how do u use ur body on groundstrokes?

[tennispr()]

I was wondering how do u exactly use ur "body" on ground strokes.Any cool videos would be awesome.O yeah one more thing =D on long rallys does ur forearm get tiredish? if so is this a sign of not using ur body. and would bending ur knees on all ur groundstrokes cause u to automatically use ur whole body???sorry i am a nooby =D

[Mastermind]

Incorporate a shoulder rotation with all strokes, no matter what stance you use. Using your legs is also using your body. I'm not an expert though. I'm sure some of the higher level posters can help you more than I can. Some of them are teaching pros.

[TENNIS_IS_FUN]

The current TENNIS magazine has an article on Fed's stroke forehand mechanics...you should really read up on it. Basically, here are the things i can remember, focusing on how to use your body.

1.) For your question about the arm, my arm doesnt really tend to get tired unless it's a REALLY long match...you get to rest it during serves, changeovers, and if you play highschool tennis, during matches. It also tends to get tired if i break my strings and change to a heavier raquet...hopefully that'll never happen to you (bring some spares)

2.) The most important advice from the TENNIS magazine i can think of is to place your left hand (if you're a righty) on the throat of your raquet during your preparation. This forces you to make that VERY important torso turn, where you should be getting the majority of your power.

3.) since your head is part of your body, keep your eyes on the ball until you see the blur of the raquet. This "quiets" the head enables you to have a balanced body before, during, and after contact. Search for any vids of Fed...he does this on ALL his shots.

[skiracer55]

-- A forehand is like throwing a discus

-- A backhand is like throwing a frisbee

One of my fabulous El Cheapo training aids is a frisbee. Get one and you can do this on a court or out in a field. First throw it like a discus, then throw it backhand the way you usually wing a frisbee. Try it!

[Mountain Ghost]

The classical method is with a closed stance and to step into the ball in a linear (momentum) way. The modern method is with an open stance and to coil the body (shoulders at 90 degrees and hips at 45 degrees) and to uncoil during the stroke in a rotational, or angular (momentum) way. The follow-through for a classical stroke is out in front. The follow-through for a modern stroke is across your body to the other side.

The strokes that haven’t changed significantly are the serve and overhead, one-handed backhand and conventional (non-swing) volley.

MG

[Kobble]

James Blake talks about "sit and lift." I like this idea, but a nice free pull of the racquet is the most important.

[The Gorilla]

turn your hip, let your hip turn pull your upper torso before turning your upper torso, let your upper torso turn pull your shoulder before turing your shoulder, lean into the shot as hard as you can.