How to Play Tennis
the tennisforall
Tennis book
by evvy
The third of three sample chapters from The Forehand, which is Part 1 of
an ongoing digital tennis book.
If knowledge is power and technical communication an art form, then this
is the tennis book no tennis coach will want you to read... for it could
put them out of a job.
Want to teach yourself, your pupils or your kids tennis?
Whether you are just starting to learn tennis, or you want a fuller understanding
of the advanced stuff that you do on court every day and take for granted,
read on.
Technical tennis has rarely been so thoughtfully communicated and artistically
presented.
click the t to get moving
Chapter Three
Tennis Forehand: Rackets in Motion
You've now seen some world class examples of a perfect
contact, and you've
also seen a selection of the forehand grips that they use. The next step
is to put your knowledge of those grips and contacts to some practical use,
as we begin looking at correct ways to wield a tennis racket.
If you are going to make the ball move, you’ll need a racket head that’s
also moving: to do this, you’ll need somewhere to swing the racket
from. Obviously, a degree of coordination is now required to hit the ball
with the middle of the strings, but if you are old enough to be reading (and
making sense of) these sentences, then the chances are good.
Let's first of all look at a very simple way of generating racket head speed,
using a basic forehand swing. What follows is a selection of uncomplicated
forehand preparations, which I've gathered together to illustrate a straight
take-back of the racket head.
Before we begin, I want to refresh your memory with the 3 constants of a
good contact. The ball should be:
1, forward of the body,
2, at a manageable height and,
3, at racket's length-plus to the side of the body.
Not only are (variations of) the '3 constants' evident in each stroke on
these pages, but they are the reason that each player is in a position to
hit a successful forehand: without the 3 constants you'll make a bad contact,
and good technique cannot be built on a bad contact. It's that simple.
I realise that learning the '3 constants' by a form of brainwashing won't
enable you to hit a good contact, but it will help you diagnose and correct
the flaws in your own game, as well as those of practice partners and friends.
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Jimmy Connors is one of the greatest players of all time, who won a total
of 109 career titles and he was still playing on the men's tour at the grand
old age of 40. Remarkably, Jimmy achieved what he did with some of the simplest
strokes the modern pro game has ever seen. Click the letter t and you'll
see Jimmy's first reaction to the oncoming ball was to turn. This sideways
turn is an essential part of forehand preparation: if they don't always take
a full body turn, good players will (almost) always fully turn the shoulders.
Jimmy turns sideways to the net before he begins his forehand wind-up. In
fact it's not a wind up at all. The term 'wind up' suggests a continuous
motion, like the circular winding of a watch. What Jimmy uses is a straight
take-back of the racket head. He simply points the tip of his racket at the
court back-stop behind him.
Preparation done.
Now click the letter e and you'll see he's dropped the racket head below
the height of the oncoming ball, as he swings through towards his perfect
contact. Click the letter n and we see his lifted swing up-and-through, in
the direction of the hit.
How simple is that?
I'm going to take a look at the full Connors forehand later.
But before we move on, click your way through the three letters again and
see how the forward contact draws Jimmy's efforts through, in the direction
of the hit. Don't look at any particular body part. Just absorb this one
detail, that Jimmy's out-front contact draws his racket head, allowing his
efforts to shift through in the direction of the intended hit. This puts
some meat on the bare bones of a forward swinging racket head.
This wouldn't be possible if the ball was not out front.
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Unlike the previous stroke, where Jimmy's straight take-back of the racket
head is very much his own, I've chopped a frame off the beginning of this
sequence of Mary Joe Fernandez' forehand. I've also chopped frames of the
next three short sequences too, for that matter.
To be honest, few players at the highest level play with a straight take-back
of the racket, so I've chopped some sequences down to make it appear as if
they do. For lesser mortals, a simple take-back is a valid way of hitting
the tennis ball, even though it's a little old fashioned, and Jimmy Connors
is living proof that you don't need to develop a stroke with a mega-loop
to play good tennis.
The high, looped wind-ups you see at pro level give world class players lots
of racket head speed, which they use to hit with both power and topspin.
But if you are a lowly beginner or simple club player, with neither the natural
talent, the on-court time (to train) nor the aspirations to rise up the State,
National or Junior tennis rankings, you simply don't need all that racket
head speed. Nor do you need such a complex, hard-to-time stroke. Beginners
of
every age
can develop a high quality stroke from a straight take-back of the racket
head, and if you get to show promise, or when young children develop some
physical strength, a loop can be added as the learner progresses. Another
alternative is to develop both types of stroke, hitting with and without
a loop as the situation demands: this is a theory I'll develop at a much
later stage.
In the second n Mary Joe Fernandez opens the palms of her hands wide, as
she points the tip of her racket at the court back stop. In i she has driven
the racket head through to...what?
Do you still have the 3 'constants' in mind?
Mary Joe is hitting a forward contact at a comfortable height, as she fulfills
all three 'rules' for a perfect contact. In s she has driven the racket head
through the forward contact, which once again serves to draw the racket head
through in the direction of the hit. Sharp minds will have noticed a fundamental
difference between this shot and Jimmy's in the previous frames.
Any ideas?
The ball that Connors is hitting is a falling ball, whereas the one Mary
Joe has stuck her rackets strings to is much deeper and is still rising from
the bounce. To rise to the higher, bouncier ball, Mary Joe hits off the back
foot. Basically, she pushes up and in to meet it. We'll take a first look
at this part of a stroke in the next couple of articles.
tennisforall.com
Here I've chopped quite a few frames off Tim Henman's forehand preparation,
because there's more of it than Mary Joe's (and I was using a faster motor
drive!). Once again we see a scaled-down version of a forehand preparation.
From a full sideways turn and a straightforward take-back of the racket,
these abbreviated strokes also make good starter strokes for small children
playing short tennis.
From this angle we see Tim's efforts wind through, from a full sideways turn
to the net. Tim's racket is swung through to make a forward contact and it
carries on in a full follow through.
But remember. None of this can happen without a perfect contact.
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We don't actually see 'all' of Russia's Elena Bovina in this frame, but we
see quite enough.
Yet again I've shaved some frames off the sequence to give the impression
of a sawn-off, simplified take-back. In a Elena points the butt of the racket
handle at the impending contact point and in l she spins the racket head
through to a forward contact, which is also waist high and marginally forward
of her body. Her weight is on her back (right) foot throughout the stroke.
Click through the 3 frames again and see how her efforts spin on the balls
of her right foot.
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Starting with these 3 frames of Agassi's forehand I've introduced motion
into the sequences. Over following chapters, the images will be mostly animated
or you can roll your mouse over the buttons to make the images
change.
On the face of it, this is a great 3 frame sequence to illustrate much of
what I've been talking about.
In c Andre is fully turned, with the tip of the racket pointing to the back
of the court. The butt of the grip is pointing towards the ball. You also
get a good view of Agassi's grip in this frame.
In o the ball has just left the strings. Andre has driven the racket head
through to a perfect contact, and his weight shifts forward with the racket
head.
In m Andre has powered the ball back across the net. Look how the forward
contact appears to have pulled the racket, the hitting shoulder and the whole
right side of the body through, in the direction of the shot.
Look again at the 3 frame sequence and you'll see that Andre isn't hitting
this stroke as purely as he might. Whether a bad bounce, 'kicking' side-spin
or because he's got a fraction too close to the ball to hit inside-out (to
his opponents backhand), something has made Agassi improvise at the last
moment and Andre is definitely shifting from left to right (as we look) throughout
the shot. In the first two frames you can see him making a little more room
between his belly button and the ball and in the third frame the shift away
from contact is clear to see. Agassi still makes a perfect contact, but for
whatever reason, he's had to improvise at the very last moment to get the
ball to do just what he wants.
For the other nine chapters of The
Tennis Forehand,
plus 12 chapters on The
Tennis Serve,
click on the www.lulu.com links above.
THE
FOREHAND
3 Sample Chapters (of the full 12)
THE
FOREHAND Chapter
One
THE
FOREHAND Chapter
Two
THE
FOREHAND Chapter
Three
THE SERVE
Two sample Chapters (of the full 12)
THE SERVE Chapter One
THE SERVE Chapter
Two
Juan Carlos
Ferrero
Tennis for
All?
Simon Roberts:
A County Tennis Odyssey
Anabel Croft
Andy Roddick
Elena Dementieva
Gabriela Sabatini
Tim Henman
Jimmy Connors
Venus and Serena
Williams
Serena Forehand
Mary Joe Fernandez
How to hit a tennis backhand: Part
1
How to hit a tennis backhand: Part 2
How to hit a tennis backhand: Part 3
How to hit a backhand: Part 4
How to hit a backhand: Part 5
