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TennisOne Lessons 
Sequencing the Knees – When to “Fire” Jim McLennan Bend your knees. Use your legs. We hear these phrases all the time. Generally coaches implore students to get down to the ball, to achieve an athletic ready position, or simply to get a feel for using the ground to power forehands, backhands, and serves. As the modern game continues to evolve with more spin and faster swings, the role of the knees during the swing has become magnified, in fact many of the modern “power” players crouch and bend their knees far more than players did in previous generations. But at both the professional and recreational level, I believe that sequencing and rhythm are more important than depth and the explosiveness derived from first bending and then extending the knees. So at the end of the day, effective use of the knees has more to do with the "when" rather than the "how much." Yes you still need to get down to the low ball. And there are times when you might jump up for the hit. But the bread and butter occurs on routine balls, when you have the opportunity to use your knees and push off the ground at the appropriate time to add rhythm and power to your groundstrokes and to your serve. Generating Power Power comes from the ground and moves up through the body, to the arm, and finally to the racquet (when all things work within a certain rhythm). A little like the old children’s story about the “ankle bone connected to the leg bone,” a similar breakdown or progression occurs on the tennis swing. The leg drive leads to hip turn, the hip turn leads to torso and shoulder turn, the shoulder turn pulls the upper arm, the upper arm pulls the lower arm, and finally the hand pulls the racquet. Within all of the video sequences that follow, you will clearly see just such a progression. Tarik Benhabiles, Andy Roddick’s former coach, first opened my eyes to this “dual leg drive” as the centerpiece of Andy’s massive serve. And I believe that the dual leg drive, when sequenced correctly will apply equally well to groundstrokes. Certainly one cannot always move to the ball and use a dual leg drive.
And certainly, not all servers stay balanced and use both of their legs equally when accelerating the racquet up and into the ball. But for me, I continue to find more instances where an initiating “dual leg drive” has in fact been the cornerstone of a groundstroke or serve, and equally where an unbalanced or poorly sequenced one leg drive was somehow central to a poorly timed hit or outright error. Now to the When Using a “counting” methodology for the groundstrokes, and for the serve, 1-2-3 can be overlaid onto the stroke to clarify rhythm.
This circular rhythm also illuminates when the knees “fire.” In this case, between 2 and 3.It might even be known as loop, swoop, fire, and hit. But somehow most recreational players assume and or demonstrate a knee bend much sooner, often between the 1 and 2, rather than later between the 2 and 3. And a close look at the James Blake backhand shows just the same, the knees fire just before contact.
In this particular sequence, note first how quickly James turned to the side, not really taking the racquet back, but turning and re-centering his body on both legs, which actually accomplishes the back swing. Then, as the ball bounces and approaches his strike zone, James drops yet lower, then pushes on the ground, and extends his knees just a moment before the hit. He didn’t jump. He didn’t lose his balance. He finished on his front foot. But the knees “fired” just before impact. There can be no better sequence for the recreational player to copy than this particular backhand. On some strokes it may feel like the arm is swinging the racquet. And in those instance, that is not really a good thing. Other times it may feel like the body is swinging the arm. And that, as we see here, is a good thing. The timing of this action enables the player to unwind up and into the hit. Much like inserting a cork screw into a bottle of wine, the knee drive reverses that action as the player powers up and turns back into the hit. Roger is as good as it gets on this one, where the topspin, the effortless power, and equally the disguise, all come from this upward rotational drive into the hit. Note again how Roger turned to the side, arrived early, with his knees loose but not overly bent, and all the weight balanced on the back foot as he prepared to swing. Stepping forward, and totally centered, he drove up and into the ball, using his legs both for the lift and for the turn, so much so that at the finish his shoulder and hips had truly turned 180 degrees from start to finish. The Serve Finally, when it comes to the serve, sequencing the knees will influence the depth of the racquet drop before the final explosion up and into the ball. Though “scratch the back” may have been the unfortunate phrase used years ago to encourage a full drop of the racquet during the service motion, I think the phrase “swinging drop” may be a more accurate prompt to encourage more rhythm and less emphasis on placement of the racquet. But to see the pro’s do this, as the racquet begins dropping, they are simultaneously extending the legs upward, which actually deepens the drop. We clearly see this with the Nalbandian serve, though the same thing occurs with Pete, Roger, and Andy. And just like the “later” sequencing of the knees within the 1-2-3 of the groundstrokes, the same occurs within the 1-2-3 of the serve. Now for some take-aways -- drills and awareness exercises you can perform on court to achieve a better feel for sequencing and the upward rotational drive. Remember, change will occur in small increments, but only when you are focused and diligent. Further, because long standing habits may interfere with learning or even feeling something new, it may be best to experiment at the most basic level, with either drop-hits or tossed balls.
As an aside, Tom Stow always tossed the ball to players of recreational or professional level. The toss simplified the hitting action, and eliminated the effects of running, or scoring, of expectation, and ultimately of habit. Want to change something, then go back to the most basic level. So at the most basic level, take out a bucket of balls and practice simple drop-hits, where you drop the ball and you hit it. But with total attention on the counting 1-2-3, and with total awareness of the upward rotational drive on the half beat between 2 and 3. On the serve, shadow the motion without hitting the ball, using the sun and resulting shadow on court to observe where the position of the racquet as you drop and then drive. Then progress to some real service hits but again with total awareness on the drop and drive. None of this is easy. All of this is totally worth your while. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Jim McLennan's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
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