Archive for the ‘Technique’ Category

Slow Motion Video of Rafael Nadal’s Forehand

We have just been sent a great slow motion video of Rafael Nadal hitting his forehand in practice. It shows you just how much twist and wrist snap he actually gets on his forehand.

Federer, Murray, And Williams Have Ups And Downs

In the semifinals of the US Open 2011, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Serena Williams have shown us that their rhythm and timing can ebb and flow within (and between) their matches. They may not have wanted to lower their performance level and they showed that they could recover some level of their performance. They also showed that after recovery they faltered in maintaining that level needed to win their matches.

What are the advantages of good rhythm and timing for a tennis player?

Our brains have a series of rhythm and timing circuits which control our motor planning and sequencing. This is the central hub for our coordination functions. When these circuits are well tuned, we have accuracy and make few mistakes. The more precisely tuned these circuits, the more accurate we are and the fewer mistakes we make.

The statistics we gather about performance in a tennis match are an excellent gauge of how well tuned our rhythm and timing circuits are. Winners, unforced errors, double faults, aces, and service percentages are all certainly good numbers to watch to know how well a player is performing. These numbers also clearly indicate how a player’s rhythm and timing circuits are performing.

How do problems in rhythm and timing show up in a tennis match?

During a match, the changes in the player’s statistics are a good indicator of the changes in the player’s rhythm and timing. So, when we see a dip or surge in winners, unforced errors, double faults, aces, and service percentages we know that there are changes in the rhythm and timing.

Of course, an increase in double faults and unforced errors are an indication that rhythm and timing are in trouble. And, an increase in winners, aces, and services percentages indicate that rhythm and timing are getting better.

Overall, a player’s ranking is an indication of how well their rhythm and timing circuits function. Generally, those near the top of the ranking have the best rhythm and timing. Of course, there are all kinds of things which enter into a player’s ranking, but ranking is a good rule-of-thumb for understanding how well are player’s rhythm and timing circuits are working.

What are the kinds of things which affect a player’s rhythm and timing?

We need to remember that rhythm and timing is developed as we mature. It is not innate. Rhythmic stimuli help a child develop their basic rhythm and timing. Rhythmic exercises help us maintain and further develop our rhythm and timing as children and adults

Injury, illness, and surgery are some of the kinds of physical trauma which affect our rhythm and timing. So, when someone is recovering from these kinds of things, they need to have a rhythm and timing regimen in their training program to recover the connections between their brain circuits and their muscles. Most players simply combine their physical therapy with their return to their normal training regimen which has been developed for their sport. But, this is often not enough to recover their rhythm and timing to peak levels. Most physical therapists have no experience with or training in rhythm and timing.

There are emotional states which affect a player’s rhythm and timing. These may be affecting the player for a few minutes or hours or weeks (or even longer). What happens is that our emotional states can help us maintain our good levels of rhythm and timing. Or, they my bring about changes in our physical functioning which improves or degrades our rhythm and timing.

We know from experience that a player’s confidence that they can win a particular match has a lot to do with their ability to succeed. We also know that when a player recognizes that the opponent is going to win the match, something changes in the player’s state and the player performs so that this belief about the loss becomes true.

Another thing which can affect a player’s rhythm and timing are environmental factors. They can eat, breath, or touch something to which they react badly and their body goes into a reaction which affects their performance.

All of these things affect the relationship between the player’s rhythm and timing circuits and their array of muscles. Those timing relationships are critical for excellent performance, so when these kinds of things have occurred, the player’s performance will suffer.

What can tennis players do to prevent a drop in rhythm and timing?

For the physical traumas, it is simply part the normal aspects of any sport. Be prepared to re-build your rhythm and timing circuits with a training regimen which gives you optimum rhythm and timing. Have a training resource which specializes in that aspect of your game and use it when recovering from anything physical.

For emotional episodes which affect your rhythm and timing there is an aspect of effective rhythm and timing training which helps the player develop two sets of emotional skills. First, in an effective rhythm and timing training program, there are exercises in which the player learn to maintain and emotional even keel. All players experience the situation where an easy slam is presented and they get excited and end up with an unforced error. In a good rhythm and timing program you learn how to maintain the emotional states which maintain the highest levels of rhythm and timing. You also learn tips and tricks for recovering your good rhythm and timing on-the-spot when you have popped out of rhythm..

Second, some players have an extraordinary rhythm and timing training program which helps them develop multiple sets of rhythm and timing circuits. One for normal performance and others for special circumstances. So, if the player chooses to go into a particular emotional state, they don’t lose their rhythm and timing effectiveness. We all know of players who can continue performing well when they get angry, but most players are not able to maintain effectiveness in that state.

For environmental factors, it is best for players to have done an environmental audit to know everything which affects them. This gives them a way of preventing many environmental factors from affecting their performance.

Is there an objective, non-tennis test for Rhythm and Timing?

Yes, you can measure how precise your rhythm and timing brain circuits are functioning for yourself by taking our rhythm screening test. This is a simple, one-minute, online test which gives you a number (your Rhythmicity Index or RI) between 0 and 10o (some can score higher than 100). One hundred (100) is perfect and zero (0) is perfectly awful. The higher your RI, the better your coordination, the more accurate your shots, the more stamina you have, the more aces you can deliver, the faster you run, the faster your reaction times, the more accurate you are in challenges, etc. . . We recommend that professional athletes have an RI of at least 90 and preferably 95+.

Just because a person has an RI of 90+ does not mean they are or will be a great athlete in any sport. That person still needs to have training in the sport to become good. But, good rhythm and timing are essential to becoming a great performer in any sport and improved rhythm and timing speeds the training to achieve those results.

Staying Focused Is About Rhythm & Timing

Players tell us that they have difficulty maintaining focus when there are distractions. They also have difficulty staying focused when they are waiting.

The US Open 2011 had a great first week, but days 9 and 10 were rained out (okay, about 10 minutes were played on day 10) and this is frustrating for everyone involved. Now, we are at the start of day 11 and it is raining in New York City. Imagine the frustration that players have in the face of this kind of scheduling difficulty.

Where Does Focus Come From?

Our ability to focus is based in those same brain circuits which control our coordination. When we have trouble with our coordination, we also have difficulty with our ability to maintain focus. These capabilities do not seem to be connected and I did not think they were linked until I started teaching children with Attention Deficit Disorders (ADD & ADHD).

When I took these children through rhythm and timing training, they would dramatically improve their attention and focus, but they would also dramatically improve their coordination. Before the training they would not be able to run, throw or catch a ball, jump rope, or even skip. After the training, they would enjoy excellent coordination and begin to excel in sports they had struggled with or had shunned before.

How Do We Focus?

Our brain has many different sensory management circuits. One set of these circuits are gating circuits for external auditory, kinesthetic, and visual data. They are called gating circuits because we open and close them to permit in or block out a particular data stream. Our rhythm and timing circuits are used for the proper control of these gates. If our rhythm and timing has problems, we cannot control these gates and we can have a variety of focus distractions and difficulties.

Let me give you a concrete example of what these gating circuits can do for us. A person with good focus can sit at a table in a restaurant and focus in on a conversation at the next table. And, they can focus out (not hear) the conversations at the other nearby tables.

One of my clients is a young quadriplegic lawyer. His hearing was not properly gated. He was easily distracted by unwanted audio signals. He had difficulty sleeping at night because of cars entering and leaving his apartment complex. His gating circuits were almost always open wide. He had no control over what he heard.

After the rhythm and timing training he wrote me an email telling me about a seminar he had just attended. Several times during the program the presenter stopped and apologized to the class for the noise coming from the next classroom. He told me he had not heard that noise until the presenter mentioned it. Last year he and I were in a restaurant together and his care-giver motioned for him to listen to the music being played. He was surprised that he had not noticed the music, because it was his favorite song.

So, now it is clear that he does not have to be distracted by audio signals. He is able to focus in on things he wants to hear and focus out those things he does not care to listen to. In the seminar, he wanted to focus in on the information of the seminar and in the restaurant, he wanted to focus in on our conversation. Other sounds were unwanted and were not a distraction to him.

Does This Only Work For Audio Signals?

Our brain has these kinds of gating circuits for visual and kinesthetic data, as well as audio.

We all know that some people have a higher pain tolerance than others. This means that they can keep their kinesthetic pain gates closed a lot more easily and a lot longer than people with less tolerance for pain. And, we have all had experiences where we looked at something and did not see it.

How Can This Information Help Our Tennis Game?

What can help your tennis game is to improve your rhythm and timing. When you do that ,you receive the coordination which makes your shots more accurate and your sensory gating circuits become more well tuned which provides you with improved focus and concentration.

Even With Poor Coordination, Maria Sharapova Can Win

I watched Maria Sharapova in her three set victory over Heather Watson on the opening day of the 2011 US Open. Her coordination was erratic. She had almost twice the unforced errors of Watson (58 to 30) and four times the number of double faults (8 to 2). Yet, she had a lot more aces (5 to 0) and winners (41 to 9) than Watson.

Of course, she had other match statistics which show us an erratic performance, but you can get the picture from these. Sharapova was the winner, but she was erratic. She is a great player and because of that she was able to win in spite of her poor coordination. As I watched the match, I saw her shift back and forth between poor and good coordination. Sometimes she was on and sometimes she was off.

For many tennis players, poor coordination or an erratic performance is the difference between winning and losing a match. What causes lapses into poor coordination or this kind of erratic performance and what can a player do about it?

Keeping Track Of Your Rhythm And Timing

In my former TTT post about Improving Coordination, I talked about a player’s level of rhythm and timing as the basis of their level of coordination (and accuracy). Tennis players test and reinforce  their rhythm and timing by bouncing the ball before their serve and swaying or dancing before they receive a serve. This is a good test of their current state of coordination and when their rhythm and timing are in good condition, it is a good way to reinforce that state.

Many Things Affects An Athletes Rhythm And Timing Performance

Emotional State: Calm confidence is generally the best emotional state for maintaining the highests levels of the coordination which comes from excellent rhythm and timing. Any other emotion can rob the player of their best set of resources. This is why Sharapova has her ritual between each point in a game. This helps her regain her calm confidence.

We see many players lose their calm confidence after a bad line call (or some other perceived problem)  and some get so stuck in that upset state that they cannot play well enough to continue to win the match. Emotions like fear, anger, and dread interfere with the athletes signal transmission and processing equipment and change the rhythm at which the athletes brain is operating. One of the most common reactions involves acceleration of these processes and that changes the athletes rhythm and timing.

Some athletes seem to have better performance when they are angry (Nadal) and others seem to fall apart (Serena Williams, Andy Roddick). But, most athletes lose the match when they lose that calm confidence.

Hydration, Nutrition And Conditioning: Of course, hydration, nutrition and conditioning play a part in the maintenance of our effective rhythm and timing. If you have not effectively prepared your body for the match, your body may not have the physical resources to perform effectively. Your rhythm and timing is not only related to your conditioning, if you don’t have the appropriate hydration and nutrition, you body may need to shut down to survive.

Environmental Factors: This can include the weather and temperature and we all know that when conditions are too hot (or cold or wet or dry) it can affect the players performances. But, there are other environmental conditions which can affect the athletes performance.

Do you remember the ATP Rome tournament a couple of years ago when many players came down with some kind of flu-like illness?  My belief is that something happened in the environment at that tourney which affected many of the players. My guess is that the players dressing rooms were freshly painted or had new carpeting or something like that. I have seen this kind of response in organizations, schools, and businesses, where some new chemical has been added to the environment and many people have flu-like symptoms in reaction to these chemicals.

Our reactions to environmental factors do not have to be raised to the level of illness for us to have our performance affected. Many athletes lose their good rhythm and timing because they are responding to some factor in their environment. This is one of the significant reasons why athletes can have really great coordination (rhythm and timing) in one match and the next day they have lost their coordination.

I believe that this susceptibility to environmental factors is one of the main reasons that many high level athletes have a rigid structure in their tournament lifestyle. They like to stay in the same room at the same hotel and eat the same foods and wear the same clothes. Many call it superstition, but for me it is a desire to keep all the environmental factors under control.

What can a player do in the middle of the match to get back on track?

One of the things we know that Sharapova does between each play in the game is walk away from the court, look at her racquet, and make a fist with her left hand. My guess is that she is using a technique to focus her mind and to connect to a state of excellent performance before the next serve. She has done this technique for years and overall it seems to be working for her.

But, when a player’s rituals are not working, what can they do to get back on track with their state? I can suggest a few things which will help break these inappropriate states for you.

Stop Your Stinking Thinking: If you have lost your calm confidence, that is the most important thing you need to recover to to be able to get back on track. If you hold on to your anger, fear, dread or other emotion which is interfering with your match, you must stop thinking what you are thinking (which is holding you in that inappropriate emotional state). One aspect of being in the wrong emotional state is compulsive and repetitive thoughts which hold you there. You have to take control of your thoughts and erase what you have been thinking from your mind.

If you don’t know how to stop your stinking thinking, There are professionals who can teach you how to do that. Of course, it is difficult to learn this during a match. You know if you are prone to stinking thinking, you should learn these techniques so you know how to stop it during your matches.

Develop And Use An Anchor For An Excellent State: This is what I think Sharapova does when she makes a fist with her left hand before each serve. She has connected a high-performance emotional state to the experience of that fist with her non-dominant hand. You really need someone who knows what they are doing to help you establish this anchor for you. Ask around to get someone to help you do this. You will find it very helpful for you to get back on track.

Racquet-Tap To Reset Your Energy System: Tap your racquet as if to test the tension of the strings. But, don’t tap it with your palm. Use the side of your hand (like a karate chop) and tap the strings at least 5 times. Don’t do it so hard that you hurt your hand (or your racquet). There are energy meridian points on your hand which you stimulate with this activity and this resets aspects of your energy systems. This is very helpful when your coordination is off and you can do this before every serve until you have got your rhythm and timing back on track.

Splash Cold Water On Your Face: If you recognize that you are losing (or have lost) your rhythm and timing, splash cold water on your face when you take your rests. This is is usually more powerful than the Racquet-Tap to get your rhythm and timing back on track.

It is common for your rhythm and timing to come and go during a match. But, these tools and techniques can help you get back on track.

Improving Coordination

For most of us, coordination is something innate and we don’t believe it is possible to improve it. Let’s look at coordination and see what new concepts and what kind of training is available for it.

Hand-Eye Coordination

We have experienced an evolution in our concepts of coordination. I remember first reading about hand-eye coordination three decades ago. This was the idea that explored the relationship between what we saw and what action we were able to take as a result. So, this concept talked about seeing the ball and being able to take a swing and hitting the ball. It was a very good concept for helping us understand that there was a relationship between what we saw and what actions we could take because of it.

Rhythm and Timing

The latest ideas about coordination are based in the concepts of rhythm and timing. This concept gets us a little deeper into the relationships between our brain circuits and the rest of our body. This concept explores timing circuits in our brain and how they relate to our muscles, our sensory mechanisms, and our perceptions.

It looks at something called “motor sequencing and planning.” Basically, our coordination is about which muscles are fired off, in which sequence, to achieve some action. Coordination happens when those muscles are contracted and relaxed in the proper form at the proper time. I know that this all sounds very complex, and in reality it is incredibly complex. But, we don’t have to know exactly which brain cell or which nerve path, or which muscle gets involved with these actions. All we need to do is swing the racket and hit the ball where we want it to go.

What are Rhythm And Timing?

Timing is about the action happening at the appropriate moment to achieve the outcome. In a tennis serve, if the athlete hits the ball too early, the ball will go beyond the line and if the athlete hits the ball too late the ball will hit the net. Timing is about hitting the ball at the right time.

We often hear broadcasters telling us that an athlete has lost their timing. They (and we) see this when the player starts making double faults and unforced errors. The athlete is not hitting the ball at the precise time needed, so the ball is not going to the appropriate place.

Rhythm is about the flow of events. For the highest level of performance, an athlete needs to recognize and enter the flow of the play (often referred to as the rhythm-of-the-game) and then match it or manage it. Roger Federer is a master at entering into the rhythm of the other player’s game, and then changing the rhythm and ‘confusing’ the other player, which causes the other player to make an unforced error. Broadcasters often refer to Roger “stealing” the other player’s rhythm.

Athletes with the highest capability in rhythm are able to enter any rhythm, can change their rhythm whenever they want, and are not confused when the rhythm changes. The most common problems in rhythm is inability to recognize and match the rhythm of the other player and the inability to maintain themselves steady in their own rhythm.

Scott Hamilton talks about an ice skater entering a jump for 3 revolutions and “popping-out” after only one revolution. I really like that term to describe what I see when an athlete loses their rhythm in the middle of their play. As they lose their rhythm, they stop their own flow of play. Maintaining a steady rhythm and adapting to the existing rhythm are essential for the highest level of play.

What Affects Rhythm And Timing?

Poor rhythm and timing can be improved with proper training. This training involves tens of thousands of reps of very simple exercises maintaining a precise rhythm. It involves testing to track improvement in rhythm and timing.

Good rhythm and timing can be reduced by a variety of things. Injury, surgery, and some illnesses can disrupt the timing relationships between brain circuits and muscles and this requires training to re-establish the proper timing relationships.

Improper diet, environmental toxins, and emotional or physical trauma can temporarily degrade rhythm and timing. These can be avoided with proper precautions or overcome with some mental and physical techniques.

Rhythm And Timing On The Tennis Court

Want to see your favorite tennis player testing and activating their good rhythm and timing? Watch the player prepare to serve the ball. Notice the bouncing they do before the serve? They are verifying their continued good rhythm and timing. If they cannot maintain a good rhythm in that bouncing and catching exercise, they will perform poorly in the next point.

The same goes for receiving a serve. The swaying back and forth is a way of verifying and activating their own good rhythm and timing. Some (like Juan Martin del Potro) even do a little dance to test and re-connect with their good rhythm and timing, when waiting for a serve.

Rhythm and Timing, So What?

From my perspective, Novak Djokovic is doing so well this year because his rhythm and timing are so precise. And, Roger Federer, James Blake, and Andy Roddick are players who could move up dramatically in the standings by improving their rhythm and timing.

The Timing of the Backswing Is Just As Important

Every stroke has 3 basic – and obvious – parts. The Backswing, the acceleration, the follow-through.

When you watch the top tennis players they look like they hit the ball effortlessly. They hit the ball so clean and crisp, might have large and smooth strokes. In this article I am going to talk about the backswing in particular.

The backswing plays a major part in how would you hit the ball, and most importantly how consistently you the ball.

The transition between the backswing and the acceleration phase is extremely critical. There should be no pause between the backswing and the acceleration forward. The racquet head should not stop moving.

If you take your racquet back to early, and you pause the two long, you will find that you have a very jerky swing. You will also find that you try use your body to accelerate the racquet. This usually results in ‘spinning out’ of the shot. The ball will usually have an ‘inside out’ flight path.

Decades ago the technique was to prepare yourself early, take your racquet back, plant yourself for the shot, then accelerate through the shot. In today’s game, the technique is more like one single action.

To achieve an effortless swing, focus on the delaying the backswing to ensure there is no pause at the back of you stroke. You will find your body can stay in position for longer, your stroke will become smoother, and you’ll gain more power.

This is applicable to forehands, backhands and the serve. On the serve, the acceleration phase starts when your racquet is down the middle of your back. Your backswing and the height of your ball toss are important in having a smoother serve.

Try these few tips and let me know how it goes.

Michael

Coming To The Net

To learn when to come to the net, imagine that the court is divided into three colors, like a traffic light. The zone that the ball lands in should determine your response. The back court is the red zone. Do not move in when the ball lands in this area. The middle part is the yellow zone. If you get a ball there, proceed only if our opponent is out of position or you can hurt them with your approach. The front third of the court is the green zone. When the ball bounces here, get in as quick as possible.

Glenn Irwin – Noosa Springs Tennis Centre

You Are Only As Good As Your Second Serve

Okay, firstly, the strength to winning matches is the ability to hold your serve. Usually, a set is won by holding every service game, then breaking your opponent serve. When this is the case  wind the set 6-4.

If you serve the first game, you must to break at 5-4. If you serve the setting game you must break at 4-4.

Therefore, holding serve is the most important thing in a match. If you do loose your serve work VERY hard to break them straight back. You must put in 120% effort to break them immediately otherwise the whole match can change around in a few games.

Therefore your second serve is the anchor for the match. Potentially the second serve will be one of the major influences in the outcome of your matches. You need to work hard to develop a solid second serve you can rely on in ANY situation.

We often ignore serving practice. However we are guarenteed to need to hit that shot and hit it well !

Enjoy ! Michael

Go Forward After Every Volley

Here is a challenge to everyone. The next time you are out on the tennis court try to take a step forward after you hit every volley.

Why? There are two reasons. The first reason is that it gets you going forward while you are hitting your volley. It forces you to go out after the ball rather than waiting for the ball to come to you. The second reason, is that your opponent will feel you getting closer to the net. Therefore, every single volley will put more and more pressure on your opponent. You will also gain volley angle options to finish the point from the net.

This both applies to singles as well as doubles. When you are watching the elite level doubles watch how each player moves closer and closer to the net.

Try this technique and let me know how it goes!

Michael

Do not think during a match.

Ok, the title is not entirely true – however the point is DO NOT think TOO much during the match.

During the match is the time to EXECUTE everything that you have thought about before the match.

What am I talking about?? Ok. Before a match you would have trained and practiced. You would have worked on your technique across all your shots. You would have found great rythm on your serve and ground strokes. You also should have developed a clear plan / strategy on how you are going to play this match. Plan A and Plan B.

Do you see what I refer to when I say THINKING? During a match is the time to EXECUTE all these things. Forget about technique, you can not change that in a match. Forget about rhythm – it is your opponents objective to ensure you get no rhythm! Also forget about strategy.. it is pretty tough to work out a solid plan when you are in the middle of a match. Before the match is the time for that.

So, during the match you are relaxed and free to only think about executing your PLAN to beat this opponent. Focus on your plan, have confidence in your plan and most importantly STICK TO IT. Give your plan time to work.

So many people come into a match with a plan and then get discouraged because they are down in the first set. They go to plan B, which also fails.. What happens then? Then they are totally lost. When you are totally lost you are hitting balls aimlessly and points have less meaning. Then what do you start to think of? …. Technique, or creating plan C. During that time, game after game is slipping away and ultimately the match.

IF you PREPARE your plan well, be confident to EXECUTE it. Sometimes your plan may take a few games or set to take effect.

THINK before a match EXECUTE during the match..

Michael

Hit The Ball On The Rise

Make life easy for yourself and hit the ball on the rise. One of the challenges with tennis is that every ball we hit will come to us differently. Different height, speed, spin, distance from our body etc. Our challenge it to try and move ourselves into position to execute as close to the same shat as possible each time.
Let me give you a tip that will make a massive difference to your groundstrokes. Hit every ball on the rise OR at the top of the bounce.

As soon as that ball starts to drop your whole stroke needs to change to get the ball up and over the net. The stroke becomes much more difficult and you will hit the frame of your racquet more especially if you are trying to apply topspin.

The first picture shows how closed the racquet face can be if you hit the ball on the rise. The key is that you can hit the ball very hard and it will stay in the court. You are changing the direction of the ball. In the picture the ball changes direction by about 90 degrees. Lets see what happens with a dropping ball.

With a dropping ball you need to open the face of the racquet, and hit up to get exactly same ball direction. However in this case the harder you hit the ball the further over the fence the ball will go. In which case most people then back off the power and they let gravity bring the ball down onto the court.

Now you can picture in your minds 2 different pictures. High level players strike across a rising ball and other players tap a dropping ball back up and over the net.

High level players use mainly the wind resistance of a heavily spinning ball to make it land in the court, while other players rely on gravity for it to land in the court.

To see another compact explanation of this look at or think of people playing ping pong. The ball is hit with a closed bat, as the ball is coming off the table. They can generate massive power and still keep it in that little area.

Anyway I hope that has got you thinking. Move those feet, move forward, hit the ball on the rise and WATCH YOUR GAME IMPROVE !!.

Enjoy your tennis !

Hit Your Volley As Early As Possible

As Early As Possible. Yes, go out after your volley. Do not wait for it to come to you.

This does a few things.

Firstly it gets you moving forward to the volley. With your body momentum going forward you will use your body weight as the main power in the volley. Most people who stand very flat footed tens to swip and slap at their volleys in an attempt to generate power.

Secondly, it forces you to take an attacking approach to the volley which really threatens the opponent.

Thirdly, the earlier you hit the ball the higher over the net the ball is at contact. The longer you let the ball come to you, the lower your volley will be hit. So, with a lower volley you will then need to hit up on the ball to clear the net and are forced to play a softer shot.

Forth, with your momentum going forward you will continue to get closer to the net on the next volley – therefore closing out the point at the net.

Fifth, you will naturally hit the ball out in front of your body which is essential for good volleys.

Wow – all these results just by thinking about hitting it as early as possible !

Volley positive, go forward and close the point out.

Michael

Develop a Consistent Ball Toss

One of the most challenging parts of tennis is that nearly every ball is going to come to you differently. In most other sports there are not as many variables. This is one of the great parts about tennis, the challenge!

Ok having said that, the shot with the LEAST number of variables is our serve. We can PLACE that ball anywhere in the air, we can decide WHEN to toss the ball up. Two big variables !!

So why do people server inconsistently, or continually chasing their ball toss? The answer, an incosistent ball toss ! Sure a bit of wind might alter it slightly but really not that much.

What can you do? Practice your ball toss. Practice placing the ball in the air in the same spot over and over. Dont hit the ball practice the toss only.

Your ball toss – if you dont hit it – should land in the same place on the court. When I was young we used to place the racquet flat on the ground. Racquet handle butt against our front toe, strings toward the net. When we tossed the ball up it should land on the strings. We would practice landing our ball toss over and over, landing it on the same spot on the ground.

Only with a consistent ball toss, can build a consistent serve. Many people grip the ball too hard on the ball toss, ‘chuck’ it up then worry about it afterwards.

The ball toss should be a very gentle, gracefull placement. Start by holding the ball gently with your fingers. Nearly with your finger tips. Turn your hand so your palm faces your body. Gently release the ball with the tips of your finger, place it up there. Are you thinking about your ball toss differently now?

Work out where your toss should be for your different servers and practice placing them up there. Get the height right and how far forward or behind your head etc.

Enjoy ! Michael

Serves Going Into The Net?

During a match we tend to tighten up in pressure situations. Serving is where these pressures can mount up. Why? Well, we are expected to win our serve AND we are in control of when the point starts. (Here also lies the opportunity to become a very sold server – more about that another time) If you find yourself pulling your serves into the net it is usually due to you dropping your ball toss shoulder too early. Right handers – your left shoulder. Left handers – your right shoulder. (if ball toss shoulder wasnt clear enough )

This is definitely the case IF you find you are looking at the ground after serving. Some people are hunched over after the serve with little forward momentum.

So what to do? A very easy cue to remember in the match – is ‘keep your front shoulder up high’. I mean, really keep it up high for as long as you can. In actual fact it will be forced down eventually as you make impact and follow through the serve.

See the example of the picture in this article. Federer has his left hand and shoulder reaching high. His front shoulder is much higher than the back shoulder.

‘Keep your shoulder high’ is the simple cue in the match to get your serves back on track.

By forcing this action you will stay very tall during the serve and it will force you to go ‘up’ and ‘out’ to the ball.

Stay tall, feel strong, and build a solid serve you can rely on in any situation.

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Respect Your First Serve

It happens all too often. Before we know it we are about to serve a second serve. What happened to the first one? Did we just throw it away? Is it because we have a second chance that we treat the first serve with less respect? We might just have a slap at it, go for a big hard flat serve and not really think about it. Then, if it goes in, well that is a bonus.

If you look at the statistics of elite level matches usually the winner has a higher first server percentage. Is this just a coincidence OR are we looking at something obvious here?

Lets think about it. In theory, when you are service your first serve you are in a stronger position than the returner. They do not know how conservative you are going to be, in actual fact they expect you to be attacking your first serve. Therefore most of the time the receiver in defensive mode, just trying to hit a decent return to neutralise your server – then you both can fight for the point.

Now the interesting thing, on the second server the attitude changes. As the server, you must get this one in. You are more conservative. The returner is more attacking than what they were on the first serve.

The receiver steps up into the court and is ready to attack your potentially weaker second serve. The receiver is more positive and more prepared, which you do not want.

The point is that you have so much more advantage on the first serve than the second serve. Treat it with respect. How?

Work hard to increase your first serve percentage by really thinking about it before you hit it. Treat the first serve like you do not have a second serve. Maybe back the pace off a bit from 95% to 85% and add a little spin to increase the margin for error.

The first server already has ‘natural pressure’ associated with it. Let the natural pressure of the first serve work in your favor!

A great way to practice this is play a set only using a single server per point. Pretend second serves do not exist. Sounds scary doesnt it !! Yep, miss the first serve, its the oppontnets point. As I write this t makes me nervous !!

Look forward to your serve !! Until tomorrow !