ETI 016 Positioning for the Hit - Moving in TwosDownload this podcast – You may need to right-click and select Save Link As to download the file to your computer
Take your time with this one. As regards movement, balance, and dance steps to the ball, nearly all of this material comes from my work with Tom Stow.
And I believe that the following lesson directly addresses the following comments, made after a first round loss at Roland Garros, “My first step is so bad on this stuff, I feel like I am always shuffling or hopping or not stopping or something.” Read on!
Hopefully you have seen and worked through the podcast entitled Weighting and Waiting.
And as a subtle review, baseball batters “wait” on the pitch with their “weight” back. Similarly, pitchers and quarterbacks start their throwing motion with their “weight” back.
But somehow in tennis, many players shift onto the front foot when “waiting” and in these instances they lose power and rhythm.
Which also explains why so many of us prefer to play with someone who hits the ball firmly, not overpowering necessarily, but firmly enough to help us establish our own rhythm.
Moving in twos addresses this scenario, with a specific footwork drill, where steps to the ball are always (when possible) in multiples of two. But, only if the first step in the two step sequence is with the front foot.
Check it out, practice a bit before your next match, if not in your backyard, and your rhythm will be the better for it.
GUARANTEED!
Let me know what you think…
14 Comments
Ananth
September 9, 2012Jim , I have lots of difficulty in hitting the slow bouncing mid court balls . Even in days I serve well my opponent returns the serves with a block which will land slowly in mid court and I have difficulty in finishing it off . How should I overcome this . Regards , Ananth from Dubai .
Jim McLennan
September 9, 2012Ananth – take some time with our podcast stream – that said the trick is to play the ball at its highest moment after the bounce – the top of the bounce and use a flatter stroke hitting it more or less down ad over the net
Jim
Mike
September 7, 2012Jim,
I went out to work on my serve today, but felt a bit frustrated after trying to get some idea of how to work the Sampras snap with that forearm rotation into my serve. I understand the concept and the feel of rotating the forearm into the net, but just had no idea how to transfer that feel to the serve motion. I just don’t seem to be able to develop any real pop on my serve, and every aspect of my serve seems very inconsistent.
Thanks,
Mike
Jim McLennan
September 7, 2012Mike – hard to say without seeing your serve – but a hunch would be to consider is your grip correct, and if so are you loose or muscular?
Jim
ofttimes it all starts (or stops) with the correct (or incorrect) grip
Mike
September 7, 2012Jim,
Thank you so much for all the great informatioin you have shared with me and your other readers. I have been playing tennis as a rec player since I was a kid. I’ve always been a good athlete, (ex horse jockey) but obviously I’m not very tall. I never learned some of the basic fundamental for good ground strokes and the serve, but I have more recently been trying to build a better serve. I served with more of a straight arm motion for years, so it is difficult for me to make a transition to a looser arm with an elbow drop position before going up to contact. I’m only about 5’6 and 140lbs, so I know I probably with never have a power house serve, but I really believe I can develop a better serve with a lot of hard work. I’ve been taking lessons recently with a guy who I feel is a pretty good coach, and it is interesting that many of the things he has been working with me on in my serve is many of the same things that paralell what you teach. One of the first things he hoticed was my balance, because it seemed I was always losing mine on the serve. He has been really stressing the idea that when I warm up that I should keep my feet planted throughout the whole motion. I do notice that I find a little more pop without using my legs at all. That being said, I know if I can learn to use my legs that I can get even more power eventually. Right now, it seems like as soon as I use my legs in the serve, the fluidity of the arm and the elbow drop start to diminish significantly, and the balance seems to suffer too. Anyway, that’s a little history of where I’m at right now, but I am determined to build the best serve possible, so I can quit giving away so many free points. My groundstrokes and my court speed gives me a great deal of potential to play at a lot higher level, but right now, my serve is really letting me down, and when the serve suffers, the rest of my game starts to waver because the doubt starts creeping in. I’m currently rated a 3.5 player, but my coach and I really believe I have the potential to play much higher if I can start putting a better serve out there. I’m going to try and start working on the idea with the box on the serve, but I suspect keeping my feet still is sort of the same thing. Also, I am very interested in the Sampras snap technique, and Pete was always my favorite player. I’m curious as to how to try and put that forearm rotation you speak about into my practice. I’ve practiced the rotation into the net like you show and also just into my couch. : ) It seems like I can beat the dust out of my couch with very little effort. Even though I am smaller in stature, I am very fit and have pretty strong forearms for my size because I am a bricklayer/stone mason. Doing that exercise to feel the motion into the net and my couch seems to indicate to me just how much more potential I might have if I can learn to put it into my serve. I’m just not sure how I might go about moving in that direction. Any insight you can give me in that area would be greatly appreciated.
I have spent lots and lots of time watching your very straight forward teaching videos, and many of the info you share are things I am trying to work into my overall game. Thank you Jim so much for all you do to help us rec players out there. This year I played in an LTTA leagues and I was lucky enough to play with a very great player, so we went undefeated with him playing as the number 1 seed and me as a 2. I learned a great deal watching and learning from him and it has given me a greater determination to raise the level of my game, so I can compete at a higher level. I know I have made great strides, but I know I’m also only as good as my serve, especially the second one. Previously, I would always double fault, because I would slow down my motion while attempting the new technique with elbow drop etc and then to whole motion would break down and I would miss terribly, especially when tension would creep in. I’ve tried to develop a kick serve for the second one, and it is coming along pretty well, but I just have not been able to sync everything up yet. I seem to do okay when I focus on one element at a time, but when I try to put it all together problems arise. Anyway, I guess I have rambled on enough, but I am passionate about correcting my faults and becoming a better server and player, so and help you can give me would be awesome.
Thanks again Jim and I look forward to hearing from you!
Mike
Jim McLennan
September 7, 2012Mike – make sure the racquet approaches the ball on edge, and that comes from the grip and a leading elbow – then the snap will make sense and do something to the ball
Jim
Dino
May 31, 2012Jim,
I love your footwork; very fluid and easy to follow.
I will try to practice the “move in two” (two steps) with my inside out forehand.
I would like to view your footwork video in the future for a run around forehand.
Thanks again for your great instructions and I always try to incorporate them with my games.
Dino
Robert A
May 31, 2012Working on this, along with the early turn in the ground game program, has been making a big difference in my consistency and my confidence. I don’t get jammed or jam myself nearly as much, I am stepping in too early much less, and not letting hard spinning balls get too deep as often. My footwork patterns seem to be synching with the path of the incoming ball, so I feel more relaxed and maybe see the ball better.
Fran
May 30, 2012Jim
I like this visual “Dance” it seems like the classic split step can be the
Beginning to start the pivot and then take the 2 or 4 steps required
To weight off the back foot.
Fabrice de Carné
May 30, 2012Jim,
This does not work for me. I always need to weigh on my right foot (right handed with a one handed backhand and open stance forehand ) when I hit hard and want the ball to stay in.
Since I have realized that I am much more precise and consistent as I am more in balance now when I pull the trigger…
In order to achieve that I need to think about it when I hit which is sometimes a little bit difficult. Any recommendation?
Thanks
Fabrice de Carne
Jim McLennan
May 30, 2012Fabrice – boxers, baseball batters, baseball pitchers, all in this line start with their weight back – yes there are exceptions and many ways to play the game – but in the main to use your body it is about getting your weight balanced on the back foot to prepare
Jim
Jim Fox
May 30, 2012Hi Jim,
Good stuff, as always. One question: when using an open or semi-open stance on groundies, am I correct that a lot of the players actually shuffle to get in position (when they don’t have far to go), and then weight the outside (or back) foot?
Jim Fox
greg
May 30, 2012I think federer and a lot of other pros actually moves in 3s not 2s (seems to work better),
They step with their outer foot first when moving to the side, then inner and then outer (and put weight on back foot)
Rodger Schuester
May 30, 2012“But somehow in tennis, many players shift onto the front foot when “waiting” and in these instances they lose power and rhythm…Which also explains why so many of us prefer to play with someone who hits the ball firmly, not overpowering necessarily, but firmly enough to help us establish our own rhythm.”
Jim, That’s an eye opening observation, particularly linking this to your advice to keep moving in 2’s for slower balls.
In parallel, I do know that there were times as I moved forward to attack a ball that I stopped moving and jammed an offensive ball into the net – which I felt was primarily because having stopped moving my feet I actually hit the ball off my front foot which indicated to me I was leaning over and stroking downward, while waiting for the ball on my front foot when I hit the ball.
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