Think INside the box, not OUT!

  We have always heard to “think outside the box”.  Why not think inside of it?  Footwork patterns at the baseline should be exact.  Variables lead to inconsistencies which of course will lead into offensive balls for your opponent or worse misses.  The more consistent you can be with technique, the more consistent you will be with your results.     Think of the baseline as the middle of a box.  Extend the box back 4 feet behind the baseline and 4 feet in front.  The sides of the box are 2 feet inside from both singles side lines.  This is now your range of motion.  From here, you should have complete control of your shots.  The whole goal of this box is to put you in the best position to hit the ball, which is at your ideal Contact Point (CP).   Neutral Balls-  Any Forehand that is neutral, moves you wide within your range of motion, should be hit from an open stance.   This gives you the best possible hitting position to catch the ball at your ideal CP, chest height. On a neutral backhand, it’s best to catch the ball at your belly button and a Square Stance will be the best choice. Defensive Balls- In today’s game players need to hit from ALL positions. What makes the best players in the world the best? They are able to turn defense into offense immediately. How are they able to do this? Haven’t we been told to lob the ball back to reset the point? Times have changed! We can spend hours discussing this but we will simplify it in a couple of short sentences. When a player is faced with defensive ball, one that lands close to the baseline, allow yourself to take a step or two back according to the ball and hit from a semi-open stance. This will the ball to rise up and be caught at the ideal CP. From this position angular momentum is key. A semi-open stance will allow you to rotate and produce power from a defensive position. Offensive Balls- Forehands and Backhands will act the same way. Offensive balls are those that will be short. The best movement to these balls will be out of a Square Stance, also known as Neutral or Box Stance. This will allow you to move up to the ball and catch it at ideal CP. Linear momentum is key here, hence the Square Stance, to produce a more offensive ball. I hope that now you are thinking within the box. This discussion will continue throughout the history of tennis and how it develops. Make yourself consistent with your footwork and you will find the consistency in your shots. Remember, all this is done to catch the ball at an ideal Contact Point. Thinking INside the box will put the ball IN the court, think OUTside and your ball will go…..well, you know where!

The Secret to "Moving your Feet"!

Footwork is one of the most strutinized parts of the game but one that is not understood very well. Coaches often tell their players “Move your Feet” but what does this prase really mean? This will be one of many blogs describing various parts of footwork patterns. One statement that we use in ACE is “Contact point determines everything in tennis”. People bring up various points of other technical and tactical skills that they think preceeds contact point but after an explination that might be short or long, most people understand the importance of the Contact Point. Forehands and Backhands have Contact Zones but we want to look at what is the perfect contact point. While hitting a forehand we want to see players make contact at chest level. Backhands on the other hand should have a contact point at belly button height. These contact points allow players to drive but yet apply enough topspin on the ball to keep it in the court. Coaches can simply tell a player to hit the ball at chest or belly button high and players will follow suit. They will not focus on footwork patterns or various other factors that will causes paralyzis by analyzis but rather one simple concept. Try it! Have your players only focus on chest and belly button and notice the difference in their movement. With our younger players and sometimes our older ones we take the rackets out of hands and play tennis throwing the ball and having them move to the oncoming ball catching it at the perfect contact point. So when teaching your players footwork, don’t say “Move your feet”, but rather “Chest”, “Belly Button”!