says
Spin and more spin.
says
Spin and more spin.
Well-Known Member
Super Moderator
The question for me is whether I should lock (or partially lock) my wrist to prevent the natural (kinetic) wrist movement during a topspin rally. During a rally I may miss the ball or (or have bad contact) if my wrist is moving too much.
I have heard high level pro coaches say both. If for you consistency is the issue and having your wrist too relaxed makes you miss too often, it is pretty okay to have control and not let your wrist get too floppy. I would not say, "lock" in relationship to holding your wrist stable. Just, maybe not too floppy.
As you get more control, I would let the wrist be more free.
Part of what I was getting at in my post is that the wrist will do what it should as you train good technique for long enough. But when it is moving in ways that compromise your contact and therefore your control of your shots, as Baal alluded to, then you make it so your wrist is a little more stable; so the wrist does not move quite as much. As you gain more control and precision, you will be able to feel when to let your wrist be more relaxed without compromising control; you will start to know the instances when it will be useful to let your wrist move more freely in certain shots.
Part of how the wrist moves is not from conscious action but from how relaxed your arm is and how you use your forearm in your stroke. So the main thing that might be usefully conscious about this is not the choice to use the wrist but the choice of how relaxed you leave your wrist or instead, if you try and limit the amount of freedom in the wrist movement, then the question would be, how much you would want to keep your wrist more stable. But I still don't think you would want to be trying to completely keep it from moving or "lock" your wrist.
It is worth watching some of Brett Clarke's videos on how to use the wrist. You will notice, how he presents it is about whip mechanics. Rather than conscious movement of the wrist. And if that relaxedness that creates that whip from the wrist, then the issue would be, how much do you want to limit that relaxedness while you gain more control.
When you have the control, you can start allowing the wrist to move more progressively.
Last edited: