First Things First: Dead Hands

by Jim McLennan

Despite the differences in Connor's and Agassi's grips and swing patterns, notice the similarity of their hand position during the initial turn.

From the previous article you know (and have been practicing I hope), this first move is a simple, economical turn. Initiated with the knees, the hips and shoulders turn as one, the head remains still, posture unchanged, vision unbroken, impeccable balance, poised, picture perfect. And you cannot practice this turn enough, nor can you ever stop perfecting it.

This perfect turn is the key to your entire game, forehands, backhands, volleys, serves, overheads - it will always start with the turn.

On the left, my exaggerated take back forces me to make too big of an adjustment if the ball is low. On the right, my hands are in position to adjust easily either high or low.

Now to the hands during this first turning movement. In the ready position, generally the grip is an eastern forehand, the hand is lightly holding the racquet (a 3 or 4 on a tightness scale of 1 - 10), the elbows are lightly flexed, and the arms feel loose, not floppy or limp, but loose.

The racquet is positioned in front of the hands, roughly in line with the right forearm (if you are right handed) and the racquet head is only slightly higher than the hands (Tom Stow constantly tinkered with this position so I guess it was important).

Now, with the initial turn to the forehand the hands are dead - they do nothing at all. They don't move up or down, not back, nor forward, nothing means just that, nothing. On the turn to the backhand the hands are
again dead, they move neither up or down, not back or forward. The only movement would involve any necessary grip adjustment.

The pictures tell the story; hands and racquet are unmoved during this first turn. From the professional side of the street, you can see this with Jimmy Connors, with Andre Agassi, with David Nalbandian, with Karol Kucera (all play with a simple style).

So why dead hands? When you are turning to the forehand, initially all you have seen is the direction of the ball (forehand or backhand) so really the only thing should be the sideways turn to orient to the ball.

Adjusting the hands high or low occurs after the turn when you have had more time to read the height, the spin the speed. Taking the racquet back in one swinging motion occurs with the step. But initially, the turn is just about the turn, and the hands add nothing to the motion.

This is in pretty sharp contrast to players who take the racquet back with the hands, or take the racquet up with the hands, or tilt the racquet face with the hands. Those types of idiosyncrasies may actually interfere with the simplicity and precision of the swing.

When the hands move up with the turn, the player will need to make an adjustment to the swing if the ball bounces low. Conversely, when the hands move down with the swing, the player will need to make an adjustment to the swing if the ball for high bouncing balls.

Additionally players who move their hands up or down during the initial turn will will have greater difficulty disguising a drop shot.

When the hands jerk the racquet back, the player tends to hit with his wrist and eventually things start to hurt. But when the hands go along with the turn, the simplicity of this initial move is the cornerstone for a versatile series of groundstroke that include topspin, flat, sidespin and underspin deliveries, all made with subtle adjustments in the forward swing.

At the net, the story is the same. Waiting with the continental grip, turning to the forehand or backhand, the hands do nothing, this turn will position the strings in line with the incoming ball, also known as "showing
the strings to the ball."

Racquet placed with strings above the net and handle below the net (right) represents the ideal ready position. On the left, I make a unit turn without altering my hand position.

With dead hands, the racquet will not become tilted, the arms will not raise or lower, the hand will not take the racquet back too far. Simply put, the turn positions the hand racquet and strings behind the ball.

Again the picture tells the story. It may be harder to find professional examples of this simple technique, but I am
reminded of John McEnroe Stefan Edberg and then Pete Sampras, and now I am encouraged by Taylor Dent.

Note in the volleying example, I am positioning the racquet to balance on the net, such that the strings rest above the line of the net and the handle below the line of the net. Assuming that net - ready position, I have got the strings at the position for the most difficult of balls, the groundstroke that arrives fast and low.

Anything else will be slower and less difficult (for the high fast ball is generally going long, and the slow dipper to my feet is slow so there is more time to adjust).

Years ago at Cal Berkeley I remember watching Jeff Borowiak and Haroon Rahim (the 1972 NCAA doubles titlists) practicing. Boro at the net, Rahim at the baseline, and somehow Jeff waited with his hands and racquet in just such a position, so that the shortest and simplest movement placed the strings behind Rahim's low baseline drives. So elegant, that I can truly still see them practicing in my minds eye.

Though we are quite a few articles away from the First Things First look at the serve, suffice to say that the right hand and arm are dead as the toss is lifted toward the contact zone. Edberg had this "dead right side" as did Sampras. Nothing occurred with their right hand and arm during their toss.

And if you are diligently practicing your turns, your balance, your posture, and now your dead hands, what is next? If you want to get a jump on this series and your game, next we look at the placement of the body weight when the turn is completed. Suffice to say you will be practicing to wait, and to be correctly weighted on the back foot as you are waiting for the ball.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Jim McLennan's article by emailing us here at TennisONE.