Topspin
Danny McNamara
topspin. I've been told recently that you shouldn't learn topspin at a
early age. I been hitting flat forehands and backhands and im
wondering when and what age should you learn topspin. Should you learn
topspin serves, forehands, and backhands when your starting playing
tennis? And I wanted to know about how to develop topspin.
TennisGuy
Welcome to rst!
There's a guy here called Whisper. He knows everything there is to
know about tennis. He'll set you straight on your topspin shots (and
more).
Good luck!
reilloc
Quite good questions, really, since the mechanics of the forehand have
changed so much during the last 15-20 years and people are being taught
the two-handed backhand more frequently. Topspin is what it sounds like,
though, and it's really just another part of the game you ought to know.
Google it and you'll find plenty of videos. Find a guy whose game
appeals to you and watch him hit topspin. Generally, you'll see him make
contact a little underneath and follow through up and higher than your
flat strokes. Modern topspin with very light rackets tends to be
generated more with the wrist and with a much sharper/higher follow
through than it used to be hit.
Keep playing and you'll feel it come to you and see others and how they
do it.
LNC
Superdave
wrote:
Not just tennis. He knows everything period. Even God has trouble keeping up
with him.
Whisper
You should definitely start working on topspin forehands immediately.
The bh & serve can wait for later on. The earlier you start the more
ingrained & natural it will become. Topsin is very important as it
stops the ball from going out over the baseline, & you can hit it hard,
soft, medium & the ball will always land in if you master the spin. As
a beginner level player you can get away with just having a
solid/reliable fh, & topspin is the foundation for that. If you can run
& hit reliable fh's you should be able to beat or be competitive with
most people. Ideally if you can find a wall to practice against for up
to 10 hours a week, & then find some pals you can practice on for real.
Enthusiasm is a big key.
As a starting point turn your bike upside down & use the racket to make
the wheel spin by brushing it from low to high. Don't do this too long
in public as you will get ridiculed/bullied, so best in a garage or away
from view.
Also if you can get a copy of this book you'll build a solid foundation
to being an excellent player;
http://timelesstennis.blogspot.com/2010/01/book-review-how-to-play-better-tennis.html
Pelle Svanslös
IIRIC, this is the book that Oscar Wegner and his followers blame for
putting tennis in the dark ages (teaching-wise) for ... well, until
Oscar Wegner showed up.
drew
If you are using two hands on the backhand, the topspin will probably
come quite easily.
For me generating an effective topspin forehand was harder than the
backhand but really both
come naturally. There are so many variations on the grip that it
would serve no purpose to try to
describe the motion.
This is one situation where a lesson from a pro can be very helpful.
I'm not sure who advised you that
you shouldn't learn topspin at an early age. That might not be such
bad advice. Topspin allows you to hit with
a greater margin of error as the spin brings the ball down more
quickly. So you can hit the ball higher over the net
and with the topspin the ball will 'tend' to go into the court. Of
course if you hit the ball too hard it's going to go out with topspin
so a certain amount of judgement is still required to get the ball to
land in the court.
I would say learn the topspin early even if it does mean that you
never really learn to hit effective flat groundstrokes.....once you've
got the topspin down you probably won't hit flat balls much at all.
That's probably why somebody suggested to learn it later. That
way you won't forget how to hit it flat. Playing tennis is hard
enough. Topspin with the modern equipment has made it a little
easier.
It's still a tough sport to become proficient at for most
people....but topspin is good IMO because it takes some of the
frustration out of
learning. You can get a rally going and have some fun instead of
having to run to the net or into the next court to retrieve errant
shots so
much of the time.
But it is a brushing motion...you are hitting forward and low to high
at the same time. Too much brush and too little forward motion and
the ball will
spin in a short arc well short of the net. Too much forward motion
and you'll hit it out of the park. Some people grasp this idea right
away. For others
it takes a little longer. If you get hung up on hitting with topspin
just hit flat and introduce a little brushing motion onto the ball
slowly without really changing
your stroke too much. A good pro will see what is natural for you and
he will work with your natural stroke to make sure that you are not
doing anything
fundamentally wrong. A bad teaching pro will try to mould you in his
own image and he'll try to get you to unlearn everything....even the
stuff that works for
you.
Scott
this post is actually helpful; respectful; on topic and humanistic.
what's going on? you're not feeling sick are you?
TennisGuy
I was a bit surprised too.
My deference to Whisper was strictly tongue in cheek but he took it as
genuine.
Figures. :)
Superdave
wrote:
>On Aug 27, 10:56 pm, Scott <scott...@yahoo.com> wrote:
it must be a trick.
he's got something up his sleeve and chances are it starts with S.
Ali Asoag
Yes, he was coaching Sampras on clay and was very successful in that.