TennisOne Lessons
Stroke Speed: Playing within your TechniqueDavid W. Smith, Senior Editor TennisOne We have all heard the phrase, “Play within yourself.” It is usually an attempt to make players recognize their limitations while at the same time giving them the best chance to execute shots successfully within the skill-level they may be at. Stroke speed or swing speed is a topic that is as important and applicable to the club player as it is the pro, the junior player as it is to the college competitor. As you will see, however, the players who have developed certain aspects of skill relative to technique will find they can indeed increase stroke speed more successfully and, at the same time gain control over time as their swing speed increases. Stroke Timing Anytime we swing faster, whether we are swinging a baseball bat, a golf club, or a tennis racquet, we decrease our ability to time the swing to the optimal hitting zone or “window” where the shot timing is still within our control. Timing is relative to hitting an incoming ball at the right point of contact with a moving racquet. Obviously, this also applies to throwing: if we throw a baseball, a football, or a rock harder and harder, our ability to aim is diminished proportionally. Aiming in throwing is still achieved through timing of the object’s release point. Simplified, if we simply block an incoming ball with a perfectly still racquet, we can judge the reflective angle of the ball easier than if we were meeting that ball with a moving racquet face. Obviously, the more the racquet face is moving through the stroke, the more difficult the timing becomes in regards to hitting a ball to a specific target. In tennis, there are many factors that affect stroke timing as it applies to swinging harder. Stroke command, or, what I often refer to as Stroke Reliability, is the ability to replicate both a desired swing path on command, as well as creating an optimal stroke path for each of these repeated swings. In other words, if I have a lot of wrist in a forehand stroke, especially wrist that changes the racquet face greatly within the contact window, then I will have difficulty in controlling the racquet face – and ultimately the aim of my shot – because the hitting surface of my racquet is changing within the critical period of contact. Likewise, if my overall swing path is changing – even if I’m not using wristy motions within that path – I will have difficulty creating a reliable stroke. In other words, if I swing with a significant “low-to-high” path on one stroke, and then swing on the next similar shot with a flat stroke or a slice, these differences make it harder for me to calculate the timing as well as the optimal racquet face angle to have the resultant shot go where I want it to. Stroke Integrity Even if I have a defined, practiced, and mastered swing path, one that I am in command of, as I swing harder, I may lose my ability to maintain my “Stroke Integrity.” Swinging “out of my shoes” or trying to whip my racquet faster to gain racquet head speed, and ultimately, increased ball velocity, I will decrease my ability to maintain my stroke integrity and, thus, control. This is true at every level. Quite simply, if I slow down my swing, I will be able to control the stroke component’s better. However, through conscious practice, I can make that desirable and intentional swing path become automatic over time. Exponential Loss of Control Players who have less defined stroke patterns to begin with will often discover an exponential loss of control with bigger swings. That is, as they swing harder, the degree of error is increased exponentially. For example, a players who use a lot of wrist or rolls the forearm or any other swing pattern that changes the racquet face a lot, will find that if they miss their target by a two feet at speed “X” then when they swing at speed “2X” they will miss the target by ten feet…or five times as much. Players who have much more defined swing paths usually don’t find an exponential loss of aiming ability. At speed “X” they may miss by a foot and at “2X” they may only miss by a foot and a half, and at “3X” they only miss by two feet. Obviously, these are simple generalities but I think you get the drift of the concept. Gravity Reliant Players When we examine these concepts, we then can see why so many players must resort to “Dinking” shots to keep the ball in play. I call Dinkers and pushers “Gravity Reliant Players” or “GRP’s”. GRP’s BECOME GRP’s because of their technique. I don’t know too many players who are going to say, “Gee, I really would like to play tennis, but I only want to become a dinker.” If I’m correct in this assumption, then why do so many players become GRP’s or dinkers? It is because the minute they try to swing harder, they lose the exponential control I mentioned earlier. Their only recourse? Swing softer. Push more. Both of these activities will cause the racquet face to be less turbulent within the strike zone. However, when we dink or push, we lose the ability to create spin, speed, and overall effectiveness. Advanced Swing Speeds I’ve found that more advanced players can be even guiltier of swinging beyond their means. Because they don’t have the exponential loss of control that dinkers have when they swing harder, more advanced players often go for more lower-percentage shots in terms of swing speed simply because they come closer to their targets. This offers up somewhat of a false sense of confidence. A classic example of this is when a more advanced player is faced with a net-attacking opponent. Players often feel the need to attempt to hit passing shots with more pace than their normal shots. Not only does this decrease their ability to control the passing shot, but it often results in the net player simply blocking the ensuing volley into the open court with minimal effort since the other player hit the ball so hard they couldn’t even come close to retrieving the volley. Another situation is the advanced player who hits two out of five great shots with high speed swings. They forget they missed three out of the five, losing three out of five points. No one can win with this kind of percentage! Swing Size and Swing Speed A contributing aspect of swing speed is swing size. Taking a large backswing is a common issue when players are trying to swing harder. This is one of the main reasons, in addition to the timing and swing integrity issues, why players make errors. A bigger back swing increases the distance the racquet moves to contact which decreases some element of control. In addition, many common problems occur when players take a large backswing: 1) They lose control of the racquet face or angle; 2) They change the necessary timing of contact in relation to shorter strokes; 3) They change the swing path, (usually raising their racquet much higher than normal on the back swing). I will talk more about how swing size and swing speed can both be better controlled in a moment. Playing Beyond Your Means I can’t tell you how many times while I was coaching high school players how glad I was that our opponent’s felt they had to hit bigger and bigger shots, (because of our school’s winning ‘reputation.’) Often, my players themselves were playing so poorly that if the other team had just gotten a few balls in play, we would have ended up making a multitude of mistakes. Instead, our opponents felt the only way to beat us was to hit miraculous shots. In doing so, the number of misses obviously far outnumbered the few shots made, giving my players more and more confidence to win easily. There is a well-known phrase that says, “The 3.0 Players have all the trophies.” Well, this is often correct but it can be terribly misleading. A long-time player at the 3.0 level will usually know his or her limitations and stroke the ball at attempts that are more within their abilities than other players who may have far better strokes, but attempt to hit balls far too hard. What happens, however, is that the players who are developing desired stroke patterns that are affiliated with more advanced play will eventually do two things: 1) they will learn what speeds they can control the ball better; and 2) their stroke development will eventually allow them to hit the ball harder while still maintaining control and accuracy. The result? The player using better strokes will eventually pass up the 3.0 player and move on to higher, more skilled levels of competition. The player who can only compete at the 3.0 levels by simply hitting at speeds that keep his or her shots in play will not be able to use this same strategy against more skilled players…thus keeping them at the same level for a lifetime. Stroke Speed Improvement There are a variety of ways to consciously control stroke speed and swing size. Segmented Swing Size – This is an exercise that is a part of the USPTA’s “System Five” that I’ve discussed many times in lectures and in my tennis books. The idea, as it relates to the swing size and speed is to imagine dividing your backswing as well as your followthrough into five segments with contact being at “0”. A “1” back swing would be the shortest amount a player could take the racquet back and still come forward to meet the ball. A “5” backswing would be the absolute largest backswing a player could attempt. The same segments are used to identify the followthrough. A “5” would be a full followthrough where a “1” would be almost no followthrough after contact. The idea here is to assign yourself, (or your student), a specific backswing and followthrough number. An example might be to do a “3 – 3” which would be about a medium backswing and medium followthrough. It is a good idea to use different patterns, such as a “2 – 5” or a “4 – 2” to get players to consciously recognize and employ stroke sizes relative to these two factors. Segmented Swing Speed – Same as Swing Size, the idea is to imagine the speed of your swing being divided into 5 speeds: a “1” would be the slowest swing possible while still hitting a ball; a “5” would be swinging as fast as the student could swing. Again, these numbers allow the player to give a conscious application to both size and speed…instead of simply saying, “swing slower” or “swing smaller.” The latter's more subjective commands don’t provide a conscious value for the player relative to other values which the numbers can do. Parallel Mode Processing Fellow TennisOne writer, Scott Ford, has discussed his “Parallel Mode Processing,” which I and hundreds of other professionals have found most helpful in directing students to discover ways to control both their stroke speeds as well as their ‘contact window’ during play. I suggest reading all of Scott’s excellent articles here at TennisOne on this subject. In a nutshell, Scott describes ways to bring your eyes and your mental focus to the contact point better, allowing a player to almost unconsciously control the stroke as a ramification of this Parallel Mode Processing training. Two-Handed Swing Pattern As many know, I’ve been a teacher of both conventional forehands and two-handed forehands. One very helpful aspect of the two-handed forehand is that the off-hand limits the swing size to an almost ideal length. Two-handed backhands don’t limit the backswing as much as the two-handed forehand does, but the use of two hands still provide somewhat of a value on limiting the backswing on the backhand side as well. Conclusion It should be obvious that a conscious balance between working on better and better technique within stroke speeds that not only allow for greater success in terms of aim, but also building upon a foundation that will allow for acquisition of strokes that can be hit harder, is the key. Virtually every skilled player who moved beyond the rudimentary levels of play did so within these two aspects. Confidence is bred through such a process and progressive improvement is sustained. Players who use form that is questionable, and occasionally get the shot in using a lot more speed than they can regularly control, is just plain lucky. But, they believe that if they can do it once, they can do it again. Of course they can…but usually after missing a number of shots before making that one shot again. Naturally, the player who eventually makes another “lucky” shot is saying, “SEE? I CAN make that shot!” Yet, they often wonder why they can’t beat anyone in the process!
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