Tennis Improvement Memo 110. Concrete ways to increase ball speed in an instant

▶ Just because you are muscular does not mean you can hit a 200 km/h serve

What should you do to hit a speed ball?

Change your form, such as by taking a big backswing?

No, just because you change your form does not mean your ball speed will increase by 10 or 20 km/h.

Build muscle to increase swing speed?

No, just because you do strength training and build muscle does not mean you will get faster.

Just because you are a bodybuilder does not mean you can hit a 200 km/h serve.

▶ The secret to the "fastballs" of top juniors

You can hit a speed ball even if you do not have much muscle.

That is obvious if you look at top junior players.

They hit eye-opening fastballs from their slender bodies.

Changing your form or building muscle will hardly change your ball speed.

In fact, form is more likely to be"ruined" by making local correctionsto a swing that is otherwise flowing naturally.

Also, muscle is fine for reinforcement to prevent injury, butif you increase it unnecessarily, it narrows your range of motion and adds weight, so it is not necessarily rational for improving playing performance.

As introduced here, it appears that Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer do not use heavy weights in their training, but rather use lighter loads to expand their joint range of motion, develop coordination skills, and increase nerve transmission speed.

▶ "Just one thing"

Even if you modify your form or build muscle to increase swing speed, your ball speed will not become as fast as you expect.

However, with "just one" improvement, there is a possibility that you can increase your ball speed by 10 or 20 km/h from that very moment.

What is that, you ask? As you might have guessed, it is"hitting timing".

Even if you catch the ball with the same swing speed, the ball speed will be completely different depending on the accuracy of your hitting timing.

▶ Ball speed changes even with the "same swing speed"

Do you think that if the swing speed is the same, the speed of the ball that flies out will also be the same?

That is wrong.

Ball speed is directly affected by the accuracy of your hitting timing.

That makes sense, right?

What is essential for hitting a speed ball is not swing speed, but hitting timing.

▶ Does increasing swing speed lower ball speed?

Even for beginners, if they are adults, it should not be difficult to swing a racket at the same (or even higher) speed as top juniors.

But the reason their ball speed is inferior to them is that their hitting timing is off.

Moreover, for general players,the more you try to increase your swing speed, the more the accuracy of your hitting timing tends to decrease.

▶ Just-meet vs. frame shot

Even if it looks like a pro is swinging slowly, the ball that flies out is surprisingly fast because their hitting timing is perfectly matched.

Just because you swing big like Lleyton Hewitt does not mean you can hit a speed ball, and just because you have big muscles like a bodybuilder does not mean you will get faster.

Why can you hit a ball faster than your swing speed when your hitting timing is right?

When your hitting timing is right,you can catch the ball in the middle of the racket face where the coefficient of restitution is maximized.

*Coefficient of restitution = ratio of relative velocity before and after collision (speed before collision / speed after collision)

With a just-meet where the hitting timing is right and a frame shot where it is off, the ball speed is completely different even with the same swing speed.

▶ A "0.1 second" deviation leads to completely different results

During a swing, the racket moves every moment.

If your hitting timing is off by even "0.1 seconds," depending on your swing speed,the position on the racket face where you catch the ball will change by several squares of the strings.

If you estimate generously and it is off by 4 to 5 squares from the center, it is an off-center hit where the coefficient of restitution drops sharply.

By bouncing the ball up and down with a racket,you can check the difference in the coefficient of restitution when caught in the center versus off-center.

▶ The true nature of a "clean" hit

Also, when your hitting timing is right, your swing energy is transmitted to the ball without any waste.

Therefore,combined with the resilience of the frame and strings, a speed ball faster than your swing speed flies out.

If you miss your hitting timing, the swing energy is not transmitted to the ball;the remainder is transmitted to your body as hitting impact due to the law of conservation of energy.

This is the true nature of the clunking, jarring hitting sensation.

Conversely, when your hitting timing is right, the impact feels like it passes through cleanly.

People often say things like "I felt it!" about a good hit, but since it is a clean hit, there is actually no physical feedback.

As long as your hitting timing is right, you can easily increase your ball speed.

Does it not start to seem like a futile effort to swing your racket around wildly trying to hit a fast ball?

▶ "If you put spin on it, it will not go out even if you hit it hard" is a misunderstanding

I mentioned earlier that for general players, trying to increase swing speed tends to decrease the accuracy of hitting timing, but in other words, if you swing slowly, the accuracy increases, so your ball speed might actually become faster.

However, if you "consciously" try to swing slowly,your concentration on the ball will drop and you will miss your hitting timingso be careful.

Therefore, it is"your own comfortable swing speed".

In any case, there are not a few players who waste their efforts by swinging too fast and missing their hitting timing.

Especially players who misunderstand that "if you put spin on it, it will not go out even if you hit it hard"have a tendency to swing too much in an attempt to put rotation on the ball.

In such cases, try experimenting with lowering your swing speed.

Unexpectedly, your hitting timing might start to click, and good shots might explode.

And"a ball that does not go out even if you hit it hard" is also realized by the accuracy of hitting timing, not by spin.

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