Remember the tennis teacher tease: “Racquet back. Bend your knees. That’ll be twenty dollars, please.”?
One tennis myth started with the first instruction in this joke—“Racquet 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 racquet 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 “Racquet back” may not be ideal instruction? Simple. To generate effective power and topspin on groundstrokes, and contrary to the popular instruction to take your racquet back, you do not want to take your racquet back and have it pause in the back position waiting to start the forward swing (see photo 1).
Here are the facts behind this myth-busting argument:
- Racquet momentum—It’s commonly understood that the longer the swing, the more racquet head speed can be generated to create more ball speed, i.e., more power. Therefore, you do not want to take your racquet 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.
- Low-to-high swing—To create topspin, a “brushing up” low-to-high swing is needed. The loop backswing previously described makes topspin possible.
- Running is hard—Running with your racquet back, as in photo 1, is much harder than if your racquet is comfortably set at your side.
What’s the alternative to the instruction “Racquet back”? How about “Racquet set” (see photo 2)? The difference between the two is where the pause takes place. In taking your racquet back, you pause with your racquet all the way back to its farthest backswing position. When you set your racquet, you have a slight pause after a partial backswing, basically just far enough so your racquet 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 racquet 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.
Here are three reasons why “Racquet set” may be a better instructional guideline for tennis technique.
- You’ll move better—Setting your racquet effectively turns your hips and shoulders in the direction you have to move, making running to the ball faster and more efficient.
- Timing is easy—The option to setting the racquet 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 racquet in a partial backswing is easier.
- It works on volleys—Players who memorize the instruction “Racquet back” often make the mistake of taking their racquet fully back on their volleys as well as their groundstrokes. On the other hand, “Racquet set” works on volleys as well as groundstrokes, in that the racquet is presented to face the incoming ball, albeit the grip and, therefore, the racquet 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 racquet and pausing in this modified position rather than taking your racquet all the way back and pausing, and then encountering an additional set of problems that could have easily been avoided.