EASI Tennis Article II

[Bungalo Bill]

Here is another I thought was very good. Lots of good stuff.

Courtesy of EASI Tennis.

Awareness of the Racquet Face

In order to hit a clean ball, you must spend time consciously thinking about how the racquet face will contact the ball. This means that you need to work on a backboard, with a pro, with someone who can keep returning the ball to within your range, or with a ball machine while you concentrate on how the racquet face is meeting the ball.
Why? Because your brain will not automatically figure out the best racquet face angle for each situation without tens of thousands of trials. This simply takes too long. This discovery time can be reduced to a fraction of that used by traditional methods by spending quality time concentrating on the racquet face orientation at ball contact. From very specific purposeful empirical actions, your brain quickly develops new skills.

By conducting a racquet face orientation exercise for about 20 minutes twice a week, you will rapidly develop an internal sense of where the racquet face is during play. It will even be possible to choose the right orientation in most situations without ever being aware of it. This is because your brain identifies and develops the basic components for manipulating the racquet from purposeful exercises and retains them for use on a later occasion. Of course, without a refresher exercise, some components fade away (the exact ones that are most likely to fade are not yet known).

Once you have developed the basic components of racquet face manipulation from your initial studies, they will not require regular study. Only occasional study will suffice. Also, it is not necessary to do this on a tennis court. You can gain many benefits from walking around the house and manipulating objects with the racquet. Some players have demonstrated the ability to develop components by just thinking them through without even holding a racquet.

What seems to be the common trait is that the player has a specific purpose to their study or exercises.

To hit a clean ball, nothing must be left to chance. This means that everything must be studied with a specific purpose.