Without filming yourself in slow-motion high def footage, how do you tell that your hitting with a closed racket face?
If you're hitting a ball with lots of height over the net that seems to kick up on your opponent - you could be deceiving yourself that you're hitting with a closed racket face and lots of top spin - but really the ball is just going high and jumping up because your racket face is open...
Sometimes I can swing as hard as possible, and the ball moves quite quickly but still arcs in the air and dips well before the baseline - could it be that I've hit that shot with an open racket face?
I say this because I get a lot of height over the net, and swing as fast as I can at the ball - yet I'm not breaking a lot of strings. Apparently, the best way to tell if you're hitting with a lot of topspin is how often you break strings.
Since I'm not breaking strings, yet I'm getting a lot of height over the net, I can only assume that I'm only getting height over the net because I'm hitting with an open racket face and no topspin. but I have quite extreme grips (full western forehand and semi-western 1hbh), so I'd have to twist quite uncomfortably to hit with an open racket face...
Anyway, how do you tell if you're actually hitting with a closed face and topspin to achieve the height over the net, or if it's just open face racket and no topspin to make the ball go high?
If you're hitting a ball with lots of height over the net that seems to kick up on your opponent - you could be deceiving yourself that you're hitting with a closed racket face and lots of top spin - but really the ball is just going high and jumping up because your racket face is open...
Sometimes I can swing as hard as possible, and the ball moves quite quickly but still arcs in the air and dips well before the baseline - could it be that I've hit that shot with an open racket face?
I say this because I get a lot of height over the net, and swing as fast as I can at the ball - yet I'm not breaking a lot of strings. Apparently, the best way to tell if you're hitting with a lot of topspin is how often you break strings.
Since I'm not breaking strings, yet I'm getting a lot of height over the net, I can only assume that I'm only getting height over the net because I'm hitting with an open racket face and no topspin. but I have quite extreme grips (full western forehand and semi-western 1hbh), so I'd have to twist quite uncomfortably to hit with an open racket face...
Anyway, how do you tell if you're actually hitting with a closed face and topspin to achieve the height over the net, or if it's just open face racket and no topspin to make the ball go high?