Power: Is the Time Right?

Greg Moran

“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac,” said former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. In tennis, this is more apparent than ever. Mention the word "power" to any player and our mouths begin to water. Power strokes, power racquets, power strings, power shoes, power warm-ups, you name it. If it says “power,” we want it and we want it bad!

To the recreational athlete, power is the mark of a good tennis player and it’s easy to understand why. They see Andy Roddick fire in a 150 mph serve or Maria Sharapova hit a forehand that would penetrate concrete and walk away with the perception that winning tennis is all about big shots and quick points.

Nothing gets the juices flowing like ripping a winner past a lunging opponent. We clench our fist, yell out “Yes” and, for a brief moment, feel as if we’re right up there with Roger and Justine.

We all want to hit the ball harder and, in this article I’ll offer some tips that have helped my students add power to their games. But first, a few words of caution: many players operate under the misconception that the ability to rip the ball will alone take them to the next level. They then fire away at the first opportunity only to see their games deteriorate into a sea of unforced errors.

Bill, one of my students, is just such a player. Perpetually locked and loaded, Bill hits huge first serves that find the court less than 10% of the time. He launches big forehands that burn holes in the net and overheads that frequently have the players on the next court scrambling for cover.

Yes, Bill does occasionally experience that exhilarating high when he comes up with a truly world-class shot. Unfortunately, he suffers through far more lows as he commits one unforced error after another. Not surprisingly, Bill doesn’t win many tennis matches, frequently losing to players who, as he says, “Hit the ball like a wimp.”

Bill is a charter member of the “You-have-to-hit-it-hard-to-be-considered-a-good-tennis-player” club and it is a big club. Thousands of players around the world, encouraged by technology and television, join this go for broke, fast-food approach to tennis. The club’s motto is “hit big to win big.” Unfortunately, for these players, “hit big to win big” usually translates into “hit big to lose quickly.”

The reason for this is that these players are not yet ready to focus on power and, as a result, play out of control tennis. It’s like giving your child the keys to a Porsche before they’ve learned to drive the family Civic.

Power shouldn’t become a focus for you until you reach the 4.0 NTRP rating level. Players at this advanced level have spent hundreds, if not thousands, of hours on the practice court and can consistently control the depth, placement and spin of their shots. Their strokes are grooved, and they are truly ready to bring power into their games.

If you are not yet at these levels, focus on improving your consistency and control. These are the hallmarks of a winning tennis player from the beginning levels up through the stars we see on television. Yes, the pros hit the ball extremely hard, but through years of practice and millions of balls struck, they’ve learned to hit big and still maintain their consistency and control.

That being said, a bit more power, if achieved in the right way and used at the proper time, can bring your game to the next level. If you are truly at the 4.0 level (be honest with yourself here. Ask your pro or a strong player whose opinion you respect) the ability to add more pace to certain shots can mean the difference between winning and losing. As you begin to experiment with power, keep these thoughts in mind:

You don’t need to swing hard to hit hard

Have you ever noticed that skinny 10 year-old at the club that hits the ball a ton? As the kid rips one groundstroke after another, yet still manages to keep the ball in the court, you say to yourself, “I’m much stronger than that little runt so how come every time I try to hit with power my shots end up in the next area code?”

The fact is controlled power does not come from big muscles or by swinging ridiculously hard at the ball. In fact, a harder swing frequently produces a slower moving ball! This is true because, when we take a big hard swing, the muscles in our arm tense up. This tenseness can causes us to lose control of our racquet face resulting in mis-hit, slower moving, balls.

Most advanced players and professionals usually swing their arms at roughly 80 % of their capability. At this percentage they’re able to keep their racquet face stable and their shots under control.

In order to add power to your shots you need to increase the speed of your racquet head as it makes contact with the ball. This is best done by coordinating your legs, hips, trunk, shoulders and arms so that they work together to propel your racquet into the ball. This coordination is called your kinetic chain and it means using the different links in the chain transfer energy from one part to the other.

Let’s say you wanted to add a little juice to your forehand. Wait for a ball that’s in your strike zone (somewhere between your chest and knees) and, as you prepare, coil your shoulders, trunk and hips and bend your knees. As you begin your forward swing, simply uncoil the parts.

The energy, which begins in your legs, is then transferred up through your body, building at each link in the chain. It moves up from your legs, through your hips, trunk, shoulder, arms, wrist and finally out through your racquet.

It will take practice to coordinate all of the part but the end result will be a faster moving racquet head which transfers speed onto your shots. This is how that skinny little kid, and the pros, generate so much power and still maintain their control.

For those of you who simply can’t wait to venture into the world of the big hitter, there are a few equipment adjustments that you can make that will automatically give your shots more pace. Here are three:

1. Buy a stiffer racquet: A stiffer racquet will provide more power. There are many on the market today that are both stiffer and lighter. Ask your pro or local tennis shop, for advice.

2. String your racquet looser. This will also give your shots a boost. Begin by stringing your racquet 3-5 pounds looser and see how it feels.

3. Add lead tape: Lead tape placed around various areas of your racquet’s head will make the racquet heavier and therefore put more force behind your strokes.

These are simply shortcuts to power and may cause you to suffer a loss of control for a while. When all is said and done, the best and most reliable source of power is improved technique and use of your kinetic chain.

When to add power

The serve is the defining shot of the power player and throughout history we’ve seen some big ones. To date, Andy Roddick holds the record for the fastest serve ever hit at155-mph while for the ladies, Venus Williams fired in a record serve of 127.4 mph. While you may not reach the 100 mph mark on the radar gun, a more powerful serve can win you some easy points as well as intimidate an opponent.

There’s an old saying in tennis that “you‘re only as good as your second serve” and, like most old sayings, there’s an element of truth to this. If you’re second serve is weak, you need to be particularly focused on getting a high percentage of first serves in.

Save the power serves for the less important points such as 40-0 or 0-40. These are points that you can afford to lose so you can take a bit of a risk and go for the rocket serve.

If you’re up 40-0 and happen to get your big one in, it’s a nice exclamation point to the game. If you’re down 0-40 and throw in a bomb, you may just intimidate your opponent enough to get you back in the game. If you’ve developed a strong second serve, you can be a bit more aggressive on your first so go for the big one now and then.

Here are a few of the most common shot situations where you might want to “crank it up” on your groundstrokes:

• When you have a ball in the mid-court that’s in your strike zone.
• Hitting a passing shot when you’re opponent’s at the net.
• Returning a weak second serve.

  Click photo: Forced out of position, David Nalbandian hits looping groundstroke just to keep the ball in play.

Four times not to add power to your shot.

1. If you’re more than five feet behind the baseline
2. If you’re more than five feet outside of the court
3. If the ball is out of your strike zone.
4. If the ball is inside the service line and below the height of the net.

Power can be a devastating addition to your game when it’s achieved properly and unleashed at the right time. Continue to work on your strokes and you’ll find that, as your timing and technique improve, your shots will become more powerful and difficult for your opponents to handle.

Your comments are welcome. Let us know what you think about Greg Moran's article by emailing us here at TennisOne.

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Whether you dream of winning Wimbledon, rising to the top of your club ladder, or just want to hit the ball and have a great time, Tennis Beyond Big Shots will show you the revolutionary new Beyond way, acclaimed by Grand Slam Champions.

Tennis Beyond Big Shots presents a bold back-to-the-future approach. A new game that moves away from power and big shots yet is more lethal to opponents than any booming serve. Greg Moran shows players of all ages and abilities that, with simple and small changes, you can not only maximize your tennis wins and play longer, but also have much more fun doing it. Click link to purchase Greg Moran's book, Tennis Beyond Big Shots.