Dr. Chiro’s comments on Shubert’s Post

Written by: Staff on 9th January 2012

Dr. Chiro's comments on Shubert's Post |

Dr. Chiro offers some comments on form after reading Thomas Shubert’s Blog entry:

Yes, it’s pretty good, but good pros have always been telling their students to recreate the ideal shot with their feet every time they hit the ball. It’s just stated a little differently here. Still, it is still good. However, he is missing something significant. The racket head has to come from a point well below contact to lift the ball. A 60 mph groundstroke will drop 4 feet due to gravity by the time it reaches the net (Assume 5 feet behind the baseline = 44 ft. 60 MPH is 88 feet per second. Average speed at the end of 1/2 second due to gravity =(((32 f/s/s x 1/2) + 0)/2) x 1/2 sec = 4 feet). Even for a 90 mph groundstroke, the ball will drop nearly 2 feet (1 2/3 feet). And it drops faster the next half second as it travels into your opponents court. So if you want it to go deep, you have to deal with nearly 16 feet gravity drops the ball in the first second!

So no, you can’t hit straight through a ball from the baseline. You have to give it some lift.

(Shubert’s Blog entry is below)

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Dear fellow tennis players,

I’m reminded today of a quote from Andre Agassi which went something like this: “Most players have a contact point or hitting zone roughly between their shoulders and their waist; But this guy, Federer, can change it up and move it forwards and backwards away from his body as well. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

If my memory serves me well, I think Agassi said this after losing to Federer in either a year-ending Masters match, or after their hurricane-wind 5-setter at the US Open in 04′. It reminds me to be wary of my own contact point and some of my students’.

Today I took a spectator seat at the University of Hawaii Men’s Tennis match against the University of Kentucky. Kentucky is currently ranked 7th in the nation for NCAA Div. 1 teams. University of Hawaii is unranked this year so far. So it was to be a blow-out. I took a few mental notes about the college players and their playing levels and remembered the trials and tribulations of my own as I was in their shoes about 8 months ago. There were times of complete blunder and brilliance; I’d have to say truthfully that top-notch college tennis is no different than lower tier professional tennis. The only difference is that one is playing for pocket money, the other is playing for tuition.

In my observations of today’s college match, it was the player with the right footwork and proper contact point that would play the most solidly and win. Pretty much every player out there could hit winners from anywhere on the court given enough chances, but tennis is won based upon pressure applied over hours of grueling physical exertion, thus making those slim chances of hitting winners even slimmer. The best players, *cough Roger Federer cough*, are able to keep those chances relatively the same throughout a match. I’m pretty sure what Agassi meant in his quote is that Rog is able to hit balls late or too early, and still keep the ball in. Have you ever seen a player with unbelievably good timing, cracking groundstrokes like a world class player in practice from basket feeding or routine sparring with a familiar hitting partner… Then see them dismantled by a moon baller in the first rounds of a tournament, missing every ball in sight? Well, that’s a classic case of messing up someone’s timing and contact point. I submit to you that in order to play consistent and powerful tennis, you need to develop the right contact point and be able to move appropriately to “catch” the ball at that point more routinely instead of on that one shot that becomes the “beauty of the day” which is talked about over a pint in the clubhouse while also acknowledging the disappointing play you might’ve endured the rest of the time. I remember changing my area of contact over the summer and it has made all the difference in my forehand.

Essentially it’s physics, if you catch the ball above the plane of the net tape, how far underneath do you need to get your racket below the ball? Not much at all since you can strike it fairly straight on and let gravity work for you as it pushes the ball down into the court. Now add topspin. Remember, too far underneath the ball with your racket or letting it drop to around your knees and you’re sending the ball over the baseline or over the fence right? – Or giving it so much topspin that you pretty much squandered an opportunity to hit a penetrating and harder shot.

This paradise weather doesn’t seem to let up in Hawaii,

Shubert

*****