Hitting The Ball Too Hard

Another big challenge for a beginner is how not to hit the ball too hard. They see a ball and swing at it. A beginner is only thinking of connecting with the oncoming ball and they may panic a little. One of the main reasons for hitting too hard is that they don’t have a target. Your arm doesn’t know how much it should swing, if you know the distance then you can get a feel for what force is required.

You need to have a target, a good target being the service box. Whilst playing with your coach or partner stand just outside you own service box and concentrate each shot on getting it into your opponents. This will teach you not to hit too hard. Another reason a beginner hit too hard is due to swinging at the ball too much. One practice drill to improve this is for you to play right up at the net, leaning over with you racquet in front of the net on your opponents side. Then your coach can throw the ball and you can play from there. You realise through this exercise that you don’t need any backswing for that distance. Do this for both the forehand and backhand side. Later you can go back a little and play short court tennis and progress from there. You will have found that you don’t need such a big backswing. You will see the good players with a big backswing and you will want to try and emulate, but what you won’t have seen is the progression to get to that point. You first must learn that such a backswing is not necessary for what you are trying to achieve at this stage, get the basics right and build from there.

Loosen up!....check out tomorrow's tip on avoiding being too tight........