Tennis
Basic Tennis Form
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[edit] Beginner Tips
Take your time. Learn the form properly the first time to avoid ingraining bad habits. Bad habits are 100 times harder to get rid of than forming a new habit. Get a coach if possible.
Also, if it hurts - stop. No motion should cause pain. If you hit the ball and it feels jarring or the racket seems to vibrate too much, it's not tennis. Discontinue until you learn the proper form that eliminates 100% of any discomfort. In particular, pay attention to any tiredness or soreness in the arm, wrist, shoulder, elbow, and knees. Pain is an important indicator that something is wrong. If you play through pain, you may permanently hurt yourself and prevent all future tennis.
Be conscious of your practice. If you just go out and randomly work on things, you may unknowingly be forming bad habits. Work on a precise movement or form, and only that form until it becomes ingrained. It is said that a habit isn't formed until it's repeated at least 1,000 times. (This isn't scientific). And don't try to form the habit in a day. Get plenty of rest.
Work carefully on 1 or 2 aspects. Maybe footwork and positioning to the ball. Or some other 2 things. Gradually develop all of the skills, in a way that your mind can handle it. You may be eager to do more things, eager to "play like Roddick", eager to "hit the ball", but it will pay off to be patient. Patience is a virtue.
[edit] Grips
Grips can be named by position where the V of the thumb and forefinger is located on the faces of the octagon handle. You can number of the grips on the forehand as 1 (top), 2 (top-right), 3 (right), 4 (bottom-right), and 5 (bottom). The same for the backhand, 2 (top-left), 3 (left), 4 (bottom-left).
The 8 basic tennis grips are:
Forehand Side
- Position 1 (top): Continental (or Hammer, Axe) Grip - Used for volleys, serves, half-volleys, anything near the net, slice.
- Position 2 (top-right): Eastern Forehand Grip (or Handshake Grip) - Used by Sampras. Gives you a nice flat stroke.
- Position 3 (right): Semi-Western Forehand Grip - Agassi uses this grip. Good for spin, power, and control.
- Position 4 (bottom-right): Western Forehand Grip - Extreme. Clay-court players. Lots of spin. Balls go high over the net. Too loopy.
- Position 5 (bottom): Extreme Western Grip - Hard to use.
Backhand Side
- Position 2 (top-left): Eastern Backhand Grip - Good for hitting flat.
- Position 3 (left): Semi-Western Backhand - Useful grip.
- Position 4 (bottom-left): Western Backhand Grip - Hard to use.
[edit] Forehand Technique
Try the semi-Western forehand grip for handling forehand shots. It gives you a nice closed face when you swing. On the backswing, it takes the racket to a closed face. Many people mistakenly try to generate topspin by coming over the ball. Topspin is generated by hitting up the back of the ball.
[edit] Footwork
The ready position is a good balanced position. In this position, you can quickly move to either side. Feet about shoulder-length apart. Racket is up and extended out in front of you.
When you go for the ball, step towards the ball and push off the other foot. Don't try to cross over as your first step. The fastest way to the ball will be to step with your outside leg towards the ball immediately. Tennis is a timing game. You want to reduce the amount of wasted time in order to get to the ball.
Take big steps first, then take baby steps to get into the perfect position to strike the ball.
As you move towards the ball, bring your racket back. When you reach the position, plant that back foot to get ready to hit the ball. Planting the back foot drives your weight forward. Then, go through your proper swing from low to high.
Getting to the ball late and being in the wrong position is the reason why many balls go the wrong way.
[edit] Forehand Backswing
There are many styles of backswings. One is called The Big Loop - not recommended.
It has a big disadvantage of taking a lot of time. It's not really a good style for non-clay courts.
Agassi has very compact, simple strokes. The abbreviated loop is in between. You want to take the racket back quick. If we get to the ball with the backswing already back, we just need to plant our foot and let it go. Some people will try to start their backswing after they reached their position, and it's too late. The timing is critical, and to give you more time, you want to start that backswing sooner as you head towards the ball. The abbreviated loop is one you should try to target. The racket head should be closed on the backswing.
The short, classical backstroke that starts off very low and ends up high is good for beginners.
[edit] Shoulder Rotation
Remember to rotate your shoulders. You can bring both hands back on your backswing to help reinforce your shoulders to move and to help give you balance. The racket head doesn't go much higher than your shoulders. Then, let it drop low and come up. It should drop about a foot below the ball. Then swing up. It's a nice circular motion.
Remember, don't run with the racket in front of you. Start bringing it back as you're moving.
[edit] Closed Stance and Open Stance
The closed stance is ideal when hitting the forehand. Your hips are turned away from the ball. In the open stance, your hips are a bit more turned towards the ball. You want to be able to hit with both the closed and open stance because you won't always have enough time to get into the best position.
Even in the open stance, you want to be driving from your back foot and moving your hips when you hit the ball.
[edit] Where you Make Contact
Many people mistakenly try to make contact at around the belly button, rather than out in front. You want to try to contact the ball in front of your front foot. That way, your whole body is getting behind the ball and driving power.
When the ball is too far back from the front foot, the swings become wristy and weak.
Between the chest and the knees is the power zone. That's where you want to make contact.
You can try the "Dip and Lift". You dip going into the stroke, and lift your body going out. This will generate more spin and power. You want to use your legs to your advantage.
A lot of people mistakenly try to use their wrists in the forehand motion. This is not good form. The spin is not generated by the wrist. It is generated by the arm and driving up the back of the ball.
[edit] Follow-through
A lot of people mistakenly stop their racket from moving after hitting the ball. This actually makes you lose control of the ball, because the ball is on the strings for the shortest amount of time. What you want is to increase the amount of time the ball is on the strings with follow-through, in order to create control and spin. If you stop, you will also hurt the muscles.
Instead, swing all the way through and point your elbow towards the target.
In order to generate power, you want to be relaxed. When you're tight, you are not very powerful. The easier it feels, the better the shot is. The harder it feels, the worse the shot is. We want the whole body to do the work. Don't try to "muscle it" in. Finish your stroke by following through.
[edit] Path of the Swing
Many people have trouble with control of the ball due to an improper path of the swing.
The short control time is bad. Some people will mistakenly straighten and pivot on the front foot and swing around their body. You want to "hold the line" through the ball as long as possible. When its too short, there's only a short time when you can control the ball. With a longer time during the control, you have much more room for error. You want a long time for the racket head to be in proper position to give you good control even if your timing isn't perfect.
[edit] Common Problems
If the ball is going into the net, you want to get the racket head lower (a foot lower than the ball) and be sure to swing and brush up against the back of the ball.
If the ball is going too far, you want to make sure the racket head is closed on the backswing. It should be faced at a slight angle down, rather than angled up which makes the ball fly.
[edit] Running Forehands
Many people mistakenly sprint towards a ball for a forehand and have their rackets in front of them. Then, when they reach the ball, they don't have time to setup a swing and go through any motion and the ball has no control. Instead, as we sprint, we want the racket in the abbreviated backhand position so when we get there, we just need to let the racket go.
When you're sprinting, it usually means you want to go for the winner down the line. If you hit cross court, your opponent will be ready to hit it into the wide open court on the other side.
[edit] Backhand Technique
There are positives and negatives to both a one-handed or two-handed backhand. Certain players will want to use one over the other.
For one-handed backhands, the continental grip is good for slices but not great for topspin. The eastern backhand helps turn the racket face is over, so at contact the racket face is vertical. Semi-western backhand is also good.
One of the differences between the forehand and backhand is that on the backhand, the racket is going away from the body which is a more natural motion.
The ready position and push-off is the same as in the forehand. Start with bigger steps, then small steps. We want to plant our back foot and go through our swing. Too open of a stance on the backhand causes trouble.
The left hand is very important - hold it on the throat. As soon as you see the ball hit towards your backhand, you should bring the racket back to get ready to hit, as you get into your position.
[edit] Backswing
The left hand is very important on the backswing. You don't have time to measure and switch grips, so you can use the left hand to determine where to hold the racket. By turning and holding the throat, your proper grip becomes straight towards the racket handle. You don't have to think any more than that.
If you don't have it closed, the ball will go flying from the open face. Remember, keep the face closed on the backswing.
We want to generate the topspin by brushing against the back of the ball. Don't be wristy or go over the top to create topspin.
The "Big Loop" swing is not recommended. Try the abbreviated swing.
Bringing the racket straight back is good. Let the racket head drop. From here, there is much less room for error. By running with the racket back in this abbreviated motion, you won't be in such a rush to try to swing. You just need to release the trigger to drive at the target.
When you're in position, use the "Dip-and-Lift". Bend your knees, then lift your body as you hit the ball.
In order to generate power, you want to hit the ball a foot in front of your front foot. If you hit at the belly button, you will have to turn your shoulder too early and you will be caught late. The contact point is in front.
Don't rotate from your elbow or wrist. The wrist should stay the same. Drive forward with your legs and lead with your shoulders.
Remember to watch the ball hit the strings. Finish nice and high.
If you hit and stop, the ball will take off. It works the opposite of what you think - stopping the racket doesn't give you control. The follow-through from 1 foot below the ball to high gives you the spin you need to control the ball.
Drive the shoulder towards the ball, rather than up. This will keep the racket face closed, so the ball doesn't go flying.
Just like the forehand, keep the racket in line as long as possible to give you maximum room for error.
[edit] Slice Backhand
The slice backhand is hit with the continental grip. When we make contact with the slice, the racket face will actually be slightly open.
The ball will hit the ground and slide, forcing your opponent to get lower down.
You want to "carve the melon" by swinging from high to low to high, creating a carving shape.
Many people mistakenly think that the slice is done by hitting down the ball, but that will set up the ball in the air and stop. With high-to-low-to-high, when it hits it will go down and stick.
It's also a good defensive motion when you're on the run and you need to buy some time.
Remember to hold the line on the ball, just like any other stroke.
Hold the racket face back about 10-15 degrees, not too much.
[edit] Two-handed Backhand
Try the right hand on a eastern backhand grip, and the left hand on a semi-western forehand grip. This turns the racket head down. You can also try a different grip and rotate the fists to get the racket face down. Find what is comfortable for you and gets the racket in a good position.
We still want the low-to-high motion and swing, but with two hands we want to finish over the shoulder.
With the two-handed backhand, you will want to position yourself closer to the ball. You don't have the reach like you do with a one-handed.
Get into the ready position, racket in front of you. On the backswing, get the racket face closed. Move towards the ball, and plant the back foot. Go through a dip-and-lift low-to-high motion. Drive the racket head in front.
The contact point will be a bit further back than a one-handed forehand. It will be aligned with your front foot, rather than a 1 foot in front.
Your elbow will be pointing at your target after you swing.
[edit] Serve Technique
[edit] Proper Serve Grips
Use the continental grip on the serve. This way, the bottom of the racket doesn't block the wrist. You want to be free to snap your wrist.
[edit] Feet Position
To get your foot in position, have your front foot angled towards the net post.
Keep your back foot behind your front foot as well. Keep your feet about shoulder-width apart. The back foot should be parallel with the baseline.
[edit] Down Together, Up Together
Some people use a rocking motion. With your hands and racket in front, with weight on the front foot, we slowly move backwards to get ready to rock back forwards. You will want to get into that power position or "trophy pose". When your arms drop together, they should separate.
Remember to keep your shoulders away from facing the court, until after the racket drop and you start swinging forward.
[edit] Ball Toss (or Lift)
The tossing motion is critical. You will want the ball 2 or 3 feet inside the line so we can explode on it. Keep the arm straight, not bent.
Bring your arms down together, and up together. When you bring your tossing arm up, it should go straight up and release the ball at about the top of your head. Hold the ball to prevent any sort of rotation. People like to call it a ball "placement" or "lift" rather than a toss, because it shouldn't feel like throwing. After you release the ball, continue to raise your tossing arm. Leave your arm up there until you swing forward.
The ball should be in a position that it would bounce about a foot inside the court and a foot to the right.
[edit] Back Foot Step
After the trophy pose, you will want to either do a "step up" or "step back" with your back foot. The power in your serve comes from the leg muscles. Go through a deep knee bend, so you can drive your body up into the ball.
[edit] Leg Push
You want to drive your body with your legs and relaxed muscles.
After the "loading" or "coiling" stage, we want to go to the unloading or exploding stage.
[edit] Swing
You drive up, your hips start to rotate, your shoulders are starting to rotate, and you go through your swing.
[edit] 8 Step Progression
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