Tense Stakes

Marcus Paul Cootsona

For as long as most any tennis player can remember, there’s been some instructor or coach, writer or pundit who’s told us to relax when we play. Relax our grip, relax our shoulder, relax our mind. Relax. Relax. Relax. It’s enough to make Federer sweat. Well, almost. But it’s okay, they all had the best intentions. Not completely accurate, but well-intended. You see, what they all counseled is a fine idea, it’s just not the whole truth. Sometimes it’s okay to be tense. Sometimes it’s even desirable. That’s right, tension can be good. Tension can be our friend and tension can create stroke winners if done at the right time in the right way for the right reason. But just how does that work? Sit back, relax, and let’s take a look.

Present Tense

First of all, just to be clear, tension in sports is about as helpful as a 4.3 Forty. In chess. You don’t want to carry tension around the court with you like some kind of high school pysch class project or Robert Bly duffle bag. It makes you tired and it hurts your stokes.

When you’re in a ready position or in a point but away from the ball, you want to be loose with your muscles basically at ease. Straining to squeeze juice from your grip, hiking your shoulders like Kevin McHale, or baring your teeth like a mad hound when you’re not even smacking the sphere just wastes energy and makes you look weird or like a lacrosse player. Even when you’re not oscillating the orb, it’s not such a good idea.

Plus, as we all know, many beginners spend most of their energy on court gripping the racquet too tightly. But though they overplay the idea, they’re intuitively onto something many advanced players don’t use enough.

Future Tense

You see, it’s possible to overdo this whole be-loose-for-more-power business. In the interest of staying relaxed, many players don’t focus their muscle energy in the right amount at the right time. It’s possible to be so loose and relaxed and light on the racquet that you force your arm to do the work your body should be doing.

All of which means you don’t actually want to be at the same level of relaxation during contact with the ball as you are in a neutral or ready stance, or on a changeover. Exhibit number one is the forehand groundstroke. This is the biggest stroke in most players’ bag and it needs the most focused, timed tension. The moments right before contact are crucial. Next time you hit a big forehand, check in on which muscles engage right before you hit. Some probably are naturally, but which ones? For maximum power, your upper abdominals (yes, your eight-pack), hitting-side pectorals and bicep should tense before and during the stroke to initiate the sequence of power moves.

Though it’s the arm we see moving to hit the ball, the muscular drive comes from these three muscle groups in conjunction with the hitting-side shoulder and upper back. Contracting these big boys at the proper time before impact instigates not only your swing, but your lower body drive and upper body rotation as well. And almost as importantly gives your arm support and protection. Juan Martin may hang his arm out by the back fence on his back swing, but allowing the arm to float away from your body on forehand or backhand groundstrokes invites tennis elbow and imprecise alignment and glancing contact with the ball. Without girding these three groups for impact and acceleration, you force your arm to do all the work. And in tennis and in life, you want to make the big muscles carry the load, not the small ones.

These same muscular contractions are even more important for the forehand volley. The volley is a short stroke against a looming opponent and a ball not slowed down by court friction. To keep your contact solid and return the ball with the most power, tension in the supporting muscles and the grip at the right time is the way to do it. Similar tension is needed for backhands, mid-court shots and serve returns and sometimes handshakes. But you already knew that.

And just a reminder. Tense, in the sense we’re using it, means tightening the relevant muscles just enough to make the hit more solid. Probably about 50% as tight as you can go. Remember, it’s tennis, not the North American Grip Strength Competition. Powerful muscle contraction without fluidity and flow is what those big guys in cargo shorts at the high school courts do. In a well-made stroke, the muscle group doing the most work during contact are the abdominals. Those eight sculptured ripples aren’t just camera fodder anymore, they should be leading the way to a ripping stroke.

Past Tense

So then what? Well, once you’ve hit the ball, it’s time to relax it all again. No need to prime and stress your hitting muscles until it’s time to crush a winner to the open court. Done properly, what results is a repeating cycle of rest / tension / relaxation, with your grip pressure always the lightest you can manage, firming just a little when you’re about to make contact.

Now, getting back to those beginners. Turns out they were onto something. While it’s certainly true that you can tense too much and rob yourself of power, it’s also true that you can relax too much at the wrong time and rob yourself of power. And precision.

So tense smart. We’re not talking about Nancy Grace, all-the-time-for-no-good-reason tense. We’re talking about a firm helping pushstart for a whole-body stroke. Experiment with it, find the amount of tension that powers your strokes but doesn’t shorten your swing and use it when you hit the ball. Stay loose, stay relaxed, but know when to get tense too. Just don’t actually be tense and you’ll be powerful. And so will your strokes.

And as always —

Practice Often. Play Well. Have Fun.

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Marcus Paul Cootsona

Marcus Paul Cootsona is a teaching professional and author of Occam’s Racquet – 12 Simple Steps To Smarter Tennis. Contact him at: marcuscootsona.com.