Racquet “power” free-standing vs hand-held

Dragy

Dragy

G.O.A.T.
I was interested in such an experiment myself, but had not enough experience and resources to hold one. Missed one held by TWU in 2019.
Long story short, no difference in rebound velocity if a ball is blocked by free-to-move racquet vs hand-held racquet. Just too short contact time for the frame to transfer impact all the way to the hand and the resistance - back to the top. All comes down to precise sweetspot striking. So no body mass contributing directly during contact - just the hoop and it’s speed.
freeVhand.jpg
 
Dragy said:
I was interested in such an experiment myself, but had not enough experience and resources to hold one. Missed one held by TWU in 2019.
Long story short, no difference in rebound velocity if a ball is blocked by free-to-move racquet vs hand-held racquet. Just too short contact time for the frame to transfer impact all the way to the hand and the resistance - back to the top. All comes down to precise sweetspot striking. So no body mass contributing directly during contact - just the hoop and it’s speed.
freeVhand.jpg
Click to expand...
but Oserver built his entire TT career on the "big muscles" acting on the ball while absorbing it...
 
Dragy said:
I was interested in such an experiment myself, but had not enough experience and resources to hold one. Missed one held by TWU in 2019.
Long story short, no difference in rebound velocity if a ball is blocked by free-to-move racquet vs hand-held racquet. Just too short contact time for the frame to transfer impact all the way to the hand and the resistance - back to the top. All comes down to precise sweetspot striking. So no body mass contributing directly during contact - just the hoop and it’s speed.
freeVhand.jpg
Click to expand...
Good find here but maybe more to this than meets the eye.
The best COR (as you see in the chart at 20-25 cm or about 9") is closer to the throat than the areas normally called the sweetspots. More COR is more power with less hoop speed. Since hitting out at the sweet spots can cut power to about half, then why not hit nearer to the throat which gives more power and control for less effort on certain types of shots? To get as much power further out on the strings, the racket must be rotating the tip around fast enough to compensate for less COR. That rotation if over-done or improperly done can create several stoke problems.
 
I don't understand the racket responses at named points along the length of the racket, sweet spot, center of percussion, etc. and the effects are hard to observe in high speed videos.

On the other hand, the distance above or below the long axis of the racket - center line - has a big effect on whether the racket opens or closes after impact. I am probably misstating this but - it is often said that it makes no difference to the ball since the ball will be gone before the racket has tilted very much. ?? But even if the racket has not tilted much, the string forces will be different on the top vs the bottom of the ball for hits above or below the center line. Maybe significant or maybe not. ?
Example, green is impact and red is after impact. "9" d is the last fame before impact. This is very important for the height of the shot and it is easy to video your angle of racket tilt. (the racket center is also rising for a top spin drive)
RF+IZ+Pronation+003.jpg

TennisSpeed Research: A Roadmap to a Hall-of-Fame Forehand - Part 9: An Anatomical Comparison of the Federer and Djokovic Forehands

tennisspeedresearch.blogspot.com tennisspeedresearch.blogspot.com

Any information about hits above and below the racket center line?
 
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