Forehands. Racquetball Vs. Tennis.

[J011yroger]

Why do you extend the elbow during the forward swing in racquetball, and extend it first and establish a static hitting structure in tennis?

I have a couple of thoughts of my own, but want to see if anyone else comes up with something inspiring.

J

 

[dennis10is]

In racquetball, the most difficult shot that you need to master is the kill shot from the back corner of the court with ball one or two inches from the side wall AND the ball maybe 1.5 from the back wall. The mark of the great rballer is the ability to kill this type of ball. Why? Because, advance rballer can place the ball there on their serves.

Therefore, the length of the hitting arm cannot be the full extend length of the arm. Many times, it it just the forearm,wrist, racket, and the upper arm as perpendicular as possible. The racket and ball are much lighter, hence you can think of the upper and lower arm as two pieces in the kinetic chain. Leading with the elbow is the same as leading with the arm with the racket laid back position.

 

[LeeD]

As stated, since racketball rackets are lighter and shorter, you use a snapping slice motion rather than a full armed flat or topped motion, so swing is different.
Most racketball players have great volleys and defensive groundies with slice or sidespin. They usually don't work out well as tennis players, unless they adopt the tennis player style. OTOH, the wide forehand get/retrieve that most top pros use with a slice snap motion is very similar to the offensive racketball forehand.