Last week our training was focused on early preparation during volley and groundstroke. We talked about racquet preparation, body unit turn (especially shoulder and chest) together with good use of the non-dominant hand. The idea is to really get players to recognize where the incoming ball is (to forehand or backhand) and start their preparation while moving. This is crucial to our topic this week which is Setup.
Often we think about tennis as a sport of projection (sending the ball somewhere). As important as it is, the real challenge for players is how well they can receive the ball and maximize they success during projection. This week we will be reviewing player's preparation and help them link it to their setup, what it should look like, how and when they should position it, and prepare for impact.
3 Key elements are:
Body
- shoulders, trunk, and hips need to be set sideways
Racquet
- racquet should be prepared about shoulder height and on the same side as the body, not to bring racquet way to far back creating time issues during swing and impact.
Feet
- having good balance and focus on neutral stance as much as possible
Of course, a good setup has to be done on time. We will demand players getting setup before the incoming ball bounce on their side, so they will need to be very focused, quick and explosive with their movements.
See you on court!
Peter Liu
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