Have a Question for Me?

[shootermcmarc0]

3.) Overall it's probably better to keep things simple. Focus on the positons and achieve all of them throughout the stroke with a minimum of tension--stay relaxed! Everything else seems secondary.

Agreed. If I think way too much about certain things I end up destroying my swing.

[lukman41985]

The idea of getting firm right at contact, to me, has a couple of problems:

1.) It's hard enough to time the contact correctly to begin with, so asking someone to get firm at contact would make things even more difficult I think.

2.) The idea of getting firm at contact may introduce tension into the stroke at the most crucial moment. Maybe the thought should be to be as loose and relaxed throughout and to extend through contact.

3.) Overall it's probably better to keep things simple. Focus on the positons and achieve all of them throughout the stroke with a minimum of tension--stay relaxed! Everything else seems secondary.

Just my opinion. Interesting postulations though Phil!

[gzhpcu]

True John, but what I meant was only firm at impact not during the whole swing...

[johnyandell]

I guess the prevailing belief in coaching now is that "firm" often turns out to be "rigid."

The idea is to hold onto the racket just tightly enough that it doesn't fly out of your hand. The motions obviously have to be very precise, but they should also still be as relaxed as possible while keeping their shape.

[gzhpcu]

Yeah he was the pioneer--but remember that was back in the wood racket days when top players were 5'7".

Yes, I know John, that racket technology and fitness have changed the game. Yet isn't grip firmness on impact still relevant?

[johnyandell]

It's an interesting question. No pro is going to say "I'm using the serial or parallel modes." They haven't even heard of it or care. But what do they really do with their eyes? There are plenty of pictures of contact points where the pros do not appear to be looking at the ball. You can also track the ball softly with your eyes without focusing on it. The part I think is most interesting about what Scott says is that you can't stay focused the whole way because of how the eye works.

[shootermcmarc0]

Great question. We don't really have anything on this specifically, although it's one area we will probably develop. The bible is the "Inner Game of Tennis" if you haven't read it.


But there is also some interesting work by Scott Ford. Quite technical but worth looking into:http://www.arete-sports.com/

I read a few of the articles, seems pretty interesting. Do you know of any pros (past or current) that use those vision techniques? When I watch slow motion replays, it looks like they use the serial mode and not the parallel. It seems like they are always watching the ball instead of the window.

[johnyandell]

Yeah he was the pioneer--but remember that was back in the wood racket days when top players were 5'7".

[gzhpcu]

Referring to Stanley Plagenhoef's "Fundamentals of Tennis", 1970, he states on page 87, that "the final important factor in obtaining control and ball speed is the firmness of the grip on impact. A vigorous body motion, in attempting to reach high racket speeds, may very well result in less hand control, which will result in loss of ball speed and accuracy". He then has a figure showing the relationship between ball speed, racket head velocity, and the striking mass (which is dependent on the grip firmness) for first serves.

He concludes that (at that era), "it is not beneficial to have the racket contact point travelling faster than 70 to 75 mph for consistent serving. A higher racket velocity makes it difficult to hold the racket firmly, so nothing is gained by it.

Pilic hit two first serves, which differed by almost 30 mph, with the same racket speed, for example.

[johnyandell]

Not to much to ask right?


Brian Gordon has the technology to do these measurements in something close to real time--we just need to make an agreement with him and finance a major data collection and analysis.

[CraigC]

That response reminds me of the gopher in my backyard. Every time I take a step toWards him, he ducks straight back under the ground.

I'm putting the call out to all Exceedingly Wealthy tennis patrons. FUND JOHN YANDELL'S Advanced Tennis Research Project so he can give us more complete information. He is the the most advanced researcher on the sport and is taking us to higher levels in coaching and playing. C'mon, someone, anyone, just a feW hundred K to help the cause!!!

CC

[johnyandell]

I think we have to be careful throwing around quantitative terms like "racket head speed." A few people have measured it, and obviously the ball speed and spin reflect the racket head speed, but for a given player on a given ball talking about the speed of the arm versus racket is assuming facts not in evidence. We need a lot more knowledge to corelate visuals with quantitatives here.

Re: the wrist. I agree with you that things should be loose and relaxed. I also have said all along that on some balls the wrist angle may decrease before contact--or increase and the same is true after contact. It stays further back longer on inside balls and releases soonest on lower, shorter crosscourts.

So it's tricky. I'm quite certain these movements aren't due to contraction of muscles. My own opinion is that the fbasic eeling is of hitting the ball with the palm of the hand.

I think that making the ball fast and heavy doesn't boil down to one thing: it's the coil, the hitting arm set up, some idea of the contact point range, the idea of the wrist back if soft at contact, and especially the extension positions. Ad to this the hand and arm rotation depending on grip, ball height, spin.

I think it's looking like a lot of strokes over time and seeing how the shape conforms to the top players on certain similar balls.

[CraigC]

Racquet Speed

John-

I have been working a lot on racquet speed with my players and have developed some pretty solid results. However, although I know what I want the results to be, ( a faster and heavier ball) I am having a hard time defining the term racquet speed in a biomechanical sense. Can you tell me what is happening to make the racquet move faster? The arm is going fast, and if the wrist is truly staying in the laid back position, then racquet speed should be based on the rate of the arm movement. But this is simply not what I am seeing. I see a looser grip, a more relaxed wrist, and acceleration of the racquet head through the hitting zone. Help me here, please.

CC

[johnyandell]

Great question. We don't really have anything on this specifically, although it's one area we will probably develop. The bible is the "Inner Game of Tennis" if you haven't read it.


But there is also some interesting work by Scott Ford. Quite technical but worth looking into:http://www.arete-sports.com/

[barry]

Your web site is quite helpful. Which of your articles do you recommend for help on "seeing the ball" better. What techniques are there, that would help improve?

Thanks