Racquet face parallel to the net?

[kickingbird]

Is it advisable to try and hit every ball with the racquet face (therefore the entire racquet from grip to tip of racquet) parallel to the net?

Ie. for a right hander's fh the racquet tip is pointing at 3 o'clock on impact,

-O

and bh, 9 o'clock

O-

This was what I've believed in and I have always tried to do this even on low balls, by bending my knees. However I have recently noticed that I have almost never seen a photo of a pro hitting a low ball this way. The racquet tip is always pointing at an angle towards the ground on contact. They are hitting forehands with the racquet sloped at 4 o'clock on impact.

I've always been under the impression that with this kind of racquet face on contact, you won't get as much spin on the ball (or you'll get uneven spin on the ball because of the diagonal alignment of the strings on the ball at impact), and the ball will tend to fly up more.

What are your opinions on this? Very interested to hear other's thoughts!

 

[paulfreda]

This is an example of overemphasis on a particuar idea.
The advantage of hitting every shot the same way (low ball and strike zone ball) is you only need learn one shot. This leads to consistency.
But there are so many ways to hit the ball that an over reliance on this will limit one's potential. Just look at Fed. He has tremendous variety in his FH and BH.

While it is true that the face itself has to be somewhat facing the net at impact (Hewitt and Connors do/did this so well) just look at the wide variety of technique out there .... Nadal, Sanguinetti, Santoro, Fed, Haas, Shalken, etc, etc. Very different ways to get the job done well.

Since so few pros teach many different ways to hit the ball, I am a strong proponent of using a wall and/or a ball machine and discover for yourself what you like and what works.

 

[Geezer Guy]

If your racquet was always parallel to the net at contact, you would always be hitting the ball straight ahead. You need to hold the racquet at an angle to hit cross-court.

As for hitting the ball at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock, that's more of a function of where you like to hit the ball in your strike zone. Some like it a little lower for topspin, some like it a little higher for hitting flat.

I've been taught that when volleying the racquet head should be above your wrist (meaning it would be somewhere between 10 and 11 or 1 and 2 o'clock.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

if you're not good enough, consolidate your technique with racquet face vertical at contact, a la Hewitt

then read this thread in my posting in the Sticky on Forehand issues:

How do they hit their forehand with a so close racquet face? (see pic inside)

In the same Sticky you will find high speed clips of Hewitt and Federer