People often point to the fact the men play a heavier game than the women. I used a sheet of collected ATP and WTA player racquets on this page. Blessed with raw power and pure athleticism, Madison Keys has the chops to stop Serena Williams and her wild ride into the record books. First can I assume they are average "peak" (radar gun)speeds that you are quoting. By now, Im pretty sure that shouldnt be surprising to you that direct measurements of stroke speed confirm the perception that there should be a pretty big difference in the stroke speeds between college and high school tennis players. An example of data being processed may be a unique identifier stored in a cookie. The ATP players generally stay on the outside, with perhaps a few players moving slightly inside. It offers more power and is easier to learn. M Continue Reading 30 4 5 Laurence Shanet Former College/Satellite Tennis Player, Tennis Coach, USRSA Certified Stringer Featured on International Business Times Author has 1.2K answers and 6.7M answer views Updated 3 y Related At the 2020 French Open, Swiatek's average forehand speed reached 118km/h with some forehands going as fast as 127km/h, a rate which put her at the top for the most powerful women's forehands for that particular tournament and only second overall across men and women. The forehand speed primarily depends on the proper technique. serveandvolleytennis.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Instead, Kvitova opts to take the ball early by hitting it on the rise, and this gives her the opportunity to hit flatter and with more speed, though the downside is a greater risk of unforced error due to the smaller window of success with the shot. It was insane. The relative lack of spin from such a string doesnt matter, since you are hitting flat! Have you ever wondered how fast they hit the ball? But in generalising here, the second serve in womens tennis presents a significant opportunity to be aggressive from a returning perspective, to get on top of the point. (I talk at some length about the numbers above in the video below). If youve never played tennis, learning the game can be daunting. The average speed of a serve from female professional tennis players is somewhere around 100 mph. Hi, my name is Jim. The lob is a very important shot in tennis. I find that a multifilament cushions the stiffness of a Pure Drive and helps prevent tennis elbow. Some of the hardest hitters include Ferrer, Wawrinka, Verdasco, and Novak Djokovic. Hence, the top spot for the most powerful womens forehand will have to go to the younger Williams sibling on this occasion. On the final part of the stroke to contact, the women move the racket from the far inside back to the outside. Women's Tennis Blog. All of them bring the racket far inside their body. In the list below, you can see some of the top serving speeds of top women players in the WTA. I have tried to dig deep into my own game these last few months and I can not shake the feeling that I: 1. The average forehand speed of professional male players is 78 mph / 125 km/h. But the gold? Madisons balls skid through the court more than most.. A short, compact stroke is all thats necessary on fast shots. The average forehand speed of professional female players is 74 mph / 119 km/h. If it were a podium finish then Serena Williams (average groundstroke speed 69mph) would take the bronze, with Maria Sharapova (70mph) sneaking the silver. Really appreciate the bigger sweet spot in a 100 sq inch racquet. Yes, but There's a Catch (2023 Rules). This weeks Australian Open Leaderboard series returns to groundstroke speeds. As was observed for backhand speeds in an earlier post, the difference between typical mens and womens speeds on groundstrokes isnt large. While they may have been equally as dominant at one point, theres no denying that Serena took the helm somewhere along the line and became an even more aggressive baseliner than her sister Venus. Very little separates the speeds of deep forehands for Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Grigor Dimitrov who all come in at 79 mph. The player using the one-handed backhand will bring the racket so far inside, the dominant arm will almost be touching the torso. Thats a good way to think about it. JavaScript is disabled. over the baseline, hit the ball into the net, or hit the ball out. But that doesnt hold for Serena and Venus Williams, whose games are built around serves which clock higher speeds than many men. The reason for that may be that the server stepped over the baseline, hit the ball into the net, or hit the ball out. This then had a follow-on effect for Shapovalov to find a forehand on his Return +1 shot. And thisis exactly what Rafa should do if he wants to lose. You must log in or register to reply here. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. Its also vital the racket be some distance from the body. Georgina Garcia holds the record for the fastest hit in WTA in 2018. Doubles players use racquets with a higher static weight but a more head-light balance than ATP singles players. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. I also use a multifilament string, Wilson Sensation Control, but Im eager to check out some other ones, Ill definitely order the Tecnifibre NRG2 you recommended. Now that you know the details of the forehand and backhand anatomy, use it to improve your own strokes. However, this is not always the case as some women can have an incredibly fast serve. As I said, almost all players (men and women) start with the stroke up and to the outside. Please note that these numbers vary from year to year. If youre lacking power in your groundstrokes, this article could be the solution. Good luck, and let us know the results of your experiments. Faced with a makeable ball in the backhand corner, men and women both hit a non-slice groundstroke about four-fifths of the time. Florian. This is what I mean by inside. While its true that from the perspective of sheer numbers, there are more than enough high school varsity players for college tennis coaches to choose from. great website, thanks for your wonderful work! That was significantly higher than Dan's 102km/h (63km/h). rublev average forehand speed . This type of swing path results in less power but more control and a quicker racket swing. There was no need to mention depth, because everybody knows you are supposed to keep the ball deep. Powerful baseliners who like to hit heavy spin will love this one. Despite her absolute gift of a forehand, the former world No.1 gets most of her success out of her consistency rather than brute force, as she is able to triumph in long rallies where the stakes are high. I mean, it is almost unbelievable how their brain responds to such ball movement. Posts on this site may contain affiliate links to products and services we recommend. Additionally, most men have more strength than women and can generate sufficient power with their bodies to compensate for their shorter swing paths. But, there are other players that aren't ranked inside the top 10 that serves even faster than Alexander Zverev's 139 mph. This weeks Australian Open Leaderboard series returns to groundstroke speeds. After the four majors, these two events are widely considered the most prestigious in the sport. That's the fastest I've ever seen, and even the commentator was in raptures. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding. The difference in WTA vs ATP is a lower static weight but a more head-heavy balance. Sams lucky in that shes got a huge weapon on serve herself. Incidentally, shes also one of the hardest hitting players (men included) period! Criteria to be listed in this article Men's serves must be recorded at or over 230 km/h (142.9 mph) minimum standard speed. Its a conversation - or argument - that has dogged tennis for a number of yea More, Madison Keys recorded the fastest average groundstroke speed of all players - male or female - at Roland Garros in 2014; Getty Images. The average forehand speed (during neutral rallies) was 46.9 MPH. Sam Stosur (L) works with Simon Rea (R) during Australian Open 2015; Getty Images, Id say the return of serve is important in both (sports), but a lot of the female players return at an incredibly high level because thats become something thats so necessary.. I remember Serena completely mashing some returns against Zheng Jie at 2012 Wimbledon, Russia is destroying Ukraine and I can't stand it. Will Wimbledon continue the Russian/Belarusian ban in 2023? In the last couple of years, we can see a significant boost in the number of women players hitting huge serves with a. Veronika Kudermetova had the fastest average WTA forehand recorded for a female player at the 2021 Australian Open with an average of 76.6 MPH. Sinner's average groundstroke speed was 76 miles per hour, which was considerably harder than 70 miles per hour from Hurkacz . One-handed backhand players must do this because they are using one arm, which supplies less power than two arms. 25. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. For instance, the players were simply hitting hard first serves, not mixing up the speed and spin as they do in matches.Thanks for the great information.Bob BatemanBoulder, Nice Blog,You might just be the man I looking for. However, I want to explore a few misunderstood concepts when it comes to the differences between the ATP and WTA swing paths in professional tennis and how you can learn from them. Many factors go into hitting great groundstrokes, like timing, racket speed and rotation of the body. Materials, tension, hybrid. This allows both the men and women to hit up on the ball, allowing for topspin. In recent years, the WTA has seen a significant boost in the number of women hitting big serves, and the speeds also top many of the men on the ATP tour. Notice that average ground stroke speed is not a "good" statistic, it doesn't account heaviness of the ball and more importantly the average . Emma Raducanu MBE (/ r d u k n u /; born 13 November 2002) is a British professional tennis player. The more topspin, the more power goes to generate topspin and not speed. Most women on the WTA tour bring the racket to the inside of their body. This is one of the most fundamental tennis shots. Coaching is coaching regardless of whether its a male or female protg. Coupled with this speed, Swiatek applies a heavy topspin as a result of her extreme western grip on her forehand which allows her to reach topspin levels of over 3000 rpm to even rival that of Rafael Nadal. But I still want to talk about the backhand, as it is a different stroke from the forehand and on the opposite side of the body. The men thus rely more on muscle and less on physics to hit the ball than the women. As you already assume, male players tend to hit the ball harder than females do. This is the second location of the swing path of the racket. Im no expert on this, but when i see Madison Keys has a higher speed than Big3, it must be because she hits flatter. And while he noted some divergence in playing styles, patterns and tactics, he felt it unnecessary to radically overhaul his approach to specifically suit male or female players. Static weight is 12.7 oz., or metric 360 g. Swing weight is 379. It is a type of groundstroke where the path of the swing of the racket goes across the players body. Sure,and i'm not even mentioning average groundstroke speeds and topspin.Men simply have way more upper and lower body strength (A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that men had an average of 26 lbs [12 kilograms] more skeletal muscle mass than women. Monica Niculescu lands at the bottom of the list with a speed of 53 mph. VerticalScope Inc., 111 Peter Street, Suite 600, Toronto, Ontario, M5V 2H1, Canada. ALL one-handed backhands have a very pronounced outside-inside-outside swing path. The second fastest? The trickier question perhaps is if the records only belong to him. It also did not impair oxygen consumptionwhich came as a surprise. Nikoloz Basilashvili had the fastest average ATP forehand recorded for a male player at the 2021 Aussie Open with an average of 82.5 MPH. Groundstroke: 68.5 return of 2nd serve 59.9. We should get the Discovery Science guys to give us a comprehensive analysis of the engine of a pro tennis player. Regardless of which stroke I teach to kids and adults, I explain the outside-inside-outside swing path to them. This is the course that will unlock your potential. Faced with a makeable ball in the backhand corner, men and women both hit a non-slice groundstroke about four-fifths of the time. But how much do they truly contrast with one another. Improve Tennis Skills With These Top 10 Tennis Training Devices, The Best 5 Tennis Rackets For Serve And Volley In 2018, Learn How To Serve In 10 Minutes With The ServeMaster, Lobster Elite Liberty Ball Machine Review. They do this by initiating a unit turn with the racket up high. The only time this deviates is on returns and very high paced shots. The counterpunching adding speed over the started one. From the table, we can see that Serena Williams has the fastest serve. The racket, or hitting hand, will then move close to the body. My measurements found first serves to be on average more than 10 mph higher than that. Thats really the only benefit. The fastest forehand recorded at the 2021 Australian Open by a female player was 98.5mph and was hit by Arantxa Rus. If you look at the forehand stroke of a WTA player head-on, you would notice their hitting hand moves directly behind them. You must log in or register to reply here. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Can Pitchers Wear Sunglasses? The wrist lag should give you all the power you need. At the 2016 Australian Open, she averaged 81 mph on her forehand, according to data compiled by Game Insight Group (GIG), faster than all men, save Tomas Berdych. Where They Do That At Honey? Aircraft Engineering Services > Uncategorised > average groundstroke speed wta > Uncategorised > average groundstroke speed wta Specifically, most players have an average between 2700 and 3000 RPM on the forehand, and between 1800 and 2300 RPM on the backhand, respectively - this category features Djokovic, one Federer match, one Zverev match, Humbert, Kecmanovic, Sinner, Davidovich Fokina, and Ymer, pretty much half of the involved players, most of whom are youngsters, Alongside Venus, both Williams sisters had this phenomenal forehand which led to many tight bouts and memorable rallies between them each time they met on court. Steve k, from Berkeley, California, My current racquet is a Pure Drive Plus strung with 17 ga. VS at 54 lbs. She controlled the match from the opening stages and extended her unbeaten run to 4-0 against Carla . I tried to calculate it but I was coming up with numbers way to high. . Thank you all for inputs. and then comes back outside to make impact with the ball. Some professional tennis players are earning more money than soccer players. The forehand. Hi, I'm Dillon. Both the WTA and ATP players will begin the stroke by making a unit turn and bringing the racket to the outside. Just a few ago at Indian Wells they showed the average groundstroke speeds during the Roddick - Almagro match. Continue with Recommended Cookies. However, Evans' slice forces his opponents to contact the ball 0.69m from the ground. For some reason, a heavy spin serve doesnt wear out strings like a heavily topspun forehand (Andrei Rublevs, for example). Bitches Get Interviews And Shit? That extra half a second it takes makes a big difference to time the ball. This is all great stuff. Edit: I think those speeds were maybe from 2014-2016, now that I think about it. 6. Some players, like Madison Keyes, actually bring their hitting hand to the left side of the body, which is the far inside. Also, I am a retired carpenter and have considerable grip strength and upper-body strength. In a future post would you be willing to break out your data to show the difference in ball speeds between the couple best players and the run of the mill HS player?Also, how much variance is there in the Division I ball speed data? I hope you found this information interesting and helpful for your game. Of course, lefties do the opposite. Ok, so how fast does a professional tennis player hit the ball? This can be a very effective swing path for guys at the club level who want more power. I let the racquet do the work. Great hitting. Can any one tell me what the average speed of these 2 forehand shots of mine are? Thats why you see almost no deviations in professional tennis with this part of the forehand. (All the aggression comes in the footwork like Messi) Anyway, for anyone with elbow issues, I would recommend either multifilament or natural gut. The average speed of Evans' slice backhand is 55mph which gives the opponent less pace to work with compared to the average groundstroke speed of 66 mph. Keep in mind that these numbers vary from year to year. Not bad for a middle-aged guy like me. At the 2020 French Open, Swiateks average forehand speed reached 118km/h with some forehands going as fast as 127km/h, a rate which put her at the top for the most powerful womens forehands for that particular tournament and only second overall across men and women. I personally believe the women have the better backhands (overall) in professional tennis. I will also look at the forehand speeds of top players like Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Serena Williams, who are known for having some of the best forehands of all time. Ill then decide on which stroke to teach them pendulum or ATP. My hope in this blog post is not only to enlighten you of this very interesting information but to give you a better idea of stroke anatomy so you can improve your own strokes. This type of swing path is called a pendulum, as it relies on momentum and gravity rather than muscle and might. Cheers / Jonas. The fastest tennis ball ever hit was done by Sam Groth at the 2012 Busan Open Challenger Tennis but unfortunately, it wasnt recognized by ATP. The further you bring the hitting hand to the inside, the more power you can generate. Instead, they keep the hitting hand and racket on the outside of their body. What is the difference between multifilament and poly strings. Especially when, at Roland Garros in 2014, Madison Keys recorded the fastest average groundstroke speed of any player male or female. While my ideas are not unique in tennis, I dont believe they are being talked about enough. The proverbial front door to the higher levels of tennis here definitely runs through USTA tournament competition where the goal is to qualify for the National Junior or ITF Championship events held nationwide throughout the calendar year. They also did one for Fed-Safin at AO 2004. That will make the biggest difference. This is especially true for boys that have slow racket speeds. Most of the women do something similar on their backhands, but its also not as pronounced. However, Niculescu only had 1 deep forehand stroke observed. They all train, practice, recover, scout opponents and implement tactics. For example, at the 2014 French Open Madison Keys had recorded the fastest average groundstroke speed for both men and women at 127km/h, topping Novak Djokovic's average speed of 124km/h which . The men prefer the shorter backswings of the ATP style backhand because it saves time. This is because they want to generate power using biomechanics rather than muscle. 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S 102km/h ( 63km/h ) is almost unbelievable how their brain responds to such movement. Hit by Arantxa Rus but that doesnt hold for Serena and Venus Williams, whose are! Were maybe from 2014-2016, now that you are supposed to keep the ball the. Serena completely mashing some returns against Zheng Jie at 2012 Wimbledon, Russia is destroying Ukraine and ca! Yes, but its also vital the racket, or hitting hand to the younger Williams sibling on site!