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Lag and drag and snap it back.
The key to creating power depends on a two stage process. The key will unlock power for your ground strokes, serves, overheads. The first stage is coiling your core. This sideways unit turn is what we use to coil our power, our core. All top players have this unit sideways turn in common. This first stage, the ground stroke unit turn is crucial to creating power. We turn sideways to the net, with an advanced or normal split step. The advanced split is when we land off the split with our feet positioned in a T, with the leading foot facing the side fence, and the planted foot facing the net on landing. In a normal split step the feet are parallel on landing and unit turns are made with a double pivot. This all important sideways turn coils our upper body in preparation to then release the coil. Speed of racquet is created by the second stage of the process. We “lag” and “drag” the frame. We lag by first opening hips and shoulders as the frame snaps backwards. Our hips open up first, driven by the legs off the rear planted foot, followed by the shoulders, and then the atp type III shot, our frame goes into the “snap back” or “flip” backwards, as our legs drive our weight forwards, and the hips have already opened up first. The snap back technique is the key to power in most strokes. So our frame is then going backwards, as our whole weight goes forwards into the uncoil stage. The same thing occurs on the back hand, like a Frisbee thrower, and the serve, like snapping a whip, and the over head. This lag and drag, creates vicious whip lash, in ground strokes, over heads, serves, and even volleys if we have time. This two stage process of weight transfer forwards, and the whip lash backwards, is crucial to developing power in all our strokes.
A common error for players under match pressure is to omit one or both stages, or shorten them. If we never coil sideways in the first place, with our shoulders and hips facing fully sideways, this will diminish our ability to open up into a powerful uncoil, as the abbreviated unit turn, is not fully coiled and nothing is used to hit into but your arm. This is the main reason why so many players end up arming shots, which causes a lot of injuries as well as unforced errors. This goes true for ground strokes and serves, over heads and volleys. Many players still attempt to play hard in matches, and swing fast and hit too hard when there is nothing available to uncoil into. So they end up only using their arms and wrist flexion. They try to create power and make too many unforced errors. Their same swing in practice, is not made as hard or with as much muscle, and in a more relaxed no match pressure way, and they make that same shot without the same errors. Muscle players are especially vulnerable to an increased error percentage in match play. The hackers, who normally don’t unit turn anyway, don’t do anything differently in a match than they do in practices, as they don’t ever hit hard anyway. They can’t. So they settle for a consistent, no power, few errors game. A current model for excellent unit turns is Kei Nishikori. He coils sideways very well and uncoils very fast and relaxed.
The key to creating power depends on a two stage process. The key will unlock power for your ground strokes, serves, overheads. The first stage is coiling your core. This sideways unit turn is what we use to coil our power, our core. All top players have this unit sideways turn in common. This first stage, the ground stroke unit turn is crucial to creating power. We turn sideways to the net, with an advanced or normal split step. The advanced split is when we land off the split with our feet positioned in a T, with the leading foot facing the side fence, and the planted foot facing the net on landing. In a normal split step the feet are parallel on landing and unit turns are made with a double pivot. This all important sideways turn coils our upper body in preparation to then release the coil. Speed of racquet is created by the second stage of the process. We “lag” and “drag” the frame. We lag by first opening hips and shoulders as the frame snaps backwards. Our hips open up first, driven by the legs off the rear planted foot, followed by the shoulders, and then the atp type III shot, our frame goes into the “snap back” or “flip” backwards, as our legs drive our weight forwards, and the hips have already opened up first. The snap back technique is the key to power in most strokes. So our frame is then going backwards, as our whole weight goes forwards into the uncoil stage. The same thing occurs on the back hand, like a Frisbee thrower, and the serve, like snapping a whip, and the over head. This lag and drag, creates vicious whip lash, in ground strokes, over heads, serves, and even volleys if we have time. This two stage process of weight transfer forwards, and the whip lash backwards, is crucial to developing power in all our strokes.
A common error for players under match pressure is to omit one or both stages, or shorten them. If we never coil sideways in the first place, with our shoulders and hips facing fully sideways, this will diminish our ability to open up into a powerful uncoil, as the abbreviated unit turn, is not fully coiled and nothing is used to hit into but your arm. This is the main reason why so many players end up arming shots, which causes a lot of injuries as well as unforced errors. This goes true for ground strokes and serves, over heads and volleys. Many players still attempt to play hard in matches, and swing fast and hit too hard when there is nothing available to uncoil into. So they end up only using their arms and wrist flexion. They try to create power and make too many unforced errors. Their same swing in practice, is not made as hard or with as much muscle, and in a more relaxed no match pressure way, and they make that same shot without the same errors. Muscle players are especially vulnerable to an increased error percentage in match play. The hackers, who normally don’t unit turn anyway, don’t do anything differently in a match than they do in practices, as they don’t ever hit hard anyway. They can’t. So they settle for a consistent, no power, few errors game. A current model for excellent unit turns is Kei Nishikori. He coils sideways very well and uncoils very fast and relaxed.
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