Interesting Take On "Arm-Friendly Racquets"

[Sparky]

.....snip.....

Frankly, there is enough anecdotal evidence on these boards to prove a case study that technique is not the singular case of arm issues.

Agreed, technique isn't the only factor. Racquets are not the single factor either. Between the two, I witness technique as a greater contributor to TE.

I am saying that there is too much blame placed on racquet stiffness. There is likely more blame to be placed on player technique. It's always easier to outwardly direct blame. I hear it too often from players (Notoriously your teammate with the atrocious technique ~ yeah, go ahead & laugh. We all know him).

I've read the posts citing strings are a bigger influence than racquets with a 50% weighting. I concur, strings have a significantly greater influence than the racquet. Around 30 yrs ago, I played with a set of Prince Kevlar hybrid on my Yonex R22 because I was breaking strings every week. I (my arm) lasted a half hour before having to use a backup syn gut R22.

I'm saying most everyone looks solely at the stiffness rating and so many endlessly seek the holy grail racquet. I've believed it better to settle on equipment and focus on technique. I've only played with 4 racquets in 30 years and my quest has been to refine technique.

An opponent is hitting the ball such that a player cannot return the ball. Some appear to claim they are mis-time, frame-hit, get aced, etc., then they're not playing worthy opponents or they are in denial.

This is my last post for this endless thread. I've expended enough time getting sucking back into the vortex. lol Cheers

 

[-Bobo-]

When I first starting teaching tennis lessons 20 years ago, there was one clear answer for the cause of tennis elbow and arm issues. That answer was technique. There were many players who were using continental and eastern grips and hitting their forehands with straight arms. I had one student who used a backhand eastern grip to hit his forehand and had to hit late in order to get the ball in, needless to say he had arm issues. Impact on an arm that was not in the correct position would definitely cause problems.

However, now things have changed. Strokes have changed, equipment has changed. Many people like stiff racquets and stiff string. The result of that stiffness is shock to the arm. Back in the day when wood racquets were being used, people still got tennis elbow and had arm issues. Now though there are more people with arm issues. There now more contributing factors for arm problems. No longer is technique solely to blame, which according to what I am reading is what you are saying.

I have strung racquets on and off for 25 years and I never once heard a customer say that nylon or synthetic gut was really hurting their arms. After taking 7 years off tennis and getting back into it in 2006, I was astonished when I tried a Babolat racquet and even more astonished when I used polyester string for the first time. It was amazing! I took my Wilson Hammer 6.2 which I used in the 90's and put Pro Hurricane in it and had my mind blown. On my first hit I thought to myself, "This changes everything!". After one month, my arm was ready to fall off and I battled with arm problems for the next few years. I changed racquets, started using Multi string and hybriding and the arm issues left.

Frankly, there is enough anecdotal evidence on these boards to prove a case study that technique is not the singular case of arm issues.

Like you said not singular but main one . From what I've seen it's generally more to do with type of technique and how cleanly you hit combined with modern racquets. Firstly the game has changed and people generally swing with a more vertical swing path for more spin, this in turn leads to hitting less cleanly with a stiffer racquet and stiffer strings which all combine to transmit significantly more shock to the arm. There is also the issue of swingweight and racquet head speed, nadal being the perfect example, yeah he uses a "tweener'" which isn't all the heavy but he's got great technique, timing, hits cleaner all with a racquet with a swingweight of what is reported to be 355 these days. The added weight combined with the swingspeed allows him to plow through the ball with far less resistance than the average club player. Then you take into account how many people use the stiff tweeners stock and don't time it as well, don't swing as fast, again all combining to transmit significantly more force into the arm. This is even worse if you don't use the vertical swing path and try to hit through the ball with a light static sw stick.

Seemingly it all comes from muscleing the ball for one reason or another, slow swing, low sw, mistiming all make you have to push through the ball imparting more force on the arm. This was true of wooden racquet as well where those who didn't have as clean a stroke/timing had to muscle a heavy racquet resulting in similar damage, same reason why a lot of people with one handers get issues, bad timing muscle the ball or "wristing" it on a regular basis i.e. forcing a wrist bend with the forearm instead of it being a natural consequence of the swing.

 

[MachiA.]

Using a soft nylon or gut and a racket under 60 RA stiffness and you still get TE -

then you can blame false technique.

KR

 

[-Bobo-]

You mean like the several pros mentioned who used wood racquets with a stiffness of what 20-30 with natural gut? But anywho most people don't say it's just technique, its a combination like many have said of technique racquet strings etc.

 

[MachiA.]

I had never arm problems, but for precautions (you are not getting younger) i use a soft racket and more softer strings (ok, strings are locked, so the stringbed is pretty stiff).

I would never come to the idea a 70 RA racket and a stiff poly would be good for my arm.

The former pros with their heavy wooden rackets played so much more than pros today.

And most important, every arm is different.

I would feel cheap to diagnose over some meridians:

"Your technique is bad, your Babolat is perfectly fine."

KR

 

[-Bobo-]

Dude I'm clearly not saying that the technique that causes pain is always "bad" just not suitable given the trend to make stiffer and lighter sticks with stiffer strings.

You missed pretty much the whole point of what I was saying. In regards to former pros playing more what the hell are you talking about, the calender year was shorter, there were less tournaments, people played less matches, and the matches might have had more sets without tiebreaks but points were way way way shorter. To top this off the game is so much more physical today so your logic is lacking.

 

[MachiA.]

Dude I'm clearly not saying that the technique that causes pain is always "bad" just not suitable given the trend to make stiffer and lighter sticks with stiffer strings.

Bobo, the perfect technique to get the most out of a rather stiff Babolat racket and a stiff RPM blast is Nadal´s.

Use Nadal´s perfect technique and speed and your arm will be dust.

Most players have not Nadal´s NASA approved Machine to train arms and lacking his genetic profile.

And yes, the old boys with their heavy woodies like Laver were playing more than the pros today. You miss these kind of invitation tournaments.

KR