If you wish to improve your tennis game then good footwork is essential, tennis needs a substantial amount of running around the court and there are ways of doing this correctly.
Moving about the court efficiently and being always reach the ball are fundamental to the game. Residents in Pymble can take advantage of the superb tennis courts at Tennis World Chatswood to practice their movement.
Tennis Footwork
Good footwork will help in all aspects of your game, including: timing, power and consistency. Your main focus is to reach every ball and you will have to stay alert.
Being able to be at the right place at the right time will give you options. If you are making long strides then this means you are out of position, good tennis players use light, quick and short steps around the court.
To achieve this you will require strong legs, otherwise you will waste too much energy just getting to the ball. Good exercises for leg strengthening are jogging, lunges, running up inclines or drills.
Footwork Techniques
There are proper practices for moving about the court and how to do it efficiently, these include the ready position, the split step, the side shuffle, and the cross step. To practice these techniques players that live in the Lindfield area of Sydney can take tennis lessons from the coach at Tennis World Chatswood.
- Ready Position – The most common position in the game is the ready position. This requires that your legs to be shoulder width apart and you weight equally distributed, your hips and knees will also be bent.
- Split Step – The split step is similar to the ready position, but consists of short hops in the direction of the ball.
- Side Shuffle – Once you have hit the ball your main priority is to get back to the centre of the court. You can simply run there but you might be outwitted by your opponent’s return. The side shuffle is not the fastest way to move but it gives you far more options.
- Cross Step – The cross step gives you the option of quickly switching to the side shuffle should you need to, it allows you to cover more ground also.
Tennis Stances
There are four stances you can take before receiving the ball, and are used for both forehand and backhand groundstrokes.
- Closed Stance – this is used mostly while at the center of the court, and is the best for returning shots. To recover from a closed stance, rotate your back foot to the other side as you hit the ball and side shuffle back to the centre.
- Neutral Stance – this allows you to step into the ball and therefore gives you more power. It is also good for approaching the net.
- Semi-Open Stance – this is a really flexible stance, which allows for both full shoulder rotation and a complete follow through on your shots.
- Open Stance – this provides additional force on the ball, full shoulder rotation, and aides recovery more quickly by putting you back into position where you can side shuffle back to the center.
Trying to develop your footwork properly should not be left to chance and really only a tennis coach can help effectively.
