Rally Pace by Kerry Mitchell

[vmiller]

Kerry,

After concluding that I overhit for the hundredth time, I found your Rally Pace article to be helpful and have a few questions.

1. Can can rally pace be based on swing speed rather than ball speed? I ask this because I feel that a faster swing gets me into more trouble than inadequate movement and being more consistent with my swing speed might be helpful.

2. When a practice partner is not around, do you feel that hitting on the wall is a good substitute for practicing rally pace?

3. If rally pace can be based on swing speed, then it seems like it would be a good mentality for serving also. Do you agree? It seems to make sense to not swing any harder than the level at which you can maintain consistency and to apply the +/- 10% idea based on the situation.

Thanks,
Vin

[kerrymitchell]

rally speed

vmiller,
1. There is a connection between swing speed and rally speed. The key is to swing slowly, smoothly, and most important of all completely. The process will help you relax and in the long term increase the ball speed naturally as your timing improves without you having to swing any harder.

2. You can certainly practice this on the wall. In some ways it might be you best way to practice it if your practice partners are not willing to cooperate in this pursuit.

3. Yes, this is a great way to serve. Again as you get more comfortable with the timing you will relax more creating a more free arm swing and thus more racket head speed with a lot less effort. The best way to practice this on your serve is try to serve without moving your feet at all. You want to especially keep your rear foot on the ground. Swing smoothly and completely (you will have to swing a lot slower at first until you can start to stay on balance--slowly increase the velocity of your swing making sure your not falling off balance in any way) and let your arm do most of the work. Try to feel the independence of the hitting arm as it travels through the motion.

Let me know if this answers your questions. If not I will be glad to rephrase in a way that is more understandable to you.
Thanks,
Kerry Mitchell.

[vmiller]

Thank you Kerry. That answers my questions perfectly. I'll give the serve drill a try!

So what's your opinion of the pros whose rally pace is basically whacking the ball as hard as they can on almost every shot? Yesterday's Venus vs Sharipova match is a great example along with Gonzo's surprising run on grass. Do you think they'd be more successful in the longrun if they slowed it down a bit to reduce their errors? I know they have superior skill and fitness, but I'd think it would be difficult even for them to consistently maintain a good level of play using maximum or near maximum swing speed.

Part of the reason I want to slow my game down a bit is because I want to be more steady from match to match. Right now there is a big gap between my best and worst days and it's really frustrating. I figure this is probably a common symptom of overhitting.

[kerrymitchell]

Vmiller,
I think you have to watch the pro matches a little closer. You will find that they don't whack the ball on every shot. There is a lot of subtle to their shots (spin, height, and speed) that is sometimes not that apparent when watching on TV. They are hitting at a rally speed they can control. It may seem out of control and hard to you, but it is not. Yes, they to overhit at times and may go for more than they should in certain circumstances, but overall if you look at the statistics you will find their winner to unforced error ratio will be in the positive, especially on a faster service like grass.
The other thing you have to keep in mind is that everyone's rally speed is different (ex. Agassi hits a lot harder than Hewitt). Some players who move and prepare better can be more aggressive off the ground (ex. Agassi) because they will have more time to measure the stoke and really focus on the technique.
What you have to achieve is a ball speed that you know you can get in 9 out of 10 times with a full stroke. Once you have established that you can then slowly try and improve that speed always working for a goal of 9 out of 10 shots in, and more importantly, in the direction you intended. Unfortunately most players don't realize their limitations in terms of movement and preparation and try to hit the ball harder than their technique allows.
Better technique is the key, and the only way to make sure you are excuting correctly is to slow the swing speed down for a while to focus on good stroke production with the proper movement technique.
Good luck,
Kerry.

[kenknight]

Kerry,

When helping teach a younger brother, some juniors, and working with myself, I've found that slowing down the stroke is actually harder than swinging through naturally (and hard, for most people).

Rather than just trying to whack the crap out of the ball with your arm, simply setting up correctly provides you with the rotation and racquet head speed and slings the racquet through the ball.

Trying to slow down the stroke is actually harder. At least for me, it forces me to get in position earlier, set up early, and control the racquet. If I don't, it gets awkward and the ball goes all over the place.

Generally, would rally speed actually mean forcing you to prepare earlier and really slow down the stroke? Or does it normally refer to setting up and just letting it naturally rip through the ball?

Both achieve pace as long as I push through, although letting it "rip" obviously provides more.

I still find that just the clean contact and mechanics provide a nice shot with the slower swing, but it's harder to do and leads to inconsistency whenever I'm tired or not completely focused.

I'm sorry I'm kind of hard to understand, but I'm just trying to get an idea of what I should be teaching and getting myself to rally with.

Thanks.