There are two things that come into play that give power to your shot. One is momentum and the other is acceleration. Momentum is the force from the forward speed of the racquet, while you can increase that force considerably by accelerating the racquet.
I have been de-emphasizing momentum so people pay more attention to acceleration.
Why? This is because minimizing the backswing, or taking the racquet slowly up to the ball (or close enough), helps find it and control the shot. That usually corrects unforced errors.
Now, when you become a master at this and your attention stays in front and not behind you, you can make your swing bigger and bigger.
What I usually say to a student, after he or she masters the control of the ball, is to hit the ball harder, then harder, but GRADUALLY, so they take the racquet back without THINKING of the backswing. As a result, the backswing becomes bigger, but the player is not thinking about it. His whole attention stays in front and then on the finish of the stroke.
If the person has learned a good finish across the body, this action of delaying the backswing actually increases the finish.
Witness the story of Andre Agassi Wimbledon win in 1992. Before Wimbledon Agassi was practicing with John McEnroe in Paris. Agassi asked McEnroe: “how do you play on grass”, to which McEnroe replied: “on grass courts, no backswing”.
Does this mean that Andre Agassi did not have a backswing at Wimbledon? Not quite, but his attention to keeping the racquet in front delayed his backswing to where his whole attention became instinctive, practically instantaneous, and he Zoned in (seeing the ball slower than usual). Which prompted, in later years, Agassi’s seemingly illogical statement: “I hit the ball when it stops”.
Thank you, John McEnroe, for this tip. I consider it the greatest tennis tip ever. Sorry it cost you your 1992 Wimbledon (McEnroe lost to an inspired Agassi in the semifinals, in what was deemed to be, by that stage of the tournament, McEnroe’s year to win).
Why is this process so successful in teaching? Because your backswing becomes instinctive, produced by your desire to power the ball, not a product of stuck pictures in your mind!
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May 23, 2011
John Carrizosa
says:Wake up and smell the coffee tennis players…” racket back and swing through the ball”…” YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS ” ( thanks again John ) Spend some time watching Oscar’s dvd’s and reading his books and you’ll find out how easy it is to play and teach tennis.
Jun 4, 2011
poida
says:As a coach and long time student of the game, I see pros extending and lengthening their hitting zone for ground strokes by using shoulder rotation and forward arm movement vs. across the body too soon. I also see palm up coming into the ball. Oscar, you recently commented that the palm stays down throughout the FH stroke and tightening muscles connects the body better to the ball. Yet pros and top players that I talk to emphasize the importance of staying loose and relaxed (a tight muscle is a weak muscle). Personally, I find teaching and learning how to optimize the kinetic chain to be the most difficult part of moving into advanced tennis. In one of your videos you are hitting sitting in a chair which means the use of the legs to create a tennis stroke let alonen generate power is eliminated. Does this send the correct image and message about modern tennis?
Also, a well know verteran American tennis coaching personality has trained many coaches to preach “why swing east to west/across the body (right handers) on a court that runs north to south)? Can you clarify some of these apparently conflicting views on tennis. Doesn’t topspin get generted by brushing up and forward towards the target area. If you’re pull across the body aren’t you going to be pulling off the ball and lose both power and control.
Finally, there is the never ending debate about the role of the wrist. Some coaches say lock and maintain laid back throughout the swing. Others say, the wrist is necessary for power. Within this debate, we should not confuse wrist actions with pronation, I do not believe they are the same, you can move your wrist without pronating.
Look forward to your resonses and those coaches and players who have worked with and endorse your methods. Thanks and keep up the great efforts to engage us in new learning. Until we resolve these coaching conflicts, our players in America will struggle.
Jun 4, 2011
Lucile Bosche
says:Great questions, Poida! I hope you can join in Oscar’s Webinar tonight here on oscarwegner.com at 8PM Pacific Time so he can answer them!
Aug 27, 2011
Oscar Wegner
says:Dear Polda, let’s take an example of real life. Federer tracks the ball first with the ball coming into his hand, not into the racquet. As he extends it the arm forward, the hand is already going to the left, transferring tracking the ball from the hand into the racquet. At that point he is ALREADY moving the hand acrosss the ball, and not just forward. Inches before the ball he pulls the racquet across and also towards him, achieving racquet heads speeds of 75 miles per hour and ball speeds of 120 and 125 MPH.
Regarding tightening the muscles, I don’t mean keeping them tight, on the contrary, quite loose. But contraction occurs in some of them, otherwise there would be no movement.
Regarding the legs helping the stroke, I first want to emphasize the independence of the arm from the rest of the body, so you can hit the ball whether you are running, stationary or off balance, and not be dependent of your body postion. This is very important because tennis is a game of emergencies. The reality is that the body helps immensely in the execution of the stroke by helping the hand in any way possible, regarding of the situation. Of course you have favorite moves and position, acquired instinctively, that help the most. But not authoritarian and imposed, but learned from experience and practice.
You are totally correct about the role of the wrist. Rotation (pronation and supanation) are very different from breaking the wrist. That is why I endorse the RacketBracket, my favorite solution to train this aspect without too many words necessary.
With my best regards, Oscar
Jun 22, 2011
Johnny
says:This was one of the best things you taught me Oscar- As an MTM coach I always start students off with a very short backs wing…. so they can feel the ball on the strings! and then accelerate the racquet head across the ball generating spin – they always are AMAZED at the result! Thanks Oscar!!
Apr 2, 2012
Patrick
says:This site is truly amazing.
After experimenting with my technique, setup etc quite intensely, I thought that I found the magic key and started to play 500% better than ever before. I wrote down every swingthought that I had, and now after finding this site – I’m amazed to see that Oscar is describing exactly the same ideas, sometimes even with the same words.
But other than consistency and touch, I found another advantage of this technique (tracking, keeping hand in front): Since you are pushing the ball more, you don’t compress that ball as much, hence wasting much less energy.
The complete opposite to this technique would be James Blake: He is hitting the ball like a batter, which compresses the ball much more and is harder to control. I tried this approach as well, and the only way I can control it is by stringing ridiculously hard – just like Blake does.
Too bad that I didn’t figure out this playing style as a junior. My coaches taught me the typical nonsense: Lots of emphasis on footwork and shoulder turn, and the impact just happens somehow.
Other than using the same principles as Oscar, I am doing a few other things that I believe more pros might do some time down the road – at least for me they make a big difference:
Using different rackets/strings for different surfaces.
Copying Sampras’ serve.
Gotta be ahead of time, like Oscar
May 14, 2012
Elijah Oliver Putulonase
says:The station is in Travelcard Zone 3 South Wimbledon station is not actually in Wimbledon but was given this name as it was.