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Tennis Lessons / 2H Backhand / Step 4
Swing to Contact
How To :
1. Push off with your outside leg (now your back leg) and get the heel of that foot up. When you push off, transfer your weight to your front foot.
2. Rotate your upper body towards the net.
3. Swing by dropping the racket down, then forward, as if it were traveling along an imaginary "C."
4. Make contact with the tennis ball in front of your body, approximately waist high.
Figure 1: Will swinging
As I start to swing, I push off my outside leg — now my back foot — and transfer my weight to my front foot. As I push off, the heel of my back foot comes up. This will help me rotate my upper body towards the net. As I push off and rotate, I swings forward by first dropping the racket down and then swinging forward. The path the racket travels along would look very similar to the letter "C." Doing these three things at the same time gets me to contact, which is out in front of my body and about waist high. The strings are flat on the back of the ball.
Notice that I still have my eyes on the ball. Keep watching your contact point a split second after contact. This will train you to watch the ball all the way into your strings and help you make solid contact more consistently.
Figure 2: Frank swinging to contact
Take a look at Frank's arms at contact. The left arm is straight and the right arm is slightly bent. This is the most common hitting arm position on the men's tour. But it's not the only one you can use. Andre Agassi, for example, hit with both arms straight. On the women's side, you see a number of two handed backhands with both arms bent. Venus Williams, for example. It generally takes more strength to hit with both arms straight than with both bent or one bent. That being said, choose whichever of the three you feel most comfortable with.
Common Errors:
Incorrect point of contact.
I explained what your contact point should look like above. If you are, for example, hitting the ball in line with your body then your contact point is late. An incorrect point of contact is devastating to your backhand (or any shot, for that matter). Focus on hitting the ball in the right spot.
Standing up when you push off.
You want your weight moving forward, into the court. Not rising, as if you were standing up. If you take a look at the pictures above, our weight comes forward, into the ball. Go meet the ball, don't wait for it to come to you.
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