Groove Your Tennis Strokes Without Hitting The Ball

You can groove your tennis strokes without hitting the ball.

The best part is that you can do this anywhere!

Grooving your tennis strokes takes repetition to perfect your technique. Many times you do not have time to get to the court. So what do you do?

Do what every good tennis player has done!

Practice your strokes in your living room or bedroom or anywhere you have room to swing a racquet.

Go through the entire stroke and do it in slow motion so that you can make sure that your movements are precisely where you want them to go. Concentrate especially on the racquet face. Watch the racquet face as you take it in the backswing. If you want to hit topspin most players take the racquet back with a closed face. If hitting backspin then a slightly open face is necessary.

At impact for topspin the racquet can be slightly closed or square depending on how abruptly you are swinging upward to apply the spin. For backspin the face can be square or slightly open at impact depending on how quickly the racquet descends into the ball.

The opposite hand or non hitting hand on the racquet particularly on the forehand and the one handed backhand sets the correct angle of the racquet face. Groove this move like a boxer shadow boxing and go through the entire stroke. Look at yourself in the mirror and see that your angle of the racquet is not opening or closing too severely. Look at impact and repeat the move and stop the racquet so you are sure that it is correct. Repeat and do this dozens of times. The beauty of this is that you can swing many times and since you are not on the court you can do this anywhere.

If you have room such as in the driveway or an open space you can work on your footwork also. Practice taking small steps and also bending your knees while keeping your torso relatively straight. Establish a wide base before you hit the ball about a racquet length apart so that you can swing aggressively. A short and narrow base does not give you the power or balance necessary to hit the ball hard.

Work on your follow to repeat it in the same spot depending on the shot that you are trying to groove. The follow through can be more horizontal if you hitting with power, more vertical if you are trying to hit topspin, and lower or horizontal if you are trying to hit backspin.

Groove your strokes as if you are taking it frame by frame like a movie scene. Go through every detail and very slowly so that you can make each inch perfectly executed. The beauty of doing this is that you will create muscle memory and make good use of your time by multiple repetitions. It is actually better if you can practice for 20 minutes 3 times a day then doing it 60 minutes at a time. Each session will reinforce the movements as if it is a separate day instead of one long time period.

Practice your strokes by shadow boxing and you will groove your strokes faster as a supplement to hitting actual balls on the court.