Racquet snaps the wrist on serve...

[bottle]

Thanks so much for this. I'm counting the minutes before I can try it.

[tennis_chiro]

Snug but not tight

I'm always looking for a simple service cue, especially after reading Rod Cross. This might be a good one: Make the racket push as hard as possible against the heel of your hand before your final release of your wrist.

Bottle,
a common mistake is to let the butt of the racket lose contact with the heel of the hand during the backswing transition to the upward swing. When that happens the player is essentially hitting the serve with his little finger as he pulls that butt back to the heel of his hand. Of course, that will generate some racket head speed, but not as much as a well controlled swing with the racket held "snug" in the hand but relaxed so that you can get full internal rotation and ulnar deviation with the subsequent pronation after contact.

Be careful of making your motion "hard". This often leads to tightened muscles that don't work as freely as Cross is calling for in his article.

But do "feel" the heel of your hand on the butt of the racket, but relaxed and "snug".

don

[tennis_chiro]

Yes

don,
To me it explains why we hit up and not forward on the serve. Don't you agree?

absolutely,
don

[bottle]

I'm always looking for a simple service cue, especially after reading Rod Cross. This might be a good one: Make the racket push as hard as possible against the heel of your hand before your final release of your wrist.

[bottle]

Yes but with a big opposite at work-- centripetal force downward and BACKWARD!!!

[gzhpcu]

don,
To me it explains why we hit up and not forward on the serve. Don't you agree?

[tennis_chiro]

How do we use that?

Interesting article by Rod Cross...

http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com...the_serve.html


This is why we must aim high when hitting the serve and why the elbow remains high after impact on good serves...

Phil,
another great article. Rod Cross is terrific. But what does it mean for the player? God forbid any serious player trying to hit the ball tries to learn the stroke by thinking about it at this level of detail. "Paralysis of analysis" will soon take over. But it's great for the coach to understand what is happening and arrange the learning process accordingly. (So be careful, Phil. You have to step away from the technical stuff a little bit when you are trying to create the actual stroke yourself!)

I constantly find myself telling my students

* to swing the racket head instead of their hands (groundstrokes)
* to hold the racket deep in the palm of their hands instead of holding it just at the top or the bottom(groundstrokes and volleys)
* not to let the racket lose contact with the heel of their hands during the service action

At the same time, when they are too tight, I will have them swing a heavy racket (weighted with lead wire) and hold on very light or with just the thumb and one finger to feel the free motion and momentum of the racket head in the intended direction of the shot (or lack thereof).

Your body is such a brilliant computer that it figures out how to do all the things Rod is talking about in that article, ... as long as you give it the right programming. You can't be writing the "code" as you are making the swing. It better already be in the computer memory.

But it's definitely going to take a little thought to see how to apply what Rod is pointing out here.

One thing that it does somewhat explain is the mystery of how someone can hit the ball so fast with a reverse forehand: the forward motion of the hand is stopped very suddenly which increases the rotational speed of the racket head. What damage that does to the body is another question as well as whether that is a good way to develop consistency and accuracy.

Anybody else?
don

[gzhpcu]

Interesting article by Rod Cross...

http://www.racquetsportsindustry.com...the_serve.html


This is why we must aim high when hitting the serve and why the elbow remains high after impact on good serves...