Don’t Hang Up!

The moment of contact (ball riding the strings) on the average tennis ground stroke is a mere .004 seconds - that is, four one thousandths of a second!

That is not a very long time to convey your message to the ball!

What message am I talking about?

Well, let's see: direction, depth, speed, spin, height - wow! That's a lot of communication in that .004 seconds.

As short a time as that may be, many players fail to continue the racket on the intended path long enough to get the shot they are visualizing, to be produced by the swing.

Let's assume that your grip is okay, the backswing is plenty early, your feet are set, and you still miss! Why?

Let's think of your racket as a communication device to the tennis ball - a telephone, if you will.

The moment of contact is just the word hello - no more.

Anything you need to tell the ball after that is delivered in the follow-through. If you are hitting a forehand or a two-handed backhand ground stroke, keep the racket on the back of the ball as long as possible by accelerating smoothly through the shot until the racket has no farther to go, then let it relax up and over your opposite shoulder momentarily as you recover to your ready position for the next shot.

If your swing stops or even begins to decelerate in the slightest, the ball leaves the strings and no longer gets the information it needs.

Basically, you've hung up after saying hello, and left the ball scratching its head, wondering what you wanted.

Finish the conversation! Your follow-through, if well executed, keeps the info flowing to the ball and provides guidance to bring it unerringly to the target.