Serve Mechanics

every shot has a follow through. on the Serve, you can not follow through properly unless you use your BODY. the serve motion or dynamics is a twisting action. the body simply rotates or twists into the court as you begin the swing from the loaded position. Specifically, the back shoulder finishes in front close where the front shoulder started and the back leg finishes into the court. think of the body on an axis and you rotate or twist into contact then continues into the court (front of baseline). there are specific mechanics regarding technique, but im just posting on the basic body motion here. afdd

Loading and Weight Distribution on the semi open and closed stance Forehands

Referring to the offensive forehand, the semi open and closed stances have different body weight dynamics when generating force for power. In the semi open stance, the power comes from loading/pushing the right leg(rh) into the court when swinging. The action of pushing into the court with the leg creates a powerful opposite reaction which accelerates the body core when it rotates during swinging. In the closed stance, the power comes from the shifting of the weight from the back leg(rl,rh) to the front leg when swinging. On both of these stances, it is assumed that when turning to load the body weight, one is straight and balanced. afdd.

Forehand Volley

On the Forehand Volley keep your arm close to your body when hitting the ball. This gives you more leverage to keep the wrist extended(cocked) when hitting ball. The harder the ball that is hit to you, keep the elbow closer to your body. afdd

Hip/waist importance in the unit turn when hitting groundstrokes.

The waist or hips are not sufficiently emphasized when turning the body to hit groundstrokes. There is too much emphasis on the shoulder turn. I strongly recommend getting the waist or hips turned 90° to centre before stepping into the ball. Then when one does step in to hit the ball there will be additional hip and waist turn due the unit turn when swinging. If one is hitting a semi open or open stance then focus on turning the hips and shoulders when loading the legs during the swing. afdd

LEARNING TO VOLLEY

When learning to volley, especially with the one handed backhand volley practice with one hand behind your back. This is most efficiently done with controlled feeding from the coach or parent standing behind the service line. A reminder to keep the arm/forearm in front of you and the elbow close to body on the forehand volley and on the backhand volley to reach across your body but keep the arm and elbow bent and relaxed with the hand and wrist extended. You backhand volleys might then approach the quality of the likes of rosewall, roche, laver, stolle, hoad, etc. dd

PRONATION (Serve)

There is always some degree of pronation on all serves including the slice up and off the side line. As a reminder the pronation movement is done with the forearm turning inside out. wr

NON DOMINANT ARM USE -- FH

Use the non dominant arm/hand for spacing when turned or turning to the forehand side. The contact point should be well outside the length of the non dominant arm when turned prior to contacting the ball. Tips to remember about the non dominant arm when turning: Reach across the body with the non dominant arm when turning. Keep the arm below the shoulder and extend the arm, but not stiffly. afdd