Racquet head speed is not as important as striking the ball cleanly.

G

Golden Retriever

Hall of Fame
I have found that striking the ball cleanly (right in the sweetspot with good form and steady swing without brushing up on the ball, thats my definition) is a lot more important than maximizing racquet head speed. I would rather strike the ball cleanly with 70% maximum racquet head speed vs striking the ball dirtyly with 100% maximum speed.
 
I think racquet head speed is a little more important. But obviously you need to make good contact.

The pro at my club (who was ranked around 360 in the world) was giving me tips on my one handed backhand. He said my form and contact point was good, but that I was not getting enough racquet head speed.

It really got me thinking that I cannot just be happy making good contact and getting the ball back. To have an effective shot I need to really go for the shot and increase racquet head speed.

To each his own I guess. If you just want to "get the ball back" I suppose just guiding it is fine.
 
Good racket head speed without good contact is just a shank. :)

I find that if I hit the sweetspot and transfer my weight, that will be a heavy, effective shot every time.
 
Cindysphinx said:
Good racket head speed without good contact is just a shank. :)

I find that if I hit the sweetspot and transfer my weight, that will be a heavy, effective shot every time.
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i completely agree with this. one thing that helped me out was hitting out in front of the body every time, it sounds simple but watch as many beginners still hit from the side of their body.

my rally ball is fairly slow but i can hit a darn good approach/winner with around 50% swingspeed (which is probably my rally swingspeed) just because of all the linear momentum from running forward into the shot as well.
 
I believe racquet head speed is very important, at least it is for me because I hit with lots of topspin on my forehand, with out tremendous racquet head speed, my forehand wouldnt be so good. Most times I dont simply strike the ball, I brush it rapidly, contact is not as "clean" but it doesnt need to be, the topspin takes over. Thats how I prefer to hit the forehand. Off the backhand Id say for me cleanly striking the ball is more important than racquet head speed because I like to hit through that shot most of the time.
 
spacediver said:
if you're not brushing up on ball, how do you achieve topspin? Is it mainly a function of the angle of the racquet face on contact?
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No. If he's not brushing up, he's not getting topspin. Plain and simple. If there is topspin, it's probably from him having a low to high swing, and he's brushing up on the ball without knowing it.
 
I really agree with this. I find it annoying when I put all my might into a shot and not having it even reach the service line because I couldn't make clean contact with it.
 
Golden Retriever said:
I have found that striking the ball cleanly (right in the sweetspot with good form and steady swing without brushing up on the ball, thats my definition) is a lot more important than maximizing racquet head speed. I would rather strike the ball cleanly with 70% maximum racquet head speed vs striking the ball dirtyly with 100% maximum speed.
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I think it's pretty well established that you're not supposed to go all out on every shot. Swinging at 70-80% would be a good idea, but I don't think that's what you're talking about. If you really were swinging at 70% you can't "not brush up" on the ball.
 
Oh OP, please stop advertising your newbie-ness..hehe j/k
Your statement is akin to claiming calculus is not as important as basic arithmetics. Well, what good is calculus if one doesn't know arithmetics?

Anyway, "right in the sweetspot with good form and steady swing" is the basic that all must do. When you're proficient with it, you must acquire more rackethead speed, ie power, if you plan to compete at higher level. And all that power needs to be shifted to topspin via brushing. Brushing doesn't mean you stop hitting in the sweetspot with good form and steady swing. Brushing along with the basic needs rackethead speed (power). Otherwise the ball will drop before it reaches the net. That's all.
 
For the best players it is not an either/or proposition. The pros have good contact and high racket head speed. Standing next to pros hitting sounds completely different than standing on courts with lower level players.

It's not a bad idea to start practicing good contact and then try to up the speed.
 
If any one of us can hit as cleanly with the worlds slowest rackethead speed of JohnMcEnroe, we'd be 2 levels higher than where we are right now.
 
LeeD said:
If any one of us can hit as cleanly with the worlds slowest rackethead speed of John McEnroe, we'd be 2 levels higher than where we are right now.
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You are making a good point here. Ball striking is very important if you play a serve and volley game. It's also important elsewhere, but you don't need the racket head speed to hit brilliant volleys, it's all about placement and having incredible hands.

If I had McEnroe's eye-hand coordination I would have made a very good living playing professional tennis. But who does? The guy is way off the bell curve.
 
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