Our Mission | Contact Us | Site Map     Drill #1     I have been playing tennis for twenty years and can’t remember being more excited about the game. I’m playing twice as well.   — Jon Coutts, Sydney, Australia                       An Easy Way to Start Have a friend feed (toss) a ball gently toward your right side. The ball should bounce well before it gets to you, allowing you plenty of time. Wait for the ball to come near you, adjusting your body if necessary. Find the ball slowly and to your front with the center of your racquet strings. Accelerate your right hand up and across your body until it touches the upper part of your left shoulder. Do this with a gentle upward pull as you touch the ball, creating the momentum of your arm from the ball forward, rather than prior to the contact with the ball. It should feel like you pushed the ball up and over the net. First, find the ball as if you were going to grab it. As you touch the ball, accelerate your hand and racquet mostly upward, bending your arm toward your left shoulder. Your racquet face is slightly open when you touch the ball, but you lead the swing with the upper edge of the racquet, so that it goes up and over your left shoulder. This will propel the ball at about 20 mph, two to four feet over the net, in the direction of the open court. If the ball goes too high, close the racquet face a bit for your next shot. Do this drill 50 or 60 times. After a while you’ll start noticing that the ball has a slight forward rolling action after leaving your racquet. This is called topspin. The more you lift your arm, the more topspin you will get on the ball. Just two or three rolls of the ball until it bounces in the other court are enough topspin at this stage. Again, be gentle. Do not take a hard swing. You can start to slide your hand toward a normal grip position, but keep the finish over the shoulder, whether you are choking up on the racquet or not. Note: How far to choke up on the racquet depends on the person’s strength and physical ability. Some people like to start with the hand closer to the throat of the racquet, others prefer midway, and some would rather play with the hand on the racquet’s handle. This should be left to the player’s discretion. After a few tries you will know what feels best for you at the stage you are in. Confidence is built by success and the person knows instinctively what his “safety needs” are to get the ball on the racquet and then into the other court. Guidelines Do not “break” your wrist. It can drastically affect the direction of your shot. The wrist is slightly laid back, with the racquet’s upper edge moving upward together with your arm. Keep your focus on finding the ball and getting it over the net. Everything else will fall into place naturally as you do the drills in this chapter. You want to feel the ball on your strings as long as possible, and then feel the finish of your stroke, as if these were the only important things to do. Don’t worry about the position of your body. Do whatever is comfortable for you. The less you do, the better. It’s okay if your body faces the net, or if it’s slightly turned. Just get those easy balls gently over the net, ending with your right hand over your left shoulder. Many people make hitting the ball harder for themselves because they are also concentrating on the position of their feet, their balance, weight transfer, whether they are sideways to the net, their racquet preparation, etc. Your focus should be only on finding the ball and completing the same finish, even while you are playing your hardest. Back to Tips and Drills | Next     Back to top