Groundstrokes Harder

[Dan Huben]

Stupid question:

How do you practice or dril hitting the ball harder so that you can really whack it but it still go in.

When I am by myself against the machine I can play with timing until Iget it right, but in match or even friendly rallies, I think that I either pull the shoulder out too quickly, or I come through the ball faster, so the ball hit is more of a glance. Any help?

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[Searah]

tho i am not experienced like the other people on these forums..
but one is.. if the ball is above net height.. really flatten it out so it travels fairly die-ag-nool.

now the more uses option of hitting it as hard as you want and having it go in despite any position on the court.. would be the low to high..

and by low to high! as in low and straight to the sky!! it's always my safe swing when i want to hit it hard but have it go in.. i really go as high as i can.

if i go low to high but my swing is still going outwards towards the net.. it will go out.. but if i have time to think and i want that winner then time will slow down it feels like as i charge up my shot for the low to super high!

the slower you are.. the more lobby it will be.

if you do it super fast.. it'll be lower and faster. racket head speed!

summary - timing - practice - racket head speed - low to high.

 

[Dragy]

"Hitting harder" too frequently messes up your swing and produces mishits, outs, mid-net crashes or just weaker shots. If you have an opening for a winner and wanna bump up agressiveness, you have tighter placement/angle as an option. If you have a high sitter well inside baseline and you want to hit a high-pace shot - go flatten it out with same smooth swing. Actually for those with decent RHS shifting from basic rally topspin to a flatter trajectory gives solid pace boost.

However, if your basic rally shot is low-spin bunt, it's likely that you be challenged to hit harder due to need for changing the swing nature: not hitting under the ball, closing racquet face, engaging big muscles you haven't used for bunting, etc.

 

[Dan Huben]

Thanks

The question is not in shaping the shots flat vs arc, but as the 2nd response alludes moving up through the swing speeds so that your rally ball tomorrow is faster than today.

I’m not looking for advise really, just what you did back in the day to begin incorporating speed drills in the swing.

I can swing faster but I have to be more patient as when I double my swing speed I’m either too tight with a grip and rip death hold, or I spin out of the shot cause I’m tall and it’s easy to pull out of the shot, or most times I think I come through the ball when the ball is still way in front and I glance the ball. There’s a big diff in my friendly ball and when I try picking up the pace

Seeing coaches drop feed a bucket of balls in front of a high level person and they whack it recoil whack it recoil..:not every hit is a winner speed, but it’s faster than their normal.

Swinging faster is learned. I’m interested in what others methodology was.


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[Dan R]

I don't know about your case without seeing your swing, but relaxing and keeping it lose is important to hitting it harder. A lot time people think harder and they get tense and tight, which is not going to help. Plus, you can only add so much pace to a shot without risking a miss hit. You should be thinking of hitting each ball a little bit harder than it comes, and then let the pace build. If you watch the pros (the men at least) a common pattern is a very hard serve, a slow return, and then it take 3 or 4 shots for the pace to build up. They aren't tying to kill it.

 

[fuzz nation]

Stupid question:

How do you practice or dril hitting the ball harder so that you can really whack it but it still go in.

When I am by myself against the machine I can play with timing until Iget it right, but in match or even friendly rallies, I think that I either pull the shoulder out too quickly, or I come through the ball faster, so the ball hit is more of a glance. Any help?

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

I just touched on this issue in the thread here asking about too much racquet speed and I also agree with our pal Dan R in terms of figuring out how to repeat a comfortable swing.

Think of it like this: if your racquet is a car and you normally accelerate to 40 mph when you get a green light, that takes let's say 6-7 seconds. But if you get a green light and you want to accelerate to 60 mph, that's only trouble if you only give yourself the same 6-7 seconds. Then you need to mash the gas pedal and accelerate with less control.

It's the same situation when accelerating a racquet - we need to do it with control. When we want to swing faster, we can do it just fine as long as we're aware enough to start the swing earlier - but too often that's not the case.

We pretty much dial in a "green light" in our heads when an incoming ball gets to a certain point. That green light point of approach is where we decide to initiate the forward swing to hit the incoming ball on time. If we want to swing harder, we need to adjust that green light location in our heads so that we start that bigger, harder swing while the incoming ball is a little further away. That gives us time to accelerate to 60 mph under control.

If you're executing a lot of your stroke after the incoming ball bounces in your court, try to adjust your timing so that more of your preparation is done by the time the incoming ball lands in your court. Maybe try starting your leg drive and weight transfer into your stroke as the ball bounces instead of after it bounces - just an example, but you probably get the idea. If you practice with more urgency in your stroke preparation all the time, even when you're having an easy hit, you'll probably be able to recall it more often on match day.

 

[Dragy]

I’m not looking for advise really, just what you did back in the day to begin incorporating speed drills in the swing.

Prepare with fuller unit turn.
Load my right leg and really drive it up to getting "pushed" in the air by ground reaction force.
Lead up my racquet at still swing max speed via engaging big muscles and kinetic chain.

I see you ask about methodology - try it if you like it with the bucket. Actually putting yourself into a situation with no point play/cooperative rally pressure and maxing out the outcome without holding back is a good approach. Provided you own the techniques and verify (or coach does this for you) it doesn't break when doing such a drill. I'm personally more of an understand and try type of person, and I cannot justify serious coaching for myself

 

[atp2015]

Stupid question:

How do you practice or dril hitting the ball harder so that you can really whack it but it still go in.

When I am by myself against the machine I can play with timing until Iget it right, but in match or even friendly rallies, I think that I either pull the shoulder out too quickly, or I come through the ball faster, so the ball hit is more of a glance. Any help?

Sent from my SM-T830 using Tapatalk

1 Hand feed hitting from all four boxes to all four boxes on the other side. Swing as hard as you can (with split step for each shot).You will make several mistakes in terms of racket drop, racket angle/grip and finish - identify what caused you to miss and rectify. Make sure the hand feeds let you hit the ball above the net, below the net and around the net height. Do that with forehand,backhand and also io forehand.
You have essentially 4(from) x 4(to) x 3(ball height) x 1.5 (1.5 is because bh from 2 boxes, fh from 4 boxes) = 64 combinations to practice.
2 If you have a machine, repeat the drills with it
3 co-operative rally with a practice partner - from four boxes to four.
4 now you are ready for matches

I do that because target hitting is extremely fun, great cardio exercise and improves my hitting ability from various corners to different part of the court.

 

[dominikk1985]

Good technique comes first. oh can't rip the ball consistently without a good technique. Strength matters too but you need a good technique first.

 

[atp2015]

Good technique comes first. oh can't rip the ball consistently without a good technique. Strength matters too but you need a good technique first.

Good point. But the question is how do you practice and internalize the technique you have learnt. Knowing and learning a good technique is one thing, putting that in practice so that it becomes involuntary/second nature is an independent issue.

 

[Dragy]

But the question is how do you practice and internalize the technique you have learnt.

Well I guess by hitting balls?

 

[atp2015]

Well I guess by hitting balls?

Feel lucky my friend, my racket is not within the swinging distance of your head.

 

[pencilcheck]

You can still kinda see it roughly where the ball lands, but the best way is to rally with a real human since they will let you know very quickly if you hit out.

But if you really can only do it yourself, try adjust your technique and hit with more spin

 

[Wise one]

Stupid question:

How do you practice or dril hitting the ball harder so that you can really whack it but it still go in.

Why? Tennis is not baseball!

 

[styksnstryngs]

You don't. Nobody whacks the ball and expects it to go in.

 

[Wise one]

There's no whacking in tennis! There's no crying in tennis!