Find The Ball

The Argentinian Oscar Wegner has a great tennis tip which he refers
to as “find the ball.”

Simply stated it means to be patient, determine first where the
ball is going to land and with how much pace, spin,
and bounce, and then prepare your swing accordingly. Another
way to picture this is to just move to the ball as if you were
going to catch it with your racquet hand.

Watch the pros. Their first move to a ball, whether forehand
or backhand, is a slight movement sideways with their shoulder
as they lean in the direction of the ball. Their arms and hands
are initially still, with the the butt of the racquet pointing
toward their navel (not much different than their ready
position). The racquet face is more-or-less parallel to the
net. Their non-racquet hand remains close to or on the
racquet. They “stalk the ball” in this position until they get
really close to it, then they begin preparing their swing. Often
they wait until the very last instant before they take their
backswing.

If their time is drastically reduced, they shorten their
backswing so their stroke is almost a block. If they have more
time to set up, then they will take a bigger, longer backswing.
This is why the best of them hit so smoothly and never appear
rushed. Their swing is always measured. They match their
effort (their swing) to the task (the ball’s pace, spin,
bounce).

Watch Agassi’s forehand. He hits many balls inside the baseline that look like
half-volleys, his backswing is that compact. His backhand has
has even less backswing, accelerating almost directly from
the “find the ball” position into the contact zone. This is
also what makes his return of serve among the best: there
is virtually no backswing once he has found the ball.

The opposite of this would be the big-hitting Fernando
Gonzalez, who begins his backswing before the ball has barely
left his opponent’s racquet. Lindsey Davenport is also guilty
of not always finding the ball.

One important note: finding the ball at the pro level does have
its idiosyncrasies. Roddick, Agassi, Federer, and Henin
might look a little different in the way they find the ball
(i.e., the position of their racquet face, their hands, arms)
but all of them are finding the ball –stalking it– before
they take their full swing at the ball.

Finding the ball is probably different than what you have
been taught (turn, take your racquet back, etc.), yet
it is what the pros do and it is actually a more natural
approach to striking a tennis ball.

Next time you are on the court, try to find the ball first, then
prepare your swing. You’ll discover that you have more time
to execute your shot (because you’ll never be rushed) and you’ll
be hitting more naturally.