Hi Junction Indoor Tennis Club members,
This is the first installment of Sam’s Tennis Tips, which will be a regular posting on the JITC blog. My goal with this is to provide information that will help you to improve your tennis game, no matter what level of player you happen to be, by simply looking at the game in a different way. So let’s get started!
Tip #1 – Pace and Height – The Foundation of Tennis
Pace and Height is a concept that is used by successful players from the newest beginners all the way up to Roger and Rafa on the lawns of Wimbledon. The bigger meaning behind these two words is that the highest percentage shot (or most successful) is to return the ball at the same pace that it comes to you and clear the net at the same height as the shot your opponent hit to you. When you do this you are basically neutralizing whatever your opponent is trying to do and keeping the point alive. It’s like saying, “Nice shot… Back at ya’.”
Pace is a combination of the speed and spin of the ball and has a lot to do with how “cleanly” someone hits the ball. So a ball with a lot of spin is going to have more “pace” than a ball with little spin hit at the same speed. Common mistakes that occur in the pace department are when someone is hit a soft shot that they think they should be able to kill (and they do – right into the net), or when someone is hit a hard shot and they try to hit it back soft – only to have their racket wobble on impact and the ball goes flying two courts down.
Hitting the ball back at the same pace is not enough – it also needs to clear the net at the same height as the shot coming to you. This is because the shape of a tennis court is long and narrow, meaning that to be successful you have to hit the ball deep. Common mistakes in this area occur when a player hits a soft shot low over the net, giving their opponent a short ball and control of the point; or when they hit the ball hard and high, making that lovely booming sound as it hits the back wall on the fly.
How to practice Pace and Height:
After I teach a beginner the technique of the forehand and backhand and they become 70% proficient with hitting fed balls, I then teach them the concept of pace and height. Our goal then becomes to hit a ball back and forth 100 times in a row from the baseline, and we devote time to that in each lesson. On that day when we fnally make it to 100 we celebrate - because they have just graduated and are no longer a beginner.
So what you can do is get a friend and pace and height your way to 100. If you can’t get there on the baseline, move up to halfway between the baseline and service line and do it there first. It’s a lot of fun and will remind you of why you love playing tennis.
Keep on the lookout for Tip #2 – Watching The Ball – What It Really Means
This is the first installment of Sam’s Tennis Tips, which will be a regular posting on the JITC blog. My goal with this is to provide information that will help you to improve your tennis game, no matter what level of player you happen to be, by simply looking at the game in a different way. So let’s get started!
Tip #1 – Pace and Height – The Foundation of Tennis
Pace and Height is a concept that is used by successful players from the newest beginners all the way up to Roger and Rafa on the lawns of Wimbledon. The bigger meaning behind these two words is that the highest percentage shot (or most successful) is to return the ball at the same pace that it comes to you and clear the net at the same height as the shot your opponent hit to you. When you do this you are basically neutralizing whatever your opponent is trying to do and keeping the point alive. It’s like saying, “Nice shot… Back at ya’.”
Pace is a combination of the speed and spin of the ball and has a lot to do with how “cleanly” someone hits the ball. So a ball with a lot of spin is going to have more “pace” than a ball with little spin hit at the same speed. Common mistakes that occur in the pace department are when someone is hit a soft shot that they think they should be able to kill (and they do – right into the net), or when someone is hit a hard shot and they try to hit it back soft – only to have their racket wobble on impact and the ball goes flying two courts down.
Hitting the ball back at the same pace is not enough – it also needs to clear the net at the same height as the shot coming to you. This is because the shape of a tennis court is long and narrow, meaning that to be successful you have to hit the ball deep. Common mistakes in this area occur when a player hits a soft shot low over the net, giving their opponent a short ball and control of the point; or when they hit the ball hard and high, making that lovely booming sound as it hits the back wall on the fly.
How to practice Pace and Height:
After I teach a beginner the technique of the forehand and backhand and they become 70% proficient with hitting fed balls, I then teach them the concept of pace and height. Our goal then becomes to hit a ball back and forth 100 times in a row from the baseline, and we devote time to that in each lesson. On that day when we fnally make it to 100 we celebrate - because they have just graduated and are no longer a beginner.
So what you can do is get a friend and pace and height your way to 100. If you can’t get there on the baseline, move up to halfway between the baseline and service line and do it there first. It’s a lot of fun and will remind you of why you love playing tennis.
Keep on the lookout for Tip #2 – Watching The Ball – What It Really Means
