Things that make the ball Go......Tip!

[DavaiMarat]

I often see players in here and on the court wanting to generate more power on their strokes. A lot of people advocate racquet head speed but people take this notion and apply it wrong to their strokes.

Faster RHS doesn't mean swing harder. It means swing 'longer'.

Let me use this analogy. Lets say your forehand is a one of those Drag Strip Race cars and my forehand is well....a Mini Cooper.

Our forehands are going to have a race down a lane way except I'm going to given 100 feet to accelerate and you only have 30 feet to accelerate. Who gets going faster? You have 800 HP and I have maybe 130HP...guess what, I win. My forehand is going to be faster at my contact point and I won't even have to slam on the gas. Moreover your going to be swerving all over trying to get traction and head in a straight line.

So my point is. 'Swing Longer not Harder'

So wonder why the pros look so relax when they hit the ball yet hit with such pace and accuracy. The smoothly accelerate their ground strokes allowing gravity to help accelerate the Racket head. On both sides on my strokes the Racket head is close to my head at the top of the swing. Then I let gravity do the work for me.

I see of 2HBH of some players drop into the slot/tilt position too quickly and not start with the racquet head over the hands. They then complain their stroke lacks power and feels boardy. Your accelerating from 30 feet my friend.

 

[dozu]

to me this means 2 things -

radius on a 'horizontal' plane - better players have more unit turn, and wider radius by swinging around the spin as the rotational axis.... most rec players have poor unit turn, and swing around the axis of the shoulder (aka arming the ball).

radius on a 'vertical' plane - big loopy swings where the take-back is high, to maximize the vertical drop to pick up momentum in the initial stage of the forward swing.

 

[user92626]

I often see players in here and on the court wanting to generate more power on their strokes. A lot of people advocate racquet head speed but people take this notion and apply it wrong to their strokes.

Faster RHS doesn't mean swing harder. It means swing 'longer'.

Let me use this analogy. Lets say your forehand is a one of those Drag Strip Race cars and my forehand is well....a Mini Cooper.

Our forehands are going to have a race down a lane way except I'm going to given 100 feet to accelerate and you only have 30 feet to accelerate. Who gets going faster? You have 800 HP and I have maybe 130HP...guess what, I win. My forehand is going to be faster at my contact point and I won't even have to slam on the gas. Moreover your going to be swerving all over trying to get traction and head in a straight line.

So my point is. 'Swing Longer not Harder'

So wonder why the pros look so relax when they hit the ball yet hit with such pace and accuracy. The smoothly accelerate their ground strokes allowing gravity to help accelerate the Racket head. On both sides on my strokes the Racket head is close to my head at the top of the swing. Then I let gravity do the work for me.

I see of 2HBH of some players drop into the slot/tilt position too quickly and not start with the racquet head over the hands. They then complain their stroke lacks power and feels boardy. Your accelerating from 30 feet my friend.

Have you done any test?

How about this scenerio: your mini cooper would never be able to reach 180 mph due to its few horsepower, no matter what you do or how long you launch the thing. On the other hand, a 800 hp could reach over 200mph, i dunno, within x seconds. So, conclusion it's still the horsepower/strength/crank harder/hit harder.

 

[SirGounder]

Have you done any test?

How about this scenerio: your mini cooper would never be able to reach 180 mph due to its few horsepower, no matter what you do or how long you launch the thing. On the other hand, a 800 hp could reach over 200mph, i dunno, within x seconds. So, conclusion it's still the horsepower/strength/crank harder/hit harder.

Although the analogy might need some work, I think I understand the concept. At a certain point it's useless to swing harder. Stroke length is another factor in generating pace. So if you feel like you need more pace but can't swing harder, look at the length of your stroke. I appreciate the tip as this is something that I've been trying to work on.

 

[DavaiMarat]

Have you done any test?

How about this scenerio: your mini cooper would never be able to reach 180 mph due to its few horsepower, no matter what you do or how long you launch the thing. On the other hand, a 800 hp could reach over 200mph, i dunno, within x seconds. So, conclusion it's still the horsepower/strength/crank harder/hit harder.

ok.ok. Substitute mini cooper with ummm a porcshe?

 

[mtommer]

So my point is. 'Swing Longer not Harder'

Swinging longer doesn't mean one is swinging faster and for some, like me, who are not very flexible to begin with (not even taking into account shoulder injury), there isn't much "longer" to be found. I think perhaps relaxed, quick and smooth are better goals to achieve.

 

[dozu]

Swinging longer doesn't mean one is swinging faster and for some, like me, who are not very flexible to begin with (not even taking into account shoulder injury), there isn't much "longer" to be found. I think perhaps relaxed, quick and smooth are better goals to achieve.

see my post above regarding longer in both horizontal and vertical ways.

young golfers, with good flexibility, can rely on more 'rotational' element, aka the so-called 1 plane swing, simpler motion, less can go wrong, can be powerful with good core strength.

older guys, with older bones, can't rotate that much, need to rely on arms also going up and down to add juice, hence the 2-plane swing.

tennis can borrow this concept to a degree - older bones cannot rotate as much, but still can go more up/down with the arms, to add more weight to the shot.

 

[DavaiMarat]

Swinging longer doesn't mean one is swinging faster and for some, like me, who are not very flexible to begin with (not even taking into account shoulder injury), there isn't much "longer" to be found. I think perhaps relaxed, quick and smooth are better goals to achieve.

Always should be smooth and relaxed, however the moral of this story is smooth, relaxed acceleration for a longer distance = more power.

Condolences on the shoulder injury, they are not easy to cope with especially on the serve. However on grounds strokes my shoulder and arm move very little except on the follow thru. A good unit turn using the knees is also another way to lengthen your swing path. Starting with your racquet higher up is another in the backswing is another.

 

[sureshs]

The smoothly accelerate their ground strokes allowing gravity to help accelerate the Racket head.

Once the racquet starts moving up, gravity can only contribute to deceleration.

 

[DavaiMarat]

Once the racquet starts moving up, gravity can only contribute to deceleration.

Your shoulder acts like Pendulum my friend. Yes Gravity is decelerating your racquet but the potential energy gain when you start with the frame higher negates this.

Learning to smoothly drop the racquet head is key in learning to hit an advance stroke.

 

[SlapChop]

Your shoulder acts like Pendulum my friend. Yes Gravity is decelerating your racquet but the potential energy gain you start with the frame higher negates this.

Learning to smoothly drop the racquet head is key in learning to hit an advance stroke.

This is what my coach was driving into my brain. You get so much more power using a drop loop motion vs pulling it straight back.

 

[DavaiMarat]

This is what my coach was driving into my brain. You get so much more power using a drop loop motion vs pulling it straight back.

Tony Lars discussed this in a thread several months ago. His is a straight pull back but his argument was he used his 2HBH to set up his big forehand. Kind of a steddy eddy until he could run around and slam it. Totally valid however I encourage all players to learn to 'hit with extreme prejudice' off both wings.

One of the keys slap chop is loosening the right hand. If you try to hit a 1 handed lefty forehand you'll find it's pretty easy to drop the racquet head in a smooth loop. Put the right hand on and ....mmmmm not so much. Right hand wants to dominate every time it's on the grip meanwhile the 2HBH is a left dominant stroke (in most cases).

If you have difficulty doing this, spread your fingers over the grip more, hands with spread fingers tend to want to ball up in a fist and tighten up.

Good luck with your tennis bro.

 

[fuzz nation]

I get what you're saying here, but the idea I usually like to reinforce is starting the swing earlier instead of making the swing longer. Although I'm pretty sure that we're talking about the same thing, it's easier for me to reinforce the idea of smooth swing tempo this way if I'm coaching it.

Using that car analogy, let's say our swings are like cars on public highways. The state of the art Porsche with the twin-turbo 600 hp engine (just saw it on an episode of Top Gear!) can get up to 60 mph in a big hurry, but a 130 hp Corolla can get up to 60 mph, too. It just takes a few extra seconds.

Many players try to swing harder using the Porsche that they just don't have in their garage. Too often, players look to take a bigger cut at the ball by flooring their Corolla and grinding the gears. Our strokes need to be like our driving habits on those public roads though, and we need to keep it under control - or keep it smooth. Give your "econobox" stroke enough time to get up to speed.

Just about everyone can swing really hard at a ball, even if their stroke is a Corolla, but the trick is learning to get it all going without delay. The difference between many bigger hitters vs. no better than mid-level hackers is that the strong sluggers get set up to swing more quickly. They're not waiting for the ball to show up on their doorstep before flailing at it. If you keep your eye on different players at the courts and look for this, it's not tough to spot. The big stroke looks effortless because it's un-rushed, but the heavy effort happens in the quick movement and swing preparation.

This idea is also important for better serves. Many players, even the pros here and there, will put their toss up in the air before their wind-up is fully loaded and ready to make a smooth drive to the ball. In this case, the idea of swinging earlier can simply be accomplished by tossing later. Get more loaded up and ready to fire before tossing the ball so that you can keep that service motion smooth and loose. That's where the fun is!

 

[Djokovicfan4life]

Yeah, the last couple weeks I've been working on moving my contact point further out in front for a longer swing that goes more through the ball. It's working great on the one hander, forehand is very shaky though.

 

[Djlpenguin]

this is a great tip.