How to Hit Better Returns in Tennis
Did you know that half the ball speed is lost from a serve before it gets to the receiver?
Posted 03.16.2009 at 2:22 pm
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The science of tennis:
Top US tennis coach, John Yandell, has uncovered some new phenomena in tennis ball aerodynamics. He says players shouldn’t be misled by radar gun speed readings as balls lose over half their velocity by the time it reaches the returning player.
Instead, players should focus on the bounce itself to anticipate its movement. He has also established that the wrist actually plays no part in producing top spin and believes tennis coaches place too much importance on top spin for most surfaces. Andre Agassi, for instance, has some of the world’s best groundstrokes, yet he hits with far less top spin than others.
It is the European clay court specialists who tend to hit with the most spin. Sergi Bruguera for instance, averages 3331 rpm on his forehand, compared to Agassi’s 1,718 and Mark Philippoussis’ 2,546.
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Comments
I remember when I was having lessons that my coach never said much about top spin apart from the fact that I needed to rotate my wrist as I struck the ball and followed through on every groundstroke I hit. That was some 10 years ago.
Now I'm working as a tennis coach myself, I notice that everyone is taught to hit the ball with as much topspin as possible in order to control the ball while hitting it with more power. The grip as well has changed, with everyone forced to use a more western grip to the point of holding the raquet in an inverted way! Its something I have never really believed in, and a lot of the pupils have a hard time adjusting to the new grip that you have to teach them. I got by well with the old style, so I don't know why everything has to change. Probably because tennis matches these days place emphasis on power rather than control or skill.
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