As the title goes, is there really no wrist flexion involved in all overhead strokes? I know that forearm pronation is the correct technique and pronating on all my overhead strokes on my forehand side is very natural to me. However, when I am hitting shuttles that are 1) too in front of me, or 2) on my backhand side, it feels very unnatural and I will tend to use a little wrist flexion. For shuttle that are too in front of me, i will switch to a more panhandle grip and use some wrist flexion in order to contact the shuttle properly. Is this the correct technique? It just feels very unnatural to pronate forward that I have no choice but to switch to a panhandle and as a result, use wrist flexion. For overhead stroke on my backhand side, I am very comfortable when i hit cross smashes or cross clears. Maybe it is because forearm pronation in a sense is rotating your racket outwards but it feels very natural as the direction that i want to hit follows the forearm pronation. However, for straight clears and straight smashes on my backhand side, it does not follow the same path as the pronation. I am hitting it straight while the racket rotates outwards and that is the unnatural part for me. Hence, sometimes I will subconsciously revert back to using a little bit of wrist flexion I just hope someone can help me clarify on this topic as I have been thinking about this issue a lot. Or am i just overthinking this
Yes. There's a little bit wrist flexion... and also a bit of radial deviation. Sent from my SM-G988W using Tapatalk
The shot taken in front of you with panhandle isn't a forearm pronation one. It involves wrist flexion or finger squeezing. Also no doubt as you know, the wrist flexion isn't past neutral. It isn't really thought of as an overhead. As to the general question of if there is wrist flexion involved with forearm pronation, I don't know, people teach different techniques, and there are lots of different shots. Forearm pronation is a biomechanical/anatomical term. So if you are demonstrating just forearm pronation then it shouldn't be demonstrated with some other movement. But if speaking of technique for performing a particular shot then there could be various things going on.
I have a similar question. When you play a shot as a right-hander, especially smash and backhand dropshot (sliced or not), does the shaft of your racket is supposed to be straight (kind of perpendicular to the ground) or inclined to the left about 45 degrees ? I've watched a lot of videos and players on tournaments but I see two different versions. When I smash, the shaft is "straight", the wrist is a bit "inclined" to the right. (I could split the net in two with my racket in a perpendicular way). Some other people smash with the shaft inclined to the left, it seems their racket head is over their head at the impact. Their wrist is not flexed at all. So their racket and straight arm make this symbol at the impact : " >" Same thing with the late backhand drop shot. Most players I see have a 90 degree angle with their forearm and racket shaft at the impact. When I'm late, I'm using something like a one-hand tennis backhand it's not like tennis but I mean my shaft is not perpendicular, it's inclined like 45 degrees maybe. I guess it's also footwork related as I struggle to do late backhand drops with a 90 degree angle, I have to make bigger lunges. I have to run less if I use an inclined shaft. So far, it works fine for me but I'm wondering if I should correct my movements or not. Thanks
The racket should be vertical or close to (which the OP refers to as a bit unnatural as there is a little bit of wrist flexion). In some cases (around the head shot, after a flick shot, etc) it will be closer to 45 degree as you need to take it closer to your head. But in an optimal scenario (you have enough time to get to the shuttle), you should take it vertically For the late backhand shot, same idea. If you are late, you will probably get it more on the side (harder to have your whole racket behind the shuttle). But if you have enough time, you should get it more vertical (less if you want to slice it). There are no right or wrong I think. To come back to OP's point, there is a little bit of wrist flexion when doing the pronation. Important point to note is the axis of the pronation, it's not 100% vertical (or you will end up in the situation of Evan with the racket being 45degree out). You pronate on a more diagonal axis (at the end, you racket should be vertical to the ground) See my shitty paint image (on the right is a standard OVERHEAD pronation) :
@Ffly Looking at that hand image you show, with the line going straight up. Are you really suggesting the racket shaft is in line with the forearm for RTH(round the head) shots?! Look at this picture His racket is not in line with his forearm and it shouldn't be. Imagine if you stretched his fingers out. The racket is not pointing up with his fingers and it shouldn't be. How does that resemble your diagram.
A google search to try to figure out your language./ phrase added- The closest i'm aware of re that kind of language, is you could rotate a parabola in the y axis, and then you get what looks like a bowl shape But I don't think you are talking about that. As far as I can tell, forearm rotation can only happen, in/on/along the axis of the forearm! If you are talking about the forearm swinging, then the direction of that would depend on where your elbow is, and angle at the elbow(assuming a constant angle). And you'd be talking about upper arm rotation rather than forearm rptation..
no need to go into the semantic details, just imagine the image as a paper and the red line is where you fold it. or another shitty paint :
Well, Firstly forehand overhead can be done with racket pointing upwards. Secondly, there are degrees of round the head. besides the completely round the head. I think your diagram with the diagonal red line could be seen as a forehand round the head. Thirdly, all can be done with forearm pronation
