Tennis Backhand Tips to Improve Your Game

The Right Grip

One of the most important tips for good tennis backhands is that you must have the proper grip. The grip you use will vary depending on whether you use a one-handed or two-handed grip. The grip on the one-handed backhand is the Eastern grip. For the two-handed backhand, you will use different grips. Your dominant hand should use the Continental grip and you non-dominant hand should use the semi-western grip. So, for example, on the two-handed backhand for a right handed player, the right hand should be in the Continental grip and the left hand should be in the semi-western. See my lens on serving for an illustration of the Continental grip and my lens on forehands for information on the Eastern grip. Pictured here is the semi-western grip.

Striking The Ball

Where you hit the ball is always important in hitting an effective tennis shot. Without the proper contact point, you may find your shot landing out of bounds or being easily returned by your opponent. The contact point (or where the racquet strikes the ball) should be slightly in front of the body. Generally about a foot in front of the body is good.

Stance is also important. In tennis there are open stances and closed stances. For a backhand you should have a closed stance. The shoulders should be perpendicular to the baseline as you begin your backswing. It is important to establish position early if possible so there is less margin for error in the actual stroke itself.

Using Topspin

Using topspin in your backhand can be a powerful tool to keep your opponent off guard. Without learning how to use topspin (and slices) you will not reach the next level as a player. To use topspin, the racket should be in a closed position. You should start with the wrist firm and the elbow bent. With the racket starting low, swing it forward from a low to a high position, brushing up and over the back of the ball. This is where the topspin comes from. As you swing, you will also be transferring the weight onto the front foot. This momentum, along with the shoulder rotation will give you the power for the shot. Make sure that you keep your eyes on the ball all the way through the swing up until the point of contact. Glancing around the court at your opponent is a sure way to increase errors in the timing and execution of the shot.

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Strength For Tennis

In order to elevate your tennis game you have got to include kettlebell training into the equation. The fact is that tennis is very demanding on the joints of the body. You must have a resilient body in order to withstand the rigors of the tennis season. The single arm kettlebell long cycle is a terrific shoulder, core, and hip strength training exercise that you can perform in order to build a fit and powerful body to out perform the competition.

Strength training your muscles to perform at the highest level must include the addition of movement combined with a resistance. This is what kettlebell training is all about. The single arm long cycle involves executing a single arm kettlebell swing and properly racking it at the clean position. Once you clean the kettlebell you then must execute a hip pop or hip snap in order to generate force to vertically press and lock out the kettlebell overhead. The hip snap is done by you forcefully and smoothly flexing and then extending at your hip and knee joints to propel the kettlebell in a straight line press above your head. Once you complete the press (or jerk) you then lower the kettlebell back to the rack position of the clean. From here allow the bell to descend into a swing by “hiking it” between your legs like you would with a normal single arm swing motion. As the bell elevates back up from between your legs you then will want to simply clean the bell back to your chest to perform another press (or jerk) to complete the lift.

Take the time to include the ancient kettlebell into your tennis strength training workouts if you really want to succeed in your game. I will even challenge you by asking you to access the rest of my articles on the matter for free. Remember that anyone can train hard, but only champions train smart my friend!

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Improve Your Tennis Serve

Flat Serve / Canon Ball Serve: Used mainly to serve an ace or a good first serve to induce a fault in the opponent’s return. Aim is to use maximum power and skill to force the opponent in to a defensive position. Maximum Speed reached 200 Kmph/ 120 MPh. Use a continental grip for this serve. Hitting the ace down the center line is most favourable option which provides good percentage points when practiced and mastered. You need to stand very near to center line for this serve and bit farther from the center line for the wide serve.

Key is to keep the arm fully extended while serving. To have effective clearance over the net the timing of the jump should not be too early or too high, just right which comes through regular practice. Its easier for 6 footers to serve aces effectively but for not so gifted tall people it is better to just clear the net with the ace otherwise the ball will be long and land outside the service box. Key is to meet the ball at a high point of contact and keep the head balanced following the serve.

Topspin Serve: Typically used as a second serve with high looped and with high trajectory spinning away after hitting the service box turf with a high kicking bounce forcing errors on the return. Typically served to make it difficult for the opponent to return while ensuring avoidance of double fault. Instead of hitting the ball at the central point of contact, the back of the ball is brushed with the racquet imparting forward spin to the ball and making it swerve away after hitting the ground. Speed of this serve is much lower than the basic flat serve.

Key is to make the ball move out of the opponent’s returnable comfort zone and induce errors. It helps to keep the grip positioning slightly counter clockwise than normal flat serve grip, and the stance maintained and proper shifting of weight from back foot to forward, while rotating the hips and shoulders at the time of impact in one action is also critical to impart spin to the ball and for maintaining the looped trajectory, on the follow through the non hitting arm should not be dropped suddenly and kept pointed up as far as possible to avoid hitting the ball to the net.

Twist Serve: One of the complex serves to master wherein the ball changes direction from the original trajectory and moves away with a high bounce wrong footing the opponent if he is not careful. That is when a right hander opponent is returning a serve the serve first lands on his right and then moves to his left after hitting the turf. Initial position of the racquet should be from behind the back with elbows pointed up, then to get the necessary swerve in the air, the rotation of the shoulders and arms should be much greater than the normal flat serve followed by brushing the back of the tennis ball imparting spin with arm movement across and should be followed by a follow through with sufficient gap between the other arm and the body when compared to a flat serve.

Slice Serve: It is not served alone but served with top spin as it makes it easier for opponent to return a normal slice serve. As with the other top spin serve the speed is much less when compared to flat serve. Point of contact is across the outer face of the ball making the ball swerve in the direction of the original trajectory after pitching on the service box. Top spin serve kicks high after pitching above the shoulder of the opponent making it difficult to return whereas slice serve make the ball swerve more and move away at lower heights.

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