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Myth Busters:
Racket Back
Part one of a three-part series
By Joe Dinoffer |
Remember the tennis teacher tease: “Racket back. Bend your knees.
That’ll be twenty dollars, please.”?
One tennis myth started with the first instruction in this joke—“Racket
back,” which has probably been shouted countless times across
more tennis nets than strawberries sold throughout Wimbledon’s
history. While this instruction can be helpful in some situations,
in others it has caused numerous stroke limitations in literally millions
of tennis players.
In the past two decades, tennis has evolved well past the straight
take-back backswing that became the signature styles of tennis champions
Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors. With the advent of modern racket technology,
the entire game has become modernized as well—even “powerized.”
However, power alone doesn’t build a winning game. It must be
used in tandem with control. And, at least on groundstrokes, topspin
is the glue that allows power and control to adhere and be part of
the same tennis arsenal.
We all know that gravity is the main force that brings tennis balls
back to the ground. Topspin creates an effect that actually assists
gravity. When a tennis ball rotates through the air with forward spin
or topspin, high air pressure is created above the ball and low air
pressure beneath it. The result is that the ball is pushed downward
by the higher pressure above it. This is why topspin lobs and loopers
hit with heavy topspin can appear as though they will fly beyond the
baseline, but then end up mysteriously dipping at the last moment
to land inside the court.
Why so much about power and topspin alongside the myth buster that
“Racket back” may not be ideal instruction? Simple. To
generate effective power and topspin on groundstrokes, and contrary
to the popular instruction to take your racket back, you do not want
to take your racket back and have it pause in the back position waiting
to start the forward swing (see photo 1).
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| Photo 1 |
Here are the facts behind this myth-busting
argument:
1. Racket momentum—It’s
commonly understood that the longer the swing, the more racket head
speed can be generated to create more ball speed, i.e., more power.
Therefore, you do not want to take your racket back early and have
it pause in the back position. The better choice is a loop backswing.
Think of the shape of the letter C and you will start to get the picture.
2. Low-to-high swing—To create
topspin, a “brushing up” low-to-high swing is needed.
The loop backswing previously described makes topspin possible.
3. Running is hard—Running with
your racket back, as in photo 1, is much harder than if your racket
is comfortably set at your side
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What’s the alternative to the instruction “Racket back”?
How about “Racket set” (see photo 2)? The difference between
the two is where the pause takes place. In taking your racket back,
you pause with your racket all the way back to its farthest backswing
position. When you set your racket, you have a slight pause after
a partial backswing, basically just far enough so your racket points
straight to the side, approximately parallel to the net. Then, from
there, when it’s time to start your letter C loop swing, you
end up with the racket in continuous motion until you strike the ball.
Remember that you will still end up with a similar backswing to what
you are accustomed, it’s just that you pause at a different
time in the swing.
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| Photo 2 |
Here are three reasons why “Racket set”
may be a better instructional guideline for tennis technique.
1. You’ll move better—Setting
your racket effectively turns your hips and shoulders in the direction
you have to move, making running to the ball faster and more efficient.
2. Timing is easy—The option
to setting the racket in the partial backswing position as shown in
photo 2 is to take the entire loop swing all at one time. Whereas
timing the full swing to strike incoming balls of different speeds
would be relatively difficult, timing solid contact after setting
the racket in a partial backswing is easier.
3. It works on volleys—Players
who memorize the instruction “Racket back” often make
the mistake of taking their racket fully back on their volleys as
well as their groundstrokes. On the other hand, “Racket set”
works on volleys as well as groundstrokes, in that the racket is presented
to face the incoming ball, albeit the grip and, therefore, the racket
angle may be different (slightly closed or perpendicular to the court
on groundstrokes and slightly open on volleys).
Want to master the modern, “powerized” game? Try “setting”
your racket and pausing in this modified position rather than taking
your racket all the way back and pausing, and then encountering an
additional set of problems that could have easily been avoided. |
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