Lessons in Tennis

After taking the time to relearn tennis, I've learned and possibly relearned a few things.

The first lesson I learned came from observing beginners. Most beginner tennis players assume that the racquet is an extension of the arm. For now, forget the racquet head. Imagine that you are holding a baseball bat. Now, hold you arm straight in front point forward so that your arm is shoulder height and parallel with your shoulder. It's as if you are telling someone "Go forward".

Now imagine you are holding a baseball bat, and the bat is also pointing forward, so that it doubles the length of your arm.

Most beginning players hit that way. The racquet is straight with the arm.

No good player does this. They hold the racquet at a 90 degree angle with their arm.

And this applies to nearly all strokes. Backhand, forehand, volley. In particular, I realized I wasn't hitting this way on my forehand, and I have to, lately, remind myself to hit with the 90 degree angle.

Related to this lesson is that flipping the wrist doesn't buy you power. Two-handed backhand players often flip their wrists to get more power. It seems to make logical sense, and yet, it doesn't happen. Instead, the torso plays a role when hitting a backhand, and you want to keep that that 90 degree angle.

Indeed, the angle is so important that Brad Gilbert, former player and coach to Andre Agassi, has been hawking a product that keeps this 90 degree angle.

Second lesson. It's not all arm.

Hitting often requires your legs, and your torso. Most people swing with the arms, never realizing the torso (i.e., your chest, your waist) can provide additional mass and stability to shots. For me, I don't turn my torso enough on my forehand. I end up thinking all arm, and not enough torso.

This lesson didn't dawn on me until I was watching a slow-mo video of Roger Federer for the umpteenth time, and I noticed where his shoulders were pointed when he hit the ball. Indeed, most pros have their upper bodies turned toward the net (and more), with their racquet still pointed at the fence, before the arm comes forward and hits the ball.

The torso leads the arm, and the arm waits a long time with the racquet pointed backward, until the ball is right up to the player with the torso parallel or past parallel before the racquet goes from the racquet pointed back (or the butt of the racquet facing the ball) to the racquet pointed parallel to the net.

Indeed, I think I've been having this issue with my forehand as well. In addition to forcing myself to think about the 90 degrees, I had been recently thinking of the idea of "dragging" my forehand. Some experts have said this is how you should visualize the forehand, so that the racquet only faces the ball at the last moment.

But I just realized by moving the torso, I don't have to do anything with my arm. It "drags" along for free from my torso alone. Now, that isn't entirely true. Just before impact, I need to move the wrist so that it begins to flip in a windshield wiper motion, which cause the racquet angle to increase to about 110 degrees at contact.

On the forehand, I'm also trying to force myself to get more sideways to the ball. I think, in the past, I'd basically face the net the whole time, and let my arm do all the work. The lastest thing I'm doing is to use my left hand and hold it on the throat to force myself to turn my shoulders around. I used to never do this, which meant my shoulders didn't turn as much as it should.

Lesson three. Let your arm relax.

I watched a YouTube segment on hitting the ball naturally. The idea was to hit the ball with 2 or 3 fingers, not using your other fingers. Because you don't have much support on the racquet, you have to swing in such a way that the racquet doesn't fight you, and this allows you to swing more freely. This applies to the serve as well. Most shots in tennis require a degree of relaxation.

This relaxation helped on my backhand where I would not be so relaxed, and ironically hit a weaker shot. Relaxation helps you hit a faster shot.

Lesson four. Follow-through matters. I was watching a beginner hit a ball, and they stopped hitting shortly after the ball was hit. This creates a racquet path that can vary quite a lot. A good follow through helps provide momentum through the entire process. I believe Vic Braden is wrong when he says follow-through isn't important, because it is.

Lesson five. Aim.

This is a lesson I don't think about much because I aim, but I see it's a huge problem for beginners. Most beginners are content hitting the ball hard, and have no particular place that they are aiming to hit. In particular, because I see some players who fall in love with hitting the ball as hard as possible, they hit the ball deep (meaning out) all the time.

There are several drills I'd work on. First, if every other shot is heading long, then aim for the service line. The service line is very shot, I admit, but if you hit it too long, you are in a good spot. Learn to hit the ball short, so you can control depth.

In addition, pay attention to the height of the ball. Ideally, aim about 3-4 feet above the net. If it's just skimming over the net, it's probably too close. Now, to hit 3-4 feet above the net and hit at the service line, you have to sacrifice some power, which means you hit more relaxed and slow down your shot.

I know. Players, especially male players, love power. They feel they aren't getting the most of their game if they don't hit hard. I'm not saying you should never hit hard, but you need to play more in control, before worrying about power. To play power properly, you should really learn topspin, and get more spin on the shot.

In a nutshell, hit shorter, hit higher, hit more relaxed, and stop hitting really hard, but still feel that you are making a full swing.

I'm watching a match between Nadal and Davydenko, and many of the shots land only halfway between the service line and the baseline. Keep your shots shorter. You'll find your game improving.

Lesson six. The serve is hard.

I'm working on my knee bend lately, and having that coiled up before starting the rest of the motion. While I do that, I'll be regressing backwards for a while, but thats OK.

So on my checklist of things to work on.

1. Rotate more on the torso on my forehand so I use the torso to get my arm to drag, while keeping my angle at 90 degrees.
   
2. When slicing a backhand, make sure the elbow is straight before impact.
   
3. Bend my knees more while serving
   
4. Learn the "C" movement on my two-handed backhand, and be relaxed until impact.