On one handed backhand are you supposed to be closing the racquet face at the moment you strike the ball?

[Djokovicfan]

By closing i mean pointing the racquet face downwards/towards the ground. On my forehand i always am closing the racquet face at the moment of impact. I dont know if this is correct, but it helps me load up a ton of topspin on the ball. Ive been watching gasquet and fed ohbh slow motion vids and it seems like they might being closing the racquet face slightly at the moment of ball strike.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

NO.

The ball is on your stringbed for 4ms (little bit longer if your string tension is very low). Touch (tactile) & Auditory reaction times are typically something like 100 to 200 ms. Visual reaction times are typically 50 ms longer (slower) than this.

It is doubtful that you will actually ever see the impact. And, by the time you hear & feel the impact & can react to it, the ball is already long gone since it was only on the strings for 4 to 6 ms. So closing the racquet at contact will have absolutely no effect on the ball.

 

[LeeD]

Racketface us wide open at backswing.
For lots of players, racketfaced is fully closed at followthru.
For some players, racketface opens after ball contact.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

However, if you close the (slightly) racquet prior to contact you can increase the amount of topspin you impart to the ball -- as long as your swingpath is low to high. This is it true for one-handed or two-handed topspin backhands as well as topspin forehands. But, the more your racquet face is closed, the steeper your swingpath must be to get the ball over the net.

Take a look at this video at 7:25

Now sometimes you may see the racket face close significantly after impact, even tho it was vertical or only slightly closed at the impact. This can happen when you hit low in the stringbed -- below the center line (the mid-line that runs thru length of the racquet). But this additional closing of the racket face will have no impact on the ball since the ball is already off the strings by the time that twisting happens.

The images below show the racket face orientation during a groundstroke -- forehands in these images (but the overall effect would be the same for any topspin backhand where the ball is hit low in the string bed). The Green line represents the racket face angle for the brief time that the ball is on the strings. Yellow is prior to contact and Red is after contact

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Note that, in some cases, the racket face will open up rather than close on a top spin shot. This happens when contact is made high in the stringbed (above the centerline). Again, this has no effect on the ball.

 

[Djokovicfan]

Weird. Ive been searching alot of videos and many tennis pros say that you want to have the racquet face closing at the moment of impact because it will increase the time spent on the stringbed. Idk

 

[Djokovicfan]

 

[heninfan99]

I never think about it, it's likely impossible to isolate that as it all happens too quickly. A good swing path with a sensible finish and a sensible grip structure takes care of it.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

I like a lot of the videos & instructions that Tomaz provides but not too crazy about the way he titled this video. Deceptive.

It is, as he says, a misinterpretation of the phrase, "low to high". The phrase is meant to denote a rising swingpath, and not an attempt to roll the racket from a low position on the ball over the top of the ball. The meaning of "low to high" should be readily apparent when a coach demonstrates what he means by the phrase.

If the swingpath is, instead, horizontal, topspin might be generated with a closed racket face but the ball does not go over the net. "Low to High" is a proper / legit instruction as long as the coach makes it clear what he means.

Many players will pick up the intent of the instruction w/o the demonstration, but some will misinterpret it as Tomaz indicates.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Weird. Ive been searching alot of videos and many tennis pros say that you want to have the racquet face closing at the moment of impact because it will increase the time spent on the stringbed. Idk

Many teaching & playing pros will often say stuff like this that simply is not true. Or they might say something, knowing that it might not be accurate, in order to produce a desired result from the student.

Physics and study of high speed video (see TennisPlayer.net) reveal the we do not appreciably, if at all, increase (or decrease) dwell time by the way we stroke the ball -- regardless of how fast we swing or accelerate, how we might change the racket face orientation or any other actions during the production of a stroke.

We can catch the ball on the strings to increase dwell time. But this is not a legal stroke in tennis. I believe that the only way to really alter dwell time is to increase or decrease string tension

 

[ballmachineguy]

If you are actively, closing, as in adjusting, the racquet face at contact you have apparently chosen the wrong grip for your stroke. The still picture I am getting in the first video Systemic Anomaly posted (Nadal with blue arrow) shows the racquet face angle already set. All Rafa is doing from this point is bringing the racquet to contact. Trying to make a change on the way to contact would negatively affect racquet head speed and probably a couple other issues. If he wants to hit a drive/passing shot vs a more looping rally ball it is a swing path change ie more or less swinging low to high.

 

[Djokovicfan]

However, if you close the (slightly) racquet prior to contact you can increase the amount of topspin you impart to the ball -- as long as your swingpath is low to high. This is it true for one-handed or two-handed topspin backhands as well as topspin forehands. But, the more your racquet face is closed, the steeper your swingpath must be to get the ball over the net.

Take a look at this video at 7:25

Now sometimes you may see the racket face close significantly after impact, even tho it was vertical or only slightly closed at the impact. This can happen when you hit low in the stringbed -- below the center line (the mid-line that runs thru length of the racquet). But this additional closing of the racket face will have no impact on the ball since the ball is already off the strings by the time that twisting happens.

The images below show the racket face orientation during a groundstroke -- forehands in these images (but the overall effect would be the same for any topspin backhand where the ball is hit low in the string bed). The Green line represents the racket face angle for the brief time that the ball is on the strings. Yellow is prior to contact and Red is after contact

Also nadal in this pic looks like he is slowly closing the face while he hits thru the ball. But i get what you are saying that it doesnt make any significant diff in dwell time. Thanks for all of your answers guys.

 

[Djokovicfan]

After watching this video

its clear on nadals forehand he snaps his wrist down and closes his racquet face right at the moment of impact. I dont know if it makes much difference but its definitely a thing with nadal. Jack sock also snaps his wrist down on forehands.

 

[tennis tom]

By closing i mean pointing the racquet face downwards/towards the ground.

If you're really doing that the ball will go into the net--the ball goes where the racket is pointed.

 

[pencilcheck]

by closing racquet face intentionally, your arm will twist and actually opens up the racquet face before contact. Why? Because your arm can't close it right away, it wobbles. It is actually more stable if you don't think about closing and only think about hitting through or extending away (body rotation instead)

 

[Dragy]

After watching this video

its clear on nadals forehand he snaps his wrist down and closes his racquet face right at the moment of impact. I dont know if it makes much difference but its definitely a thing with nadal. Jack sock also snaps his wrist down on forehands.

Here’s impact/right after frame. Wrist is laid back. What exactly do you mean by snapping wrist down?

 

[mxmx]

INcoming loopy spinny and powerful shots you reveive on the rise will need a slight racket closure or else you will hit long.

It is similar to the idea of closing the racket face with a half volley so that the ball isn't lifted too high over the net.

 

[tennis tom]

Sounds like u may be hitting FH like Tiafoe??? Gilbert, Blake & Drysdale just this morning dissected Tiafoe's FH, commentating at the USO during his match vs Pella. Tiafoe's racket on his take-back (which is unorthodox--he takes it back rather than up) is closed, facing down at the court, but at contact he opens it up. Gilbert said he would have changed it when Tiafoe was 17 (too late now) but Tia has such fast hands he can get away with it. Maybe that's what you're talking about, or maybe not. BTW, your racket should be 6" below the ball before contact to impart topspin.

 

[Raul_SJ]

However, if you close the (slightly) racquet prior to contact you can increase the amount of topspin you impart to the ball -- as long as your swingpath is low to high.

The Fed face looks significantly closed at contact but swing path is not particularly low to high; swing path in fact is very linear.

This might relate to the ServeDoc topspin video where he says the key to topspin is not the swing path; the swing path of drive versus topspin is very similar. The key to topspi is the degree of "loading" the face. How much you close it on the backswing.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Find videos and pictures of one hand backhands from the side camera view. See if the racket face tilts like the forehands. Find only the instant just before impact, otherwise impact may have rotated the racket face a lot in the picture or video frame that you are looking at.

In a video, there is a trick to tell if the frame is before or after contact. The ball will have motion blur approaching impact. That motion blur will be different before and after impact.

I think that the one hand backhand drive tilts closed like the forehand drive.

Maybe Tennisspeed posted some 1HBHs with the tilt lines?

 

[Raul_SJ]

Find videos and pictures of one hand backhands from the side camera view. See if the racket face tilts like the forehands. Find only the instant just before impact,

Can we draw a vertical line to get a good estimate of how many degrees closed the racquet face is. Or do we need to be careful with camera angles, even from side view? How closed is this at impact?


Do you agree that the swing path in this pic is not particularly steep ("swing low to high for topspin" coaching cue)?

 

[Chas Tennis]

Can we draw a vertical line to get a good estimate of how many degrees closed the racquet face is. Or do we need to be careful with camera angles, even from side view? How closed is this at impact?


Do you agree that the swing path in this pic is not particularly steep ("swing low to high for topspin" coaching cue)?

I think that the horizontal lines behind Federer, the court wall, can be used as a horizontal reference if it is squarely viewed. Also, the railing support pole to the left of Federer's head is vertical. I usually look for vertical poles and horizontal objects and use those as references.

Smartphones have wide angle lenses and I look for nearby poles or horizontal lines in the background across the picture. I try to avoid wide angle lenses where, in parts of the image, vertical poles are curved.

I want to say that if something horizontal or vertical is in the background behind an object of interest, at that angle to the camera, then those horizontal or vertical lines behind the object - can be used as horizontal or vertical references. But there's more needed, and I could not prove it.

If you have control of the set up when recording, place a plumb line in the video at the location of interest. (Plumb lines are affected by the wind, search using a can.)

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

The Fed face looks significantly closed at contact but swing path is not particularly low to high; swing path in fact is very linear.

This might relate to the ServeDoc topspin video where he says the key to topspin is not the swing path; the swing path of drive versus topspin is very similar. The key to topspi is the degree of "loading" the face. How much you close it on the backswing.

Significantly closed? I would put that green line tilt at just a few degrees forward of vertical. Maybe as much as 10 degrees. I would say that the rise for the last part of his forward swing, prior to contact, is 20° or more. A lot of Agassi's forehand strokes were close to this

It could be that Roger is trying to hit thru the ball, with only moderate topspin. He hit this one low in the string bed which caused the racket to torque considerably after the ball had left the strings.

 

[Raul_SJ]

I think that the horizontal lines behind Federer, the court wall, can be used as a horizontal reference.

Assuming that this is a topspin shot, (Have observed in other videos that the steepness of Fed's swing path does not significantly change on waist high neutral rally balls that he variously drives and topspins).

How to reconcile his swing path with the coaching cue of "swing low to high for topspin"?

I would say that the rise for the last part of his forward swing, prior to contact, is 20° or more. A lot of Agassi's forehand strokes were close to this

The coaching cue is bit misleading. Yes, you can generate spin with an overall steep low to high swing path. But you can also generate topspin by adjustments in the last few frames just before contact, with an overall relatively linear swing path that does not significantly differ between your drive strokes and topspi n strokes.

The Serve Doc forehand topspin video also discusses this.

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

Assuming that this is a topspin shot, (Have observed in other videos that the steepness of Fed's swing path does not significantly change on waist high neutral rally balls that he variously drives and topspins).

How to reconcile his swing path with the coaching cue of "swing low to high for topspin"?



The coaching cue is bit misleading. Yes, you can generate spin with an overall steep low to high swing path. But you can also generate topspin by adjustments in the last few frames just before contact, with an overall relatively linear swing path that does not significantly differ between your drive strokes and topspi n strokes.

The Serve Doc forehand topspin video also discusses this.

It would be interesting to find out what the spacing between those racket face lines are in those images. In many cases, we see RF follow-tbru with a WW finish. His approach angle might increase significantly in just the last 40-50 ms or less prior to contact.

Not yet gotten around to watching the Serve Doc video. I really like his stuff but sometimes the way he words things is not always technically accurate. But it is, nonetheless, effective.

 

[Chas Tennis]

Assuming that this is a topspin shot, (Have observed in other videos that the steepness of Fed's swing path does not significantly change on waist high neutral rally balls that he variously drives and topspins).

How to reconcile his swing path with the coaching cue of "swing low to high for topspin"?



The coaching cue is bit misleading. Yes, you can generate spin with an overall steep low to high swing path. But you can also generate topspin by adjustments in the last few frames just before contact, with an overall relatively linear swing path that does not significantly differ between your drive strokes and topspi n strokes.

The Serve Doc forehand topspin video also discusses this.

Federer swings low to high for top spin drives and the picture shows that. ( I know that players sometimes hit flat or top spin for different purposes and I guess different height balls is a factor. ?)

There's a coaches' cue to "swing low to high for top spin".

If you have an observations or measurements present them to make your point.

Cross has discussions on how a tilted racket face adds some top spin..........

There's not much information, not much to reconcile.

 

[Raul_SJ]

Federer swings low to high for top spin drives and the picture shows that.

"Fed's arm travels the same way (on flat drives) as when he topspins it". -- Serve Doc.

The key to topspin, on high level forehands, is not a steeper swing path. It relates to the "loading" of the racquet face -- how much they choose to have the racquet face down -- and in the racquet face manipulations just few frames before contact.

 

[a12345]

The reason the racket can sometimes look like its closing quite aggressively is because its hitting the lower part of the stringbed.

Because theyre swinging so hard and with a relatively loose wrist, any impact with a ball that itself is travelling at 50mph is gonna cause a jolt with the racket face after contact, unless you physically try to lock your wrist to not allow the racket face to twist when it hits the lower part of the stringbed, which is a no no.

Now even if they catch the ball sweet or even at the top half of the stringbed, whilst the racket face will stay facing the net for longer, the racket will still close a little bit after contact because the arm has run out of room to move forwards, and so with a relatively loose wrist, the momentum of the racket is carrying on moving forwards slightly beyond your arm, pivoted around your wrist, so it looks like its closing.

But this is happening naturally theyre not forcing this, its a side effect of the stroke.

 

[a12345]

A case in point is if you swing to contact point at an angle from below, keep your wrist very loose, then come to an abrupt stop at contact point, the racket will continue to fling forwards around your loose wrist, and youll see the angle is slightly closed and resembles the windshield wiper.

If you swing completely flat at shoulder height and then came to an abrupt stop at contact point the racket would fling forwards around your wrist horizontally and the tip would point straight forwards.

 

[ubercat]

I feel like swing path is a more important than RF angle. I want to hit a sharp moon ball i will load the weight on the back leg to produce a steep upwardvswing

 

[Chas Tennis]

"Fed's arm travels the same way (on flat drives) as when he topspins it". -- Serve Doc.

The key to topspin, on high level forehands, is not a steeper swing path. It relates to the "loading" of the racquet face -- how much they choose to have the racquet face down -- and in the racquet face manipulations just few frames before contact.

Players use ISR on the forehand to raise the racket head, laterally to the trajectory, for top spin. It seems that a player with a straight elbow forehand might take that approach. With a bent elbow the racket head moves in various ways that depends on the elbow angle...... ? I consider the 'swing' to be the racket head path. The hand path is different especially, if ISR is used to get upward racket head motion on the forehand. Suggest that you pick Federer's forehand or other forehand and start observing videos. Take percentages of flat drive vs top spin drives. When players are warming up or under pressure, they may not use their best technique, try to find matches with better pace match shots not under pressure. And view the racket head from the side as in the Tennisspeed picture of Federer. I believe that players flatten it our to get more pace to hit to an open court or pressure the other player. ? If you can add information to the shot struck that might be important too. Height of the incoming ball.... Study Solderling's forehand, he hit very hard and flat, a model for flat drives.

Maybe you should do both straight elbow and bent elbow forehands. (Oh, the OP is about the 1HBH)

Use videos to discuss the racket path as flat or top spin and use words to describe what is in the videos. Words supporting the videos. Tennisspeed pictures are an ideal illustration of the tilt on the racket face before impact. Look for that camera angle.

Find videos that show what the coaches mean, or what you think that they mean, when they say "swing low to high for top spin".

This is too much time for me unless there was something

 

[SystemicAnomaly]

"Fed's arm travels the same way (on flat drives) as when he topspins it". -- Serve Doc....

Even IF that is true, is his forearm, shoulder & wrist doing the same thing during the forward swing? (I will take a look at the video a bit later to see what Pat D has to say).

 

[most_exhausted_player]

The action of rolling over the wrist makes muscle tensions asymmetric at impact. If the racket also meets the ball below the center line, the force of impact will push racket face down. This acts as a shock absorber and dampens incoming momentum, giving strings greater ability to impart spin.

 

[Djokovicfan]

Many teaching & playing pros will often say stuff like this that simply is not true. Or they might say something, knowing that it might not be accurate, in order to produce a desired result from the student.

Physics and study of high speed video (see TennisPlayer.net) reveal the we do not appreciably, if at all, increase (or decrease) dwell time by the way we stroke the ball -- regardless of how fast we swing or accelerate, how we might change the racket face orientation or any other actions during the production of a stroke.

We can catch the ball on the strings to increase dwell time. But this is not a legal stroke in tennis. I believe that the only way to really alter dwell time is to increase or decrease string tension

Playing today i tried comparing the topspin on my shots

NO.

The ball is on your stringbed for 4ms (little bit longer if your string tension is very low). Touch (tactile) & Auditory reaction times are typically something like 100 to 200 ms. Visual reaction times are typically 50 ms longer (slower) than this.

It is doubtful that you will actually ever see the impact. And, by the time you hear & feel the impact & can react to it, the ball is already long gone since it was only on the strings for 4 to 6 ms. So closing the racquet at contact will have absolutely no effect on the ball.

i never said or meant to say i was closing the racquet face at the moment of impact. Its always been a habit of mine on fh to be in the process of closing my racquet face when the ball impacts the strings. I start closing the racquet as im swinging so that the racquet is closing as the ball makes contact.

Playing today i tried comparing the topspin on my shots when i was closing face during impact vs holding steady during impact. It made a different string noise when i compared the 2 and it definitely seemed like i was able to put more action on the ball when i closed face.

i dont know if it is a minor difference but i definitely noticed a difference. Theoretically at least it should make at least some difference, but i may be placebo effecting myself wrt how big the difference was. Idk.

if you think about doing the opposite, ie. opening the racquet face during impact, the results would be negative, because you would hit the ball long unless you precompensated and opened ghe perfect amount and no more. Otherwise you would send it long.

maybe closing the racquet face during impact helps because it protects against the racquet face opening and sending the ball long?

because if you are providing a force to close the racquet face during the time when the ball impacts the strings, if you hit the ball on the top half of the racquet (superior half) then you might have a better chance of maintaining control of the ball and not let the ball impact force open the racquet face for you and sending it long.

maybe nadal closing his racquet face is because he wants to protect against that from happening bc he uses a relatively light racquet.

in other words, maybe applying a closing force to the racquet enhances plowthrough ability in case the ball hits on the superior section the strings.

idk when or why i developed this habit of rolling the racquet over when i was a wee laddy, but at least it doesnt seem to be making anything worse; i can put an almost obnoxious amount of topspin on the ball hitting it the way i do.

 

[Djokovicfan]

Here’s impact/right after frame. Wrist is laid back. What exactly do you mean by snapping wrist down?

Maybe not snapping but the video looks to me that the racquet face is in the process of closing at the moment of impact.

 

[Djokovicfan]

The Fed face looks significantly closed at contact but swing path is not particularly low to high; swing path in fact is very linear.

This might relate to the ServeDoc topspin video where he says the key to topspin is not the swing path; the swing path of drive versus topspin is very similar. The key to topspi is the degree of "loading" the face. How much you close it on the backswing.

thats interesting. I definitely load the face on backswing to get the right mindset for how closed i want the racquet face to be when the ball strikes.

 

[Djokovicfan]

If you're really doing that the ball will go into the net--the ball goes where the racket is pointed.

I dont mean all the way. I just meant towards.

 

[Djokovicfan]

by closing racquet face intentionally, your arm will twist and actually opens up the racquet face before contact. Why? Because your arm can't close it right away, it wobbles. It is actually more stable if you don't think about closing and only think about hitting through or extending away (body rotation instead)

Sorry but this just seems ridiculous.

 

[Raul_SJ]

thats interesting. I definitely load the face on backswing to get the right mindset for how closed i want the racquet face to be when the ball strikes.

So you are trying for more closed at contact when you want topspin and less closed at contact for drive?

 

[ballmachineguy]

Sorry but this just seems ridiculous.

Then it fits this thread perfectly!

 

[Djokovicfan]

The action of rolling over the wrist makes muscle tensions asymmetric at impact. If the racket also meets the ball below the center line, the force of impact will push racket face down. This acts as a shock absorber and dampens incoming momentum, giving strings greater ability to impart spin.

You need to purchase a physics textbook.

 

[Djokovicfan]

So you are trying for more closed at contact when you want topspin and less closed at contact for drive?

Yeah for topspin i have to close alot bc i put alot of spin on the ball. The more vertical velocity your racquet is moving at from low to high the more you gotta close the racquet face to keep the ball in. The friction of the ball on the strings transfers some of the racquets upward momentum to the ball. If you swing very low to high with a flat vertical racquet face the ball will go very high initially and most of the time out of bounds.

the only other reason i could think of for why i developed the habit of being in the process of closing the racquet face when the ball hits is because it gets the frame out of the way so you dont frame it when you are coming way up on the ball. Maybe that is why nadal does it too idk. Bc he puts alot of topspin on the ball too.

 

[Djokovicfan]

Then it fits this thread perfectly!

I think the thread asks a reasonable question. This comment just makes it look like it mustve been over your head.

 

[ballmachineguy]

I think the thread asks a reasonable question. This comment just makes it look like it mustve been over your head.

Ok. Here’s an answer to your “reasonable” question. No!

 

[Djokovicfan]

Ok. Here’s an answer to your “reasonable” question. No!

Dude if youre not actually going to contribute anything meaningful to the thread then why do you bother posting…

 

[ballmachineguy]

Dude if youre not actually going to contribute anything meaningful to the thread then why do you bother posting…

Are you serious? You ask a yes or no question, I answer with one of the two possibilities and you question whether it was contributing? Well, what was the appropriate response? Apparently, I blew it.

 

[Raul_SJ]

I definitely load the face on backswing to get the right mindset for how closed i want the racquet face to be when the ball strikes

Yeah for topspin i have to close alot bc i put alot of spin on the ball

Yeah, that is what Serve Doc talks about. Close it more, load the face, on the backswing for topspin...
Conversely, he says that a more perpendicular face on the backswing will result in a "more slapping action and control issues". To avoid that. Not clear what he means by that, but if by "slapping action" he means a flatter shot, it sort of makes sense. A flatter ball will tend to fly out... Must spin to win.

 

[socallefty]

This scientific paper explains clearly how closely the racquet face and upward racquet speed (vertical velocity) are the two parameters that correlate to topspin generation. In this study, the racquet face was typically closed between 5-20 degrees from the vertical (90 degrees) position. I assume that it might not be that different for backhand topspin generation also.

Influence of Tennis Racquet Kinematics on Ball Topspin Angular Velocity and Accuracy during the Forehand Groundstroke - PMC

Forehand groundstroke effectiveness is important for tennis success. Ball topspin angular velocity (TAV) and accuracy are important for forehand groundstroke effectiveness, and have been extensively studied, previously; despite previous, quality ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Key sentence in closing summary
The present findings indicated that (1) a more closed racquet head impact angle (between 70-85°) and (2) increased racquet vertical velocity before impact, are significantly correlated to increased ball TAV (Topspin Angular velocity), during the forehand groundstroke

 

[Djokovicfan]

Yeah, that is what Serve Doc talks about. Close it more, load the face, on the backswing for topspin...
Conversely, he says that a more perpendicular face on the backswing will result in a "more slapping action and control issues". To avoid that. Not clear what he means by that, but if by "slapping action" he means a flatter shot, it sort of makes sense. A flatter ball will tend to fly out... Must spin to win.

Thats cool. Spin to win haha thats what freeskiers say.

 

[Djokovicfan]

This scientific paper explains clearly how closely the racquet face and upward racquet speed (vertical velocity) are the two parameters that correlate to topspin generation. In this study, the racquet face was typically closed between 15-20 degrees from the vertical (90 degrees) position. I assume that it might not be that different for backhand topspin generation also.

Influence of Tennis Racquet Kinematics on Ball Topspin Angular Velocity and Accuracy during the Forehand Groundstroke - PMC

Forehand groundstroke effectiveness is important for tennis success. Ball topspin angular velocity (TAV) and accuracy are important for forehand groundstroke effectiveness, and have been extensively studied, previously; despite previous, quality ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Key sentence in closing summary
The present findings indicated that (1) a more closed racquet head impact angle (between 70-85°) and (2) increased racquet vertical velocity before impact, are significantly correlated to increased ball TAV (Topspin Angular velocity), during the forehand groundstroke

Yeah i kind of thought this was obvious. I was wondering if theres a substantial benefit to sort of wraping the racquet over the top of the ball during ball impact. In other words, having the racquet face in the process of closing as the ball strikes the strings. My guess is that nadal does it to avoid letting an above center hit open up the face and send it long, or that he is doing it to get the frame out of the way so he doesnt frame it during his huge upswing