Racquet lag

[anubis]

Just stumbled upon a tennis instructor on YouTube named Clay Ballard. Seems like he has a lot of really cool videos, but one in particular has really helped me to understand the bio-mechanics behind the modern forehand. I've watched a lot of videos, from guys like Rick Macci and Lock-n-Roll, but I think Clay explains the concept of racquet head lag the best.

I also watched some of his other videos on tennis racquet choices and string choices and the like, but I cannot yet comment on how he tackles other fundamentals such as serves, backhands and stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSkYTPBD8w

 

[tennis4me]

Agreed. He explains that really well. This video would help the other thread by andrehanderson asking whether he is still "slapping" his FH or not.

 

[rkelley]

I thought that was OK. Good points about loose wrist and allowing the racquet to swing.

Not a big fan of the door knob analogy at 4:40 because that implies a lot of pronation of the forearm (which is how most people turn a door knob). I've used the door knob analogy and I've come to not like it. Watch what he does when he talks about it because what he's doing with the racquet seems good. Notice when he says "turn the door knob" that he's actually mostly rotating his upper arm, not pronating his forearm. You can see his elbow rotate which indicates it's the upper arm rotating around its axis (ISR), not the forearm pronating.

 

[mntlblok]

I thought that was OK. Good points about loose wrist and allowing the racquet to swing.

Not a big fan of the door knob analogy at 4:40 because that implies a lot of pronation of the forearm (which is how most people turn a door knob). I've used the door knob analogy and I've come to not like it. Watch what he does when he talks about it because what he's doing with the racquet seems good. Notice when he says "turn the door knob" that he's actually mostly rotating his upper arm, not pronating his forearm. You can see his elbow rotate which indicates it's the upper arm rotating around its axis (ISR), not the forearm pronating.

Cool distinction. Looks like he's using a straight arm in his demo. Can you comment about how things might be different with a bent elbow forehand and what happens with ISR versus pronation with that version?