Over my 10 years of coaching tennis, I have found that keeping it simple in regards to stroke mechanics and technique is the best way to go. I remember at the 2007 U.S. Open, Andre Agassi made reference to this while he was a guest commentator during the Roger Federer and Andy Roddick quarter final match. Ted Robinson, USA commentator asked Andre “were you the type of player that embraced the crowd”, Agassi replied “You know the 1st and last things I learned in this game were to move my feet and watch the ball” “That was my number 1 priority“. Of course moving his feet and watching the ball ended up getting Agassi millions of fans, but his mind set on court was always to keep it simple. This shows that regardless of your skill level, remembering key points will always help you, regardless of what is happening on court. The following, are key points and phrases, in one sentence, that will provide your game with the simplicity it needs to perform at its best. I will have an explanation provided after each of my key points, enjoy!

Forehand: Stop, drop and up. Explanation: STOP: meaning the preparation of the forehand, hold the racquet up and away from the body. The palm of your hand should point away from your body. For example: a crossing guard telling cars to STOP when children are crossing the street, as shown in the Moya photo to the right. DROP: drop the racquet head from the preparation position all the way to contact point, in front of your body. UP: meaning to follow through after contact to around the shoulder area.

Backhand, Two hands: lean and forward: Lean: meaning to lean on your front foot before contact, weather that being left foot, for left handers or the right foot, for right handers. Forward: meaning to reach forward after contact, so that your racquet is pointing towards your desired target.

Backhand, One hand: Balance and 1 foot in front. The key to a good 1 hand backhand is to 1st not forget about your non dominant arm, use it to balance out your body through contact by extending it behind you. The 2nd key component to a good one hander is the contact point, make sure you make contact 1 foot in front of you right foot for right handers and left foot for left handers.

Volley, both forehand and backhand: Less is more. Don’t over do your swing on the volley, big cuts at the ball will only result in mishits and inconsistency. The best volleyers in the world have their racquet heads close to their own head at contact, with no back swing and forward movement, as seen in the Rafter photo to the right.

Volley 2nd key phrase: Front and forward. To add onto the last phrase, to improve your volley its best to think that there is no back swing. Move forward and step into the ball with your left foot for the forehand volley, for right handers and your right foot for the backhand volley for right handers. Reverse this sequence for left handed players.

Slice backhand: Think banana: the approach to hitting a good slice backhand is to approach striking the ball with same shape of a banana. carving under it, with this motion will ensure that the desired spin will be created.

Top Spin for ground strokes: Bottom Edge and forearm. The best way to remember how to hit topspin is lead with the bottom edge of your frame while brushing up on the shot. This will allow you to get the racquet head under the level of the ball, a key trait that is required for hitting topspin. As well ,turning over the forearm, after contact will help the ball stay in the court for both forehands and backhands. This movement allows for a slightly more closed racquet head and not an open one which is what makes the ball fly out.

Flat serve: Square through: Flat serves are the easiest of the variety of serves that a player can hit. You are not looking to manipulate the ball like you would be in a slice or top spin serve. The best tip for this type of serve is to stay square with the ball, going right through the back of it and extending forward. Keep in mind that there is no such thing as a completely flat serve, every serve has a degree of spin on it, so if you feel as though you are over hitting or hitting into the net, its best to try and take some pace off of the ball and hit up slightly when making contact.

Slice serve: Throw that javelin:Hitting an effective slice serve requires you to hit the outside edge of the ball, this would mean for a right handed player to swing from right to left on the outside edge of the ball. This motion is similar to throwing a javelin where the palm of your hand does not open up until after contact, but is turned inwards facing your ear, right ear for right handers left ear for lefties.

Top Spin serve: Don’t break that glass: The 1st thing to remember is that a topspin serve has a different swing path to the than a slice or flat serve. For a right handed player, approach the back of the ball, imagining the ball as a clock. Brushing the ball from 7 going to 1 or 2 oclock, and going from the right to left side of your body with the swing. Finally, finishing with your palm turned outwards and to the side, not in front you, as seen in the Roddick photo to the right. An easy way to remember this is to imagine a glass wall in front of you. If you swing forward the glass will break, if you keep the follow through on the side of your body you will create the desired spin that is required and not break the glass.

Return of serve: Lead with the hip: returning serve can be tricky and is probably the most under practiced shot by most players. To get the most out of your return try and use your hitting hip to move into the ball. For a right handed player use your right hip for the forehand and left hip for the backhand. Especially when returning 1st serves you do not want to take a big swing, use more of a compact backswing and move forward with your hitting hip.

Pronation: Thumbs down: Pronation is a key component of serving and is used after the ball has been hit to ensure that there is no loss in swing speed or power. To make sure you are preforming pronation properly, point your thumb downwards after you have hit your serve and you will have achieved pronation. This will take some getting use to so perhaps starting from the service line will allow for greater comfort level to occur.

Overheads: Play the outfield: Hitting an overhead is very similar to catching a ball as an outfielder in baseball. Ideally, you want to position yourself under the ball with a little room to spare. By this I mean that its always easier to move forward than it is to move backwards. Another helpful tip is to imagine that if you let the ball drop it would hit you on the chest. This will ensure that you are under the ball and not hitting the overhead behind you.

If you have any comments or concerns, please feel free to leave a comment in the space below. I will respond promptly.

Popularity: 32% [?]