Changing Direction Successfully

If you coach baseliners, you will inevitably see them get into long, crosscourt rallies.

Baseliners with steady, if not overpowering strokes, will often dare an opponent to outlast them in a crosscourt rally, especially off the backhand side.

Quite often, the first player to switch directions loses the point on the first, down-the-line attempt, while players who make the switch first, successfully, often win the point.

This has more to do with physics than anything else. Without going into too much detail, it takes one racquet head speed to return a ball crosscourt, that is hit from crossourt, but it takes a higher racquet head speed to change direction (go down the line) on a ball coming from crosscourt.

This is why, if a player has been in a groove with one racquet head speed for several crosscourt shots, then attempts to stay in his or her same rhythm to make a down-the-line shot, the ball goes wide.

Help your players practice changing directions with a simple, live-ball drill which lets them experience the affect of physics on a tennis point, and help your players with their science grades, as well!

The drill continues with a five-step progression for helping players learn and practice this skill.