Improve your tennis ball timing

My game is a lot about footwork. If I move well - I play well. Roger Federer 

Roger Federer

               
    Timing is a very important concept in all sports. Mastering the correct timing in tennis can be the deciding factor whether or not you become the player you want to be not. Timing plays a vital role in how many balls you can return, the efficiency with which you return them and the amount of reaction time you may possibly have on the next ball. Different coaches and coaching programs use various techniques to help their students get the right timing on the ball. After reading this article, you can check out some of the links to some of the techniques listed at the bottom section of the page. We’re going to tackle one of the easy timing techniques in tennis that particularly, beginner tennis players will find useful. I choose to name this technique the One-Two-Go technique.

One-Two-GO! It’s pretty simple, before you hit any ball, you count in your head, one-two then on your third count, play the ball. Try to repeat this for as many balls as you can before you start missing. This is one of the first few mental techniques every player must master. If you are playing with your coach, he/she might want to feed you about 30 to 50 balls while you practice this. It will also be good if they can feed you about 15 balls each time you start a training session so that you become well adapted to the method. In case it is with a sparring partner you are doing this, you may have to take turns to try it. The true essence of repeating this procedure is to get the player enough time to get prepared for each ball so that they can put in the right footwork and thereafter, play the ball all within the possible 3 seconds they will be making the mental count. How it improves your game After practicing the One-Two-GO for some time, you will realize the improvement in your game when you rally with a sparring partner. Now, as you play longer rallies, you would come some points where you would notice how your body cannot respond fast enough for certain shots the way you would desire. This is the point where most coaches recommend jogging or running their students. Your inability to get all the balls in a rally when you start to use the one-two-go would mean that you may lack the stamina for such rallies. You therefore have to start taking a few drills to increase your stamina and speed in a game. We’ll be addressing these topics later on. If you have found this topic helpful, you may as well try it out the next time you get on court. Practice it continuously till you perfect your timing. This way, you will easily pick up other techniques and improve your play the way you want.

The tennis footwork- Get it right

Ana Ivanovic doing her forehand footwork

Footwork in tennis plays a major part in the effectiveness of your shots. As you’ve already read The Art of The Forehand and The Backhand , you should know that particularly for beginners, getting your footwork right will play an important role in how easily you return the ball.
For this reason, we have chosen to take a close look at the basic footwork that all tennis players require.

Want to learn tennis? ; Amazing; 4 simple steps to help you start playing tennis
What does it involve?
Footwork for the forehand, if you are a right handed person will essentially involve three steps.
 The ready position
The ready position or stance is one of the most natural positions all players adapt when playing tennis. The approach may be slightly different for each person but, it involves basically the same concepts and ideas.
  In tennis, being ready for the ball means that the player is in a comfortable position where he/she is facing the net with the racket in their hand in such a way that they can hit the ball when it arrives with their forehand or backhand, depending on where the ball goes. In the ready position, the player will need to have maximum concentration as this is the only time they have before the ball arrives.
A great tip to get you to be in the ready position more easily is to spread out your feet just so you are at ease for the arrival of the ball. Next, you would want to bend your knees a little because this helps you to get more easily into the right position when you are making contact with the arriving ball.

Contact with the ball
Now, when the ball arrives, the player moves their left foot across their right foot, such that their side is towards their opponent, they move in for the ball with this positioning and swing the racket across their shoulders fully. The key detail of the footwork at this stage is that, the player must not move in too closely from the ball or be too much further away from the ball either. They would want to find a perfect position just about enough for them to swing their arm with ease with an option of sending the ball where they want it to go instead of just hitting it back to their opponent. If a player does this footwork right and swings their arm fully, they stand a good chance of hitting a good forehand.

Adrian Mannari -backhand footwork

For more insight on the way to swing, read The Art of the Forehand

Recovery
Now that they have hit the ball, the next thing to do is to quickly move back into the ready position again. That means, they move their feet back to face the net and the racket in their hands in the “Crab” hold so that they can move in for your forehand or backhand when the ball is in their court. They then shuffle back to the baseline still keeping an eye on the ball. Recovery in tennis can make a huge difference when you start playing with people with people with different play styles. The extent of your recovery can sometimes determine the ease with which you can take the next ball.

Backhand footwork is not much different from the forehand, in this; the player moves their right foot in instead. I will be posting a short video on the footwork to guide you through the basic steps. However, if you do have any difficulty with it, contact me and I’ll be more than glad to help.

You may want to check out: Packing your backhand-Improve your tennis backhand the right way

Now that you know the basics, go out there, make sure you feel comfortable with the steps, try it out and have a blast! Tennis is fun so adding a new skill to improve your efficiency only makes it more interesting.