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

LEG DRIVE -- A Critical Component for the Power Serve.

A critical component of the power serve is the effective use of the leg drive. One must drive with the legs from the loaded position to get additional power behind the serve. First, there must be a sufficient leg/knee bend, then there must be an explosive push up with the legs into the court to where the ball is contacted close to its toss height. One would land inside the baseline with the front leg first with the back leg coming in and through after. There may still be some servers that do the scissor kick landing with the back leg landing first, but a majority of servers in the game today will land with the front leg first. But, for foot up style servers, the leg push can be quite important as these servers are not as effective vertically as the foot back servers are. Remember the ideal degree of leg bend is somewhere close to 110 degrees plus or minus 5 degrees for optimum use. The effective use of the legs lends itself to a strong body core and of course strengthened calves, quadriceps, and hamstrings. goyc

FOREHAND -- Critical elements of a Great Shot

These elements are critical for a great forehand in today's modern game: a) a high hand or high racquet take back b) an extended wrist c) separation distance of the elbow from the body d) significant hand speed to swing e) leg use or leg drive. To briefly comment on the importance of each element above I will begin with (a) the height of the hand allows for more speed and momentum to build up to contact. Shoulder height is minimum with top of human head level extreme, but still excellent. An extended wrist is critical for prestretching the hand for maximum acceleration AND for bloody racquet head control. Regarding (c), the elbow separation from the body allows for greater length of stroke! The longer the stroke the more powerful the stroke. The speed of the hand is quite important but must be practiced by swinging fast. Just swing faster! The legs are very important because with the open stance forehand, the drive or loading down into court allows for more rotation speed and 'torque' when swinging. When closing one's stance the greater leg bend allows for more proficient shifting of weight into the forehand, hence more power. afdd

Doc's Tip -- Serve

Remember, when serving and reaching up to swing at the ball the non dominant arm will drop and as it drops down you want to tuck that ARM into your stomach to facilitate the shoulder over shoulder rotation speed as well as upper arm elevation. The tucking of the tossing arm reduces the inertia up and forward which allows the shoulders to rotate faster. afd

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- movement/positioning.

Moving your feet and getting into position to hit the ball is probably the most important factor in the game of tennis once your strokes become proficient. Moving your feet means running to the ball and judging the correct space or distance you will need to establish body balance prior to striking the ball. Always run or get into proper position before starting to swing at the ball. Even when the ball is hit right to you there is footwork to be done to position properly before starting your swing. Usually the footwork done once you are at the ball is referred to as adjustment footwork. Jkd

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- Two handed BH stance

If you have a two handed backhand, the easiest foot stance to use on a ball hit towards the sideline is the OPEN stance. The key is to get your outside foot(if facing the net) behind the ball or back at a substantial angle to the baseline. This stance allows you to prepare quicker than a closed stance and gives you more distance space from your body to contact the ball. Remember to load the back leg or outside foot so you can turn your hips when starting your swing. bhut

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- FH drop shot

When hitting a forehand drop shot, remember disguising the shot is the most important factor. This means when preparing try to stay in your forehand drive grip when turning. You will first need to compact the turn or preparation a bit, like when you make the adjustment attacking a shorter lower forehand. Then you will probably need to change into the continental grip as you drop the arm down and bring the stings in behind the ball. If you have more of a eastern grip, you may not need to change grips as you start down to contact the ball. There will be some ulnar deviation of the wrist but very little prior to and after contacting the ball. But, overall I would not characterize the wrist as loose AT ALL on this shot. Remember, to stop your follow through very succinctly after contacting the ball. The bottom edge of the racket should slightly cup underneath the ball after contact. afdd

Forehand Volley - Wrist Reflex Angle

As I have stated before, your first movement when hitting a forehand volley should be a pivot move from your split step while maintaining body balance. I want to talk about the degree of reflex angle position that the wrist should be close to when opening the face or tip of the racquet when pivoting for the forehand volley. I am estimating that the wrist angle in the ready position is close to 190 degrees reflex angle to the forearm. This wrist angle is maintained during the pivot. An additional wrist reflex of 10 degrees to approximately 200 degrees with a radial movement of the wrist during the body pivot preparation is desirable for the correct position of the racquet face. This of course assumes one has a universal continental grip. vsp

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- Core Strength

If you want your core and back to get as strong as a donkeykong, first learn how to properly do a back squat. Then, build up to a working set of 20 (twenty) back squats where your quadriceps are parallel to the floor (minimum) at the bottom of the movement AND your heels are on the ground. Now, the kicker is to be able to squat 1.25X (times)your BODYWEIGHT twenty times in perfect form. lgwp

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- Double Hop Approach

When attacking a short low ball to transition to the net learn to use the double hop method as a component to keep your body momentum moving forward. The double hop method is when you step into the ball with your front foot whilst still on balance but after you hit the ball you hop or skip forward on your front foot (same foot) then continue moving into the service box area to do the split step. The two things you must do well to make this method work are balance when stepping into the ball and staying turned with your shoulders when contacting the ball. Also, this transition method will probably be done only on low balls. afdd

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- Modern Forehand

In general, if you want to get more power out of your forehand remember to reach back and away from your body with your racquet hand when turning in the preparation phase. More specifically, the distance from your back hip to your hand or racquet handle could be in excess of 24 - 30 inches*^. That is a great distance. Tip to remember, try not to reach straight back behind your hip/body, reach more away from your body and that distance may be over 14 - 18 inches*. So, just turning your body will not necessary guarantee you to be totally prepared, you must remember reach back and away with the racquet as well. *limb length will vary. ^excludes the full western donkey grip. afdd

Doc's Double Header Tip of the Evening -- Overhead/Smash

If you truly want a sensational Smash or Overhead, practice hitting overhead smashes without moving your feet. You must obviously get into position first with your feet and establish balance. When hitting the Smash, you are only allowed to rotate your shoulders at contact. You mustn't fall or lose your balance even AFTER the ball crosses the net. Remember to turn your shoulders and position your feet parallel to the center line on the court. Hint: Hold your weight on the back leg and keep the non dominant arm straight up. Also, contact the side of ball like you would a slice serve. The greatest overdonkey I have ever seen was Richard Stockton's. He would practice hitting smashes exactly as described above. civs

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- BH Volley

Whether you are learning or trying to improve the backhand volley, put the non dominant arm BEHIND your back and practice hitting the shot. Remember to turn both feet parallel to the center line and reach across your body with the racquet and hand in front of the hip. Keep your feet still and wait for the ball to come to your racquet. Make sure you have an extended (locked wrist) and the bottom edge of the racquet face open. ajkyd

Doc's Tip of the Evening -- BH

If you have a two handed backhand, always practice hitting forehands with your non dominant hand. This is especially important when you are in the learning stages as well as the developmental stage too. The two handed backhand is predominately a non dominate dominated shot, so you must practice hitting forehands to develop the spin and power. The grip should be close to a semi western grip when practicing these forehands. bkd