Triple-stop One-arm Backhand
1) Shoulders and arm back
2) Roll racket tip down
3) Legs, hips, shoulders and clench (simultaneous)-- throw off the kinetic chains
4) Roll racket tip up hitting ball
5) Finish.
The triple-stop occurs at the end of count three when A) the shoulders stop,
B) the clench stops, C) the hand stops.
Count four (the racket tip goes) can work passively through deceleration-acceleration, and these practice strokes are essential, instructive and significant. We all want free energy where we can get it. Still more racket head speed translating as extra topspin is wanted, however, and comes from shoulder and forearm twist. The two muscular sources and the passive source combine for more concentrated racket head speed than any other way at least in this kind of mild-gripped stroke.
Keeping elbow and hand in one spot as racket twists up and through outside of ball may be what John McEnroe meant when he criticized Greg Rusedski's backhand on international television. Rusedski "fails to keep his elbow in," he said.
I see two different strokes for me here. In one, the shoulders stop, so that arm and racket briefly accelerate since they are a lighter mass (deceleration-acceleration). To hit that shot-- all one sweep really-- you add some muscle from the shoulder, and clench shoulderblades with both arms going out for balance and to keep body edge-on at stroke's conclusion long after you hit the ball.
In this stroke (triple-stop) the clenching occurs much earlier and adds to the muscle mass applying body rotation. Still using deceleration-acceleration, you
only shoot the racket head, not the whole arm. Is the racket head too small a mass for this? Maybe. To add heft, you assist the rotation with muscle in shoulder and forearm.
Count five, the finish, is led by the racket tip. Racket tip leads both backswing and followthrough.
1) Shoulders and arm back
2) Roll racket tip down
3) Legs, hips, shoulders and clench (simultaneous)-- throw off the kinetic chains
4) Roll racket tip up hitting ball
5) Finish.
The triple-stop occurs at the end of count three when A) the shoulders stop,
B) the clench stops, C) the hand stops.
Count four (the racket tip goes) can work passively through deceleration-acceleration, and these practice strokes are essential, instructive and significant. We all want free energy where we can get it. Still more racket head speed translating as extra topspin is wanted, however, and comes from shoulder and forearm twist. The two muscular sources and the passive source combine for more concentrated racket head speed than any other way at least in this kind of mild-gripped stroke.
Keeping elbow and hand in one spot as racket twists up and through outside of ball may be what John McEnroe meant when he criticized Greg Rusedski's backhand on international television. Rusedski "fails to keep his elbow in," he said.
I see two different strokes for me here. In one, the shoulders stop, so that arm and racket briefly accelerate since they are a lighter mass (deceleration-acceleration). To hit that shot-- all one sweep really-- you add some muscle from the shoulder, and clench shoulderblades with both arms going out for balance and to keep body edge-on at stroke's conclusion long after you hit the ball.
In this stroke (triple-stop) the clenching occurs much earlier and adds to the muscle mass applying body rotation. Still using deceleration-acceleration, you
only shoot the racket head, not the whole arm. Is the racket head too small a mass for this? Maybe. To add heft, you assist the rotation with muscle in shoulder and forearm.
Count five, the finish, is led by the racket tip. Racket tip leads both backswing and followthrough.
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