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TennisOne Lessons 
Building a Stroke from the "Contact Out" Doug King Traditionally we have always approached teaching tennis stroking technique with a method that emphasizes specific positions of start and finish. "Turn sideways and take the racquet back towards the back fence then swing and follow-through over your opposite shoulder" is a generally common approach. The emphasis is on a beginning position and an ending position with the assumption that the middle will take care of itself. The theory is that the beginning and the ending positions are relatively static and can be observed and controlled by the player and coach. It is also assumed that since the contact with the ball occurs in mid-stream of the stroke, then it is impossible to isolate this point and instead it is best to simply "let it happen." This may sound reasonable enough but I (as well as other TennisOne writers like Ray Brown and Scott Ford) would argue that a better way to approach a stroke is to start with the contact of the ball then build out from there. In this approach, the theory is that you would start with contact and then, as you desire more power, you will naturally add backswing. Once backswing is added then you will naturally have follow-through, the argument being that follow-through is a natural reflection of backswing. I refer to this approach of starting with the contact and then building the rest of the stroke from there as the "contact out" approach. Beginner to Advanced One of the nice things about the "contact out" system is that it is useful for players of all levels. For beginning players it eliminates extraneous elements of the stroke and allows players to concentrate on the most significant part of the stroke, the contact. It allows the beginner to focus on timing and ball judging rather than taking the racquet back or following through. These aspects of stroking (backswing and follow-through) will naturally develop as the player gains more skill in meeting the ball with consistency and confidence. This is the theory of all "graduated" methods, whether that is short court play, shortened racquets for juniors, or other abbreviated approaches. For the beginner this "minimal backswing and follow-through approach helps to gain a sense of racquet alignment and body positioning without throwing off balance and timing by excessive racquet movement. The player is able to move with more control and agility as forceful racquet action is reduced to manageable levels. We all know players who are difficult to beat yet possess very unassuming strokes. What these players have is great timing, racquet control, and balance. Whereas just as common is the player with the very impressive backswing and follow-through who can't keep the ball in the court for three consecutive shots. The point is that good contact is like a vibration that is in good response or "in tune". It is just a tiny quiver that resonates between the hand, the ball, the feet, and the ground. When players have that timing and feel, they possess the essential element of great stroking. How they build off of that is almost irrelevant just so long as it does not disrupt that response. For advanced players the "contact out" method allows them to scrutinize the nuances of contact, whether that is a specific position, a feel, or some other detail. Generally what the top players are trying to feel is the "shape" of the ball – they seek the edges and work the various surfaces of the ball – and if they are only meeting a point on the ball their attempts will still create shape and form to the stroke which is critical to timing and balance. The contact is where all of the player's efforts come to fruition and so it makes sense to pay extra special attention to the variations of contact. As in any discipline, the further one takes the practice the more the focus is directed to the tiny nuances of the most critical factor in the equatioin. In tennis that critical factor is the point of contact and while most players try to "hit through it" top pros try instead try to probe it. Thus many players instead prefer to think of "hitting on the ball" rather than "following through it." The Critical Contact The "contact out" approach is based upon the belief that contact is not just another of a series of identical points along a continuous swing path. In fact it is something quite different. The contact point is actually the axis point of the entire stroke. All of the forces hinge upon this particular point. The forces both converge and pivot on the contact point. This is especially true of power strokes. Think of the serve as an example of a power stroke. We are told to "snap" our wrist on the serve.
To be precise, we don't actually snap our wrists on the serve, what we do is "turn" on the ball when serving. Much like a baton twirler spins or twirls a baton, so too do we twirl, spin, or rotate the racquet on the serve. Imagine how a beginner serves with a straight line push through the ball and out to the target. This is what happens when we make the contact point simply another point on a swing path - we simply get a weak push. If we try to add power into a straight line swing path we snap our wrists and we end up with uncontrollable power. The contact point is really more of a point that critical change occurs on – change in speed, tension, and direction. We call this a point of acceleration. But even if we aren't adding power to the ball, the contact point still has its specific significance within the stroke pattern. Just as we turn on the ball for power we also turn on the ball to absorb power – we simply turn in the opposite direction. Let's take a closer look at these two turns of the ball that constitute many of the finer touches of contact. The Two Aspects of Contact The best way to get control of power in a tennis stroke is to "turn" on the ball, or pivot on the contact point. When we learn to pivot on the ball we are able to better manipulate the contact of the ball. We call this working the ball and basically what it amounts to is better spin control. In common vernacular it is called "stroking." From a certain perspective you can see contact as involving two forces, compression and propulsion or rebound (what I like to call "catch and throw"). When we "work" the ball with a turning action (or spin), we are able to enhance these aspects of catch and throw. The two aspects of catch and throw can be individually accentuated by using turning or pivoting actions on the contact. You can think of it like turning a doorknob – you turn the handle in one direction to open and another to close. The tennis stroke works the same way; grip, turn, and push.
When you turn the ball into the body (clockwise for a right-handed forehand) you can better absorb power off of the ball and you add more "catch" to the stroke. When you catch the ball, you have the feeling of the ball staying on the strings for a longer time and you can guide the ball more. This turn is underspin (or a combination of side and underspin) and is designed to allow you to take speed off the ball and add more control to the stroke. The underspin turn is a high to low, outside the ball to inside the ball, pulling into the body turn. When you turn away from the body (counter clockwise for a right-handed forehand) you are better able to add more propulsion, or more "throw" into the shot. Even though the stroke still involves a certain "grab" of the ball. The topspin turn is a low to high, inside the ball to outside the ball, away from the body turn which is better suited to adding more power to the stroke. (See the videos below of Murray and Haas demonstrating the underspin "catching" action.) Grips and Racquet Head Positions
The reason the topspin stroke is better suited to power is two fold. One is that the natural trajectory altering effect of the spin is to pull the ball downward. Thus, if I am hitting the ball hard, I naturally would prefer a spin that would pull the ball down into the court. Secondly, the reason the topspin turn tends to add more power is because in order to get the racquet into position to the lower inside edge of the ball one must coil or windup the arm and shoulder. This wound up position creates stored tension within the arm which is naturally released in a more powerful, faster turn with the topspin move (torque). The best way to get the racquet to align to the lower-inside edge of the ball is to use a semi-western grip. This will fold the racquet back significantly in the wrist and ROTATE (not drop) the racquet head below the hand and forearm and into a fully wound position. This move is called "supination" of the forearm and "internal rotation" of the shoulder. You can see this supple move on the animation of Jankovic (above right). Most players are much too anxious to swing "out to the ball" but top pros fold and rotate into the "slot," creating a compact hitting structure that is quick, controlled, and powerful as the racquet and body are positioned to help catapult the ball out from the string bed. On the other hand, the underspin position is much more neutral (much less tension) and the turn will actually increase tension within the arm as it moves through contact. When performed correctly, this winding action and increase of tension will have a tendency to discourage speed in the racquet. For underspin the racquet head should approach contact with the ball from an "upper-outside" position. Since the racquet is positioned above the wrist in the neutral "ready position" and stays above the wrist in the backswing, it is basically staying neutral or not winding. The best grip to use to get the racquet face to align to the upper-outside edge of the ball is the Continental grip. The Continental grip will discourage any windup in the wrist and will basically keep the wrist very "neutral" or straight. With the Continental grip the racquet is not nearly as laid back in the wrist. The racquet is more forward in the hand which puts it in a better position to "catch" the ball. Imagine how a baseball player would catch a ball in a glove by letting the ball just settle in. The glove is extended in front of the hand rather than laid back in the wrist and, in the same way, the racquet should feel a bit in front of the hand. This way the racquet can recoil slightly on contact if it is necessary to take speed off of the oncoming ball and gain better "touch." Feels These grips not only position the racquet head into different angles of approach to the ball, they also put the arm into different positions relative to the body. The semi Western grip puts the contact more directly out in front of the body where the body is positioned to exert maximum force through the hand. Imagine pushing your hand against a wall and getting your body lined up so that you can press as hard as possible. In that position your hand would be flexed back and be positioned directly in front of your body. In this position there is very little give to either your hand or your arm. Therefore, anything hitting against your hand would spring away with more force since you would have minimal ability to recoil in either your wrist or your arm (recoiling is the way you would be able to absorb power). Compare that to the Continental grip. The Continental grip positions the hand and arm off to the side of the body where the arm can go backwards or recoil at contact. This is why football players are told never to make arm tackles but instead are instructed to "square up" or get directly in front of an oncoming ball carrier. Any halfback can easily break an arm tackle of even the strongest lineman. The feel of the underspin turn of the ball is much more absorbing oriented, slower and more guiding and the contact is positioned more to the side of the body to better perform this task. Contrary to what you may think, volleys (underspin strokes) actually have a more absorbent, slower, guiding feel compared to more powerful groundstrokes. This makes sense when you consider that you are required to take power off of many volleys since you are usually meeting the ball relatively close to the net where you have less court to hit into, and also the ball has more pace on it because you are meeting it before the bounce. Instead we are told to "punch" the volley which is really a power move and a power position. This may be fine for some volleys, in fact we will even see volleys hit with topspin when players want to add a lot of power to the ball. Still that is not the more common volley experience. However it is not so much the fact that you are simply playing a ball in the air and therefore hitting a volley that defines the grip or the technique that you employ but more the determining factor is your decision to either go for more power or more control.
Subtleties of Contact There are some common mistakes that befall most recreational players when attempting to master these two ball turns. These mistakes are almost subtle paradoxes we must learn to overcome. These paradoxes I am alluding to involve "timing feels." First, on the topspin stroke where I am meeting the ball further in front of the body and earlier in the swing pattern, there is actually a "feel" of playing the ball late. The reason for this is two fold; one is because the wrist is so laid back in the semi Western grip there is a feeling that the ball is actually past the hand when it contacts the racquet. Secondly this laying back occurs very late and gives the feeling of "late" preparation. This "late preparation feel" is part of all strokes that are power oriented because of the fact that these strokes must be much more continuous than the "guiding" strokes. For a volley it is better to feel a racquet preparation followed by a waiting for the ball with a relatively still racquet, followed by a grip, turn, and guiding or pushing action. A pause between the preparation and the contact is actually a good thing. On the power stroke this pause is called a "hitch" and will undermine power. On the power stroke the flow of the arm and racquet must be continuous. Continuous does not mean all at once, but instead in a continually flowing action. When done properly the forearm and wrist are the last things to prepare and this must be done quite close to contact since these things are also going to be the first things to release on contact. This "last to prepare and first to fire" action gives the feeling of a very last moment trigger action that requires a great deal of patience and good timing. It is, though, one of the key elements to speed and power and also requires "feel." Too much release can send the ball over the fence and too little release will result in late contact. Almost all recreational players are much too early in preparing and firing these smaller muscle groups and, in the same way, they are generally too late in preparing the larger muscle groups (the hips and shoulders). But the paradoxical feel is that even though we are catching the ball more in front of the body and going for more power and speed, there is also a "feel" of taking the ball further back in the hand and preparing the racquet much later (see the Jankovic animation above).
The volley, conversely, has a feeling of catching the ball more in front of the body. Actually the arm position for the underspin strokes is much further back in the stance although the "feel" may be more in front because the racquet is positioned more forward in the hand (relative to the topspin stroke) due to the grip (Continental). And although there is much less time on many volleys there is more of a feeling of preparing early and waiting for the ball since a pause in the backswing (what would be a "hitch" in the power stroke) is actually a desirable technique. This is because we are simply "catching" the ball and so we want a very passive (almost dead feeling hand) to better absorb the ball. Conclusion I can't tell you how many times I have heard players admonish themselves to "finish the shot" or "get the racquet back." I have almost given up trying to explain that most problems arise because players are doing exactly that. They put so much emphasis on these two parts of the stroke that these actions end up having an improper relationship to the object of contact. The stroke ends up lacking rhythm, fluidity, timing, and a point of focus. The backswing and the follow-through only have significance in respect to how they allow us to better control the actual contacting of the ball. Although we have often taught and learned the game through a regimented adherence to positions of readiness, backswings, and follow-throughs, perhaps a better approach may be to concentrate on the "feels" of turning the ball and to focus more awareness on the actual contact between the ball and the racquet strings. There is a whole world of exploration and play that springs from these touches and positions involved in this single event. Rather than simply ignoring this point of the stroke and assuming it will take care of itself while concentrating on the start and finish, make this single moment the central theme that points the way for everything that precedes and follows. Let the backswing and the follow-through develop more organically once contact is better understood and that way they will develop with more relevance. Take some time to develop your awareness of the various grips, positions, feels, and timings that represent the range of contact. Watch the pros as they walk from point to point or prepare to serve and notice how they dribble the ball on the ground and roll it and tease it. Learn to explore the more subtle touches of the ball and I am confident that you will not only find a new and exhilarating playfulness in your game but you will also keep your eye more focused on the prize. Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Doug King's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.
Doug is one of the country's foremost tennis teaching innovators. Founder of Acceleration Tennis, a revolutionary teaching system, King is leading the way in reinterpreting the traditional tennis model. Doug King is currently Director of Tennis at Meadowood Napa Valley ( www.meadowood.com ), a Relaix Chateau Resort in St. Helena , CA . For more information on Acceleration Tennis please email Doug King at dking@meadowood.com. |
Doug King studied with legendary tennis coach Tom Stow and was a
former California State Men's Singles Champion
and the former number one men's player of Northern California.