October 8, 2011
Now, if you lose sight of the ball, it's because you blinked
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Just 2 days left to sign-up for the TennisOne X "Groundstrokes Unlimited" course. We've built an entire new TennisOne X website and packed a massive amount of instructional power into a new way to improve. We think this next presentation, "Getting You Over the Wall," explains it best. If your groundstroke game has hit a wall in any of these areas, this course will get you over that wall:
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Tennis Warehouse – New Products – Men's Shoes - KSWISS Tubes 100; Nike Air Court Ballistic 3 (Rafa' s shoe); Nike Lunar Vapor 8, adidas Barricade (Murry's shoe); Lacoste Repel 2 and Gravitate The Left Hand – Part Two: The Forehand Joe Dinoffer Don't let the title of this article fool you. This is not for or about left-handed players. Nor is it exclusively for right-handers. We will use the word "left" to replace "non-dominant." In other words, right-handers should read this article as is. Left-handers should understand that we are writing about their non-dominant or left hand. The goal of this article is to help improve both your game and your understanding of how to more efficiently and effectively play tennis. We have divided this topic into four aspects. The serve, forehand, backhand, and volley. See the previous issue of TennisOne for the impact of the left hand on the serve. The Forehand
My first tennis lesson was in 1958 when I was five years old. No offense to the tennis teacher, as most taught that way in those days, but I was taught vastly differently than the way today's players hit their forehands. Tennis playing and teaching has evolved tremendously to be more athletically efficient. Years ago, it was common to see players taught to have an "arm-only" swing. The physics of sports biomechanics was a fledgling science. Since then we have learned that angular momentum (coiling and uncoiling or rotating the upper body) generates substantial amounts of power into sports like tennis, golf, baseball, and even boxing. When tennis players appear stiff when they hit their forehand groundstrokes, it is usually because they are swinging mostly with their arm and with little body rotation. They appear to work hard to generate minimal power and are often the players with those funny armbands just below their elbows from tennis elbow. On the contrary, efficient forehands are fluid with natural upper body and hip coil and uncoil. This is where the non-racquet hand plays a key role. Step One: The Ready Position
Whether the left hand is on the throat of the racquet (photo #1) or lower towards the handle (photo #2), it is important to let the weight of the racquet rest in the non-dominant hand. The reason is important. The racquet hand must be at rest in between shots since the racquet hand grip will generally change between forehands and backhands. Holding on tight to the grip in the ready position hinders any attempts to change grips quickly and efficiently. Step Two: The Take Back
In the years that Chris Evert dominated women's tennis, the straight back racquet preparation she used on her forehand was common (photo #3). Now it has become a dinosaur. Why? The reason is the evolution of more powerful forehands with heavy topspin, a style that Evert rarely had to confront. Nowadays the non-racquet hand is involved in bringing the racquet back (photo #4), which has several practical advantages over the earlier style.
If someone needs help linking up the racquet hand and non-dominant hand, try a tool like the Forehand Fixer (photo #5). It simply connects to the wrists with Velcro to create a maximum 18-inch distance between the hands. If the hands separate further, the Velcro pulls apart to provide instant feedback. Step Three: After the Hit In recreational tennis, there's a common mistake that takes place right after a player hits a good shot. The player stands still admiring it. The obvious problem is that if the opponent returns the shot, he is probably totally out of position with a good chance of losing the point the player thought he had just won. Besides good recovery footwork, the non-dominant hand has an important role to play in recovery. Refer again to photo #1 with the understanding that you should be in that ready position before your opponent contacts the ball. It's not as easy as it sounds, but is a critical part of solid tennis.
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