THE 5 TENNIS MYTHS THAT WILL HURT YOUR GAME

There are a lot of tennis myths out there that have been circulating for years. The longer they circulate the more credibility they gather. Many of them can actually hurt your game, particularly if you are trying to play at an advanced level. Here is my list of the 5 most damaging tennis myths...

• Bend your Knees

If you are trying to bend your knees on groundstrokes you could be making a big mistake. Without understanding the reason why we bend our knees the danger is that the important 2nd step will be missing.

What is the important 2nd step? It's straightening the legs again after that initial bend. This straightening action transfers the ground forces that the bent knees have prepared. Therefore in reality bending knees is only the preparation phase, while straightening the legs creates the all important interaction with the ground which sends a chain reaction through the body to assist your swing with timing and power.         

Therefore if you're running around the court bending your knees and keeping your knees bent throughout the groundstroke as many players do, you're not going to be timing the ball well or hitting with optimum power

The bottom line:: The correct phrase should be "Transfer Ground Energy to the Ball"

• Spend  Time with a fitness trainer

Fitness trainers are fine if you want to get fit or lose weight but be very careful using a fitness trainer to help your tennis.

What happens often is that the exercises given to you by the 
fitness trainer work against correct tennis bio-mechanics, creating problems with timing and balance.

Make sure that the fitness expert that you go to knows tennis 

technique, particularly how a tennis player uses the ground to supply energy to the stroke and how a tennis player achieves dynamic balance while moving and hitting on-court

The bottom line: Your fitness trainer must know tennis technique and bio-mechanics

• Punch your Volleys

The whole idea of "punching" your volleys is that your volleys 
become solid and crisp. The problem with this myth is that often when a player thinks "punch" they meet the ball well out in front of their optimum contact zone. Where is the 
optimum contact zone? It's beside your body, not in front of 
your body. When you volley beside your body you creat natural underspin control, which gives you feel for depth.


Hitting volleys well out in front can also effect the angle of 

your racquet face, making it flatten on contact with the ball. 
   

Hitting volleys with a flat racquet face means there is a danger of hitting too long and over the baseline or not getting enough elevation on a low volley and hitting the top of the net. Both mistakes come from a general lack of feel which is the main problem with the "punch your volley"myth.

The bottom line: "Catch" your volleys later in the contact zone for underspin and greater control of depth

• Move your Feet

You hear players being told all the time to "Move" their feet but what exactly does that mean? The usual response from players hearing this command is to giggle up and down more until they either lose focus or get tired, after which time they go back to their usual footwork routine.

Moving your feet more does not mean better footwork, and 

certainly does not mean you play better tennis.  You need to have been taught correct footwork and how to use footwork to the betterment of your tennis. With a knowledge of correct footwork and their proper function during the point a player will gladly move their feet all day because it's helping them coordinate better and time the ball smoothly. 

Moving your feet simply for appearances will never last long , in fact it's distracting to a player because they have to take their focus off other more important tasks during the point.

The bottom line is: Be specific with what you want your feet to do. "moving" is non-specific. Balance, timing, creating ground inertia, balance and agility are all specific tasks for 

which the feet can be trained to perform on demand.

• Watch the Ball

Watching the ball is fine if you are simply keeping a rally going with a friend but if you are competing in a match it's going to hurt your game. Opponent awareness is one of the most important tasks you undertake in a match. Opponent awareness helps you know where your opponent is positioned, where they are moving to and what shot to expect from them next.

These skills develop over time as we play more and more and play at a higher level. We develop a sense for the options that could come our way based on observational experience. With these newly developed skills of anticipation we are able to devote more time to opponent and court awareness.

Beginners simply have enough trouble hitting the ball cleanly. They must devote most of their focus on moving and coordinating the ball and racquet. As we get better opponent and court awareness develops along with peripheral vision.

The bottom line: it may be time to stop watching the ball so much. If you are already striking the ball well start to develop more opponent and court awareness to progress your game.