Fix Long Tennis Errors
by Randy Lynn Rutledge - a previously certified USPTA Tennis Teaching Professional
( Note: retired in good standing, but stopped making USPTA dues payments )
( Note: retired in good standing, but stopped making USPTA dues payments )
This article is about fixing one of the three basic tennis errors.
There are three basic errors in the game of tennis: Ball goes into the net, ball goes long, and ball goes wide.
Imagine two tennis players hitting groundstrokes back and forth across the net and consistently landing the ball within three feet of the baseline with relatively flat strokes (no intentional spin). The consistency of the ball landing depth in the court is due to the ability of both players to use complementary amounts of racket face bevel (net clearance) and racket head speed (distance control).
|
A relatively flat stroke is one in which both "eyes" of the tennis racket face (string pattern) are at approximately the same distance from the primary target (height over the net). The tennis ball should leave the strings in the approximate direction the "eyes" are looking at the string-to-ball contact. No intentional spin has been applied to the ball.
|
Note: If the upper portion of a tennis racket, in any position, is beveled back too far, then the tennis ball can go beyond the baseline (long) when the racket head speed is too great for the amount of bevel being used. More bevel requires less speed and less speed requires more bevel, if the ball is to travel the same distance for both.
The racket face bevel and the speed of groundstrokes must be properly matched for tennis players to consistently control the flight distance of a tennis ball.
Every bevel change must be matched with a corresponding racket speed change to consistently control the flight distance of a tennis ball.
Similarities of Flight Path Incline and Speed in Archery and Tennis
After pulling the bowstring back far enough to produce enough speed to align the arrow to find the target, the archer could continue to pull the arrow back even more and still hit the target, as long as the shaft is parallel to the ground and at an angle of 90 degrees from the line where the ends of the strings attach to the bow.
If the archer wanted to hit the same target using a slight-to-moderate amount of initial incline of the arrow's flight path, then he or she would have to reduce the bowstring pull-back to only enough force to allow the arrow to peak about midway to the target; otherwise, the arrow will fly over and beyond the distance of the intended target (long).
TENNIS
Similar to the above mentioned archer's arrow flight, a tennis player must reduce the speed of the tennis racket head while increasing the net clearance of a relatively flat stroke or hit. This must be accomplished to achieve a desired target distance which keeps the tennis ball flight from landing beyond the baseline (long).
Similar to the above mentioned archer's arrow flight, a tennis player must reduce the speed of the tennis racket head while increasing the net clearance of a relatively flat stroke or hit. This must be accomplished to achieve a desired target distance which keeps the tennis ball flight from landing beyond the baseline (long).
A flat stroke (no intentional spin) can send a tennis ball on a flight path which will land beyond the baseline if an increase in the amount of net clearance has not been matched with a reduction of racket head speed to cause the ball to peak and then yield to gravity somewhere close to the midway point between the ball-to-string contact and the intended landing area.
Leading with the bottom edge of the tennis racket (an upward bevel) coupled with using too much speed can cause the tennis ball to land beyond the baseline (long).
Properly Combine Speed & Net Clearance
The speed of the tennis racquet is the primary factor for determining the potential distance that a tennis ball can travel. Properly combining ball speed and racquet face bevel is a skill which will take practice to develop. A faster ball requires less net clearance to reach an adequate depth in the court.
|
Making Rainbows
Be a variable height rainbow maker by learning to use correct combinations of ball speed and net clearance to confine the size of the rainbow to the size of the available court space.
Using a rainbow pattern/tennis ball-flight analogy: Imagine that the tennis racket is a rainbow maker. The tennis player uses the "rainbow maker" to make a correctly sized "rainbow" according to the amount of available tennis court.
|
Reduce the height of the ball flight peak (net clearance) or reduce distance of the ball flight (racket speed) to keep the ball from going long.
Depending upon the distance from the net and whether the string-to-ball contact will happen higher or lower than the net, a tennis player can start a tennis stroke along any portion of an imagined rainbow pattern. This would include the any part of upward incline of the rainbow pattern, anywhere at or near the top of the rainbow pattern, or any place on the downward slope of the rainbow pattern. The height and length (shape) of any partial rainbow pattern must be determined by the availability of space over and around obstacles and the distance to a desired landing area.
Note: Using various amounts of spin to control the net clearance and ball landing distance is another option to keep the tennis ball from going long.