tennis terminology dictionary

[BeHappy]

pronation: stick your (right handed is assumed) racquet hand in front of you in a thumbs up,( thumb pointing stright up), now point your thumb to your left, the act of turning your hand inwards like this is called pronating.The word pronation describes the act of pronating.

supination: stick your (right handed is assumed) racquet hand in front of you in a thumbs up,( thumb pointing stright up), now point your thumb to your right, turning your hand outwards like this is called supination.The word supination describes the act of supinating.

linear take back/smile takeback/U takeback : they mean the same thing, it's when you take the racquet straight back and up, like this

arrow goes the other way though as I'm talking about the takeback

c backswing, loopy backswing: C stands for circular, take the racquet back and trace a loop in the air.


Heavy Ball: A ball that feels heavy on your racquet, it feels as if your hitting a very heavy object (,like a bowling ball or a brick), be it flat as a pancake like agassi's backhand or hit with heavy topspin like Nadal's forehand.

A ball that has lots of topspin and bounces around the height of your shoulders but does not feel heavy on your racquet is NOT a heavy ball.A ball with so called 'Heavy' topspin and a loopy trajectory isn't a heavy ball unless it feels heavy on your racquet.So called 'Heavy' topspin is a characteristic of many genuinely heavy balls, but does not itself qualify a ball as heavy, only a heavy sensation felt by the reciever when trying to return it does.


that's all I can think of for now, this thread is for technical terms and jargon only.

 

[Messarger]

Good thread. What about the double-bend? Also, i think it'll be good if you can explain the advantages (and disadvantages) of pronation, supplination and other terminology.

Great topic.

 

[tricky]

Here are some mid-level explanations of the "double bend" and "windshield wiper" motion.

Double Bend

The double bend, coined by John Yandell, is a model of the "modern" forehand, or forehand used by the majority of professional players today to generate power efficiently.

The double bend describes the shape or structure of the hitting arm prior to contact of ball, according to two characteristics.

1) The elbow is bent and tucked.

2) The wrist is in a laid-back position.

A key concept of the double-bend is that the tennis player maintains a laid-back wrist position and does not intentionally "snap" or "flick" the wrist during the forward portion of the swing.

Jeffrey Counts emphasizes that, in the double-bend, the elbow, wrist, and hand (i.e. the hitting arm) "springs" forward as one unit or "lever" into the ball. The body/upper torso rotates around, yet the hitting arm moves forward and away from the body into the path of the ball. This generates optimal power.

The double bend is often discussed with "windshield wiper" . See below.

Windshield Wiper Forehand

Windshield wiper describes the circular or "wiping" motion of the forearm as you follow through and finish the stroke. This wiping motion, along with a steeper angle of the swing plane, are the means to generate spin in all groundstrokes.

Many forehands associated with double-bend hitting structure emphasize very high wiping motion along with a relatively level swing plane, in order to generate a ball with depth, pace and topspin. Or in other words, a "heavy" ball. These characteristics are informally described as the "windshield wiper forehand", and it is the most popular term to describe the forehands used by ATP players today.

A key concept of the windshield wiper forehand is that the player does not manually make this wiping motion, a common mistake with those initially learning this stroke. The player neither "wipes on" nor "rolls over" the ball, both which causes problems with generating shots of consistent depth and pace. Rather, this wiping motion is a consequence of a "good" forehand, especially the forehand associated with a double-bend structure.

The windshield wiper motion of a forehand is technically forearm pronation with a laid-back wrist. On the backhand side, windshield wiper motion is forearm suppination with a laid-back wrist.

Push/Linear vs. Pull/Rotational

Informal (and confusing) terms used to differentiate between two mutually exclusive sets of mechanics used for the forehand, backhand, and serve.

"Push vs. pull" distinction was originally coined to differentiate the mechanics of the forehands of WTA players, which did not easily fit with current "windshield wiper FH" models. It was also used to discuss problems between the backswing/takeback and the forward swing, specifically with producing the WW FH. However, this distinction prevails in other strokes and versions of each stroke.

Samples
"Classical" Forehands
Push: Pancho, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Davenport
Pull: Laver, Connors

"Modern" and WW Forehands
Push: Williams sisters, Sharapova, Courier, Sampras, Isner, Young
Pull: Agassi, Hewitt, Safin, Roddick, Federer, Nadal, Gonzo, Henin

Serves:
Push: Sampras, Goran, Roddick
Pull: McEnroe, Federer, Gasquet

1H BHs
Push: all?

2H BHs:
Push: Agassi
Pull: Borg, Hewitt, Safin

(to be continued)

 

[BeHappy]

a picture of a double bend might be useful in that post tricky, BTw, are the pics coming out in my post?

the amount of windshield wipe depends on how far below the hand and to what degree the racquet head is pointing towards the ground, ie, 'the forehand racquet drop', ie, the more you supinate with the hand laid back before you hit the ball the more you will passively/naturally pronate.

 

[sharpy]

Windshield Wiper Forehand


A key concept of the windshield wiper forehand is that the player does not manually make this wiping motion, a common mistake with those initially learning this stroke. The player neither "wipes on" nor "rolls over" the ball, both which causes problems with generating shots of consistent depth and pace. Rather, this wiping motion is a consequence of a "good" forehand, especially the forehand associated with a double-bend structure.

The windshield wiper motion of a forehand is technically forearm pronation with a laid-back wrist. On the backhand side, windshield wiper motion is forearm suppination with a laid-back wrist.

If you find yourself manually doing the windshield wiper, does that mean that there's something technically wrong with the forehand?

 

[tricky]

If you find yourself manually doing the windshield wiper, does that mean that there's something technically wrong with the forehand?

Usually, yes. Specifically look to see whether you hook your elbow a little in the finish.

 

[wihamilton]

Treeing:

Playing out of your mind.

 

[slice bh compliment]

glossary of tennis slang

He is a hook = he cheats on linecalls.

Tuned him = beat him routinely.

Kick serve = a serve with some topspin and some sidespin.

Slice = a shot with underspin.

Mark Philipoussis = reality show wh0rebag.

topspinmonkey = Rafael Nadal.

Murphy Jensen = I cannot believe that putz has his own show.

GOAT = greatest of all time (also see Rodney George Laver)

Future GOAT = Roger Federer

Tennisgeek = You've read this far? Please submit a photo for inclusion in this entry.

 

[BeHappy]

jfgfmmbbkjfk

 

[sharpy]

Tricky: email me at buttertastesreallynice@yahoo.com

LOL. thats your email gorilla?

 

[BeHappy]

ten characters

 

[BeHappy]

Tricky: email me at buttertastesreallynice@yahoo.com

 

[tricky]

Truth is, I usually don't give out that information on places like this. Besides the fact that my accounts are usually knee deep with spam crap, I've been . . . harassed doing that before. Sorry?

But, yeah, you can e-mail me at zomgnadalxserena69@yahoo.com and you might get a message back.

 

[BeHappy]

why don't you just make a TW email account on yahoo like I did? only takes two seconds:

http://edit.europe.yahoo.com/config/eval_register?.intl=uk

 

[BeHappy]

tricky, maybe you should edit your post to include definitions for your push/pull terminology?

BTW

why is there a '+' beside your name in the current active users list?

 

[tricky]

Push/Linear vs. Pull/Rotational

Informal (and confusing) terms used to differentiate between two mutually exclusive sets of mechanics used for the forehand, backhand, and serve.

"Push vs. pull" distinction was originally coined to differentiate the mechanics of the forehands of WTA players, which did not easily fit with current "windshield wiper FH" models. It was also used to discuss problems between the backswing/takeback and the forward swing, specifically with producing the WW FH. However, this distinction prevails in other strokes and versions of each stroke.

Samples
"Classical" Forehands
Push: Pancho, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Davenport
Pull: Laver, Connors

"Modern" and WW Forehands
Push: Williams sisters, Sharapova, Courier, Sampras, Isner, Young
Pull: Agassi, Hewitt, Safin, Roddick, Federer, Nadal, Gonzo, Henin

Serves:
Push: Sampras, Goran, Roddick
Pull: McEnroe, Federer, Gasquet

1H BHs
Push: all?

2H BHs:
Push: Agassi
Pull: Borg, Hewitt, Safin

(to be continued)

 

[BeHappy]

copy and paste that into your original post using the edit button Tricky, save people sifting through the crap that others have posted.