Contact Point

[tennismaverick]

After reading the classic lessons on the forehand and backhand I am confused about the contact points. Not because you didn't explain it clearly but because I can't reconcile your lesson with what I see the pros doing. That is in your lesson, and in most tennis books and instructors I have spoken to, they all say hit the ball in the same place relative to your body. That is try to hit the ball at waist level (for low eastern grip?) and in front of you all the time. Yet when I watch the pros they seem to vary quite a bit where they hit it. Sometimes they hit it at waist level but other times they hit at chest level or below waist level. Why is this? Federer uses an almost semi-western grip yet he seems to hit many balls at his chest height. Why? Does it matter how hard the incoming ball is hit? How much topspin it has? How much slice? How much topspin the hitter wants to impart on the ball? If they want to rush the net or what? Thanks.

[ndevers]

remember the court

My take on this is that every grip and swing style will have an optimum height at which a player can generate their greatest forces of spin and pace. But we remeber we play on a court and that the dimensions of the court influence what players do. The net and the length of the court conmbined with the time its takes the ball to get to the other end mean that their are tactical advantages to taking the ball at shoulder height even if this slightly reduces the racket head speed.

The other aspect to your question about the spin and pace is spot on, players are always reacting to the incoming ball (except when serving) and it is possible that despite the best efforts of a player they reach the ball as it dropping past the knee or flying over their head. In this apsect tennis requires a great deal adaptation and improvisation.

Remeber the game isn't played in a closed enviroment like a lab, while we can try to aim for the optimum contact point and swing the enviroment of the court and the opponent will influence this.

[johnyandell]

You have to distinguish the ball. In modeling the strokes, yeah work on waist height. It's certainly not that the pros are choosing to hit the ball at shoulder height. They have to. They can't back up far enough to let it drop--and most of them can't step in and pick it up on the rise--the speed and fantastic levels of spin make that superhuman--read Federer and Agassi.For most players some version of these issues apply--just not nearly as extreme. So we probably do need to address the problems of ball height and stance in articles. In fact I have been planning one for a while. If you can feel waist high contact on a basic ball and get everything right, that's a great start.

[tennismaverick]

That makes sense. I reviewed a lot of the videos of sampras, agassi and federer. They were pretty consistent in where they hit the ball when they were at the baseline. As they get closer to the net it seems like they hit the ball more towards chest height then waist height. But then when I was watching the US Open it seemed like there was a much greater variation in where they hit it, so I was confused. I would be very interested in reading your future article on this subject. Thanks for your reply.