Racket Head Speed

[klacr]

Thanks Geoff. We agree on this.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[GeoffWilliams]

Umbillicus aside, who cares about belly buttons? Thinking too much will kill you in a match. That is the whole goal: head speed, automatic, unthinking head speed, on ground and on serves, everywhere, and foot speed to go with it, no matter the incoming shot.

[klacr]

It is of major importance in proper athletic setup. MAJOR! You need to properly set balance points in your athlete to ensure consistency in their base movements.

I get that part. That comment was me trying to correct myself and reset the course for the post I made after my talk on swimming. No doubt you need to have balance as an athlete and a better understanding of your physical attributes. But everyone can create can create racquet head speed, short or tall, skinny or rotund, no matter where the umbilicus is.

Racquet head speed is helpful to playing better...assuming its the right racquet head speed for the right shot. How do you achieve racquet head speed...relaxation in the body and the grip, that way you can feel the weight of the racquet head is a great fundamental start. Looseness and flexibility is speed.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[hockeyscout]

What that has to do with racquet head speed, I have no freakin' clue. If a student is going to be playing tennis than they are playing tennis. I'm not pushing them to another sport because they don't fit "the mold". I don't care if their naval is on their forehand, I'm happy they are on a court with me. So lets get back to it, it's about racquet head speed. Sure, genetics and physical location of a belly button have a role, but so does technique and being able to find the best way to increase this while at the same time, make sure the student is relaxed and in their comfort zone.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

It is of major importance in proper athletic setup. MAJOR! You need to properly set balance points in your athlete to ensure consistency in their base movements.

[GeoffWilliams]

It's relax and win. It's also project: "I'm more relaxed than you are. I am more confident than you are. I'm not trying as hard as you are. I'm beating you anyway. I produce easy power without desperation. My shots are more accurate than yours are."

[EdWeiss]

I think there are a few different issues:

1) Is constancy of racket head speed helpful to playing better?
2) What is the best way to achieve constancy of racket head speed? Is it swinging your fastest each time and just varying the spin?

It does seem pretty amazing that there are no real studies of racket head speed given how much talk there is of racket head speed. Steve's point regarding golf being ahead of tennis sounds true and sad at the same time.

3) How do you achieve racket head speed? Here I think it is important to distinguish between speed and how hard one tries. The great track sprint coach Bud Winter (coach of those great San Jose State track teams which included Olympic gold medalists) emphasized putting your "effort level" at 80% or 90% to obtain maximum sprinting speed; if you try at 100% you tighten up too much and your speed actually decreases. I think that is what Steve (Don_Budge) was also getting at in his post. Winter had a series of exercises he had his pupils do on the track to help them learn the sensation of relaxation. I read awhile ago in the New York Times that Usain Bolt's coach is a disciple of the teachings of Winter (who is deceased) and that he had his pupils do the exercises. I hunted down Winter's book on Relaxation (Relax and Win) which has been recently reprinted but have not yet had a chance yet to test out the ideas. Presumably, they could potentially be very helpful in tennis - if they could help our students learn better relaxation skills that would obviously be very beneficial esp. in competition.

[gzhpcu]

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

Bollettieri said the same thing, here is an old training video with Andre...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PF1kfJSia4

[don_budge]

Golf...club head speed.

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.

Golf is light years ahead of tennis in certain respects. But that my be due to certain inherent differences in the games. Golf being the infinite and tennis the finite.

Golfers routinely for the last couple of decades have been discussing their club head speeds. They measure their speeds for the driver and down through the various irons...of course they find that the shorter irons are swung with lower club head speeds due to the smaller circumference of their arcs. The same effort produces lower club head speeds in the shorter irons.

This concept of "dialing in" to an optimal speed is fundamental to a golfer's success on any given day. The closer they can dial in throughout the course of a round the better their chances of shooting better scores. Being that consistency of swing is a hallmark to successful golf.

What is the optimal speed may vary from golfer to golfer. Some might swing better at 110%...swinging out of the shoes. But my own optimal speed I would guess to be in the area of 85% effort from the driver to the pitching wedge and this may be due to the fact that I never played golf until I turned 40 years old. My theory was that it would be best to learn to play as an "oldtimer" early on as that reality wasn't going to be so far off. Swinging in this manner allowed me to be aggressive but not foolhardy. I never did learn to swing out of my shoes.

Tennis is of course a different proposition. In golf the ball is lying still for optimal opportunity to take your ideal swing. In tennis the opponent is constantly trying to maneuver you out of position and off balance in order to throw your balance off. Less than optimal swings may be more the norm...particularly the lesser the player.

If I were to make an educated guess as to what level I might optimally swing...again I would guess around 85% where I would still be able to be aggressive yet maintain my sense of control.

In competitive golf the tension and pressure tend to have a rather insidious influence on the golfer's tempo. Learning how to maintain the tempo of the swing throughout the course of a the course of a competitive round being the biggest challenge...and that goes for all of the swings including putting. The sense of rhythmic tempo permeates all of the swings. Under pressure certain players might tend to get quicker with their swings as nervous energy peaks in their systems. Others might become tentative and tend to try to steer the ball into position...an incredibly frustrating sensation.

So you must "swing out" in a relaxed yet controlled manner. But in modern tennis and the influence of the "forgiveness" in oversized racquets and the speed at which the game is played...the tendency is to swing hard and harder. To maximize racquet head speed. In order to maximize racquet speed it is ironically important to somewhat minimize the effort...the muscular effort. You must be relaxed to let all of the parts build up a synchronistic effort where the end result is greater than the sum of the parts. Plus you must time the swing to where the maximal speed is when the racquet is impacting the ball or just after impact.

This comment that you have made is a rather long story and fundamental to what is important when you are attempting to construct into a player's game. Particularly when you take into account the differences between individuals. Some will be more successful than other swinging at their greatest efforts where others with find that it creates problems to swing like that and it is best to dial down somewhat. Golf swings tend to reflect something of the personality of the golfer.

Serving would of course be a whole different story. A rather long one...and very interesting to discuss at great length. Particularly if one is serving in the "classic mode" with various spins and tactics. Modern day servers would probably fall into a serving out of their shoes speed more often than not...left to figure out what a safe speed to swing at in second serves.

[gzhpcu]

At impact, racket head speed will vary being dependent on the backswing, as it occurs in match play. Guess we are talking here about not varying the strength of the forward swing. The trajectory might vary, the impact point might vary, but the initial force applied to initiate and maintain the swing should remain the same.

[GeoffWilliams]

There is no real research on pro racket head speeds that I am aware of. But when you look at the differences in ball speeds on the forehand you might wonder about the max theory. I guess the speed spin trade off is one thing that plays into it.

It's time to use shot spot tech to gauge fh frame head speed, of top players, vs. lower ranked players, to see if there is a correlation. Why hasn't anyone done it yet? The ratio of mass/sw/tw/etc. is there for all to see. The exceptions are those guys with super light frames/ ala Nishikori/Nadal.

All the time? That's a data point to check, esp.: on the run, vs. time to set/load. I'm betting the top players are also the top on the run hitters vs. those time to set. The best defenders: nadal/murray/Djoker, are also the best offenders on the run. Why is that? They are able to get set and relax after the burst step. They have a burst first step! They get sideways faster! They project intimidating confidence via time available.

I'd like to see a frame head speed comparsion in this final coming up. Who has the fastest average fh frame head speed? Bh? Serve? It will be Cilic, and he will win regardless of mobility.

Frame head speed does not fall into place after form. Quick twitch fhs are not the result entirely of form. It's who has the guts, the genetics, and the form, of the atp/snap back fh, who can create the most consistent attacking/safe shots. The safest most aggressive player always wins.

[klacr]

Swing fast but swing comfortably. Play within the max of your own personal comfort zone. Absolutely. Not sure of any racquet head speed data out there. I remember watching Martina Hingis warm-up with mini-tennis for 30-40 minutes , didn't miss hit too many shots to be knowledge, but her racquet head speed may not have been close to what the pros are hitting today, wasn't her game.

As for hockeyscout's comments about naval position, as a former competitive swimmer it plays a huge role. Position of naval that is lower on body is advantageous because it creates longer torsos.

Swimming is the art of surfing the wave created by the swimmer

A swimmer who makes the bigger wave is the faster swimmer, and a longer torso makes a bigger wave.

What that has to do with racquet head speed, I have no freakin' clue. If a student is going to be playing tennis than they are playing tennis. I'm not pushing them to another sport because they don't fit "the mold". I don't care if their naval is on their forehand, I'm happy they are on a court with me. So lets get back to it, it's about racquet head speed. Sure, genetics and physical location of a belly button have a role, but so does technique and being able to find the best way to increase this while at the same time, make sure the student is relaxed and in their comfort zone.

Swinging fast is great, if the ball goes in. Swinging fast and missing the ball or hitting out off the field of play is baseball.

I think what is important in the swing are the basics. Preparation, getting a student to understand where the contact point is they know where they need to get to and the initiation of racquet head acceleration during the swing. How can you do that? If you can get students to understand those technical checkpoints, then perhaps the rest falls into place.

This racquet head speed is a great concept, but perhaps it's a sign and symptom and result of other happenings, but not a cause

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[johnyandell]

There is no real research on pro racket head speeds that I am aware of. But when you look at the differences in ball speeds on the forehand you might wonder about the max theory. I guess the speed spin trade off is one thing that plays into it. But in general yes I would agree that you want to have confidence in swinging at your maximum speed--just not sure that's all the time.

[stotty]

In general I am in agreement with Ed and his chum.

Anyway, today's tennis governs that racket head speed must be constantly fast, very fast...or you'll get blown away. Imparting spin - either more or less - is a great way to ensure constant racket speed in a multitude of required situations.

I think if players play around with racket speed too much they shoot themselves in the foot, as they are bound to lose rhythm. At club/amateur level once you start hacking you cannot suddenly turn around and start blasting winners...most of us have experienced that one.

Within reason, keep racket speed constant...it's a good plan.

[stroke]

I would be very interested in racquet head speed of pro players also. I am in complete agreement with Ed about basing one's swing speed on how fast one can swing relaxed. My guess would be Fed would be right at top with his super relaxed forehand. As Geoff pointed out, Cilic also has a very relaxed forehand, which to me looks a lot like Fed's forehand. Nadal and Verdasco have to right up there also.

[GeoffWilliams]

Swinging just as fast on second is the same physically emotive point as groundies. For the same reason, timing and domination of the contact point in a relaxed, attacking, safe, aggressive way. Those athletes who have mastered safe aggression, always dominate their own sports.

When you take into consideration, total mass of frame, balance point, swing weights, twist weights, inertial rate of head heavy vs. head light, wrist bands, etc,nearly all the top players all have something in common: a ratio that is very similar. Those who swing fast share the footwork issue: a burst step to get sideways faster, a good split step, so that the player has more time sideways, to get set, to body fly into their shots, loaded, to project confidence out front ahead of time. Those who master the burst step and get ready very early, and have fast unit turns, dominate.