[Q] Heath, One of my students gets very tight while swinging her forehand... she de-accelarates from the tightness and there is virtually no follow through. Any thoughts? Thanks. Tom

[A] Tennis Tips

Tom,

the only person that can put pressure on a person is that person themself. so obviously your student is putting their mind in the wrong place and approaching her tennis in a non productive manner. it is up to you the coach to lead and guide the students thoughts down a path that consistently leads to optimal performance of which is easier said than done and must be positively re-enforced on a daily basis. the first thing you as a coach must do with her is to have her only focus upon improvement rather than outcome. make her understand that her success is not whether she wins or loses but rather if she improves her game each time she steps out onto the court. set up specific goals for her game i.e. "forehand winners" etc, and her success lies in her execution and achievement of these specific game goals. you the coach must now mentally condition her to love to hit the snot out of the ball and when a ball comes to her forehand she should be requred to hit it with 100% racquet speed...notice i said "required". follow these initial steps and let me know how it goes.

[Q] my daughter is 9 years old has a great slice serve and can hit it at 70mph. she is a leftie and a great player she wins most tournaments she enters and plays under 10 age group. the lta ranking system here seams to rank player by not her wins because she does not play the u12 tonaments ther for she has no points on her rankings and currenly shows only being 27 in the uk. what shouldshe do stay in her age group or play up.she is doing so well.

[A] tennis tip- penny my suggestion is if she is dominating her own age division then it would good to go ahead and move her up to the next age division. the goal should be to sustain a 3 to 1 win/loss ratio no matter what level you move to. if she can do this in the 12 and under division then this is good. also remember that nothing really matters at age 9 other than developing the game that will allow your daughter to reach her full potential. do not stress winning and losing but rather encourage her to improve her game on a day by day, match by match basis. in the end this will lead to optimal success :)

[Q] one of my students, who has a high national ranking, plays so much better in practice than in a tournament. How can I make her as comfortable (and confident and fearless) in a tournament as in practice?

[A] Tennis tips- Where a coach's head goes so does one's students is my belief. I have found the main ingredient in propelling a student to perform at an optimal level while under pressure in a tournament is to merely focus upon small improvement goals rather than winning, rankings, trophies, money etc. Set specific game accomplishment goals such as attacking every single 2nd serve of the opponent or ending a certain number of points at the net per set, or achieving more winners than errors etc. They can be any such goals like this that are positive and are tangible proof that she is improving her game of which in the end will lead to more wins and definitely more consistent optimal performances.

[Q] Hi Heath, In tennis is it technically wrong to hit forehand with bent arm? Your article on millenium forehand says that the arm should be straight at the point of contact. I think I hit my forehands with bent arm and find it tough to keep my arms straight (at contact point). Is it absolutely necessary to hit with straight arm to have a good forehand?

[A] Vijay,

Tennis tip answer: No it is not a necessity but it is simply technically optimal to make contact with an extended arm on the forehand side. There are many forehands on tour that have a bent right arm at contact. I would continue to strive for this but don't fret over it if you do not quite reach the goal of complete extension. The end result is the key.

[Q] Dear Heath, I have two questions for you. 1.On your video instruction on one handed top spin backhand there is no mention about the wrist position on the grip.Should the wrist be laid back and radially deviated on preparation and gets neutral on contact as in slice backhand or is it differant. 2.In your backhand volley-preparation Video at tennisone website there is no discussion on the crossover step,although one clip shows Nalabandian executing it properly.Crossoverstep with the right leg crossing in front of the left helps to reach wide balls and helps to coil the shoulders.Your thoughts please.Thank you. Bakthan.

[A] Bakthan,

On the one handed topspin backhand the wrist should remain in a neutral position during the preparation phase and not in a radial deviated position such as on a slice backhand.

The crossover step is used as you suggest when one has to move laterally to reach a ball. The crossover step does also promote easier upper torso coil as well. One should push off the back foot and step forward when in one's comfort zone.

[Q] Dear Heath, Thanks for the superb instruction article on flat,slice ad kick serves.I need clarification on one point.In the visual imagery of hammer driving the nail in to the ball,which part of the racquet constitutes the hammer? Is it the butt or the leading edge of the racquet.Thanks. Bakthan.

[A] Bakthan,

The the head of the racquet correlates to the head of the hammer and the grip of the racquet correlates to the handle or butt of the hammer. I hope that makes sense. One would hammer an imaginary nail into the ball with the head of the racquet in other words. Thanks for the question.

[Q] Heath, Is there a good ball machine at resonable price you recommend. And to chart a match, is there anything new being used now days? Thanks. Roberto Bloise

[A] Roberto,

Regarding the ball machines what is a reasonable price in your mind and what functionality will you be using it for? Your own game or to coach others? I am working on trying to establish a relationship currently for ball machines and should know something soon. ACE Charting software seems to be the lead contender in our search for match charting software at the moment. Thanks for the questions.

[Q] Dear Heath, I see almost all the top players arch their backs when they serve.For example Edberg had a very exaggerated back bend when he hit that awesome kick serve.Is arhing the back an essential and integral part of an advanced serve. When the back is arched should it bend directly backwards or also sideways.Also what happened to the so called "American Twist" serve.Are any of rhe current pros using it,or it has bcome obsolete.Will appreciate your sagacious comments. Thanks. Bakthan.

[A] Bakthan,

Although Roddick and other big servers do have a big arch in their back as they begin the upswing and leg extension towards contact one should be careful when trying to execute this. The technique should not be thought of consciously but rather the technique one uses to reach maximum knee flexion is key. Many people make the mistake of performing a squatting action with their knee flexion rather than the knees should bend forward. This is not natural for some people but can be learned for sure. Although the arched position does occur in high level serves it is not the most important factor in achieving an advanced serve. Getting all the links working together is much more important along with proper spin and placement of serve. The serve drills in our video instruction section will be a good start to obtaining proper linkage of the kinetic chain.

I was always under the impression that the American Twist serve was nothing more than a kick serve or what we call a slice/kick serve. I could be wrong but this was my impression. If this is true then there are many tour players still using the kick serve every week.

[Q] I have read a lot of differing views concerning the role of the left hand on the one handed backhand. Does it pull the racquet back much like a bow string and then release it to fire forward or does it play a more passive role as in just going along for the ride until release.

[A] Dickie,
The left hand plays only a passive role in the backswing of the one hander. It only acts as a guide very much like the left hand when shooting a basketball. The right hand does all the work but the left hand is just there for support.

[Q] I'm teaching my 14 yr. old daughter the slice backhand. Your current article on this stroke is excellent. She is having difficulty perfecting this stroke. Her backswing and finish look good but the area of the downswing to the hitting zone is the problem. She wants to roll her wrist on the initial downswing. Do you have any thoughts or idea's on how to perfect the area of the down swing to the contact point. Thanks, Ron

[A] courtney,

This is a common error among players to try to do more than is necessary from preparation to contact. the secret is actually to do "nothing". This means that if one achieves the proper preparation position with the "square" and the contact side of the strings and back of the palm facing the net then all one has to do from there is merely swing straight forward through contact WITHOUT ANY altering of the wrist formation. If the number one position is correct along with the ending then this will naturally put the racquet into the slot or hitting zone properly. Everything should be natural and nothing forced if done correctly. My suggestion is to have your daughter go in slow motion and create the motor engram of what it feels like to to nothing with her wrist or racquet face as she begins her downswing to the ball. Have her get into number one and swing without hitting a ball several times to get the feel then just throw the ball in the way of the racquet. In other words her technique is getting in the way of the ball. Just perform the technique as if the ball wasn't even there and let the ball get in the way of the technique instead...