Racket Head Speed

[EdWeiss]

Re Geoff's point, obviously a good one as the racket head speed is the result of what proceeds, it (i.e., kinetic chain, etc.). Thx

[EdWeiss]

It might be better to speak of swing speed rather than racket head speed.

I would be very interested if there are any studies of racket head speed of Fed or other Big Four when they are hitting their groundstrokes in a point. Are they keeping pretty constant racket head speed regardless of whether the shot has little, moderate or heavy topspin? and, if so, do we think it is at max speed (assuming they have kept good techniques with a relaxed, smooth swing)? If we do not have this data it would seem to me that we should go about finding it out!


Phil, Gonzalez and well as others always talked about swinging just as fast on the second serve as the first. I think they were thinking more in terms of having a second serve that was effective with plenty of spin resulting from swinging fast going up on on the ball; but the timing point could also be important as well. It is also easier to stay loose when you are swinging fast.

[gzhpcu]

Agree. I think it also applies to the serve as well...

[GeoffWilliams]

Dead on.

[hockeyscout]

Again, nice bit of information Ed.

[hockeyscout]

Agassi's dad had it right, "Young Andre, beat the shit out of the ball."

[EdWeiss]

I know a very successful and knowledgeable tennis coach who is a strong believer in the racket head speed theory that I will delineate below. I would be very interested in everyone's view of this including John with any input from a research point of view.

By way of background, the coach was an excellent player in the mid-70s. He came from a quite cold part of the country where tennis was not a popular sport but yet was top 25 in the U.S. in the 18 and under and then played No. 1 for a major SEC university. He played on the satellite tour for awhile and then began a tennis teaching career and eventually wound up back where he grew up and has produced a number of very good players. He reads all of the tennis literature but is also very much an independent thinker.

In short, he believes that on groundstrokes (1) advanced players should strive for the same racket head speed on each shot (excluding drop shots and the like), (2) that the racket head speed should be the fastest the player can produce while still staying relaxed and smooth and (3) given the constancy of racket head speed and that the player is maxing out on racket head speed, control comes through spin, i.e., if you want to be steadier hit more spin or move your aim targets more inside the lines. He believes that this is a key factor in why the groundstrokes are so good today (yes there are other factors too such as greater athlete pool, better overall understanding of technique, new racket and string technology, etc.): the players are swinging out on each ball and using spin as the major way of controlling the ball. A player just needs to worry about how much spin he is putting on the ball as the swing speed is constant.

Why does he believe in this? Several basic related reasons:

(i) if you swing the same speed each time it is much easier to establish your timing. If you take one swing at 40 mph and then one at 50 mph and then one at 60 mph (just making up speeds here), that is too much for your brain to adjust to. Much easier to figure out your timing (he believes) if you swing at the same speed each time
(ii) If you buy the argument in (i), then the question becomes how do I best get a constant racket head speed? His answer (and he points to some research on the so-called "ceiling effect") is that finding your maximum speed and replicating it each time is much easier than trying to replicate, say, 60% of your maximum. In other words, if you tell a person to swing as fast as he or she can (again while not tensing up to do it) for 10 swings, he or she will find much more of a constancy of racket head speed among the 10 swings then if you ask him or her to do 10 swings at 60% of maximum. Your muscles (and brain) just can feel maximum much more than say 50% or 60%.
(iii) The faster you swing, the more time you can wait to see the exact bounce of the ball, etc.
(iv) Obviously, if you buy into (i), (ii) and (iii), having max racket head speed has the obvious advantage that your shots will have more on them.
(v) this is all consistent with the ATP Type III forehand which emphasizes a shorter backswing but more explosive power - the coach would say what you are trying to achieve is maximum racket head speed with the shorter backswing.

He notes that when you see pros warming up in the short court they mis-hit the ball much more than you would think - his theory is that when they warm-up in the short court they are not swinging at maximum speeds and have more timing issues as a result.

I would be very interested in everyone's thoughts on this. Thanks.