Wrist snap is the source of power and pronation is source of control. from James Blake
Dear James,
My name is James and i have been a big fan of yours for a long time now even from your Harvard days. Anyway, in the past you have told me that the power on the serve comes from the wrist snap but TennisOne website did a service analysis and they disagree with you and say that notion about the wrist snap is a Myth. Why dont you read it and tell me what you think ?? and also I noticed that you use BigBanger alu power 16 string and i use it too and i love it. But i hit with such big power that i need to string it at about 71 lbs to control it. But the Luxilon tells me that this string should be strung at lower tension or it doesn't perform well and it can cause arm problems. I noticed that you string it at 67 lbs. Has it been ok for you to string it at high tension and did you notice any problems?? Thank you so much and keep up the great work.
Jin cha
jin, i haven't seen that website, but maybe they've done some analysis to prove me wrong. the only evidence i have is that my serve is about 120 miles per hour, and if i only use my wrist, i can serve about 110 miles per hour. so i still believe it's where the most power comes from on my serve. as for the luxilon big banger string, i haven't had any problems with it, if you have to string it tight, then just use what feels comfortable to you.
the top servers in the world do indeed consciously use there wrist on their serves as being a full time tour coach after someone brought that to my attention that others were saying this i merely asked many of the guys that i know on tour that hit 130mph plus serves and all said without exception that they do think to snap or "pop" their wrist through contact.
i have also done many experiments with both no wrist action (focal point) and with conscious thought wrist action focal point, and i can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that one can get more power and more spin as well no matter what level they are by consciously flexing (snapping) their wrist through the ball. the actual wrist action sequence is actually termed extension, flexion, ulnar deviation , and then lastly pronation will occur. the extension and pronation should occur naturally if one is relaxed but the flexion and ulnar deviation(if one is hitting slice serves) should initially until made habit be focused upon.
Have you ever worked with unlar deviation?I think what a lot of guys feel is the wrist snapping over and the centripetal force. I'm not sure they are actually flexing the wrist (overly contracting the forearm). I have a feeling more comes from internally rotating the upper arm. If I rotate my wrist using primarily my wrist, I can generate limited speed, but if I flick with my upper arm, it is much faster. I have a hunch that is what they do. Someone on here (supposedly with a 125 mph serve) a few years ago talked of snapping the elbow being the secret. Internal rotation is a key component of snapping the elbow. Just my take.
The arm's signature on a Superior Serve after contact takes on a pretzel look, confirmation of the nuclear wrist snap and the incredible uPness of the swing pattern while also getting the ball down into the service box less than 60 feet away. You can not build up to this point and expect the arm to look like this, it is brought to you only by the nuclear wrist snap. It's do or die.
Photos of Sampras show this effect. The arm looks like this for millisecond(s), you do not hit the ball and stop the arm to look like this. The arm is "straight" on contact but since the biceps muscle slows down to help accelerate the forearm, hand, and ultimately the racket via a nuclear wrist snap the whole scenario becomes top heavy and the arm pretzels as a result.
Charliefederer, this is good idea. But, the problem is how we should maintain the proper value of the pronation angle β.
In order to apply topspin to a ball hitting down from 12 to 6 (instead of 6 to 12), you should hit the opposite side of the ball (I'm talking front vs. back, so this would be the side facing your opponent's court, instead of the side facing your racquet), which from a serve point of view, is pretty much impossible.You are not getting it - I am not talking about rotation from 12 - 6 - that is back spin.
I am talking about the rotation AXIS being 3 - 9 and the ball spinning the same way as hit to 6 to 12, because it was hit 12 to 6 in the same direction, only on the top, not on the bottom. Read my earth rotation example again.
And as I said, this is not common in tennis - what is more common is the ball hit down at 2, which has a component of topspin in the 6 - 12 direction.
I think what a lot of guys feel is the wrist snapping over and the centripetal force. I'm not sure they are actually flexing the wrist (overly contracting the forearm). I have a feeling more comes from internally rotating the upper arm. If I rotate my wrist using primarily my wrist, I can generate limited speed, but if I flick with my upper arm, it is much faster. I have a hunch that is what they do. Someone on here (supposedly with a 125 mph serve) a few years ago talked of snapping the elbow being the secret. Internal rotation is a key component of snapping the elbow. Just my take.
Charliefederer, this is good idea. But, the problem is how we should maintain the proper value of the pronation angle β.
Ha ha! I see your point, toly... brilliant!
What the guy with the complicated vectors is saying seems to be this. We come up at the ball around 90 degrees, but when we get to the 90, we turn the forearm (if we are leading with the wrist first to hit), the forearm can't turn properly on the pronation, but if we are leading with the forearm first, then we will get the magnitude of angle on the pronation that we need because the forearm can only pronate more fully when the elbow is in front.
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Sounds too complicated - I think I'll just lead with my chin...![]()
First is the forearm, second the wrist. What can I get from this?That may depend on which part of you is leading, the wrist
or the forearm?
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']First is the forearm,[/FONT][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']second the wrist. What can I get from this?[/FONT]
[FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']First is the forearm,[/FONT][FONT='Verdana','sans-serif']second the wrist. What can I get from this?[/FONT]
Anatoly Antipin oldtoly@hotmail.com
Hardserve
According to theory of the kinetic chain, we should start from slow joint and transfer angular energy to faster one. In case of the arm it will be: 1. the shoulder joint, 2. the elbow joint, 3. the pronation group of joints 4.the wrist. The wrist is last one, because it is the fastest joint of our body.
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Can you give us the link to 300 fps video of the Sampras serve please? [/FONT]
Hardserve
According to my calculation, the pronation can generate angular speed aroundΩH=6000°/sec. Legs (knees bend, jump, or whatever), shoulders seesaw movement, trunk rotation, and fast elbow joint with forearm all together produce just ΩV =60°/sec. It is the myth good knees bend could be major source of the serve power, because they are very slow. We are talking here about speed around 100 mph. What speed can create knees? I am not MD and may say nothing about wrist, elbow, etc stress.
But, what can you say about the angle beta. Its magnitude is very important for any type of the serve (flat or spin, first or second).
Hardserve
By the way, the wrist cannot pronate at all.
Actually some people do try to snap on the ball with only the wrist while others pronate
instead with the forearm or elbow.
The pronation always has to be used, at least, to provide the proper racquet string bed orientation. It should be perpendicular to the Target Plane. The best servers also use it to create pronation flat component of the racquet speed. There is no serve without pronation in professional tennis!
In case of the spin serve we must use the wrist ulnar deviation. To increase the flat component of the racquet speed we can also use the wrist flexion. The best servers utilize all of these motions.
Where is speed force multiplier in human being body? I cannot find it.Okay that's only about pronation.
Djokovick should be serving at 140-150 mph easily because he is capable of big serves like Dent, Isner, and Roddick and that's because he has got good external arm rotation like Roddick, but hes only serving at around 130 mph like Federer. Djokovick relies on his upper body strength to power his serve. Roddick takes full advantage of the speed force multiplier
As I remember from high school, there are two different mechanisms: 1. the force multiplier, 2. the speed multiplier. I Google the term “the speed force multiplier”. No such thing exists in their huge database. If you know something about this devise, you should immediately apply for Nobel’s Prize!!!Okay that's only about pronation.
Djokovick should be serving at 140-150 mph easily because he is capable of big serves like Dent, Isner, and Roddick and that's because he has got good external arm rotation like Roddick, but hes only serving at around 130 mph like Federer. Djokovick relies on his upper body strength to power his serve. Roddick takes full advantage of the speed force multiplier
In our context, SIN(beta) can be treated as the speed multiplier. About the force multiplier, I hope you can tell us.Okay that's only about pronation.
Djokovick should be serving at 140-150 mph easily because he is capable of big serves like Dent, Isner, and Roddick and that's because he has got good external arm rotation like Roddick, but hes only serving at around 130 mph like Federer. Djokovick relies on his upper body strength to power his serve. Roddick takes full advantage of the speed force multiplier
In our context, SIN(beta) can be treated as the speed multiplier. About the force multiplier, I hope you can tell us.
Its the hip where you get power in the serve.
So that's why steroid injections to hip are so popular with tennis players. ;-)
Sorry for bumping this thread, but I can't understand what's exactly this wrist snap? Is it the same as flexion?