high flex rate but low power?!

[framebreaker]

how come some racquets are very stiff but have little power.
would the dwell time of a racquet with 70 flex and low power be shorter than other low powered racquets that are flexible?
and what is the rule for less weight of racquet, stiffness and dwell time?
if i would use a lighter racquet, would the dwell time increase because i can swing the racquet faster and "accompany" the ball longer
i would appreciate any input

 

[Midlife crisis]

Stiff racquets can be low powered if they are light, or if the head size is small.

What is it about the dwell time that you are trying to maximize? What do you think dwell time does for you?

 

[jackson vile]

If you want more dwell time you can a)look to a flexier racket, flexier rackets provide more contact time or b)use of proper string, stoft strings such a synthetics or natural gut will pocket the ball more giving more dwell time c)lowering the tension of the string will increase, also stringing the corsses lower than the mains.

 

[framebreaker]

thanks for the info
more dwell time suits my style because i like to direct (push the ball) after contact.
this way i can hit the ball into narrow angles
by the way, does more head light balance increase the dwell time?
that's what i felt after i made my racquet more head light. maybe because the swing becomes faster and follows the ball longer??
what do you guys think?

 

[jackson vile]

That is a complex answer as you want the highest SW that you can swing the fastest while not having the incoming ball push your racket back.

The more inertia you have the better but he interia is the speed X the Weight, so if your speed is too low then no, and if your speed is very high but the SW does not provide enough weight then no.

So the highest SW you can swing fast is what you want to go with, as you start getting better and better you will be able to prepare for the shot sooner and then work on getting a longer and longer back swing and thus a fallow through.

This increases speed and thus the inertia and after some time you may want to increse the SW. Also the static weight of the racket is very important so that you could go with a lower swing weight and a higher static weight (this is what I recomend and prefer)

I play with the LMP+ with NXT @58lbs now and I depend on that dwell time as well, if you feel the ball is "slidding around" then you need to up the tension of the string.

Also you should give an 16-17g gut a try

What racket are you playing with what are it's specs, what is your stirng and tension, what is your playing style and level, I could make better recomendations for you to try out to see what is best for you.

 

[framebreaker]

thanks for the input. you gave me a lot of new ideas. i will definitely experipent a bit more.

i am a baseliner and even though my reaction time is really fast (my father was a very good professional goal keeper in soccer/ but 40 years ago in a very poor country - made no money lol) i hate to go to the net. maybe because i am
5.8.
I used to play lots of tennis when i was very young but the circumstances didn't allow me to take it as seriously as as i wanted to. so, a year ago at age 20 i began taking it very seriously. i was somewhat irritated at the speed at which i improved my game. i couldn't believe that. my forehand has become harder than nadals forehand and my one handed backhand is as powerful as the forehand of many tour player. i have done lots of bodybuilding during the long involuntary brake that i took from tennis.
I use the dunlop 200 g at 66 pounds (wilson synthetic gut). but i noticed that the frame is very string sensitive and the power that i had to generate didnt' tire me out at all but was not very efficient.
sometimes i like to overrun my forehand to hit a inside out backhand.
the only problem that i had with the 200 g was the bad topspin potential for the serve but i just solved the problem and all of a sudden i was able to hit aces and produce lots of spin.
Anyway, enough for the boasting.
i have been preparing myself for tournaments. however, i fail to decide on one style. everytime i practice on the court i get more and more new ideas and it takes some time to decide on some of the options.
but i want to change my racquet because it has too much power and is not very efficient and has no feel. but i am not sure how the balance of my racquet should be because every balance offers other advantages.

 

[Midlife crisis]

thanks for the info
more dwell time suits my style because i like to direct (push the ball) after contact.
this way i can hit the ball into narrow angles

It is impossible for you to do this. The ball is on the strings for approximately five milliseconds. That's 0.005 seconds, and no one has the capability to do anything in that amount of time. Even your nerves don't work that fast. The nerve impulse traveling from your hand to your brain only gets to the shoulder before the ball has left the strings. By the time your brain realizes you've hit the ball, it's long gone.

 

[framebreaker]

not quite. you can change the direction of your racquet while touching the ball.
the movement of the racquet begins shortly before i hit the ball and not after i hit it - that would be too late
never played with a very stiff racquet and a very flexible racquet with the same tension? makes a huge difference

 

[framebreaker]

besides, how come some wilson players racquets are very stiff (70), heavy, and yet low powered?

 

[jackson vile]

besides, how come some wilson players racquets are very stiff (70), heavy, and yet low powered?

Head size, string choice, string tension, swing style, how the racket it'self flexes, ect

 

[Midlife crisis]

not quite. you can change the direction of your racquet while touching the ball.
the movement of the racquet begins shortly before i hit the ball and not after i hit it - that would be too late
never played with a very stiff racquet and a very flexible racquet with the same tension? makes a huge difference

That's not what you said originally. You said:

more dwell time suits my style because i like to direct (push the ball) after contact.
this way i can hit the ball into narrow angles

And there is no way you can control changing the racquet angle consciously after contact, unless you mis-hit the ball and the racquet twists as a result, in which case you have even less control over where the ball eventually ends up going.

Sure, there is a large difference between a stiff and flexible racquet and how they feel when hitting a ball, but this is a preference issue more than anything else.

If you change the angle of your racquet face before you hit it, why is longer dwell time something you want?

 

[framebreaker]

the movement of my body also changes my balance and also the direction of the ball while hitting. so, if one puts everything together (all movements- racquet, body...) it will allow you to make very very quick changes while hitting the ball ( before contact and also at time of contact). even a very fast and small adjustment of your balance can make a huge difference.
at least, that's what i have experienced.
the same goes for loose string tensions, the increased dwell time allows me to "toss" the ball into difficult angles. but i don't like low tensions.
..and i think that your nerves are able to react very fast. sometimes you can
dodge a ball that has been thrown at you without a conscious movement.

 

[framebreaker]

that's a good point, a racquet can be stiff and yet have certain flex characteristics such as flex points... or is this part of the flex rating?

 

[framebreaker]

"If you change the angle of your racquet face before you hit it, why is longer dwell time something you want?"
well, by doing it before i hit the ball i take into consideration that my reaction time is not that of a flying insect (they have very fast reaction times). so that i can calculate this into my stroke.
you guys think that i am cracy?!

 

[Midlife crisis]

the same goes for loose string tensions, the increased dwell time allows me to "toss" the ball into difficult angles. but i don't like low tensions.
..and i think that your nerves are able to react very fast. sometimes you can
dodge a ball that has been thrown at you without a conscious movement.

It is physically impossible for you to do as you describe. You may think you are doing so, but you are doing something entirely else.

The ball is on the stringbed for about 0.005 seconds. You say you can dodge a ball thrown at you. A ball moving at 100 MPH travels only 8.8 feet or about 2.8 meters in that time. Do you think you can dodge a 100 MPH serve when someone is standing that close to you? Now, do you think you can not only dodge the serve in that amount of time, but also move so you can redirect where the ball bounces? That's what you are saying you are doing when you "toss" the ball at different angles by moving the racquet during contact. It is just not humanly possible.