How to close the racquet head on impact?

[FiReFTW]

Second very much the last paragraph.

The hit is either in the sweet spot or a touch beneath the center. The visible closing and the racket turning over the ball is not something for example Federer does. The culprit for it to happen is a relaxed wrist and to some extent also the loose forearm.

There are physical truths, which are present in everything humans do. And in this case the impuls of the contact flips the racket head over. Not even Houdini would be able to close the racket head as fast as it does, when Fede misshits half an inch the sweat spot.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

This has nothing to do with the sweet spot Pete, if you want a HEAVY TOPSPIN FOREHAND you HAVE to have a closed racquet face and hit the ball ABOVE its center of mass, otherwise the extreme upward swing path and racquet head speed required to produce such heavy spin would make the ball have a too big trajectory and land way deep in the court.

And a missconception is also that you are actively turning the wrist around to change the angle of the racquet face, its not really true, its part of your swing and dependant on your contact point, grip, swing shape, how far the body is leaning back or forward etc.... all these factors change ur racquet face, so the closeness of the racquet is a biproduct of everything else, not something you are actively trying to change in ur stroke, tho it can be SLIGHTLY altered by changing how much you lean forward, ur contact point and timing etc..
All good players and ATP pro players have a closed racquet face for heavy topspin shots, and they have a perpendicular racquet face for topspin lobs and brushing upwards heavily.

 

[Pete Player]

The magnus force by the way is not towards the thicker air, but on thinner, the side of the lower pressure and faster laminar flow. And the low pressure is more powerfull aspect generating lift that the high pressure sucking the ball towards the low pressure

First contact off cog ofcource, but when compressed the mass should still be at the sweet spot to have the most effective impact.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[RetroSpin]

If the face is tilted forward, you cannot help but hit the ball above center line.

 

[RetroSpin]

OP, just a quick question. Are you using poly strings? Obviously some pros, eg Fed, use gut/poly hybrid setups, but I think the tilted face technique is best used with poly. Not sure how effective it is with syn gut.

 

[Taita87]

OP, just a quick question. Are you using poly strings? Obviously some pros, eg Fed, use gut/poly hybrid setups, but I think the tilted face technique is best used with poly. Not sure how effective it is with syn gut.

Yes, I'm using a co-poly from an Italian brand. A reviewer said it's similar to luxilon 4g but I have only tried it since I'm back to tennis..

 

[RetroSpin]

Yes, I'm using a co-poly from an Italian brand. A reviewer said it's similar to luxilon 4g but I have only tried it since I'm back to tennis..

4g is a very stiff poly. Maybe try something like RPM Blast or Tour Bite. String it in low to mid 40's pounds.

 

[dominikk1985]

This has nothing to do with the sweet spot Pete, if you want a HEAVY TOPSPIN FOREHAND you HAVE to have a closed racquet face and hit the ball ABOVE its center of mass, otherwise the extreme upward swing path and racquet head speed required to produce such heavy spin would make the ball have a too big trajectory and land way deep in the court.

And a missconception is also that you are actively turning the wrist around to change the angle of the racquet face, its not really true, its part of your swing and dependant on your contact point, grip, swing shape, how far the body is leaning back or forward etc.... all these factors change ur racquet face, so the closeness of the racquet is a biproduct of everything else, not something you are actively trying to change in ur stroke, tho it can be SLIGHTLY altered by changing how much you lean forward, ur contact point and timing etc..
All good players and ATP pro players have a closed racquet face for heavy topspin shots, and they have a perpendicular racquet face for topspin lobs and brushing upwards heavily.

that is what I was saying. the closing of the racket face is to lower the "throw angle" and Keep the ball low over the net, not to create spin. the spin is created by brushing upward on the ball. so there is some Forward racket tilt but it will not increase in the swing, albeit the arm inward Rotation can make it look that way. from two Frames before to a Frame after contact it usually will be constant though, unless you hit the ball off Center.

see at 16 seconds here

 

[dominikk1985]

even with the modern FH spin is not created by magically pulling the racket across or over the ball, it still is upward racket head movement. the arm path is flatter and the swing direction is more across and around but in the important Frames before to just after contact the racket still goes upward and Forward.

 

[TennisCJC]

If the face is tilted forward, you cannot help but hit the ball above center line.

I agree with this but I think we need scientific evidence to support this SWAG.

Kidding aside, if the racket is tilted forward, it does seem impossible to hit below the equator of the ball.

This may be why SW and E/SW grips dominate pro and high level tennis as both of these grips tend to naturally close the face a bit at contact.

 

[dominikk1985]

that is what I was saying. the closing of the racket face is to lower the "throw angle" and Keep the ball low over the net, not to create spin. the spin is created by brushing upward on the ball. so there is some Forward racket tilt but it will not increase in the swing, albeit the arm inward Rotation can make it look that way. from two Frames before to a Frame after contact it usually will be constant though, unless you hit the ball off Center.

see at 16 seconds here

The gif shows that all the topspin is created by upward brushing and not rolling over.

 

[watungga]

Today it went a lot better, I tried to impose not to open the face at all.
It's a compromise between my ex forehand and the modified one, I think I have to work again and again: I lost the compact coil, going back to a full stroke and sometimes I found myself hitting not sufficiently further causing the arm to be bent again.

Anyway, it was definitely better and I finally saw consistency and heaviness.

If you want compact stroke, copy your backhand.

Take the video of his backhand, remove the player, flip the video from left to right.

The resulting sets of motion should be a very compact forehand.

 

[5263]

Hi, i have good mechanics, nice fluid strokes, i have been playing tennis for 13 years in my youth. I started again After a stop of 12 years, now from 2 months.

I am trying to correct my forehand in a Federer way (not that my previous foreh was bad, Just a bit old School). It takes some time.

My forehand was my absolutely strong stroke, now i'm playing One handed backand stronger (i corrected that too).
The problem is that i hit lots of forehands out, sometimes mixing my previous mechanics with the new, sometimes doing it right. Training is a Little better, but i 'm losing matches cause of tons of forehand going out (probably during competitions its easier to mix the mechanics).


One thing that i saw though, watching training video of myself, is that i tend to impact the ball with a perpendicular racquet head relative to floor. I don't close it by 5-10 degrees like you should.

Do you have any tip to re-work this aspect?

Does the ball fly long more when you are hitting on the rise?

 

[Pete Player]

Hi, i have good mechanics, nice fluid strokes, i have been playing tennis for 13 years in my youth. I started again After a stop of 12 years, now from 2 months.

I am trying to correct my forehand in a Federer way (not that my previous foreh was bad, Just a bit old School). It takes some time.

My forehand was my absolutely strong stroke, now i'm playing One handed backand stronger (i corrected that too).
The problem is that i hit lots of forehands out, sometimes mixing my previous mechanics with the new, sometimes doing it right. Training is a Little better, but i 'm losing matches cause of tons of forehand going out (probably during competitions its easier to mix the mechanics).


One thing that i saw though, watching training video of myself, is that i tend to impact the ball with a perpendicular racquet head relative to floor. I don't close it by 5-10 degrees like you should.

Do you have any tip to re-work this aspect?

If you have good mechanicks, I’d try semi-western grip, if you already haven’t and find the ball more in front of your body. With grip that matches your swingpath and contact point, you don’t really have to do much, if anything to close the face. If you hit more n the rise, then even western could work, yet hit palm forward.


——————————
On pain meds - all contributed matter and anti-matter subject to disclaimer

 

[dominikk1985]

Does the ball fly long more when you are hitting on the rise?

In theory the Exit angle should be higher when hitting on the rise and you Need to Close the racket a Little more due to the second law of reflection.

http://www.aplusphysics.com/courses/honors/optics/reflection.html

 

[5263]

In theory the Exit angle should be higher when hitting on the rise and you Need to Close the racket a Little more due to the second law of reflection.

http://www.aplusphysics.com/courses/honors/optics/reflection.html

You mean the exit angle for a give racket face right? yes, this is the point.... this closing the racket face he is struggling with is more key for rising balls. He likely developed his stroke on falling balls that allow for a more open racket face, then as the pace picked up with experience, he is getting more rising balls and struggling to make the adjustment. It is a common reason that players tend to peak out at a certain level around 4.0 and struggle to deal with receiving more pace. This doesn't fix his issue for him, but understanding why could be very helpful.