Request for Smash Stroke Feedback

avatar m

This.

You could probably improve your court movement to optimise your hitting point but a big part is that you have a large swing rather than a compact swing.

When you get ready to smash, you bring the racquet head behind you and pause it there. The distance between the head of the racquet and your body is really quite large hence a large swing.

The pause doesn’t help either. You are dropping the racquet behind, pausing and then initiating the stroke forward. What you should be doing is dropping the racquet behind and then initiating the stroke forward I.e. minimising that pause to as short a time as possible.

Your left arm could help better. At the moment it prepares vertically upwards with elbow almost locked – if you see most players (apart from Lauren Smith), it actually prepares a little more relaxed and slightly forward of the body. The left arm stretches forward towards the opposite player and then goes down recoiling into the body.

It looks like you hold the racquet a bit tight all the way through the stroke.

All in all, IMO, your primary focus should be on improving the overhead swing preparation with the left arm being better positioned (it will help the body rotation) and getting a proper compact swing. Then see how it goes before trying other changes.