TennisOne Lessons

Relaxed Hands and the Follow Through

Daryl Fisher

Have you ever blamed a tennis error on a poor follow through? If so, you were looking at the effect, not the cause. With near certainty, something had already gone wrong before a problem surfaced in the follow through.

A follow through is important and valuable, but it is just a byproduct and a natural extension of having done other fundamental aspects of a stroke properly. To specify all of the fundamentals required to lead to a good follow through goes beyond the scope of this article, but the good news is that by doing one thing, relaxing your hands and arms sufficiently, you will have no choice but to have a fine follow through.

Tension

Tension could surface in any place in the body, but for tennis players it shows up most frequently and prominently in the hands and arms. To use more tension than necessary generally restricts the ability of muscles to move subtly, precisely, and quickly, and this amounts to less control and power. To be relaxed does not mean the lack of any muscular tension, but instead means the use of only the required tension and no more. (For review of why tension creates problems, and conversely why relaxed hands and arms are preferable, see the articles Relaxed Hands and Relaxed Hands II.)

Regardless of the stroke, players should relax their hands as completely as possible with only enough tension to avoid dropping their racquets. Ideally a player should hold on to the racquet very lightly, as if holding on to a live bird, not so loose as to let it go, but no tighter than is necessary to keep it from flying away. Players should keep their hands feeling as relaxed as this throughout the entirety of their strokes. This is not to say that there will be no tension, but the tension will be very light and practically unnoticeable. Strokes with relaxed hands may seem softer at first, but with practice the results will be as hard as ever, and probably harder.

With regard to how tension relates to the follow through, there are three possibilities. The first possibility is for a player to relax the hands and arms appropriately, in which case a fine follow through cannot be stopped.

To inappropriately abbreviate a follow through requires excessive tension in the hands and arms. This brings up the second possibility of a player using more tension than necessary. The use of more than necessary tension is common, and an abbreviated follow through is a natural reaction to tension. For evidence of how natural and common the combination is, just watch beginning players.

The third possibility also involves a player’s use of too much tension in the hands and arms, but rather than stopping the follow through abruptly due to the tension, the player pushes through to make a good-looking follow through.

Hidden Tension

The third possibility, to push through tension to make a good-looking follow through, might seem harmless enough. Perhaps pushing through even seems useful given that the lack of a follow through is associated with substandard results. Unfortunately, though the existence of a follow through can indeed be a good sign, it can also be a false indicator. The ability to push through tension to make a good-looking follow through creates the possibility of hidden tension.

Tension is a limiting factor with regard to achieving one’s potential in tennis, and hidden tension is just as limiting. Hidden tension could be worse, however, because the discovery of the limitation could be that much more difficult. If you make an abbreviated follow through, at least your tension is made apparent.

Many of us imagine that good technique will necessarily lead to the relaxed smoothness demonstrated by top professionals, in which case forcing a good follow through would eventually lead to a good outcome. While it is true that relaxed smoothness stems from good fundamental technique, to achieve relaxed smoothness requires additional attention and training. Good technique allows relaxed smoothness, but good technique does not necessarily create relaxed smoothness. More accurately, good technique and relaxed smoothness are interconnected, and each contributes to the other. (See the article Relaxed Hands and Good Technique.)

Hiding tension using good-looking technique will often cause a player to feel confused and frustrated. Such a player might look good while hitting, thereby creating great expectations, but then fall short of what seems achievable. Players that look good while hitting but then do not perform well are often thought to have some sort of mental block. Hand and arm tension is physical, but at some level it is also mental. It is a distinct challenge that requires specific awareness and effort to correct. It is difficult to perfect, but, like the forehand or serve, it can definitely be trained and improved. (See the article Overcoming the Mental Challenges of Relaxing.)

Options

A potential conflict emerges for people that believe one follow through to be better than another. Ironically, to try to manipulate the follow through to look a particular way can be a source of tension in itself.

Consider that if the stroke is done properly right up to the contact with the ball, then any follow through will be fine. Where your arms and racquet go after the ball is struck is irrelevant to where the ball will go. What is relevant, and fundamental, is that the arm goes for the ride that the legs and torso provide through the strike of the ball.

Additional evidence for the irrelevance of the type of follow through can be found in the fact that successful players use such different follow-through styles. For example, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer generally follow through on their forehands very differently from one another, and yet each has a very successful forehand, to say the least. (For a complementary article on the follow through, see The Follow Through by Ray Brown and Barry Balthrop.)

Any individual player is highly likely to use a variety of follow through styles. That is, tennis requires dealing with a variety of situations, and the multitude of factors leads to the need for a range of ways of following through. (For a complementary article on the follow through, see Follow-Through Facts and Fiction by Doug King.) If your hands and arms are sufficiently relaxed, however, the good news is that you will not have to think about the follow through. Simplicity can be a good thing.

What To Do

If I show someone where the follow through should go, the person can follow through to that place regardless of tension, thereby possibly hiding tension. Alternatively, if a player has no particular awareness of where the follow-through should go, the player will make a good-looking follow through if the stroke is sufficiently relaxed or will not make one if the stroke is too tense. Rather than worrying about the follow through then, if the person can pay attention to releasing the tension, the follow through will surface naturally and with no effort.

This suggestion seems so easy, and yet its application is not. Many of us prefer a mechanical fix that can be seen rather than considering and confronting tension that can be hidden.

Many people understand the follow through more easily when they think of a throwing motion. When you throw a ball, do you need to think about following through, or does the follow through just happen? It probably just happens. If you were self-taught with regard to throwing a ball, did you ever have to think about your follow through? Not likely. To stop yourself from following through after you had released the ball would require an effort, and this effort would entail uncomfortable tension.

If you are an experienced player, keep foremost in your mind the source of the relationship between your follow through and your results. It is tension, not the placement and length of your follow through, that you should be correlating with results. Rather than focusing on making a good follow through then, give attention to relaxing your hands and arms when you play. With regard to giving advice to beginners, recommend the same for them.

If you are a beginning player, give attention to relaxing your hands and arms when you play. Also, ignore when experienced players suggest the quick-fix forced mechanical follow through, and just try to relax your hands and arms instead. Generally speaking, as long as you are not carrying extra hand and arm tension throughout your stroke, and as long as you are not hitting yourself with your racquet, your follow through is probably fine.