Hands Together

How far apart are the hands of elite players, and for how long?

How far should your hands be apart when you are playing a point in tennis? There is more than a good chance you have never asked that question.

Video analysis shows that the best players in the world keep their hands close together throughout the stroke production process: moving to the ball, striking the ball, and recovering for the next shot. In fact, excluding serves and overheads, world class players keep the hands shoulder width apart or less around 90% of the time.

Research Study

I know this from the research study we conducted of 6 world elite players: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Justin Henin and Serena Williams. The study analyzed 3 complete sets for each player. The goal was to quantify the amount of time the players spent with their hands shoulder width apart or less. To insure impartiality, each set was analyzed three times, by three different researchers.

Like the men, top women’s players keep their hands close together almost 90% of the time.

I anticipated the percentage of time players had their hands close together would be quite high, but…