Will racquetball ruin my tennis game?
Yuri Villanueva
I didn't see this one in the FAQ. Anyway, it's starting to get cold here,
and heated indoor racquetball courts are more available (haven't seen any
indoor tennis courts in my area). I'm thinking about joining a couple of
friends and taking up racquetball, but they said that it would be bad for
my tennis skills. Anybody have any experience with this? Right now, I think
it's a myth.
Stephen Barnard
I used to play a lot of squash and tennis and I never found that they
interfered with one another. Lots of people told me that squash would
ruin my tennis game but it just didn't happen, so I think it's a myth.
Steve Barnard
Charles Lin
Even though I play neither racquetball nor squash (I have given
both a try, though), I'd say it's a myth too. The main key is just
making sure that you know that the all of these are different sports
with different strategies and different hitting techniques. I think
the "myth" part arose from those who would attempt to hit tennis
strokes just racquetball strokes or vice versa. This is akin to saying
that learning Spanish will ruin your English. If you can't distinguish
which language is which, then that could happen, but otherwise most people
can distinguish the two.
The main difference, at least, in racquetball has to do with wrist
and topspin. For a long time, racquetball players used a fair amount
of wrist and tennis players were told to keep the wrists locked. So,
those who were trained in tennis to keep their wrists locked might start
to use their wrist more. Of course, a lot has changed in the past 20
years, and it is rather common for people to use their wrist in tennis,
although I suspect it's different from using it in racquetball (i.e.,
the technique is different). Also, topspin seems to play a rather
minor role in racquetball/squash, but is much more valuable in tennis.
--
Charles Lin
cl...@cs.umd.edu
Stephen Barnard
Kwansik Kim wrote:
>
> Many experts agree that squash actually helps improving one's tennis game.
> Squash and raquet ball are very different games. Yes, there exists a myth
> but you need some conscious adjustments when you're switching between
> RAQUET BALL and TENNIS. Squash is believed to have many ingredients
> that might help one's tennis game.
>
> Kwansik
>
Squash sure as hell helps your conditioning. I'd say 1/2 hour of squash
is aerobically equivalent to 2 hours of tennis. Unfortunately I can't
play squash any longer because I kept hurting my back.
Steve Barnard
Steve Peterson
On 6 Dec 1996 06:18:41 GMT, "Yuri Villanueva" <yu...@gate.net> wrote:
>I didn't see this one in the FAQ. Anyway, it's starting to get cold here,
>and heated indoor racquetball courts are more available (haven't seen any
>indoor tennis courts in my area). I'm thinking about joining a couple of
>friends and taking up racquetball, but they said that it would be bad for
>my tennis skills. Anybody have any experience with this? Right now, I think
>it's a myth.
A few years ago, I took a racquetball class in college, to fulfill a
PE requirement. It was a very interesting experience. The "proper"
technique for playing racquetball requires you to have a high
backswing and snap your wrist sharply throughout contact--exactly the
opposite of my tennis strokes (which are quite traditional). The
teacher got very frustrated with me, since I was unwilling to change
my racquetball strokes for fear it would affect my tennis game.
In the end, though, I ended up being the best player in my (beginning)
class. I attribute this more to my "court sense" and timing than to
my actual racquetball prowess. I'm quite sure that to progress much
further in the game I would have had to change my strokes to include
much more wrist snap. I did have a lot of fun, though.
I think you should decide which game you want to be good at and make
the shots you use in the other game emulate your strokes in your
primary game. I don't think you can be very good in both. Be a good
tennis player and a fair (or hacker) racquetball player.
Steve
Kwansik Kim
Stephen Barnard (st...@megafauna.com) wrote:
|| Yuri Villanueva wrote:
|| >
|| > I didn't see this one in the FAQ. Anyway, it's starting to get cold here,
|| > and heated indoor racquetball courts are more available (haven't seen any
|| > indoor tennis courts in my area). I'm thinking about joining a couple of
|| > friends and taking up racquetball, but they said that it would be bad for
|| > my tennis skills. Anybody have any experience with this? Right now, I think
|| > it's a myth.
|| I used to play a lot of squash and tennis and I never found that they
|| interfered with one another. Lots of people told me that squash would
|| ruin my tennis game but it just didn't happen, so I think it's a myth.
> Even though I play neither racquetball nor squash (I have given
> both a try, though), I'd say it's a myth too. The main key is just
> making sure that you know that the all of these are different sports
> with different strategies and different hitting techniques. I think
> the "myth" part arose from those who would attempt to hit tennis
> strokes just racquetball strokes or vice versa. This is akin to saying
> that learning Spanish will ruin your English. If you can't distinguish
> which language is which, then that could happen, but otherwise most people
> can distinguish the two.
Many experts agree that squash actually helps improving one's tennis game.
Squash and raquet ball are very different games. Yes, there exists a myth
but you need some conscious adjustments when you're switching between
RAQUET BALL and TENNIS. Squash is believed to have many ingredients
that might help one's tennis game.
Kwansik
--
---
Kwansik Kim * mailto:k...@cse.ucsc.edu * http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~ksk *
Kwansik Kim
In article <32A8DE...@megafauna.com> Stephen Barnard <st...@megafauna.com> writes:
Kwansik Kim wrote:
>
> Many experts agree that squash actually helps improving one's tennis game.
> Squash and raquet ball are very different games. Yes, there exists a myth
> but you need some conscious adjustments when you're switching between
> RAQUET BALL and TENNIS. Squash is believed to have many ingredients
> that might help one's tennis game.
>
> Kwansik
>
> Squash sure as hell helps your conditioning. I'd say 1/2 hour of squash
> is aerobically equivalent to 2 hours of tennis. Unfortunately I can't
> play squash any longer because I kept hurting my back.
> Steve Barnard
What about the type of swing ? I don't know how to explain but
somehow I think hiting with the long squash raquet requires better
hand eye coordination.
K. Lee Tung
I agree fully with what Steve says.
Karlene
In article <32abb6cb....@news.alt.net>, rwo...@xmission.com (Steve
Peterson) wrote:
> On 6 Dec 1996 06:18:41 GMT, "Yuri Villanueva" <yu...@gate.net> wrote:
>
but they said that it would be bad for
> >my tennis skills. Anybody have any experience with this? Right now, I think
> >it's a myth.
>
>(snipped) exactly the
> opposite of my tennis strokes (which are quite traditional). The
> teacher got very frustrated with me, since I was unwilling to change
> my racquetball strokes for fear it would affect my tennis game.
>
> In the end, though, I ended up being the best player in my (beginning)
> class. I attribute this more to my "court sense" and timing than to
> my actual racquetball prowess. I'm quite sure that to progress much
> further in the game I would have had to change my strokes to include
> much more wrist snap. I did have a lot of fun, though.
>
> I think you should decide which game you want to be good at and make
> the shots you use in the other game emulate your strokes in your
> primary game. I don't think you can be very good in both. Be a good
> tennis player and a fair (or hacker) racquetball player.
>
> Steve
--
Eyem jst a Tnns Bm
K. Lee Tung
This is akin to saying
> that learning Spanish will ruin your English. If you can't distinguish
> which language is which, then that could happen, but otherwise most people
> can distinguish the two.
If you live in a Spanish speaking country for a while and speak only
spanish, then
yes, at first you may just have to translate your words more slowly, they won't
come as second nature.
However, physical ability and "what comes natural athletically" is vastly
different
than picking up a language.
One can control the thought process in speech much more so than one can
tell one's
wrist not to snap when on the run.
If you learn to snap your wrist (which IS what racquetball emphasizes)
then it will
definitely affect your tennis game.
I agree with what Steve Peterson said.
Maybe you can get away with playing the game of racquetball, but do not
trade in
arm strokes for wrist snaps, 'cause you're going to regret it.
I had a friend who played a little tennis, then decided to take up
racquetball. When
I went to visit him, he had by that time given up tennis, but we got out
on the court
to hit a few. His comment to me was that I would have natural instincts
playing
racquetball, but he advised me not to take it up just yet, since he
observed that it
definitely changes your swing in tennis. He said that unless I was
serious about
racquetball, to not play it with any intent of improving as the wrist snap is a
fundamental mechanic to be successful in racquetball.
> The main difference, at least, in racquetball has to do with wrist
> and topspin. For a long time, racquetball players used a fair amount
> of wrist and tennis players were told to keep the wrists locked. So,
> those who were trained in tennis to keep their wrists locked might start
> to use their wrist more. Of course, a lot has changed in the past 20
> years, and it is rather common for people to use their wrist in tennis,
Uh, yes, people may use their wrist in tennis, but it is NOT advised.
Just because people do this doesn't make it right. Easy to get injured also.
> Charles Lin
> cl...@cs.umd.edu
Jeff Malawy
I'm the total opposite of you guys. I think Raquetball will
TOTALLY ruin your tennis game, and vice versa. In racquetball, you snap
your wrist everytime you hit the ball, in tennis you only do that on
overhead shots and serves. Also, the racquetball racquet is much shorter,
and you get used to hitting the ball closer to your hand. My aunt is about
33 years old. She used to be very good at tennis, and then she switched to
racquetball. She won the U.S. Open of racquetball in the Women's A
division and is ranked #1 in California. I took her out to play tennis one
day and she hit the tarp almost every single shot she hit. She swung with
absolutely no topspin, just flat. I think this is pretty good proof that
racquetball will ruin your tennis game. I don't know about squash, though.
I've never played it!
|---| |---| --- | _____
| \ / | / \ | / \\ // \
| \/ | /------\ | | | ||| |
| | / \ |_____ \/ / \\/
""""""
Stephen Barnard
You never hit topspin in squash. There's no point because there's no
net and you don't have to worry about hitting the ball too far.
Everything is flat or sliced. I have a natural slice backhand in
tennis, so when I started playing squash I had a good backhand. Those
strokes are very similar.
Squash players should be very careful about neophyte players who come
from tennis. In squash you have to be mindful not to hit your opponent
with your racket, and that often affects your swing and shortens your
follow through. Tennis players don't have a clue about this.
You're right that squash requires excellent hand-eye coordination (I
wouldn't say "better." You can't have too much hand-eye coordination in
tennis.) The thing that good squash players can do that is amazing to
me is to hit a ball that is like 6 inches from the back wall. I could
never really get how to do that.
Steve Barnard
Stephen Barnard
Jeff Malawy wrote:
>
> I'm the total opposite of you guys. I think Raquetball will
> TOTALLY ruin your tennis game, and vice versa. In racquetball, you snap
> your wrist everytime you hit the ball, in tennis you only do that on
> overhead shots and serves. Also, the racquetball racquet is much shorter,
> and you get used to hitting the ball closer to your hand. My aunt is about
> 33 years old. She used to be very good at tennis, and then she switched to
> racquetball. She won the U.S. Open of racquetball in the Women's A
> division and is ranked #1 in California. I took her out to play tennis one
> day and she hit the tarp almost every single shot she hit. She swung with
> absolutely no topspin, just flat. I think this is pretty good proof that
> racquetball will ruin your tennis game. I don't know about squash, though.
> I've never played it!
There's a big difference between playing racketball or squash all the
time, exclusively, and then trying to play tennis (on the one hand), and
playing both or all three sports on a regular basis. I think you can
play more than one racket sport regularly and they won't necessarily
interfere with one another.
Steve Barnard
Samir Bhakta
"Yuri Villanueva" <yu...@gate.net> wrote:
:I didn't see this one in the FAQ. Anyway, it's starting to get cold here,
:and heated indoor racquetball courts are more available (haven't seen any
:indoor tennis courts in my area). I'm thinking about joining a couple of
:my tennis skills. Anybody have any experience with this? Right now, I think
:it's a myth.
A few years back, during my senior year in college, a new gym opened up on
campus, complete with some nice racquetball courts. I went to check out the
gym with my girlfriend at the time, and when the weight room was closed, she
suggested we try racquetball. After playing it a few times, I really came to
like it, and played it a few times a week for the next year.
Prior to taking up racquetball, I had been playing tennis for about 4-5 years.
I did not play any tennis during the year I played racquetball, and when I
went back to playing tennis, I could tell that playing racquetball had thrown
off my tennis game. This is because racquetball is a very wristy game, and
with the shorter racquets you use, using your wrist a lot can be pretty
effective.
Racquetball is a grreat workout, IMO more vigorous than tennis, but I think
it'll definitely hurt your tennis game (which is one off the reasons I stopped
after college).
- Samir
*********************************************
"They got a name for the winners in the world
I want a name when I lose"
- Steely Dan
*********************************************
K. Lee Tung
My aunt is about
> > 33 years old. She used to be very good at tennis, and then she switched to
> > racquetball. She won the U.S. Open of racquetball in the Women's A
> > division and is ranked #1 in California. I took her out to play tennis one
> > day and she hit the tarp almost every single shot she hit. She swung with
> > absolutely no topspin, just flat. I think this is pretty good proof that
> > racquetball will ruin your tennis game. I don't know about squash, though.
> > I've never played it!
>
> There's a big difference between playing racketball or squash all the
> time, exclusively, and then trying to play tennis (on the one hand), and
> playing both or all three sports on a regular basis. I think you can
> play more than one racket sport regularly and they won't necessarily
> interfere with one another.
Well Steve, not if you don't want to improve. But chances are people playing
either will want to play better each time, so they'll naturally adjust
what they
need to to play better.
Karlene
Kwansik Kim
It's a different type of swings, I agree. Anyway I know a tennis pro
who play every raquet sports(raquet ball,table tennis,squash) with
tennis swings and he is quite good at them. So if you swing same
way, other raquet sports won't spoil your tennis game. :-> :->
Kris Bright
In article <32A9D5...@megafauna.com>, st...@megafauna.com
wrote:
>My aunt is about 33 years old. She used to be very good at tennis, and then
>she switched to racquetball. She won the U.S. Open of racquetball in the
>Women's A division and is ranked #1 in California. I took her out to play
>tennis one day and she hit the tarp almost every single shot she hit. She
>swung with absolutely no topspin, just flat. I think this is pretty good
>proof that racquetball will ruin your tennis game. I don't know about squash,
>though. I've never played it!
I used to play on my college's tennis team a few years ago, and I took a
racquetball class. I played racquetball alot and feared it might hurt
my
game, but it never really affected my strokes. When I played
racquetball,
I would slap the ball. But when I played tennis, I knew not to do that,
and I
never sensed my strokes were gradually becoming more slappy and flat.
If
you have solid strokes and you know how your strokes work, I don't see
racquetball hurting your form.
The one thing that hurt my tennis game from playing racquetball was that
the
movement is SO different. I stopped playing racquetball so much when I
realized I was feeling slow on the tennis court. In tennis you have to
be
prepared for a long sprint, and you have further to recover when you're
pulled out of court. In racquetball, you can be a little sloppy with
your footwork. Also, the scoring is very different, therefore the game
is very different mentally. I found that in racquetball I could give
alot of
points away if I was tired and still come back and win. In tennis, if
you
start giving points away, you're almost always going to lose the set.
-Kristopher Bright
Homepage (w/ Cool Animated Gif of my Serve)
http://gemini.tntech.edu/~kdb0586
lenny_gi...@yahoo.com
My name is Alfonso Rodriguez, and I am the 1993-94 racquetball
champion of Chile. I read your post, and wanted to warn you that
playing racqueball will undoubtedly molest your tennis game beyond
salvage. The blisters that form on your feet (specifically side of the
big toe) and hands (in the grip area of the thumb) will forever alter
the way you walk and use your hands, not to mention slightly alter your
tennis game. As I said, I used to be the champion of my country, when
I could still walk, in 1993. But, unfortunately, I am currently no
longer able to walk, let alone participate in the sporting events that
I love so much. Racquetball stole the function of my feet. I am
currently in the implementation stage of creating CROR, the Chilean
Recreationists Opposing Racquetball. I urge all of you to abandon this
terrible pasttime and save yourselves a lifetime of agonizing pain and
concentrate on tennis.