One Step Forward

After having a pretty good hitting session yesterday, I started to review what I wanted to change. I noticed yesterday that the flight of my ball was going too high, and so I thought the correction to that shot was to start my racquet face down more, and then stay face down throughout.

Today, the weather was a touch cooler than yesterday, and a bit windier, and I could tell that I was simply not hitting the ball like I did yesterday, which was, of course, pretty depressing, given how well I felt I was hitting it yesterday.

That lead me back to the drawing board to figure out what to do.

My latest idea is looking at more of the Oscar Wegner method. Who is Oscar Wegner? He's a coach from Argentina, who has pushed the idea of a more natural stroke, based on the finding the ball, then hitting it. Like many teachers who claim success, Wegner is pretty sure his method is right, and others are wrong, and there is even a cult-like following.

Having said that, this is tennis, and so, one hopes that a student can take any sort of advice, and see if they can apply it to their own game. At the very least, Wegner's approach seems to echo what modern players do.

One piece of advice Wegner advocates, unusually enough, is not to prepare so early. Early preparation, he claims, makes it difficult to have a smooth stroke when hitting. The mantra "find the ball, then hit it" is all about waiting to hit the shot. You don't want to be completely last minute, but preparing too early is a no-no.

The basic imagery is to imagine trying to catch the ball with your hand. That's about the moment you want to swing. Up until then, you are getting in position to hit the shot.

Now, you can understand why people say to prepare early. Some players prepare late, so what else can you do? But to get the racquet back extremely early may lead to bad habits. It seems, however, this can be overcome.

Anyway, I'll see how his techniques work. I have a book and DVD on order, so we'll see what happens.