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Good footwork is the prerequisite everything else in tennis. If you
can't get to the ball, your fancy strokes won't help you at all. There
is a science to footwork that every aspiring player must understand and
put into practice.
The following clues will improve your footwork:
1. Hitting a tennis ball is
analogous to hitting a golf ball. It helps to be on balance. Have you
ever mis-hit a ball, shanking it on the throat of the racket? Of course
you have. One of the reasons this happens so frequently is because you
are not set comfortably at the point of contact. Your skills improve
when you make contact on balance, flat footed, front knee slightly bent,
with your head motionless. Your footwork helps you reach this balanced
positions.
2. In between shots don't stand around flat-footed. All good
players use the bounce step to keep poised and ready to spring into
action. The message gets from your head to your feet faster if you get
the balls of your feet, flex your knees a little, and bounce
rhythmically between shots.
3. In moving towards the ball, short steps are preferable to a couple
long steps; unless the ball is wide, in which case you have to pick up
your feet and use longer strides. Good footwork means taking a number of
short steps to the ball so you can easily make an adjustment and be on
balance.
4.. Step out into a sideways position and into the ball. In general,
players should try to move forwards into the shot as they play their
drives and volleys. This allows your weight to move forward and gives your
shot more power. 5. If you have played the shot from one of the sides,
move back to the court centre, so that you can easily cover both sides of
the court.
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