July 22, 2010
Where to hit the Drop Shot
"What's New" Product Video – from Tennis Warehouse – Liquidation Sale - Shoes - Lunar Tour (Federer) - $89; Air Breathe Cage (Nadal) - $89; Courtballistic 2.3 (Nadal) - $89, etc.
There's More Than One Way to Hit a Tennis Ball Rolf Clark We'd all like to hit like the young tournament player or our favorite pro. But it would be a disaster if we tried. By "we" I mean those of us who didn't learn as young kids. If we tried to hit like Rafael Nadal, we'd end up with such elbow and shoulder problems that we would be forced to quit after a few days. On the other hand, if a young player wanted to play tour quality tennis and tried to hit the classic way, where there is a step to the ball and then a forward swing complete with a follow-through toward the aim point, he or she would not be competitive, and would also soon quit due to continually losing.
The point is, we need to help mature persons learn to hit the classic way: racquet back, step into the ball, and follow-through. And we need to let competitive juniors learn to hit wide open, with the racquet thrown fiercely through the ball with almost a whipping motion that often ends with the racquet up over the head. By default we teach an adult, taking up tennis later in life, to swing the racquet the old fashioned way. But it is not just the older player on vacation at Sandals that needs to learn this way. Young adults not realistically aimed toward competitive tennis will do better with the classic approach too. That's because the whipped swing used on the tour is prone to yield an injury to the elbow or shoulder. It seems clear that there are more tournament injuries on the tour today than when classic strokes were the norm. The mature player (meaning over 20 when beginning) starting to take lessons and going to tennis camps to improve needs to learn to use body weight to gain power and a classic swing so that muscles already beginning to stiffen slightly with age will not be forced to stress maturing joints. The young player (teens or less) can learn the savage racquet throwing style of the modern tour professional. His tendons are not yet so set that he sacrifices them for technique. This makes teaching tennis a dicey mater. If you teach follow-through tennis you risk being labeled old fashioned. If you teach the whippy new methods you rightly risk an injury to the student.
So how does one teach the competitive way to swing? By urging the player to swing as hard as he can. That will then evolve into a rapid slap-like swing onto the ball. Any attempt at classical techniques will only slow the progression. Golf professional Ryan Moore made an observation that seems relevant to tennis. He argued that a young player should swing the golf club as hard as possible, foregoing style. If he starts with classical swing techniques he will learn a controlled swing that is smooth but not fierce. If he starts by swinging out of his shoes then he develops a fierce swing that may not be smooth. Golfer Moore then argues that as the golfer progresses it is much more difficult to increase the velocity of the smooth golf swing to gain power then it is to ease up on the fierce swing to gain control. The same concept seems applicable in tennis. The young player, less prone to injury, can learn to swing hard first. While the older player, with more mature tendons, cannot afford to take that chance. As always, we would love to hear from you! Questions, comments, personal experiences all create helpful dialogue for everyone! Please click here to send us your email.
TennisOne Writers Store One of your many new benefits as a TennisOne membership is your ability to purchase selected instructional DVDs at 20% off ($7.50 off each) in our new TennisOne Writers Store (login in first to access members links):
Copyright Notice: The contents of the TennisONE web site and contents forwarded to you by TennisONE are intended for your personal, noncommercial use. Republishing of TennisONE content in any way, including framing or posting of these materials on other Web sites, is strictly prohibited. See our full copyright statement If you wish to be removed from our newsletter list, please send an email to newsletter-unsubscribe@tennisone.com and leave the subject line blank. A confirmation email will be sent to you, and you will be removed from our newsletter list once you reply to that confirmation. If trouble unsubscribing, simply email us with a request to unsubscribe at: t1staff@tennisone.com
|
||||
