Tennis on TV

Tennis Channel doesn't have a great amount of instruction. There are three places you get instruction. There are the short one-minute segments. There is a woman who travels from city to city, and she often gets instruction, so you can get some advice from paying attention to what she's being told. Finally, there is On Court with USPTA.

I believe USPTA started with Dennis Van der Meer, the guy who helped coach Billie Jean King to a victory over Bobby Riggs. Van der Meer believed you could break down tennis into a checklist of steps to follow. His successor appears to be Rick Macci, the guy who coached the Williams sisters when they were young.

On Court, when it focuses on tennis, is fantastic. To be fair, I haven't seen a ton of improvement on my game by following their advice, but I'm willing to believe that it takes a while for the body to learn to his certain shots.

The two shows that I care about most are the serve and the forehand. Rick did the episode for both. Interestingly enough, tennis instructors now take their cues from the pros. You would think they already know more about tennis than the pros that play, but in reality, the pros keep redefining how to hit the ball, and the teachers end up looking at what they do to find what they all do well in common.

Today, I woke up early to watch the episode on the forehand. The big lesson I learned was not to take the racquet back early. Instead, the idea was to get the racquet "up", then--and here's the important part, wait for the bounce, and when the bounce occurs, drop the racquet and make the swing.

The idea is to get the racquet flowing, but only when you are ready to hit the shot. Beginners are often getting used to reacting to the ball fast enough, so a beginner might have to get prepared just before the bounce. But I believe the key is the bounce.

The next step is to drop the racquet face and have it face the ground. The next step is to cock the wrist back (easier shown than described in words). Then you move the legs, then waist, then body, then arm and hit the shot, finishing with a closed face when you are done. Apparently, Federer, more than any other player, hits his shot with a straight arm.

Look at nearly every other player, and they have a slight bend in their arm. This shows, I suppose, that you don't have to have a straight arm a la Federer to hit an effective shot.

What is fascinating about the modern forehand, and I should stress that this episode was on the modern forehand, one hit with topspin and power, is that the racquet face starts closed, then opens up just for the hit, then closes up again on follow through.

I've been trying to relearn my forehand, and it's a pain. Basically, I realize I need to turn a lot more sideways to the net, and meet the ball in front. I still don't have the follow through component right. I also think I'm still not swinging fast enoiugh, nor relaxed enough.

Oddly, given I don't think that much about my backhand, I believe it's actually faring better than my forehand. That is a little weird, only because I may have stumbled onto hitting my backhand better without thinking about it that much.

Anyway, I have to say that, at the very least, the topic of the show, namely modern forehands, is very good, and that there is plenty of advice to give. Whether it translates to something effective, only time--and practice, will tell.