Most good players initiate their swing and racquet head speed with a ‘pulling’ motion – not a ‘pushing’ motion. ( I liked your advice on early preparation which addresses the limits of what one’s brain can handle.) Does it mean the legs have no role to play in generating power to the tennis stroke?Wrist power: Is it good or evil to the recreational player?As I pointed out, these shots are hit in the warm up and Roger is really letting go on these forehands. Instead analyse their stroke and emulate only the best elements of their technique and ignore the rest.Can a straight arm work for me consistently? Roger’s hand and wrist is laid back before contact because his body is rotating forwards first to lead the swing and his hand and wrist and relaxed, this laying back action happens naturally. And the wrist feels good, too. The key here is that you learn to watch the whole body and ignore the racquet even when you study Djokovic or someone else who plays with a bent arm.Thanks Tomaz. Like the video suggests, the racket can create illusions and misconceptions around “how” it is being made to move and the shapes it presents to the viewer! You (and Roger!) As a no better than average recreational player I was tempted to use Federer’s pat the dog technique.…Well, I do not have net and volley game. Swing in front of a mirror a lot, see if what you feel is also what really happens. Very interesting and smart tips and new ways to learn tennis.Thanks for your feedback, Marcelo. Make sure to leave a comment below if you enjoyed this slow motion footage!It’s interesting that he seems to rotate his upper body rather than his hips (as Djokavic does).
So Roger’s secret sauce must be the layback of his wrist and forearm rotation (uncoiling action) that allows him to put so much action on ball no?Yes, every good tennis player lets go of his forearm and hand just before accelerating forward in order to create that lag. And I see that he is stroking with his hand out to the side and then releasing the racket.Excellent idea, Robert. All i am trying to do is get the ball over the net as a result my arm hurts after 30 minutes.You may believe that you have to hit the ball hard to make it go towards the other side with some speed but that’s not the case.My theory won’t convince you though, you have to experience it.I suggest you try the “minimum effort” drill I explained in this article:Then you’ll realize that you don’t need to hit the ball that hard to make it fly with some good speed.Great video and great analysis. As you can see It is not a straight contraption…A crane is designed to carry and move heavy objects. Once I started swinging freely (as I learned here), I noticed increased spin on my ball without trying. Tennis Forehand – Next Gen vs Modern vs Classic. This is even more evident in the clips where the racket has been edited out. The expectations are too high. This is even more evident in the clips where the racket has been edited out. No more light rackets for kids.One thing I have felt ‘relearning’ to hit a two handed back handed is I am concentrating too much on hand placement and swing path.
Yes, simplicity is genius as one of my good friends likes to say. Hope I get can my hands on some more pro footage from someone so we can have more fun with tennis illusions…Pretty cool, but you need to be viewing from above and looking down to see the important hidden key to the modern Fh.I can do that in practice …but in game its are much harder and feels so unnatural..could you provide some insight ?When you want to do achieve something with your stroke and “hurt” your opponent or not miss or hit a winner, you are in the outcome mode and that causes anxiousness and therefore the head goes away from the ball to see what is going to happen.Watching the ball and not going away from it too early requires high mental discipline and letting go of the outcome.It’s simply doing the stroke at that moment. In any event, you are right – in re-reading your initial response to Poida – I see now that I did misinterpret your thoughts on the subject and – as your thoughtful response to my post makes clear – you and I seem to be in agreement that – ideally – we should all be gripping and swinging loosely. I bought a tennis program from you 10 years ago and it has been amazing watching you ‘grow’ as a teacher. Federer himself, readily admits he has a tendency to go for a safer shot than Djokovic’s meaning more topspin which is more likely to clear the net yet land inside the court. Keep an independent mindset…Tomaz – thx for taking the time for a detailed response – I did not intend to offend. We can add some extra slapping / turning or whatever is needed when we feel the pull happening.But ideally what I would suggest if you can play fairly well is have NO CONSCIOUS thought about the wrist and simply focus on the ball flight.Make the ball go faster or lower or deeper and try and do that with less effort than you did so far.That is how you will develop advanced technique best.Yes, less effort is probably what I need to work on.I think you can use your wrist, but the wrist action should never faster than the pulling action.Tomaz – very creative and visual – would like to see this on the volley – seems there are many ways to handle that shot and this would add to the dialogue – best JimPS – thoroughly enjoyed your visit to NorCal and to the NorCal USPTA conferenceThanks, Jim! Hopefully that’s helpful!I agree, seeing the full court is definitely helpful, go check out the Nadal video that I’ve already posted here on Essential Tennis, it’s exactly what you’re talking about. It takes just a split second to hit it, complete your stroke and then you can look up and see what’s happening.Great insight..and I couldn’t help but notice the difference between the 2 as there is a “dip” factor in the racquet swing and the hand swing…I think this moment where it(the racquet) dips is the precise time you open your chest up to play the shot..I could be wrong but its just what im thinking! Take a look at the video […]