racket forearm angle for the pistol and hammer grip in the serve

[taurussable]

just noticed when you hold the racket hammer grip and keep wrist neutral, the racket forearm angle is bigger than when you hold a pistol grip.

Does this affect player's preference which grip to use? does it affect which grip is superior in the serve?

 

[LeeD]

More angle, up to around 45 degrees, gives you more racket head speed upon pronation up and into the ball.
Less angle, like old JohnMcEnroe, gives you less RHS, but more control of your racket face because you took out the pronation factor in favor of a more simple motion.
That's why JohnMac served only around 110 max in his prime playing days, but now can serve 125. He adopted some more angle the way he held the racket on his serves.

 

[JackB1]

More angle, up to around 45 degrees, gives you more racket head speed upon pronation up and into the ball.
Less angle, like old JohnMcEnroe, gives you less RHS, but more control of your racket face because you took out the pronation factor in favor of a more simple motion.
That's why JohnMac served only around 110 max in his prime playing days, but now can serve 125. He adopted some more angle the way he held the racket on his serves.

John McEnroe is serving at 125 mph now? :shock:

 

[LeeD]

Max speed of John's serve after 2009 is 125.
His playing days, max in a tourney, was 10 slower.
No, Mac doesn't average 125 on all his serves.

 

[JackB1]

Max speed of John's serve after 2009 is 125.
His playing days, max in a tourney, was 10 slower.
No, Mac doesn't average 125 on all his serves.

So you are saying he serves faster now than when he was on the ATP Tour?

 

[LeeD]

"now"..... as in after his prime tennis playing years, like in the 2000's.
Not "now", like in the last tourney you saw him play.
Did you know? Just because I me me me, might be able to serve 105mph, it doesn't mean I try to hit my fastest serves every single time?
Would you believe I also hit some top/slices out wide, around 75mph?
And once in a blue moon, I'll also use a 65mph twist serve as my first serve.
Now what does that do to my AVERAGE first serve speed?

 

[taurussable]

More angle, up to around 45 degrees, gives you more racket head speed upon pronation up and into the ball.
Less angle, like old JohnMcEnroe, gives you less RHS, but more control of your racket face because you took out the pronation factor in favor of a more simple motion.
That's why JohnMac served only around 110 max in his prime playing days, but now can serve 125. He adopted some more angle the way he held the racket on his serves.

Thanks this makes sense to me.

 

[crash1929]

just noticed when you hold the racket hammer grip and keep wrist neutral, the racket forearm angle is bigger than when you hold a pistol grip.

Does this affect player's preference which grip to use? does it affect which grip is superior in the serve?

Is there some other way to explain this post? I have no clue what you are talking about.

 

[Chas Tennis]

The grip affects the forearm racket angle and the angle the strings face. Try different grips and hold the arm straight as when impacting the ball.

Interesting thread that showed me what a 'strong continental' grip is.
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=483360

This grip is probably the best for the serve.

Remember that you have to place two reference points on the hand onto to two reference points on the racket handle. Instructions to put just the index knuckle on one bevel could allow the grip to be anywhere.....

 

[Tight Lines]

The grip affects the forearm racket angle and the angle the strings face. Try different grips and hold the arm straight as when impacting the ball.

Interesting thread that showed me what a 'strong continental' grip is.
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=483360

This grip is probably the best for the serve.

Remember that you have to place two reference points on the hand onto to two reference points on the racket handle. Instructions to put just the index knuckle on one bevel could allow the grip to be anywhere.....

Hi Chas,

Somehow the bevel image was gone in that thread. So, I replaced it with another image location.

Harry

 

[Tight Lines]

just noticed when you hold the racket hammer grip and keep wrist neutral, the racket forearm angle is bigger than when you hold a pistol grip.

Does this affect player's preference which grip to use? does it affect which grip is superior in the serve?

I don't think that should be a reason to choose which grip to use. For 99% of the people, they should use some form of conti for many other reasons.

Harry

 

[taurussable]

I don't think that should be a reason to choose which grip to use. For 99% of the people, they should use some form of conti for many other reasons.

Harry

I thought you can hold a continental grip with both hammer grip(all 4 fingers together) and pistol grip(index finger away from middle finger). no?

 

[JackB1]

I thought you can hold a continental grip with both hammer grip(all 4 fingers together) and pistol grip(index finger away from middle finger). no?

Sure. But when you spread or unspread your fingers, it alters where your heel pad sits on the handle. You can have variations in what the rest of your hand is doing, while your index knuckle remains on the 1st bevel, which would classify all those as "continental".

 

[Chas Tennis]

This Google search for - Continental Grip Pictures
gives some idea of usage-

https://www.google.com/search?q=con...msGYKOyATT74GQCg&ved=0CB4QsAQ&biw=840&bih=519

If you only think of placing the index knuckle of the hand on one bevel the hand could possibly be rotated 360 degrees around that point. This is what you mostly find.

If you only think of placing two reference points of the hand both on the same single bevel or between two bevels then grips that involve two different bevels are left out. See FYB video.

Placing two defined hand reference points on two bevel locations nails it down. There are some sites that use this method. Search terms like 'strong continental grip'.