The Windshield Wiper Forehand

In my first two articles on the professional forehand, (Click Here), I discussed why I think the “double bend” structure leads to such blistering pace on professional forehands. Now let’s see the role of this underlying structure in the windshield wiper action that is common in pro tennis. In my opinion this wiper action is widely misunderstood and often executely

In the earlier articles, I thought it was important to address the issue of the double bend, because emphasizng this structure may appear restricive to players learning the game. The natural tendency for anyone learning tennis is to swing the arm around the body in an unstructured way, with the tip of the racket picking up speed, much like a baseball swing or a golf swing. This type of swing feels fast and whippy, is easy to execute, and would seem to be the best way to hit the ball hard, because of the speed it generates in the racket head. But as happens in golf or baseball, the tip of the racket quickly arcs around the body toward the opposite side.

This might be great for pure speed. But does racket speed equal ball speed and spin? The physics…