🎾 The Universal Tennis Swing¶
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The Universal Tennis Swing — tài liệu 13 trang từ thư viện sách tennis.
Chủ đề chính: Physics, Forehand, Power, Backhand, Groundstroke
Tóm tắt nội dung (trích từ tài liệu gốc): The Universal Swing � Using Physics To Hit More Effortlessly | Feel Tennis about:reader?url=https://www.feeltennis.net/universal-swing/ feeltennis.net The Universal Swing � Using Physics To Hit More Effortlessly | Feel Tennis 10-13 minutes There is one common source of power that applies to all groundstrokes: forehand, one-handed and two-handed backhand, even though at first glance they appear to be very different from each other. In my work with all levels of players, including recreational tennis players, I rarely see that players use what I call the Universal Swing. The good news is that th
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The Universal Swing � Using Physics To Hit More Effortlessly | Feel Tennis about:reader?url=https://www.feeltennis.net/universal-swing/
feeltennis.net
The Universal Swing � Using Physics
To Hit More Effortlessly | Feel Tennis
10-13 minutes
There is one common source of power that applies to all
groundstrokes: forehand, one-handed and two-handed backhand,
even though at first glance they appear to be very different from
each other.
In my work with all levels of players, including recreational tennis
players, I rarely see that players use what I call the Universal
Swing.
The good news is that this swing is quite easy to learn with the drill
I am about to show you below. However, you do have to repeat the
drill daily for about a week or so until your body integrates the new
movements.
The Physics Behind The Universal Swing
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Before I explain how the
Universal Swing happens, I'd like to thank my good friend and
fellow tennis coach Mili Veljkovi, who inspired me to come up with
this idea and the drill that teaches you this swing.
I spent quite some time with Mili learning his unique teaching
method.
One of the keys to his teachings are the swings or, in other words,
applying the principle of the pendulum to your groundstrokes.
Mili uses various swing exercises to help players feel the swing
and how to amplify it through the body movements.
In the video above, you can see one of the swing exercises his
students have to perform regularly for a few days. This exercise
helps them develop really effortless strokes.
As I became more familiar with his method, I realized that there is
one universal principle that applies to all groundstrokes.
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Here's how the Universal Swing is created: If we stand sideways
and do not move our body but we do swing our arm back and
forth, it will move in a straight line like a pendulum.
If we now start turning our body for approximately 90 degrees,
making a quarter turn and doing that back and forth while still
swinging our arm like a pendulum, our arm will be swung AWAY
from the body.
Swing outwards, rotate the body and the arm swings inside-out
If we then time the quarter turns correctly with the arm swings,
you'll see that the arm starts to swing in a figure 8 shape.
When we turn back, the arm is swung away from the body into a
"backswing". When the body stops, the arm continues to swing a
bit more.
Then the forward turn of the body accelerates the arm forward and
swings it away from the body again.
So, this is simple physics behind this swing. It happens by itself if
we combine a pendulum with rotating the body.
When we time the body turns right, the pendulum (your arm and
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the racket) will automatically accelerate because we are creating a
centrifugal force.
We also create a correct inside-out swing path, which you may
have heard about before.
This inside-out swing path towards the ball is nothing else than the
pendulum being swung away through body rotation.
Why You're Not Swinging Correctly Right Now
The pendulum effect and the Universal Swing happen ONLY if two
conditions are met:
you relax your arms enough to allow swinging
you rotate your hips at the right time, and you rotate them
well enough
You may now realize why it's unlikely that you will discover this
swing by yourself.
It is very easy to "overpower" this swing by tensing up your
arm just slightly. In that case, the swing simply won't happen as
you'll do everything on your own with your arm.
The arm typically tenses up because you want to control the ball
(too much!) and in the process you "kill" the swing.
The second problem is that, as you tense up the arm in order to
use it for hitting the ball with the racket, you signal to your brain
that you will use the arm for the stroke and your brain then
"shuts off" most other body parts.
It simply obeys your command ("I'll use my arm") and in the
process also stops your hips (and many other body parts) from
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rotating.
Therefore, a very common flaw that I fix almost on a daily basis is
a lack of hip rotation on all groundstrokes. Incorrect timing is also a
problem.
But, as you will see below, the corrective exercise is very simple. It
takes only a few days or weeks of repetition, and it will help you
find the power through the Universal Swing.
The Universal Swing Drill
As you saw above, the pendulum swing combined with the body
rotation creates a swing in the shape of the number 8.
What really matters for stroke acceleration is the first loop.
A really easy way to get the feel for the shape of the swing is to
place a tennis racket on the ground with the handle pointing
towards the net.
The racket head on the ground gives you an idea of the shape of
the swing, so all you have to do is to swing your arm (without the
racket first) around the racket.
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Swing around the shape of the racket head and extend forward
following the handle
First, swing outwards following the shape of the racket head, and
then allow your arm to swing around a bit more so that it comes
almost behind you.
Before it comes behind, you must start rotating your hips forward
by 90 degrees.
If you time your hip rotation correctly, you will feel how your arm is
flung outwards as it has to accelerate in order to catch up with the
body.
Now, just guide the arm forward in a straight line for a while as that
will give the ball direction.
After a minute or two of just swinging your arms, take your racket
and repeat the drill.
Remember, this is just an exercise that gives you a feel of a
sideways swing
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Since we are now focusing on the horizontal part of the swing,
don't lift the racket up high like in a usual preparation. Instead,
keep it lower and focus on the shape of the Universal Swing.
Keep in mind that this is just an exercise that helps you feel the
effect of swinging outwards first in your preparation and then
feeling how you can effortlessly accelerate the racket through the
hip rotation.
Once you feel this power, you'll incorporate this new movement
and a new feel into your usual preparation with the higher racket
head position in the backswing.
Watching The Pros Through A Different Lens
If you watch the stroke of a tennis professional even in slow
motion, you may still miss many elements of the stroke because
there are so many things going on and you don't know what to
look for.
Now that you're aware of the Universal Swing, you may see their
technique through a different lens.
Keep in mind that the horizontal element of the swing is clearly
visible only when you look at the stroke from the front or back.
If you look at the players only from the side, you'll see very clearly
the vertical element of the swing (and the drop) but not the
horizontal one.
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When you look at the strokes from the sideview you won't really
side the amount of the sideways swing!
Another possible reason why you may have missed the Universal
Swing is that one of the most analyzed strokes online is Roger
Federer's forehand, and he doesn't use much of the side swing in
most cases.
(Special thanks to Brad from Slow Motion Tennis Youtube channel
for allowing me to use his videos and images in this article!)
Roger Federer's forehand from backview � he swings very little
especially when warming up like this.
In your quest to develop the same forehand as Roger Federer, you
tried to copy it but missed the fundamentals which need to be
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mastered first.
Roger hits forehands many times with a very short side swing but
as I have shown in the video above he will swing more around
when he has more time and wants to accelerate.
But if, for example, you look at Gael Monfils' forehand (and also
backhand), you will very clearly see quite a lot of horizontal
swinging.
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The initial preparation, backswing and forward swing
When I overlay the 3 images from above one over another you will
see the size of his sideways swing.
Do you see the Universal Swing now?
You don't have to copy Gael's forehand (but do copy his backhand
backswing technique) since his swing is really big.
What matters is that you become aware of the horizontal swing
path and try to incorporate it into your groundstrokes.
Summary
The Universal Swing is nothing else than implementing a certain
law of physics into your groundstrokes that will provide you with
more power for less effort.
Remember that this swing happens only if you relax your arms
enough to allow the swing and that you swing more sideways than
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backwards.
You then need to know how to engage your hips and time that turn
well. Then your arm will be accelerated automatically just based
on physics.
After that happens, you will of course engage your arm, too, but
you'll find it much more effortless to do.
Improving the forehand and backhand techniques through the
Universal Swing is one of my favorite drills now as it relatively
quickly gives the player a sensation of effortless tennis (when
receiving an easy ball).
Just keep in mind that your brain and body cannot change
instantly just based on new information. Instead, they need a
certain amount of repetition (and rest/sleep in between) before a
change can take place.
Practice in very easy conditions first where you just drop the ball
and receive it from the hand feed because your timing of the
stroke will also have to adjust.
If you try to implement this tomorrow when playing sets with your
buddy, it will definitely not work.
You have to take it easy whenever you're changing your stroke
technique in some way and allow some time for your brain and
body to adjust to new movements.
If you watched the video above where I show how I help a 10-
year-old boy improve his forehand, keep in mind that we have
repeated the Universal Swing drill where I am dropping or hand
feeding him balls in at least 10-15 sessions before he could use
it as well as now.
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Changing stroke technique takes some time (and patience)...
Also keep in mind that, as he plays points, he doesn't yet fully
implement the swing on most forehands.
We coaches typically understand how long it takes to change
some part of the stroke technique until it becomes ingrained, so
we don't expect immediate results.
But, as the boy keeps repeating the Universal Swing drill on his
forehand week after week, it will eventually become a part of his
subconscious and he'll be able to use it also in more challenging
situations.
(I have added a short video with the progression of drills I used
with Miha to the members area in the Effortless Forehand video
course for those who want to know more on how I work on hip
rotation and other drills to encourage the correct swing.)
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Give this new idea a try as you can practice it very easily even in
your living room every day for a few minutes and let me know what
you discover.
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