tennis tom
(So here we go Part 2.)
Now let us talk about how to use the off hand. It is an important tool in hitting the forehand. Most students drop the off hand down to their side. I
teach them to keep the hand up at shoulder height with the palm down fingers pointing to the side fence. The reason to do so is the off hand keeps
your spacing away from the ball, so that, the ball does not get inside your swing (throwing) path causing the elbow to bend. It is also a guide to hitting the ball out in front.
I also tell students not to look up and follow the ball's path across the net, to keep their eyes on the contact point, Don't Look Up! I will tell them where the ball lands. Their is a reason for this I will discuss later. So the student has hit 15-20 fed balls with the correct motion, I now ask them how did it feel and what do they think. The responses are positive. Therefore, I start to transition them from a neutral stance to a semi-open stance. Why? Semi-open is 1/2 way between full open and neutral. It is easy and quicker to step into a neutral hitting position from semi-open and it is equally as easy and quick to let the leading foot fall back into full open.
Now all rules are not written in concrete! Using a full open or semi-open makes it easier to hit high bouncing ball, plus from those footwork positions It is easier to use a more vertical swing path. Showing a young jr. high kid the correct swing path just last week, his instructor said show him and fed me balls. After about a dozen feeds his instructor laughed and said I had a swing path that look like Rafa Nadal. I am not claiming that
I can hit the ball as well as Rafa, just that I learned his method. To that comment, I ask he feed me more and I hit down the line shots. The instructor
then said you hit like Fed. (I really, really wish I could hit as well as Fed) I switched the grip from eastern forehand to extreme eastern forehand not
quite full semi-western, dependent upon stroke path, bounce height and the type of shot I wished to hit.
So now the student has advanced and become more consistent. The next step is to tell the students to focus on the ball coming at him, make contact and follow through then don't watch the balls path going back over the net, instead focus on the opponent's footwork and racquet face coming to contact. Why? Simple you can not change the direction the ball is traveling after you hit it with your eyes, but you can shifting focus to
your opponent anticipate their return before it happens getting you into position to return their ball. Any advantage you can use to take time away from your opponent is time well spent. Like in poker you are looking for any (what poker players call tells) that give you an advantage. Tennis is all
about time. More time for you to get into position and less time for your opponent to be in position to hit a heavy return.
Now at this point I will stop, other than to say, at this point in learning, really being able to learn tennis is now ready to begin!!!!!
O, as an after thought, I should mention that I have not charged any student money for lessons in the last 6 years. I give the knowledge away for free, if and only if they really want to learn. I have gone from 38 student per week, 7 days a week, to now 6 or 7, one to two days a week. However,
I will help anyone who walks up to me on a public court and asked me, "I been told you give lessons or I was watching you hit do you give lessons", I will try to help for free only if they are serious about getting better. Most have said to me that really works, more spin, more power, and more depth. If I don't see them playing or practicing what they have learned that works better, I usually give it another 2-3 tries to help them. However, if they don't practice and revert to playing with their old comfortable bad habits. I quit helping and tell them to go pay a teaching pro.
Aloha