passing shots blog
the physical game
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getting back on the court
by: Leo Rosenberg
With stay-at-home restrictions easing, some of you may be getting back on the tennis court. If you're like me, your first day hitting again will feel amazing. On the second and third days, reality knocks on the door. If you've been working on your mental training and footwork, then you'll feel better than otherwise. No matter how rusty you feel, stay positive. Everything is fixable. Below are some troubleshooting tips to get you back on track.
You're late to most of your shots. There may be two reasons for that:
(a) On your first week or two hitting, your brain will be slow at anticipating where the ball is going. This will cause a lag in your reaction time. Solution: Compensate for your late reaction by preparing for all your shots a second earlier. It will feel strange but you need to exaggerate your early preparation.
(b) Your footwork is sluggish, you have trouble changing directions and you feel heavy. Solution: Make sure to stay on your toes and never stop moving. You also should stay low at all times. It won't feel easier to move, but you will find yourself moving better and starting quickly enough to get in position without much delay.
Your shots keep flying long. Part of the reason you're hitting long may be from being late to your shots and hitting too close to your body. If you're not late and following solutions (a) and (b), then you may have other issues.
(c) You're not trusting yourself and thus pulling back from your follow-through. Solution: Exaggerate the length and time of your follow-through. Make sure to keep your head down as your hitting your shot.
(d) Are you hitting too flat? Solution: Just like your reaction time, a long break can cause you to lose some of your ability to hit with lots of topspin. So, just make sure to get under the ball really well and get more racquet head speed as your work to get your topspin back.
Your serves are going to the bottom of the net.
(e) Your core muscles may have weakened from not working out. This means that you're not holding your body up long enough. Solution: Be aware that your upper body may not hold itself up as well as it used to. Exaggerate how you hold up your upper body. You should also hold your arm up longer to keep your body from collapsing.
(f) When we get desperate to make our serve in or hit it hard, we have a tendency to toss too far in front and look at the other side too soon. Solution: First, slow down. Bounce the ball a few times and breath. Toss high enough to give yourself time to use your legs. Make sure to toss the ball only slightly in front. Finally, watch how your racquet makes contact with the ball and keep your head up longer.
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shadow tennis
by: Leo Rosenberg
In college, I wanted to change the way I finished my forehand follow-through. My finish was near my hip and I wanted a longer follow-through over my shoulder instead. It took me three months of diligent training before the change felt natural.
Tweaking your technique is challenging. When coaching, I would demonstrate a forehand and would often witness my student struggle replicating what I had shown. I then would need to guide the student through the motion step by step. We would repeat the process until the student gets a good feel for every inch of the swing path and each body movement.
The reason for going through the motion repeatedly is to strengthen the mind-body connection. What we feel is not always what is actually happening. When we are introduced to something new, our mind struggles to tell the body how to put two and two together.
Nonetheless, you can learn to improve your technique at home by doing shadow tennis. You can work your technique and footwork without hitting a single ball. The main idea is that you practice certain swings and footwork in front of a mirror. By checking yourself against the mirror, you can adjust what you feel with what is real. If you think you're doing it right because it feels right, you will be able to verify it in front of the mirror.
For shadow tennis to be effective, pay attention to the following:
(1) Do slow movements. If you're swinging at normal speeds you won't have the time to feel what you're doing. So, think of Tai Chi slow. The slower your motions, the more you'll feel, and the easier it will be to correct mistakes.
(2) Involve your legs in every movement. Even when working solely on an upper-body movement, you need your legs involved. At the very minimum, keep your legs wide apart, knees bent, and feel the ground.
(3) Most importantly, you should engage your mind. Combine the physical work with mental visualization. Before you begin shadow tennis, visualize what you want to improve and go over the mental motion just as slowly as you intend to go over the motion physically.
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Five Tips: Off the Couch & Onto a Tennis Court
by: TennisCT/Mike
Outdoor tennis courts around the state of Connecticut are beginning to open up in May. The break in our sport due to the coronavirus pandemic has been essential, and a lot of us are anxious to get back playing safely and responsibly! Even if you completely stepped away from the game for a period of time, there are signs of hope for tennis players itching to get back on the court as the spring pushes towards warmer summer months and longer days.
After checking to ensure you’re following all rules and regulations of local and state government, and your facility’s rules as well as player guidelines from the USTA, we can’t stress the importance enough of keeping a few things in mind as you head back on the courts.
Here are five tips to get you going once you’ve observed all coronavirus-related precautions and personal responsibilities:
1) Take it slow. However fast you want to move or however hard you want to hit those first few shots, dial it back a few notches. Tennis movement is not the same as walking, jogging or using a stationary bike. The body will take time to get in the groove of how to move, and your strokes likewise are understandably rusty. There is some muscle memory that needs to happen.
2) Spend 2-3 minutes with your racquet bouncing a ball on the court. You can start this slowly, and make it more rapid as you get more comfortable. The act of feeling the ball hit the racquet with force and feeling the ball on the strings will make your actual shots more cleanly struck right off the bat.
3) Movement drill: Keep your body facing the net, and move briskly over the lines. Start in the middle of the baseline, and shuffle sideways towards one corner, run straight up to the net, backpedal all the way back, and side-shuffle to the other side. Keep repeating these movements around the entire court keeping your body facing the net at all times. This will mimic side-to-side movements, and up-and-back movements. Repeat this for a few minutes until you feel warmed up.
4) Hit your first few rallies from the service line and then move back to the baseline after a few minutes. Hitting shorter shots to start with will bring your rhythm back quicker.
5) Try and hit every type of shot the first few times out: groundstrokes, volleys, serve, return of serve, overheads. Hitting each shot at least a few times will get your overall muscle memory and eye-hand coordination back faster.
As we’ve said, it is each tennis player’s responsibility to keep yourself and your playing partners safe and properly socially-distanced at all times. Once you’re ready to go, we hope these tips will help you transition back to the sport easier!
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One important stretch
No matter what your level is, stretching should be a very important part of your tennis training. Most players pay particular attention to the areas that are most problematic or most susceptible to injuries like knees, backs, shoulders and elbows. What most people often neglect is the all-important part of the body connecting the upper body to the lower body: the hips.
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The hips provide strength, stability and flexibility to both halves. Misaligned hips create incorrect movement, causing other joints such as knees or ankles to compensate and in turn create new dysfunctions. It can eventually even lead to a shoulder strain or more serious injury. If your hips are misaligned, the shoulders will compensate and end up in an off-balanced position that could cause problems to develop in your shoulders!
A good, supine groin stretch will add to your hip health. Lie on your back and spread your arms comfortably to the sides. Bring your feet toward your torso, the soles together and the knees falling to the sides. Pay attention to your feet and make sure they are perfectly centered. Don't push your knees with your hands or force them down with your legs muscles. Let the gravity work for you and gently get deeper into the stretch. Relax, and hold the stretch for two to three minutes.
There are other great stretches you can do which we recommend. Functional hips will improve your movement and speed on the tennis court, decrease the risk of injuries and your tennis game will reach higher levels in a short time.
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SPLIT-STEP
by Leo Rosenberg
The Maestro.
In my previous blog posts, we learned that developing the right contact point and using good judgment on shot selection are the essential ingredients to winning matches. But how do you get there? Many players are aware that a good contact point is a requirement for hitting a good shot. Yet, in sport, knowing is not enough. Imagine Michael Phelps tells a person who's never been in water the game-changing aspects of swimming. Will that person suddenly swim well? Unlikely. That person needs a formula and a pathway to acquiring those game-changing skills.
In tennis, good timing is the game-changer. If you react late, then you're less likely to get in a good position, and thus you'll hit the ball late, which will cause you to hit the ball with a bad contact point. Good or bad timing can trigger a chain reaction that either goes in your favor or hinders you.
With that said, I welcome you to the split-step. The split-step might be both the most neglected and important component of your footwork. It's always taught but often taught incorrectly. And many players simply forget about it after a few practice sessions.
The split-step mediates the timing of your movement. It's a technique that allows you to get in the ready position and change directions quickly. Think of the split-step as both a reset button and as getting on a launchpad.
And there are two things to know when doing the split-step:
It's best to split-step when your opponent is about to hit the ball (and not when they hit the ball because that makes you late)
You should land in athletic position from your split-step. Doing thing one and thing two correctly will help you react sooner, help you find your rhythm, and help you get in position early enough to make contact in front of your body.
Here are a few exercises that can eventually make it easier to split-step:
Jump rope often. Jumping rope makes you practice jumping and landing on your toes.
Squat! Getting in an athletic position means you're holding a wider and lower stance. Squatting will strengthen your legs and thus make it easier to get in the athletic position frequently.
Deliberately practice split-stepping when your opponent begins the forward swing. If you split-step later, such as when your opponent hits the ball, the ball will have traveled far by the time you land. Don't make any exceptions to working on your split-step. It's a simple technique that, when mastered, makes it easier to raise your game several levels.
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