When you watch a good pro, you will understand the importance of racquet awareness. The racquet face never lies, and when you know this truth, you will become a better player.
One of my subscribers said they were watching the video I did on the effortless one handed back end and they said, Hey Tom, how can I hit an effortless forehand? Well, you can use the rubber band effect a little bit with your forehand, but let me say right here that....
One of my subscribers said they were watching the video I did on the effortless one handed back end and they said, Hey Tom, how can I hit an effortless forehand? Well, you can use the rubber band effect a little bit with your forehand, but let me say right here that....
One of my subscribers said they were watching the video I did on the effortless one handed back end and they said, Hey Tom, how can I hit an effortless forehand? Well, you can use the rubber band effect a little bit with your forehand, but let me say right here that....
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Great points about racquet face awareness that I’ve rarely hear made, Tom. This is a topic I’ve thought a lot about because I don’t think any tennis player, however advanced, can ACCURATELY position to any grip. By “accurately” I mean within a millimeter or so. When you miss by much more than a millimeter, the resulting change in the vertical angle of the racquet face may cause the ball’s flight length to deviate by a foot or more! In order to hit with the accuracy you see the pros manage, the only way is to be highly aware of the position of the racquet face and use that to compensate for the grip position inaccuracy.
I find it amazing that, with all the changes in racquet technology, the handle shape has remained the same for many decades. The octagonal shape with 8 bevels of unequal width is not optimal for exact hand positioning. Matters are worse with the recent dominance of the semi-Western forehand grip which requires the index knuckle of the racquet hand to accurately position on one of the narrow bevels. Further complicating this positioning is the common use of overgrips which flatten out somewhat the ridges separating the bevels. So only racquet head position awareness can compensate for the grip positioning inaccuracies.
Hi George,
You’ve made some very interesting points… actually Vic Braden, my mentor, used to say, “if the racquet face is off 1 degree it will change where the ball lands by 3 feet”.
Best regards,
Tom
If you don’t have an indoor facility (Court) is the gym floor an adequate practice option?
Hi Kevin,
It won’t hurt but I’ve played on gym floors and they are super fast…. prepare early, get low, and shorten the swing.
To your tennis success,
Tom