Biomechanics, stated simply, can be defined as the study of human motion in its physical entirety. The forearm flexors and grip musculature are also important in the tennis forehand. Tennis volleys require smaller muscle and joint movements than either groundstrokes or serves. Core Muscles Agility, balance and strength all come from your core your lower back and stomach muscles which is used during every shot and movement during a tennis match. I understand the theory, but in the real world, the forearm muscles get a hell of a workout in high end tennis. Turn Your Shoulders Early. More on how tennis works your body, below. Step 11. The follow-through decelerates immediately after impact as the racket resumes its ready position. For example: Some players have a hitch in their service motion. THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE WAS TO SUMMARIZE RECENT RESEARCH RELATED TO THE BIOMECHANICS OF TENNIS TECHNIQUE IN GROUNDSTROKES AND THEN TO RECOMMEND SPECIFIC STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING EXERCISES THAT WOULD TEND TO IMPROVE TENNIS PERFORMANCE AND PREVENT INJURY. There are differences in the use of the legs, trunk, and upper extremity between the 1- and 2-handed backhands. This is because the milliseconds when the ball contacts and launches off the string bed and the milliseconds when the wrist does finally does start straightening out are seen and felt like it is all happening at the same instant. supplement your tennis game by strength training. V. Figure 10a demonstrates a forearm pronation movement, and Figure 10b demonstrates a forearm supination movement. For effective volleys, players need to execute a split step in preparation for both volleys. The muscles responsible for this part of the tennis serve are the lateral rotators of the spine and their names are the Multifidus, Rotatores Spinae and External Abdominal Oblique muscles. This will have the effect of taking the arm out of sync with the body by putting the arm ahead of the body. Keep a loose wrist so when you make contact it meets it dead on. The internal rotators of the shoulder (pec major, lats, subscap) and the trunk muscles are the primary movers in this phase. modify the keyword list to augment your search. 13. Eccentric strength both in the upper and in the lower body can assist in maximizing tennis performance as well as to aid in the prevention of injuries (12). This means that subsequent body parts must work harder. Balls hit off these forehands were faster and more heavily spun than ever before. 2019;6:69. doi:10.3389/fcvm.2019.00069, Oja P, Kelly P, Pedisic Z, et al. For example, MB drills are offered to help the athlete, not only move and get in position properly but also to execute the form of the stroke in the proper pattern. A lot of junior players were taught to snap the wrist through the ball at contact because that was the way to produce maximum racket head speed. The muscles used when playing tennis are: In the lower body: calves, hamstrings, quads, and glutes. This change in the coordinated use of the kinetic chain suggests that the loading and injury risk to major segments of the body may have changed in tennis (11). His swing style on the forehand featured a western grip and a follow through that ended by wrapping way past his left side so that his right shoulder was pointing toward the net with the racket head behind him. The athlete flexes and extends the wrist to lower the weight. (b) Supination (palm up). The follow through was straight forward in the direction of the ball then wrapping slightly around the front past midpoint but not totally all the way over the shoulder or torso. Tilt the face of your racquet down more on your backswing. Copyright 2022. No stretching, no icing, no light weights, no ball squeezing, no work with a flexible bar, no pulleys. And Bjorn Borg in the late '70s made most of his forehand shots using open stance. This concept indicates that the speed of the racket is built by summing up the individual speeds of all participating segments. Mark Kovacsis Senior Manager of Strength and Conditioning/ Sport Science at the United States Tennis Association. The flexor carpi ulnaris muscle, pronator teres and flexor digitorum superficialis form predominantly the musculo-tendinous unit overlying the AOL; all three muscles have been described to contribute to medial support as secondary stabilisers. To make the most of your tennis game, Mentus recommends playing for a half-hour at least twice a week. Obesity (Silver Spring). Laird E, Rhodes J, Kenny RA. It is in this sense that brushing the tennis ball from low to high via the windshield wiper forehand and pronating the forearm became an integral part of the tennis forehand. Key Terms. In order to move well, players need to efficiently coordinate their upper and lower body to enhance movement and footwork. Grip (tennis) In tennis, a grip is a way of holding the racquet in order to hit shots during a match. Assuming we're talking about a modern fh, I will respectfully disagree with this post. This phase involves the trunk muscle to make the adequate momentum and cancelation. The world's best players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Juan Martin Del Potro and Stan Wawrinka use the forehand as a powerful weapon. Most players change grips during a match depending on what shot they are hitting. Federer's Power can come from pushing off the ground, but can also come from other sources. Backhand sidespin serve. The program conditions for speed the muscles used in all of the following: One handed forehand; Two handed forehand; One handed backhand; Two handed backhand; Tennis . Energy from the left leg is transferred as the hips open up first, followed by the shoulders. Inclusion of these key training exercises in a tennis player's . In the core: abs, obliques, erector spinae, and latissimus dorsi. Concentrate on extending the arm and making contact. During the wind-up for a powerful forehand throw, counter-rotate your shoulders as if you're preparing to swing a baseball bat. To understand how your players develop coordinated skills, control, consistency, placement and power, it is important to consider the idea of a linked system of body segments. Especially while playing tennis are many kinds of muscles. Harvard Health Publishing. Mayo Clinic. In fact, the preferred style of grip and height of the ball at impact used by the player significantly affects the potential contribution of the hand/wrist rotation to racket speed (4). J Sports Sci Med. The quads aka the muscles on the fronts of your thighs get in on the action, too. Kinetic chain contributions to elbow function and dysfunction in sports. Watch his glutes, some huge powerhouses! The smooth acceleration and the slinging (or whipping) action is where all the power and spin comes from. How well these factors are perceived by the coach will dictate how well the players will respond and initiate the movement needed to perform. 18. Bahamonde R and Knudson D. Kinetics of the upper extremity in the open and square stance tennis forehand. J Am Geriatr Soc. Wantagh, NY 11793 Beth Rifkin has been writing health- and fitness-related articles since 2005. Tennis had become such a fast sport that the human eye, and indeed the brain, couldnt keep up. Six male national representatives performed a tennis forehand stroke in the laboratory. Always warm-up: Performing warm-up exercises for wrists can go a long way in preventing injury. He may be reached by e-mail at .. info@usptennis.com, Login | Advertise | About Us | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy, Copyright 2021United Sports Publications. If you were doing a backhand swing with your racket in tennis, you would be doing horizontal extension (also called horizontal abduction) and lateral rotation at the shoulder joint. These studies utilized even more precise slow motion captures and biomechanical correlations. These players nonetheless evidently thrived with this instruction. The rotation of upper arm, forearm, and hand, account for the remaining 75% of racket speed at impact. Strength and trained muscles are required for a player in order to achieve a good backhand, forehand, volley or flat stroke. 17. Now some people talk about "core rotation", how that is important and how that can be used even without legs. January 1, 2017. If impact is viewed as the most important part of a tennis stroke, and it is accepted that there are several backswings and follow-throughs a player could use, then the next step is to identify the other important attributes of sound stroke production. From hair trends to relationship advice, our daily newsletter has everything you need to sound like a person whos on TikTok, even if you arent. The current study uses point-light displays to isolate the suspect's motion and remove potentially biasing information (e.g., skin tone, facial expression, clothing). The role of the wrist was non-existent at impact. Grip 2. Look at the players at a open level tournament after their match, and see their bulging forearms, with veins popping out everywhere. Pro players today use the tennis forehand wrist position to accentuate the movement of a "whip." This type of swing is utilized by modern tennis players such as Federer, Nadal, Justine Henin and the majority of the top pro tennis players in the game today. While it is believed that optimal use of the kinetic chain will maximize performance and reduce the risk of injury (6,11), the transfer of force and energy to the small segments and tissues of the upper extremity do place them under great stress. Footwork, or movement, is another important biomechanical attribute. SPECIFIC EXERCISES BASED ON THE FINDINGS IN THE RESEARCH LITERATURE WERE THEN OFFERED. Your quads are key for agility on the court, but also play a role in that swing, Frayna adds. Associations of specific types of sports and exercise with all-cause and cardiovascular-disease mortality: a cohort study of 80 306 British adults. Counter-rotating your shoulders should make your hips want to turn with your shoulders. Shoulder and arm just mostly transfer that energy forward into the racquet and the ball. It seemed that in order to hit a proper tennis forehand, the wrist had to be firm and stable. Recent developments in forehand and backhand stroke production have created a needed change in coaching methodology. In the upper-body: the muscles of your chest, upper back, shoulders, and arms. The open stance in forehand is not new as this was used in men's tennis championships. The main kinetic chain motions that create racket speed in the forehand are trunk rotation, horizontal shoulder adduction, and internal rotation (4). The purpose was to develop rotational hip and core strength in movement patterns and planes that are most used during tennis strokes (Figure 7). The purpose was to develop rotational core strength in the transverse plane (Figure 8). The coaches instructions had to be correct. It's all about technique. It has highlighted the key movement patterns and muscle activations of the serve and in so doing provided the framework for the exercises recommended for the tennis player. This article has summarized key biomechanical variables inherent in an elite-level tennis serve. Then, in the late 90s, a young and charming Brazilian player named Gustavo Kuerten shocked the world by coming out of nowhere and winning the French Open. In order to build up maximum racket head speed at contact, it has to be moving continuously even after contact. Spend as much time as your practice time allows developing movement. The purpose was to train the athlete to move efficiently to deep balls behind the baseline and to be able to produce greater energy transfer from open stance position that will translate into greater weight transfer, trunk rotation, and more effective stroke production from deep in the court (Figure 4). Two back swing techniques, multi- segment back swing and single-unit back swing, were compared. Aerobic exercise: Top 10 reasons to get physical. The racket was placed on the dominant side; then, it was directed towards the ball. O ne of the characteristics for the tennis evolution over the past decade is a preferential use of the forehand drive in the construction of the point (15) that appears as a key stroke of the modern game . Both these movements are used during tennis groundstrokes. How could that be? The extensor carpi radialis was more active than the flexor carpi radialis during both forehand and backhand volleys, suggesting the importance of wrist extension/abduction and grip strength. The old coaching program for the basic table tennis techniques is outdated! The pain is caused by damage to the tendons that bend the wrist toward the palm. Figure 10a demonstrates a forearm pronation movement, and Figure 10b demonstrates a forearm supination movement.