What follows here is an unnecessarily detailed description of my tennis strokes.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Preparation<\/b>: before each point, I mentally prepare myself.<\/p>\n Free the muscles in my neck and jaw using the Alexander Technique<\/a>. <\/a>Basic Stroke Mechanics<\/b>. <\/a>Forehand\/Two Handed Backhand<\/b> <\/a>Slice Backhand<\/b> <\/a>Serve<\/b>: there are three important parts of my serve: 1. bend my knees and rotate my trunk 2. move my head and spine up towards the ball – this keeps me from tilting my head forward and taking my eye off the ball 3. snap across the ball at impact to get as much rotation as possible.<\/p>\n Twist to the right and toss the ball with a straight arm. At its highest point, the ball will be in line with my head and a racket length in front of the baseline. <\/a>Return of Serve<\/b>: I use a one-two-three rhythm to return serve. One is when my opponent hits the ball. Two is when the ball bounces on my side of the court. Three is when I hit the ball. Keeping this rhythm in mind helps me adjust to different service speeds.<\/p>\n Keep my feet moving. <\/a>Passing forehand\/passing backhand<\/b>: this shot should either land at the volleyer’s feet or pass them to the right or left. It’s also useful as a winning shot when your opponent is at the baseline because the angle is so sharp.<\/p>\n Keep my feet moving. <\/a>Approach Shot<\/b> <\/a>High Bouncing Shot<\/b> <\/a>Lob<\/b>: because I have had problems with tennis elbow, I avoid hitting shots with an open racket face. For this shot I use a flat racket face.<\/p>\n Keep my feet moving. <\/a>Volley<\/b> <\/a>Forehand Overhead<\/b> <\/a>Backhand Overhead<\/b> <\/a>Drop Shot<\/b>: a successful drop shot lands near the outside line of the service box and short enough that it bounces at least twice in the service box. I use a continental grip for the forehand drop shot to avoid tennis elbow. Don’t you do that.<\/p>\n Keep my feet moving. <\/a>After the Point<\/b> What follows here is an unnecessarily detailed description of my tennis strokes. Preparation: before each point, I mentally prepare myself. Free the muscles in my neck and jaw using the Alexander Technique. Smile at the thought of winning the next point. Think about where I want the ball to go. Rehearse the next stroke I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-body-mechanics","category-tennis-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ninarota.com\/tennis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nSmile at the thought of winning the next point.
\nThink about where I want the ball to go.
\nRehearse the next stroke I am going to use, usually the serve<\/a> or return of serve<\/a>.
\nSay the score.<\/p>\n
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nGrip the racket solidly with a neutral wrist position, approach the ball with a closed racket head and hit the ball early rather than late.
\nSwing through the ball and up and follow through.<\/p>\n
\nKeep my feet moving.
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run to the ball.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSwing through the ball and up while thinking about where I want to ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nKeep my feet moving.
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run to the ball.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSwing under the ball and up while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nBend my knees and rotate, loop the racket behind me and aim the edge of the racket at the ball.
\nSnap the racket across the ball at impact while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nMove back the behind the baseline.
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.<\/p>\n
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSwing through the ball and up while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run to the ball.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSwing through the ball and up sharply while thinking about where I want to ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run towards the ball.
\nMove to a position behind and to the side of the ball.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSwing through the ball and up while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nBe sure to finish the swing before moving forward.
\nMove forward to the net until my opponent hits the ball then jump into a split step.<\/p>\n
\nKeep my feet moving.
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run to the ball.
\nLift the ball by swinging the racket up and in a circle. The racket will end up facing down in front of my body.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket back as I run to the ball.
\nHit under the ball and sharply up with a flat racket face while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nPreparation: stand with the racket head up and racket directly in front of my body.
\nMove forward on the diagonal and step into the ball.
\nThe racket moves very little in space, it just meets the ball.
\nKeep the racket head up when hitting a low volley.
\nJust meet the ball when stretching for a volley.<\/p>\n
\nMove to a position behind and slightly to the side of where the ball will drop.
\nTwist my body to the right and point up at the ball with my finger.
\nSwing the racket in a figure eight and hit the ball while thinking about where I want it to go.<\/p>\n
\nTwist my trunk to bring the racket over and behind my left shoulder while running to a position in front of and slightly to the side of the ball.
\nSnap the racket up and over the ball while thinking about where I want it to go.<\/p>\n
\nWhen my opponent hits the ball, jump into a split step.
\nTwist my trunk to bring my racket back as I run to the ball.
\nStep into the ball and bend my knees.
\nSlice down at the ball and forward while thinking about where I want the ball to go.
\nMove back to the neutral position on the court.<\/p>\n
\nIf I won the point I say, “That’s like me!”
\nIf I make an unforced error I go onto the next point.
\nIf my opponent makes a winning shot I congratulate them.
\nStart the preparation<\/a> for the next point.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"