Thanks, will do...
Hey skiracer, this is great stuff, will try these and would love to hear some more, thanks
...note that there are a bunch of different but equally good sub-threads going on, one of which Jollyroger and others have been talking about, which is putting targets on the court. Drills with targets are
definitely a good thing. Here's my safety tip: use little plastic cones, which you can get at most sporting goods stores. They are also more visible than ball cans and other stuff.
Now, back to footwork/catching and throwing. Let me just finish up Part 1 of "Catching and Throwing" with some further thoughts on what Cindysphinx said yesterday, which was:
"I have taken many, many lessons and drills. Not once has any of the pros put the group (or me, if a private lesson) through footwork drills. In fact, I don't think I've ever done anything in a clinic or lesson in which I did not have a racket in my hand.
Why is that, do you suppose? Can footwork be improved without footwork drills of the type skiracer describes?
Cindy -- who worries that she will fall and break a hip if she tries to get too fancy with her feet "
All good points, and my answers are:
- First, footwork drills without a racket are
definitely outside of the box, for most players. If they don't work for you, then don't do 'em and don't worry about it. When I ran through the "catching and throwing" drills I described, it was, initially, a valuable diagnostic--an "awareness tool" for me. I *thought* my footwork and hand/eye coordination were pretty spiffy, and the initial run through the drills told me otherwise. More than anything, I'd advise giving these drills a try in the same spirit: If you can run through them perfectly, your footwork and hand/eye coordination are probably pretty good. If you struggle a little with these drills, at least initially, as a lot of people do...even if you never do these drills again, it tends to make you
aware of your footwork and it tends to make you
aware of what your
ideal hitting zone actually is. And awareness of what is vs. what is ideal is usually the first step to improving anything.
- Second, yep, getting too fancy with your feet could cause injuries. Without invoking the Polyanna Principle too heavily, I'd suggest looking at it the opposite way. That is, good footwork not only helps produce better positioning for your shots (which tends to produce better shots...), it also, just because you're more aware of your footwork, tends to produce safer movement patterns. To move well to get to a shot, you've also got to move efficiently and in a biomechanically sound manner, so I'd submit that you're
less likely to turn an ankle or dump yourself on your hip. I'd also say that if you're trying to improve your footwork, you're trying to find the best tennis athlete
within yourself. You're
not trying to move like Federer, or Caroline Wozniacki, which isn't impossible, but it could tend to make any of us redline our movement patterns, which could, in turn, lead to injury.
- Lastly, a closing thought on the whole concept of good footwork as the prime mover (joke, ha ha) to get you in a space where you can hit the ball in your ideal hitting zone. The good news is that it's a great concept, in theory. The bad news is, that there will be a bunch of times when you
don't arrive at a spot on the court where you can hit in your ideal hitting zone. What now?
Well, the first thing is, don't panic and don't get down on yourself. Remember, your opponent has a vote, and he or she is going to try to use pace, spin, placement, and depth to force you out of your ideal hitting zone. So, the moral is, being out of your ideal hitting zone
just happens, despite your best efforts. Essentially, when you are not in position to hit in your ideal hitting zone, you are, by definition, on the defense. And the standard rule of thumb is "Never try to hit an offensive shot from a defensive position." Never is maybe a little too restrictive. If I'm down a set, 3-5, and 5-40, and my opponent comes into net, I'm scrambling, and the only shot that will win the point outright is a forehand winner down the line...well, that's probably what I'm going to go for.
The problem with my tennis was that when I was on defense, I
always went for the Hero Move regardless of the situation. Sam Winterbotham, who was Head Men's Coach at CU, got me out of that habit three summers ago. The way he did it was simple. We would do a point construction drill, he would run me wide to the forehand and hang out in the center of the baseline to see what I would do next. The first time he did it, I went for a huge forehand winner down the line...and made it. "Nice shot", he said, and went back and
did it again. I fanned that ball into the back fence. He did it about 10 more times, and I only hit one more ball in the court...and it wasn't a winner. After the drill, he just smiled and said "Got it?"
I did, and it changed my tennis. We then sat down and talked about what I should do in this situation, and his explanation went something like this. "You're in a defensive position, but I'm not pressing you by coming in, because I know you can hit a heavy forehand, and I might get passed. I'm better off staying on the baseline and anticipating your next shot. If you go for the impossible winner,
whether you make that particular shot or not, I know I've just won the match. If, on the other hand, you try to find the middle of the baseline with a safe shot, pass the problem back to me, and run like hell to get back in position...well, then I know I've got a match on my hands."
So that's the bottom line: Always try to anticipate what your opponent is going to do, move so that you try to get in position to hit an offensive shot...but it you can't get into that position, play defense, hustle back into a neutral position on the court, give your opponent one more chance to miss a ball, and then try to retake the offense.
The final thought in this discussion is that playing a combination of offensive and defensive tennis requires flexibility in your mindset and variety in your strokes. My base forehand is a semi-Western open-stance shot that I hit hard but with a lot of top so that I can get lots of clearance over the net but know that it won't sail over the baseline. It's my standard "rally ball" on the forehand. But I can flatten it out, which is the right answer against a lot of net rushers, and is a good weapon against baseliners who love top but hate flat, hard hit balls. And there are other uses for the flat ball, obviously. I can also hit with less pace but a lot of top...for example, a short forehand cross-court where my opponent is hanging out in the backhand side of the baseline, hoping for an inside out forehand.
The other forehand I use is just a simple block, hit with a Continental grip, and it's a lot like my forehand volley. When might I use this shot? Well, when I'm run way wide to my forehand, I'm struggling to get to the ball, and I want to put a safe, defensive shot back deep to the middle of the court so I can stay in the point! So what if my standard forehand is semi-Western topspin ball? As Peter Burwash once noted, "Tennis is a series of controlled emergencies", and if the emergency is that I'm a dog at the end of my rope struggling just to get a racket on a forehand...
sure, I can hit a blocked Continental forehand, if that's what it takes. And so can you...try it, you'll like it....