Racquet snaps the wrist on serve...

[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...

[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]

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

[bottle]

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

[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.

[tennis_chiro]

Yes

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

absolutely,
don

[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

[bottle]

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

[bottle]

Okay, now I've tried it, or rather tried all of this information taken together.

I no longer trust my euphoria but do smell some possible slow progress here.

I was perhaps overly influenced by an old teaching pro who liked to carve serves. He was all for opening a gap between racket butt and heel of hand to generate a "nifty" and "zippy" feel to go along with everything else.

I can't make heads or tails out of the Rod Cross article's chart without an expert on charts to reappear at my side (obviously I didn't remember my first chart lesson), but the rest of the article seems pretty comprehensible.

And I know from reading Cross and Lindsey before that they're partial toward tall person serves in which the racket strings make contact with upper hemisphere of the ball, in fact don't hit at tallest possible point but come down and pass more over the top of the ball.

If one accepts that, the question then becomes how should one do it-- apply this "down and over the top" component by slanting arm forward? No.

Best serves occurred when arm pointed straight up at sky but the two pressure points on Cross's racket handle were allowed to compete with one another for a last instant second time, with the bottom point (the one nearer the racket butt) winning the contest in this instance or at least getting a draw.

But now, with this improved pattern established, one has to wonder all over again how to apply the all essential centripetal force downward and backward first.

Maybe the answer is to start throwing toward the moon, but just before your arm detaches from your body pull it back in?

And, of course, stay loose throughout?

[tennis_chiro]

Perhaps

Okay, now I've tried it, or rather tried all of this information taken together.
...

Maybe the answer is to start throwing toward the moon, but just before your arm detaches from your body pull it back in?

And, of course, stay loose throughout?

If you didn't do this at least a little bit, perhaps subconsciously, I think you might fracture the elbow at the ulna. You have to "release" through impact. Good servers learn to hit their fastest serves by "releasing". Tensing up and swinging "harder" only makes the ball go slower. This is one of the big challenges you face when you are serving really well. You think you are hitting it so well that maybe you can try to swing even just a little harder. In that moment where you go just a little too far and the muscles take over, it all falls apart.

So yes, stay relaxed throughout (maybe not loose). More like a rollercoaster car that moves freely through its turns, but definitely on a track.

Good luck with it,
don

PS I'd be really careful of using any images that involve hitting down. That may be reality for someone as tall as you are, but you really are better feeling like you are hitting up.

[bottle]

Okay, Don, this is a good and very useful discussion for me personally-- for which I'm grateful-- but on the level of pure idea and the ideas to which we've all been exposed, isn't Rod Cross's essay a departure?

I'm thinking of the various suggestions that teaching pros have always made to get us to accelerate racket tip the last little bit, maybe through braking action somehow from the opposite hand or an almost mystically abrupt change of direction or even a sudden shooting backward of one's tail.

If I understand Mr. Cross correctly, he's saying what really does it is the butt of the racket twisting backward so powerfully (since it is on the short side of a fulcrum running through one's hand) that it actually retards huge movement already generated through centripetal force applied down the forearm toward the elbow.

That part about retardation (Cross's phase three of acceleration) seems clear as does phase one, both of which involve a contest between the two pressure points on the handle, the one pushing forward, the other backward.

I'm finding that Mr. Cross's insistence on this fulcrum idea from document to document is beginning to convince me-- he won't give up.

If nothing else-- i.e., whether this information helps my own serve or not-- I'll know what he meant, and communication is good.

It's with phase two-- which can generate a force equal to one's body weight-- that I need help.

How specifically does one apply force down the forearm toward the elbow? With what body parts? I don't think I want to lower my head. The question ought to matter to anyone who at any time in their lives has delivered a resounding ace.

Can Don or Steve or anyone help me understand this point?

[tennis_chiro]

You have to try simple exercises to feel it

Okay, Don, this is a good and very useful discussion for me personally-- for which I'm grateful-- but on the level of pure idea and the ideas to which we've all been exposed, isn't Rod Cross's essay a departure?

I'm thinking of the various suggestions that teaching pros have always made to get us to accelerate racket tip the last little bit, maybe through braking action somehow from the opposite hand or an almost mystically abrupt change of direction or even a sudden shooting backward of one's tail.

If I understand Mr. Cross correctly, he's saying what really does it is the butt of the racket twisting backward so powerfully (since it is on the short side of a fulcrum running through one's hand) that it actually retards huge movement already generated through centripetal force applied down the forearm toward the elbow.

That part about retardation (Cross's phase three of acceleration) seems clear as does phase one, both of which involve a contest between the two pressure points on the handle, the one pushing forward, the other backward.

I'm finding that Mr. Cross's insistence on this fulcrum idea from document to document is beginning to convince me-- he won't give up.

If nothing else-- i.e., whether this information helps my own serve or not-- I'll know what he meant, and communication is good.

It's with phase two-- which can generate a force equal to one's body weight-- that I need help.

How specifically does one apply force down the forearm toward the elbow? With what body parts? I don't think I want to lower my head. The question ought to matter to anyone who at any time in their lives has delivered a resounding ace.

Can Don or Steve or anyone help me understand this point?

Okay, Bottle, I went through the Cross article once more. Try this

You can't create the actions Cross is talking about with specific deliberate actions. (I think.) However, you can perform drills that include intrinsically the motions and actions that must be included in the total service motion to accomplish the effects Cross is talking about in the article.

You will not generate those 150 lb. forces deliberately, but if you generate enough racket head speed and simply hold on to the racket (!), you are by definition exerting the necessary centripetal force to balance the centrifugal force the momentum of the racket head has created. If your wrist is relaxed while controlling the racket head, the racket face will direct a force perpendicular to this centrifugal force which powers the ball forward.

So there are a few steps to this drill.

First, you have to understand what my "Figure 8 drill" is. I think you are familiar with this but other members of the forum might not be. Just pretend you are making continuous swings standing in an alleyway extending to the target and there are 30 foot high glass walls on this approximately 2 foot wide alley. Here's a clip of the figure 8 drill.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaS-qtQWym4&NR=1

Unfortunately, I didn't have audio (I thought I did) when I made this recording. I need to update it and put some more videos up, but haven't done it yet. You could use this in conjunction with the positions demonstrated by Kerry Mitchell in his first service article

http://www.tennisplayer.net/members/teaching_systems/kerry_mitchell/the_lesson_process_serve_part_1/

Now, we get to the specifics of generating your increased racket head speed.
We start with internal rotation.
Stand facing the net with your upper arm next to your body and your forearm perpendicular with the racket shaft actually parallel to the baseline, the palm up, racket face horizontal and off to the right of your body. (for righties. Are you a lefty, Bottle? I mean left handed.) You can even rest your right elbow in your left hand.
Without taking the elbow out of your left hand, rotate your forearm to the left so the racket face moves 180 degrees to where it is face down, palm down, but the face again horizontal, but on the opposite side of your body.
Swing it back to the start.
Now go back and forth as quick as you can without moving your right elbow out of your left hand.
Optionally, you can go one stage further with this particular step by swinging the racket so far to the left that the face goes past horizontal and the shaft even begins to point down as it goes more than 180 degrees. At this point, you would be adding a little pronation and your elbow would pull out of your left hand.
In any case, do this back and forth as fast as you can. Feel the internal rotation and how the racket head goes past the wrist.

Now you try to take this feeling into doing the aforementioned Figure 8's. Try to "whistle" the racket at its highest point in the swing, just at or after contact. Next try it actually hitting the ball.

Want more?

Stand with a slightly open stance at about 45 degrees to the baseline (because this is an abbreviated motion and you won't have the benefit of a full swing to turn the hips and shoulders forward from the normal starting position).

Position yourself so the shoulders are actually parallel to the baseline (or even perpendicular to the intended path of the ball).
First put the racket face up to the contact point. (Remember the racket is not straight up. For a righty, the forearm and the racket shaft form a 10 to 20 degree angle at contact. Just guessing on those numbers. Check with John and Brian's data.)
From the contact point, while leaving the elbow exactly where it is pull the racket head back down as you externally rotate as you reverse the internal rotation that took the racket up to the ball.
Now, while leaving the elbow where it is, swing the racket head up to the contact point and past to the "Sampras racket head down" point. Now swing the racket back and forth along this path. It's kind of like what we were doing in our first exercise here, but a little different.

Note: it is important that at the starting point of this motion the butt of the racket is pointed like a flashlight at the ball and also in the direction of the target. Most people have to be corrected from a position where they have the shaft of the racket pointed too far to the right and they are unable to generate sufficient force in this swing in the direction of the target to get the ball over the net.

Once you get a little feel for it, starting from that point with the elbow up in front of you, toss and "tap" the ball over the net. Range of motion and a "clean" contact is the goal here, not speed.

When you feel you can do that a little bit, try to incorporate the feeling into the figure 8 drill. See if you can get a little more "whistle". But don't worry too much about speed in the actual hit just yet. "Hard" is your enemy right now. "Relaxed" is your friend.

Now we go to the next step. Maintaining the same stance position you had in the last drill (about 45 degrees open), go to the "trophy" position. Now see if you can toss the ball (always transfer your weight forward as you toss the ball; you don't get to use your normal backswing, but you can still have a little rhythm with a rock or just a back to front shift as you toss the ball) and then do the last drill from "trophy" position and still finish with the right elbow up and the "Sampras racket head down" ending…literally. Of course, that means you can't swing too fast; but you can still propel the ball a little faster than we did in the initial version of this drill.

Now if you can feel this, you can try and put that feeling into the Figure 8 and go for even more "whistle".

Bottle, all this is pretty removed from what Rod Cross was pointing out. But one key to doing this drill is that the wrist must be in control, that it is it must have the racket handle snug in the hand and against the heel of the hand; at the same time, the wrist must be completely relaxed and just acting as a hinge to allow this full range of motion. Certainly, there will be some wrist flexion and ulnar deviation involved as you move the racket head up to the ball, but the true primary forces are going to be coming from other elements.

And finally, if you can put all this together and feel a little more racket head speed and get the "whistle" to happen at the right time (up through impact and just beyond), you will be forced to exert significant centripetal forces to overcome the momentum and forces of the racket as it swings up to the ball; thereby you will have to do what Rod Cross is describing in his article. But I don't think you will be able to accomplish that if you try to "exert centripetal force on the handle of the racket with a vector at the heel of your hand counter to the vector exerted at the first knuckle and the fingers". Not going to happen!

Good luck with it, Bottle. And Phil, you might try this too. And Ed, did you get this down?

good night,
don

[bottle]

Absolutely wonderful. THANK-YOU!

[tennis_chiro]

Wow

Absolutely wonderful. THANK-YOU!

Wow. An "absolutely wonderful" from Bottle. Nice way to start my day! Let's see what he says when he comes back from trying it out!

don

[bottle]

No, after going to the court, my enthusiasm continues. This whole approach is very promising for a rotorded server like me-- but probably for anyone as well-- because of its emphasis on expanding range of motion. Steve in central Sweden was very quick to understand this.

Of course there's no magic anywhere-- more like hard work-- but after doing every one of the exercises, I hit some serves that were almost satisfactory.

I ask for several weeks before I deliver my official report, but I'm eager to explore this further. The hitch I recently introduced into my serve disappeared into thin air in a big hurry.

I like experimentation anyway, and I've certainly been exposed to some of these ideas before, through Braden, Broudy and others, but not expressed the same way, and maybe not with such a clear emphasis on rolling the racket alternately this way and that to magnify each arm movement. Yes, the racket is always passing by the hand.

It all seems to reflect a gradual acceleration rather than abrupt acceleration model.

Do restricted rotors, headstrong tennis pros and snobby, obnoxious tennis players say that one's runway isn't long enough for their A-team? Well, who said the runway has to be straight? Who said the plane has to be a quick take-off Maule?

More later. Thanks.