How tense has the muscle to be if playing topspin and in general

Hi Andre,

This is a very important aspect and we are actually creating a video on this very soon. Overall in any shot you play you don’t want to have too much tension. When playing against topspin you can be quite relaxed and then explode as you said, the slight tension comes more at the end of the shot to control the follow through and keep it short.

When playing against backspin however I agree that it is almost like lifting a mass, so slightly more tension is needed in these types of shots, what I think is key is getting a good speed through the ball contact, if you are too tense during the contact then you won’t get enough acceleration through the shot.

On the recovery you also need to be relaxed without being tense so you can bring the bat back quickly and keep smooth shots and stay at a good timing.

Hope that helps and keep and eye out for our video on this topic soon!
Tom