I realized very early in my career
that thinking about the ground strokes as a forehand and a backhand
was just not specific enough to develop high-performance tennis players
every forehand is different every backhand is different so the real secret
is trying to teach the players to handle every type of ball coming to the forehand side
or coming into the backhand side. At the same time that players should be able to hit
the ball back
with the desired characteristics in terms of height,
direction, speed, spin
etcetera. I've divided the ground strokes in five groups.
These type of groundstrokes need to be practiced every day
to develop the desired stroke flexibility to be successful
at the highest level. The five essential grounds variations
the first variation
is the Neutral Shot, the building shot, the shot you are going to use to set up the point
the idea is to be consistent to hit the ball high over the net and deep
so that the opponent cannot attack you. The second variation
is that dipping shot - fast with a lot of spin
and short. You will need it for passing shots
approach shots and to open up the court with angles.
The third variation is the Off the Bounce Shot. This shot
is used when the ball is coming very fast and a player can
not moved away from the bounce. They have to take the ball
right of the balance with very short swing. The fourth variation
is The Lifting Shot. The player has to be able to hit the ball
high over the net with a lot of spin
This shot is used to get
out of the defensive if otto hit topspin lobs
or as a change up. Finally
the player has to be able to step into the court catch the ball
at shoulder level and force the opponent
The same concept applies to the volleys.
The five variations. The player at the net
need to be comfortable with high volleys
topspin volleys
low volleys
stretched volleys
and defensive volleys hard and at a body
Any weakness in one of these variations
will leave you vulnerable. Practice all types of shots
master them to become a better player