Hips vs Hands-Mastery of the Forehand

The forehand can be a fickle stroke. We demand so much out of our forehands-consistency, power, spin, placement, changing direction, on the run, inside-out, put away ball-that it needs to feel just right for us to feel like we are playing well. Making great contact is the key to a confident shot, and in order to make great contact you need to know what technique to use on that particular forehand. The question to ask is “are you on the run or stationary?” If you are stationary, in order to hit a heavy spin rally ball, you need to use your hips to rotate into the ball. This will create the power, spin and feel that you are looking for in your repetitive rally ball. Excellent examples of this use of hips are Nadal and Verdasco. These are prototypes of the modern forehand. When you’re on the move and hitting an offensive shot use your hands and stay locked in your hips. Hit the ball out in front and clean with your front shoulder staying in, and this will create a powerful and accurate forehand. Use this technique on the run and on the first serve return. The epitome of this type of forehand is Sampras. To hit a terrific forehand in today’s game you need to master both techniques- the hips and the hands.

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How Much Training for Junior Players?

My name is Mitch Bridge, and I am a tennis coach from Southern California, USA.  I have worked with high level junior tennis players for over twenty years.  Players from age 11 and up can thrive training 20-25 hours per week as well as participating in tournament play on the weekends as part of that 20-25 hour training week.  It is very important to blend several important parts of training into that 4 hour day.  First, a player needs one-on-one or two-on-one coaching as part of his/her daily training component.  Next he/she will need live ball hitting and sets play.  The third training component should be cardiovascular training followed by flexibility/stretching.  With these four types of training the player can develop well while keeping his/her body healthy and fit.

When the player is 14 he/she can add another hour of training to his day.  This should be 30 minutes of serves and returns and 30 minutes of strength training.  Now he/she is training like a professional with 6 of the most important training components for a professional player.  Add a weekly or bi-weekly massage and this player is going to develop extremely well.  If possible have the coach attend as many of the tournament matches as possible because the feedback and support are invaluable

US and Professional Men's Tennis

There are two main reasons that the US isn't faring well in professional tennis, especially on the men's side.

 
The first reason is that tennis has become so global that many countries are producing quality players and the competition is much greater.  In the 1970's when the US had 25-30% of the top 100 pro players, tennis was only popular in 10-12 countries.  Now tennis is widely popular all over the world, and in many of those countries tennis is more popular than it is in the US in the heirarchy of sports.  This is largely due to tennis becoming an Olympic sport in 1988.  Countries started investing in tennis development for their athletes, giving tennis more credibility as a sport for the masses.  Now tennis is growing faster than any other major sport in the world.

Secondly, the US is failing to produce top tennis talent professionally among its citizens because our top athletes are playing football and basketball.  The US has some of the greatest athletes in the world, but they are not playing men's tennis.  Two of our best female athletes are the Williams' sisters, and they have done extremely well.  But our best boys aren't being funneled into tennis development.  Imagine if Kobe Bryant, Lebron James or Adrian Peterson were trained in tennis since the age of 5 or 6.  This is where the USTA should put their Player Development dollars.  The US could have as many or more top players than any other country if it went out and recruited the best athletes and sponsored them into tennis.  Only when this happens will the US once again have many top players, and this in turn will make the sport more popular to the US audience which will drive the sport for many years to come.