Coaching 2009 Tennis in the Balance ENG

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Being balanced is critical when playing tennis since only then can we swing smoothly and control the ball properly.

However, players are frequently unbalanced because they lean heavily and try to adapt to the ball with their upper body and arms. This throws them off guard.

The reason for this is that we make most of our changes in our daily lives by leaning slightly forward and utilizing our arms.

We must first become conscious of this behavior and attempt to modify it so that we may learn to adapt with our legs on the court, stay balanced, and keep our arms as comfortable as possible.

Thanks to PJ Simmons for allowing me to use the Federer clip!

Why Does Leaning Harm Your Game?

Tennis players with weak balance

We are somewhat off balance when we lean.

We will lose balance significantly if we tilt and adapt to the ball with our upper body and arms.

That doesn’t imply we’ll fall, but when we lean in any way with our upper bodies, our minds and bodies will strive to keep us balanced by tensing certain muscles.

You may try it right now at home: stand up straight and feel how your legs feel.

Lean forward slightly (bend at the waist), but maintain your feet in place.

Tension will build up in your legs. In order to keep the same position, your body must contract these muscles.

When you play, this tension generates a slew of issues:

For starters, it hampers smooth movement and mild deceleration when preparing for the shot.

Second, it begins to influence your upper body and arms, and you are no longer able to swing smoothly; as a result, you accelerate with a jerky movement and lose control of the ball.

Finally, when we lean, the racquet angle changes. The racquet also leans with us, but we aren’t aware of it!

The wrist remains in the same position relative to the racquet, and this is our primary “sensor” for determining whether the racquet is open or closed.

When we lean, the angle in our hands does not change, but the angle of the racquet in reference to the ground does.

So many times, we see players miss shots not because of poor technique, but because they were leaning towards the ball when it was low and in front of them. They didn’t think the racquet was closed, so they hit into the net.

Then they frequently blame the stroke technique and hunt for answers that are far off from the true cause of the error.

The Ideal Pose for Dynamic Balance

ideal stance for balancing

Throughout the rally, Roger Federer maintains this position. Do you?

To change direction rapidly in tennis, we must be in an athletic position.

In other words, we must maintain a specific posture during the rally that allows us to feel very solid while also allowing us to make swift accelerations, decelerations, and changes of direction.

Most players I observe are far too upright, making it difficult to accelerate rapidly when the ball is short, or to manage their balance while running to the side and needing to slow down for the shot.

They are “thrown” in the direction of their movement because they are excessively erect and take a long time to recover.

In the video above, I selected a footage of Roger Federer, but every professional maintains this stance while playing.

If you look closely, you’ll see that he keeps the upper body “tilt” even while preparing for shots – and we can see it best from this side when preparing for his backhands.

I strongly advise you to watch that Federer footage several times and attempt to mimic his posture the next time you play tennis.

Legs Are Slaves – Cleopatra’s Mental Image

We must be balanced in order to hit consistent and precise strokes.

That is, instead of leaning and adjusting with our upper bodies, we must adapt with our legs.

If we’re not used to it, the legs will appear to be doing a lot of effort at first.

That’s why I prefer to imagine Queen Cleopatra being carried on a litter by four slaves in Egypt.

legs-work

Your legs are slaves performing all the hard work, whilst your arms are the queen, being quite comfortable. (To view the video on YouTube, click on the image.)

They have to do the heavy lifting while she sits quietly in her comfy chair.

Your legs should feel like slaves, and your arms should feel like Queen Cleopatra.

If you truly want to improve your game, you must quit blaming your legs and do everything it takes to get into a solid position before the hit. You won’t have to lean and shift your upper body and arms as much.

Pay attention to any sensations of being off balance and attempt to eliminate them so that when you move and prepare for your strokes, you feel extremely solid and comfortable, with no strain in your legs.

Yes, our legs must function, but the strain that emerges when we are off balance is not the same as working hard with our legs.

You’ll know after you’ve distinguished between the two…

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