The final stage of the explode phase is 2 b), the drive up to and through contact of the racket arm. I covered the whole upper body movement in the my previous vlog which illustrated the elastic recoil motion you can see in Transformational zone 2. In this vlog I want to take a close look at the action of the racket arm from the transformational zone and dispel the myth of the Wrist Snap
The Myth of the Wrist Snap.
Slow motion video reveals that the racket arm is turning through 180 degrees up and through contact. So the question is, does this vertical internal rotational movement of the arm at the shoulder suddenly turn into flexion (snap down) at the wrist. Would this change of direction add more speed to the force already driving up through the chain, or would a continuation of the force in the same vertical rotational plane be more efficient? :
What you are seeing is internal rotation of the whole arm as it is being driven up to and through contact. As the lower part of the arm continues to turn the motion is ulnar radial deviation of the wrist, which has also occurred at racket drop, so at both ends of the throwing action. It’s a side to side movement at the wrist and not an up/down extension/flexion of a wrist snap. Think throwing a dart, hammering or your groundstroke action, to see how it works. In none of those actions does the wrist flex.
It seems that coaches and players readily describe the action at the wrist in a serve as pronation which is only partly right. The wrist can be seen moving in the direction of pronation, but it could only be described that way If the action of the arm was to turn through 90 degrees, but we are dealing with a visible turn through 180 degrees:
Therefore, the joint motion you see here cannot be pronation or snap down as the racket arm turn continues through 180 degrees. Look at these freeze frames and see if the motion is palm down (pronation) or palm out to the side which would evidence ulnar radial deviation continuing the chain reaction force in the direction of internal rotation of the arm at the shoulder and elbow.
This being evidential why do tennis players and coaches refer to pronation as the motion at the wrist and consequently why do you see some form of pronation in the serve of most recreational players.
I can only conclude from this evidence that a wrist snap is not what is happening and should not be taught or encouraged at any stage or level. From a performance standpoint there would only be an initial but limited gain in speed at the expense of accuracy and consistency as the margin for error in the ball flight reduces.
More importantly recreational players risk acute injury and/or the development of chronic shoulder problems (25-50% of recreational players need treatment for shoulder problems at this time of year). Working with the design in function enhances performance and reduces the risk of injury.
I worked with a couple this last weekend where the wife was the more experienced player. In her lesson. while her husband supervised their children in the Spa, I helped here understand body movements in her groundstrokes, particularly her backhand, both of which were powerful arm dominant movements. I helped her with her serve action as well, and her two main comments were ‘I didn’t experience the sort of pain I normally do’ and ‘why hasn’t someone shown me this before?’. Her husband who liked to play but got very little chance to, with work and a family, progressed very quickly in all the strokes we worked on and really enjoyed his time.
Look out for my vlogs on the reload, coming soon.
Vaughan Ebrahim
LTA accredited Level 4.
Gray Institute, CAFS2013, 3DMAPS 2017, FGS 2023.