip. You need a bit more guidance so I suggest using your left hand to guide the path, perhaps catching the racquet throat (again think straight left arm).

Good luck. Just my two cents. I use the racquet and can hit pretty flat when needed.

 

[Micky]

Hi,

Many people say it is difficult to hit flat ball with APDC. I have tried it and also think it is. Is it because of it's power level, or does it require any other technique to flatten the ball? If it is really the matter of technique, how do you guys change or adjust your swing style to flatten?

Thanks in advance.

Hola Odyssey,

Not to long ago, my coach told me that I should flatten my strokes. I went crazy... and almost broke my arm. He walked towards me and he said... "hit the ball earlier... like when it is going upwards... don't let it drop." Damn... just like a miracle... It works!!!!.

 

[movdqa]

Many of us older folks learned flat strokes and have made the transition to heavy topspin strokes. Many of the Babolat frames do have a higher power level than what we normally use but you can hit flat shots with the Babolats too. A little more care is needed so that the ball doesn't get launched over the baseline.

 

[odyssey]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Let me get straight on what to do based on a couple of suggestions.

"To hit the flat ball, do not drop the racquet down as much as when you take back for topspin, and make a swing trajectory almost parallel to ground surface when you swing."

Please correct me if I have misunderstanding.

Thanks

 

[jrod]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Let me get straight on what to do based on a couple of suggestions.

"To hit the flat ball, do not drop the racquet down as much as when you take back for topspin, and make a swing trajectory almost parallel to ground surface when you swing."

Please correct me if I have misunderstanding.

Thanks

You can also help to flatten out your existing stroke by extending further through the strike zone instead of brushing up early. I hit with heavy topspin and have decent technique but occassionally have trouble getting my ball to land deep.

Several different teaching pro's I hit with told me to imagine the strike zone as having 4 imaginary balls spaced 4-6 inches apart spread through the strike zone in a line towards the target. To control depth of your existing stroke you vary the number of imaginary balls your racquet hits through (the more balls, the greater the depth). This extension idea along with keeping my gaze focused on the contact point until the entire stroke is completed have really helped me to flatten out my strokes and achieve consistent depth. Still a work in progress....

 

[Micky]

Thanks for the tips, guys.

Let me get straight on what to do based on a couple of suggestions.

"To hit the flat ball, do not drop the racquet down as much as when you take back for topspin, and make a swing trajectory almost parallel to ground surface when you swing."

Please correct me if I have misunderstanding.

Thanks

Hola Odyssey,

What I said is about the ball. Do not let the "ball drop". It has nothing to do with the racquet. You can take your racquet all the way to the back in preparation to hit the ball. No problem with that. Just hit the ball when its going up and not down.

 

[RoddickistheMan]

yes here nadal shows difficulty hitting flat balls as well. Yeah the apd is a terrible racquet for flat balls

 

[RoddickistheMan]

whoops sorry heres the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKNucTyEqIc

 

[FedererForehand]

I hit a fairly flat ball and don't have any issues at all with my APDCs for what it's worth

 

[monomakh]

It's mostly technique. If you really want to experiment hitting flat, try an eastern grip.

 

[master_stringer_mitchy]

its just about adapting dude. i used the non cortec version for a few years and i hit very flat. now im using a heavier and thinner racket im used to that, just takes time. p.s, if i could get hold of any of the original aero pros i would go crazy!

 

[0d1n]

whoops sorry heres the link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKNucTyEqIc

Those are anything BUT flat balls.

 

[Federer's cat]

It's not easy, but it is possible.

The reason it is so hard is because the Aero dynamic frame is specifically for swinging in an upward motion.

If you're a flat hitter, definatly don't use this. But if you're like Nadal who hit so upp on it, it's got to be a dream. But i've seen nadal hit fairly flat so it is possible, it's all about technique.

 

[Deleted member 19728]

It's mostly technique. If you really want to experiment hitting flat, try an eastern grip.

Exactly, you are not going to smack a hard flat forehand with a western or semi western grip. Try an eastern and see what happens. I know I can absolutely murder a hard flat forehand with the original apd and keep it in. I think the realy beauty of the apd is the fact you can either hit mucho spin or hit some hard flat winners and the stick really performs on all forms of groundstrokes.

 

[tenzinrocks]

That racquet has horrible power, it is so overpowered....

 

[obnoxious2]

Those are anything BUT flat balls.

You're kidding right. One of the 1st two shots were flat as can be. Not to mention he is hitting much flatter than he is now

 

[RoddickistheMan]

You're kidding right. One of the 1st two shots were flat as can be. Not to mention he is hitting much flatter than he is now

Thank u someone with common sense...Dose arent flat bawls..durrr!!!!

 

[movdqa]

They didn't look flat to me but they were hit so hard that they had a lower height to length ratio than average. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to hit a flat shot with an eastern grip. For another perspective, try to hit a forehand slice with a western grip.

 

[obnoxious2]

They didn't look flat to me but they were hit so hard that they had a lower height to length ratio than average. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to hit a flat shot with an eastern grip. For another perspective, try to hit a forehand slice with a western grip.

Those were really flat shots but with plenty of topspin. You can still hit through a ball with a semi/western grip making it flat but still have topspin for that really heavy shot.

 

[movdqa]

I'm using a semi-western grip but sometimes slip into an eastern grip when trading high-velocity netskimmers. I think that it is very hard to hit a flat shot (by which I mean one with little to no spin) with a western grip. I used to use a continental on groundstrokes and access to the slice forehand was great. But the eastern was more efficient given racquet technology trends, tennis ball trends and the court surfaces that I was playing on. These days, things favor the semiwestern to western grips.

 

[kobe3pointer]

I had an apdc and i usually hit flat but i was putting insane spin unintentionally

 

[!<-_->!]

I hit a very flat backhand and have not had trouble using the Aero Pro Drive and thus imagine the Cortex version isn't much different.

 

[phoenicks]

just hit through the ball and straighten your swingpath, it's all in the technique.

 

[Roms]

Hello

do you think apdc can be adapted to a baseliner who hit 60% heavy spin, 10% semi spin (between flat and huge spin), 25 % flat and 5% slice ?
Or is the apdc just for spin spin and 100% spin ?

 

[Micky]

Hello

do you think apdc can be adapted to a baseliner who hit 60% heavy spin, 10% semi spin (between flat and huge spin), 25 % flat and 5% slice ?
Or is the apdc just for spin spin and 100% spin ?

Hola Roms,

The APDC will do what you need to do with it. But don't expect to play like Federer with it. I would suggest you to learn Nadal's strokes.

 

[Roms]

Hola Roms,

The APDC will do what you need to do with it. But don't expect to play like Federer with it. I would suggest you to learn Nadal's strokes.

well i don't want to play as extrem as nadal, I like spin but I don't want to play an extrem and to formated game, even if I play 60 huge spin, i like the variety too, so do you think apdc is unadapted ?
is it impossible to play 70% like nadal and 30% like Federer with this racket ?
because with the ag 5 tour I can play flat when needed, so it is strange that apd appear as bad for flat shot

 

[Micky]

well i don't want to play as extrem as nadal, I like spin but I don't want to play an extrem and to formated game, even if I play 60 huge spin, i like the variety too, so do you think apdc is unadapted ?
is it impossible to play 70% like nadal and 30% like Federer with this racket ?
because with the ag 5 tour I can play flat when needed, so it is strange that apd appear as bad for flat shot

Hola Roms,

You don't have to go full western with the APDC but at least you have to play semi-western.

Somebody in this forum observed that the throat design of the APDC is basically the culprit for not having flat flat balls jejeje. When you hit the ball flat the ball just takes off like a rocket. Just like a very flexible catapult. That is why you have to close the racquet a lot. The more you close the less catapulting effect you have. The problem with that is that you will get spin no matter what.

The Pure Drive doesn't have that issue with the throat. I have seen players hit very flat and play one hand backhands fairly well.

If you decide to keep the APDC add some lead and raise the SW to at least 330, that will give you some heft. If you keep it with low SW just hit the balls as soon they bounce or at the maximum height. In the end you will be playing 99% like Nadal but you will be extremely happy.

 

[i suck at tennis]

In the end you will be playing 99% like Nadal but you will be extremely happy.

I would hope he would be extremely happy if he played 99% like Rafa!!! Unfortunately my APDC does not have the same magic dust sprinkled on it

 

[Roms]

ok thanks o lot Micky,

O f course it can be a sort of addiction what you said about "In the end you will be playing 99% like Nadal but you will be extremely happy" but I am not sure what to do because it is a sort of restriction too,
O f course I like to play like nadal 60 at 70% of time, but I like the other 30% too and I am not sure to "sacrifice" that and play at 100 always the same game, So now I am in the fog (don't know if it is correct in english )

A part of ùine says that it will be cool to spin a lot always and to win again people because their shoulder is KO
And another part says sometimes i will miss the liberty of variety shot

Is it possible to close this problem with the string ? for exemple a control oriented string with low power could do flat shot easier no ?

difficult choice my friend, difficult choice but I keep the laugh (don't again if it is correct )

 

[movdqa]

I was hitting yesterday with someone that hit very hard flat balls and I was hitting them back mostly the same way. In general, I find it easier to hit hard, flat shots against someone else that hits the same thing and keeps them low. I will also slice backhands against hard, flat shots. Anything a little higher and I can generate good topspin against.

I think that it is good to have some variety in shotmaking unless you are so good at your specialty that you can blow people off the court with a one-dimensional game. Nadal can obviously do that and it's very impressive that he can do that on multiple surfaces.

 

[Roms]

yeah I think variety is a good waepon on your bag, and my fear is that apdc appear, as you said, like a one dimension game

 

[sonicboi21]

It's not easy, but it is possible.

The reason it is so hard is because the Aero dynamic frame is specifically for swinging in an upward motion.

If you're a flat hitter, definatly don't use this. But if you're like Nadal who hit so upp on it, it's got to be a dream. But i've seen nadal hit fairly flat so it is possible, it's all about technique.

dude seriously? just because it is shaped a certain way doesnt mean that it will alter the swinging pattern enough so you cant hit flat. i have one, and my flat dtl forehand is one of my best shots

 

[Roms]

and has the apdc a goog stability ?
I remember it was ok for me with the pd to compare
for a 100 headsize , is the control OK, compared to pd, ag 500 tour.

I was searching information today and I have seen the aerostorm, do you think it could be a sort of apdc with more control and stability ?

 

[Sup2Dresq]

and has the apdc a goog stability ?
I remember it was ok for me with the pd to compare
for a 100 headsize , is the control OK, compared to pd, ag 500 tour.

I was searching information today and I have seen the aerostorm, do you think it could be a sort of apdc with more control and stability ?

The Aerostorm is more control oriented, while the APDC rewards those who have control but want more spin and power.

 

[!<-_->!]

Have an APDC for sale in 1/2 grip in case anyone is interested.