Forehand Speed and Spin Rates of the ATP Stars

For those of you arrived here after clicking the link from our YouTube channel to find out what the exact spin rates are for the 4 forehands and 1 backhand shown on the Federer video clip…

Here are Fed’s spin rates to the nearest 100 RPMs without further ado:

Forehand #1: 700 RPM

Forehand #2: 2,500 RPM

Forehand #3: 800 RPM

Forehand #4: 3,100 RPM

Backhand #1: 1,800 RPM

The wide variation in the amount of topspin that Federer can generate on his forehand - a 2,400 RPM variation among the 4 forehands shown on the video - is but one of his many remarkable abilities that he has tapped on the way to 16 Grand Slam singles titles.

How he does this, we will discuss in future posts...

Now, if you are curious about BOTH the ball speed AND spin rates for the top ATP players on the forehand, that information – obtained using our own high-speed video footage and custom video analysis software—is listed in the table below.

*The average ball speed and spin rates shown here were measured for forehands struck at “rally speeds” used by the respective players on hard courts in 2009 and 2010.

So, how do top player ball speed and spin values compare to players at other levels?

We’ll eventually present those numbers for college and junior players, and to give you a preview, the difference in forehand speeds and spin is very similar to the differences in serve speed—often 30% or more—we presented in earlier blog posts: (http://www.tennisspeed.com/blogs/2007/07/informal-serve-speed-survey-of-us.html).

Finally, if you watch the Federer video clip very carefully, you might notice something interesting about the way Federer makes contact on the two high-spin forehands on the clip – forehand #2 and forehand #4 – compared to the two lower-spin forehands – forehands #1 and #3…

What’s so interesting about the apparently subtle differences in contact between those forehands?

Well, let me give you a hint…

It has something –well, everything, actually – to do with the question we posed in our last blog post, “The 500 Million Dollar (and Counting) Question of Tennis”.

We’ll start looking at the answer to the “500 million Dollar Question” next time.

TTFN!

The $500 Million (and Counting) Question of Tennis

Are you familiar with the term commonly known as the “$64,000 Question”?

The origin of this term originated from a TV game show where the contestant would win the ultimate prize - which was a check for $64,000 - if they could answer one final question posed by the host.

Well, starting this 2011, we’ll start presenting you more instructional information in this blog, and where we’re going to start is by asking you to begin thinking about the tennis instructional equivalent of the proverbial “$64,000 Question”.

Look carefully at the stroke sequence images below and explain what they show and why what’s shown below is probably one of the most crucial elements to ultimate tennis performance on the court today.

Actually, the question we’re posing here is more like a “$500 million Question” because that’s about how much prize money and endorsement income that has been earned - so far - between the two players whose games are based on what you see in the images above.

If you think you can correctly explain what’s happening and why it’s so important to tennis performance, write it down and email to us at tennisspeed[at]gmail.com. We’ll be accepting your responses until February 1st, 2011.

In future posts, we’ll explain the what, why and how of those images, don’t you worry!

And when we do, we hope that you will be able to use that information to finally achieve the tennis performance that probably until now, you’ve only dreamed about.

TTFN!