Footwork for Tennis

The Footwork for tennis involves not only speed and agility but the specific movement patterns of the pros. Pro players have great footwork in tennis and this is one of the main reasons why they hit great tennis shots and seem to be always in perfect balance. Tennis footwork involves getting to the ball in a quick and proper manner so that a player can hit the tennis shot of their choice while being in ideal balance for the contact of the ball.

The Footwork in tennis starts the moment the opponent hits the tennis ball. No matter how fast or slow a player is, they must learn to react to the incoming ball in a timely manner and using the correct footwork technique.

The Split Step Initiates the Tennis Footwork

Initially, when the opponent makes contact with the tennis ball it is key to make a split step. Most people are familiar with the split step and the footwork in tennis, but the split step is an essential part of having the right tennis footwork patterns.

The Split Step is the lowering of the player’s center of gravity where the lower body (the base) lowers into an Athletic Foundation. The athletic foundation is a key area in every sport that requires quick movement skills. A good athletic foundation involves a wide base, where the feet are speed at least shoulder width and a half apart and a slight bend in both knees. This athletic foundation will put the body in a lower position which will allow a person to move quickly to the tennis ball. It is noted that the person should be atleast a few inches below their standing height in the athletic foundation in tennis and this foundation is then maintained throughout movement to the incoming ball.

The idea behind tennis footwork is understanding the core principals of movement toward the tennis ball. The goal is to get to the tennis ball as quickly and efficiently as possible so that you can be in position to hit the ball in the optimal strike zone.

Characteristics of Tennis Footwork

Footwork for tennis is a technique, a science and an art. When all three elements come together, the result is a synchronized and beautiful rhythm of movement that is shown by all the top tennis professionals on tour.

It’s important to have a Low Center of Gravity during the movement toward the tennis ball. This low center of gravity is usually maintained as top professional players head out to stride to the ball. This is crucial because a tennis player standing too upright will have difficulty moving fast enough to the ball.

The split step in tennis is a low and wide foundation. This is a key quality of all great athletes in all sports. Having a good athletic foundation allows a player to move quicker and be more explosive with their movement.

A Good Posture with a wide base is two essential ingredients for tennis footwork. Footwork in tennis starts with the lower body. Top professional players normally take a wide split step on the opponent’s contact no matter where they are on the tennis court. Having loose and flexible movement are skills of a player with great tennis footwork.

Tennis Footwork Drills

Tennis footwork as a player is moving to the tennis ball should be very relaxed, rhythmical and fluid. Notice the footwork for tennis and how effortless and beautiful it looks with a player with the proper tennis footwork. The appearance of pro players like Roger Federer and Nadal are great examples. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal’s footwork looks smooth and even effortless. This is especially true when top players move around the court – it is a certain flow that exemplifies into the tennis technique itself and allows for quick and easy access to every tennis ball.

Pro players can be great models because they are often masters of tennis footwork. They have spent many hours refining it with tennis footwork drills and fitness exercises that make their footwork in tennis look effortless and powerful. Tennis footwork drills are an important part for every tennis player wanting to improve tennis and their footwork. Although footwork drills are never fun or always easy, they are key in allowing a player to reach difficult balls and bail themselves out of defensive situations during a tennis match.

Tennis Footwork drills are often performed by the tennis player and involve a series of sprints and agility excersises. These are performed because tennis is a game of fast sprints that require quick movement. One of the ways a player can become faster on the tennis court is by doing wind sprints or other high intensive short burst cardio runs. These tennis footwork drills simulate real live point play when only the quickest and crisp movement will suffice, demanding an overall solid foundation in the tennis footwork.

Keys for Footwork in Tennis

Recognition

Observing and anticipation is important as this is the first step in all good tennis footwork. Top professional players learn to incorporate a “split step” into their tennis footwork. This prepares the tennis player for movement as soon as the opponent makes contact with the tennis ball. This ready stance will make the difference between reacting quickly to the tennis ball or becoming a sitting duck on the defense. The split step widens the base, drops the center of gravity lower and prepares the player to move in the intended direction of the incoming tennis ball. This is necessary to facilitate quick and smooth footwork in tennis.

Intensity

A tennis player must keep an active mindset to prepare to move fast to the tennis ball. Good anticipation such as watching the opponents contact and mentally preparing for the incoming shot will provide the proper intensity needed to hit the tennis ball. It’s key to constantly remain on the toes throughout the point. Too low of an intensity will result in slow and slow and poor balanced movement. Too high of intensity will result in rushing and misjudging your timing. You have to find a balance between your intensity level to remain alert and prepared.

First step tennis movement

The first step to the tennis ball is critical. The footwork for tennis after the split step will coincide with the direction of the incoming ball. Depending on where the incoming ball is headed, the tennis player must react accordingly. Two common movement patterns amongst the pros that even club players can add to their game is the step out or gravity step technique in tennis. These two methods of reaction to the tennis ball are used by top pros in their tennis footwork and are key in the footwork for tennis.

Unit Turn

The Unit Turn in tennis is one of the most important aspects that begins the tennis stroke. This is where the entire body turns as “one unit” and the tennis racket comes back as as a result of the natural turn. At this stage, the racket hasn’t really came back yet at this point the body has been responsible for most of the takeback. There is no backswing yet.

Want to Learn How to Move Like The Pros?

This tennis playing tip is likely the most important tennis tip of all time. Making sure the tennis equipment is in tip top shape and in order is one of the most important tennis tips for winning a match.

Footwork for tennis can definitely give a tennis player an edge at any level of the game. Spending time working on footwork in tennis can make a huge difference in the long run, but it will require both a full understanding of the proper tennis footwork on court as well as a set routine to perform tennis footwork drills. These important areas must be combined to achieve success in this critical department of the game. Devoting time to focus on tennis footwork will be a recipe that cannot be accomplished without hard work and due diligence to improve tennis.

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The post Tennis Footwork Keys – The Footwork For Tennis appeared first on Tennis Instruction.

One of the things that separates great tennis players from average players is movement and effective footwork patterns in reaching the tennis ball.

A tennis footwork drill focuses on increasing speed, agility and sprinting footwork, which is all key to hitting the various types of shots seen during a point.

Why You Need to Practice Tennis Footwork Drills

To become a better tennis player, you can improve your techniques on your strokes and you can work out to improve your fitness. But if you neglect to work on your movement and footwork, you will never reach your true potential as a tennis player.

If you look at all the top players in the game, they all move very well around the court. There are some players who aren’t natural athletes, but through sheer hard work, they improved their footwork and movement in order to get to the top of the sport as well.

Great tennis footwork is closely related but not entirely synonymous with speed and agility. If you have trained yourself to be fast and agile, you can better put to use your footwork skills to arrive at every ball properly and consequently execute better shots.

Basic Tennis Footwork Moves

The most basic footwork mechanisms in tennis are the sprint, split step and shuffle steps, Sprints are used all the time to chase down balls that are far away from you. The best illustration of this is running forward to get to a drop shot.

The split step is very basic for tennis. It allows you to get in proper balance and be ready to turn one way or the other early as you prepare to hit the ball. The split step is usually done during the fleeting moments when your opponent hits the ball. The shuffle steps are side skipping movements that allow you to recover quickly back to the centre of the court after you have hit a shot.

Keeping on the balls of your feet with knees bent and the body low to the ground is another principle of great footwork because this puts the centre of gravity lower and hence improves stability and balance.

These basic footwork mechanisms determine how you move when attacking, defending or rallying in a neutral situation. To improve on these movement skills, tennis footwork drills have been developed.

Tennis Footwork Drill #1: Direction Drill

The direction drill is a tennis footwork drill that improves lateral movement as well as forward and backward movement. The side skipping or shuffle steps are combined with the forward sprint and backpedalling run in this drill. All of these movements are used in a tennis match so this drill is especially useful.

The player begins by standing in centre of the baseline. He or she will side step all the way to the side line or fence and then go all the way back to the other side line or fence. After that, the player will side skip back to the centre of the baseline and then run forward to the net. The player touches the net and shuffles backward all the way to the fence behind the baseline before running forward again to the centre of the baseline.

Alternatively, the player may choose to go back to the fence first before running all the way forward to the net and then backpedalling to the baseline. Once back at the start position, the player jogs in place for 30 seconds. The whole drill is repeated around 3 times.

Tennis Footwork Drill #2: Diagonal Footwork Movement

A modified version of the tennis footwork drill described above requires the player to also move diagonally. He or she begins at the centre T of the service line. The first move is laterally to the left side line and then back the centre. The next move is forward to the net and then backward to the starting point.

The third move is laterally to the right and back to the centre. The fourth move is a backward shuffle to the baseline followed by a sprint forward to the starting point. The fifth to eighth moves are all diagonal runs: forward to the left net post and back; forward to the right net post and back; backward to the right baseline corner and up; and finally, backward to the left baseline corner and up again to the starting point.

Tennis Footwork Drill #3: Recovery Drill

Another great tennis footwork drill is trains the player to always recover back to the centre of the court after every shot. The player starts at the centre of the baseline and is fed a ball to his forehand side such that he or she needs to take a few steps to hit it.

After the player hits the ball, he or she must recover back to the centre of the baseline using side skipping movement. Another ball is fed to the forehand side and the process is repeated.

Up to 5 balls can be fed and the player must never forget to recover back to the centre of the court after every shot. After drilling the forehand, movement over to the backhand and proper recovery back to the centre of the baseline can similarly be trained. The drill is repeated twice for each side.

Tennis Footwork Drill #4: Shuffle and Side Step Drill

Another common tennis footwork drill is called the sidestepping and anticipating drill. This drill also improves lateral movement as well as the ability to prepare early for the next shot. The player stands on the baseline while a coach calls out either forehand or backhand.

The player must accordingly run to the corresponding side called out by the coach and take a practice swing. Immediately after, he or she must side step back to the centre of the court and be ready for the next command.

This means that the racket has to be in front and the body facing forward with good balance. The coach should give the directions quickly to mimic a fast paced rally. It is a simple but useful drill.

Tennis Footwork Drills with Cones and Markers

Some tennis footwork drills make use of markers on the court. Cones, ball cans or balls may be used. In one drill, a coach lines up five or six markers from the baseline to about halfway up the net or just inside the service line. The player will step forward and to the right of the first ball and do a shadow ground stroke.

Immediately after, he or she will step forward and to the left of the second ball and so on. The player must avoid the markers while zigzagging through them. Proper balance and form on the shadow stroke should be maintained. This drill improves lateral and diagonal movement.

Tennis Footwork Drill #5: 55 Ball Drill

The 55 ball drill is a high intensity footwork drill where the player is fed the ball 55 times. Each ball must be run down and hit properly before the player recovers quickly back to the centre of the court. A variation of this drill simulates the way a player must recover quickly to the centre of the court after serving. He or she hits a serve then gets fed a few balls. Again, the player must return back the centre of the court after every ball. Because it is a long and continuous drill, stamina is also developed.

Notice that the emphasis of most of these tennis footwork drills is lateral movement and recovery back to the centre of the court. In the modern game, this is used more often than ever because most players have now become aggressive baseliners.

Benefits of Using Tennis Footwork Drills

To play this type of game effectively, you really need to be able to control the centre of the court during rallies. In a match-up between two baseliners, the one who can hold on to his or her position near the centre of the court more consistently will have a greater chance of winning the point because this player has more angles to work with and less angles to defend against.

With constant practice, your footwork will become automatic, just like the way you swing the racket. Once this happens, you can spend less energy stressing about technique and footwork and focus more on strategy and tactics.

You will find that you can cover the court much better and arrive at every ball well balanced and able to take a really good hit at it. Your execution of each shot will consequently be better as well.

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Tennis footwork drills are usually the first activity you do in order to play the best tennis you can ever play. These tennis footwork drills are easy enough for beginners to follow. You can do it anywhere as long as the place is conducive to any exercise activities like walking, jogging, jumping and other exercise activities that need space. Specifically, the place should have a flat surface, it should also be hard (avoid places which are soft like thick grasses) and the area should be free of any obstacle that can hinder your movement as go you along with your tennis footwork drills. However, if a tennis court is available, then you are lucky because it the best place where you can perform your tennis footwork drill.

In every exercise or game, it is very important to do warm up activities before the actual games or drills are performed. A warm-up exercise is usually an activity that is done before any physical activities like tennis, athletics, basketball, football or any other sport. It is also done even if you are just going to do the drill of any game like the tennis footwork drills. These are series of exercises which are performed in a step by step process wherein the phase or intensity increases as you go along. This will allow you to be ready for the more intense activities in the proper games or drills. It prepares your muscles and other aspect of your body such as mobility and breathing. One very good example of a warm up exercise before you do the tennis footwork drill is jogging. Jogging at a slow phase will allow your muscle to reflex and heat up so that you are conditioned to finally start your proper tennis footwork drills.

Backwards Skip

The first tennis footwork drill is commonly called as backward skip. The Backwards Skip can easily be done. The first step is to jog forward and then go back to your original position without turning back, which means you move backwards with the same phase as going forward. This tennis footwork drill is important to develop your muscle for the backpedal and jumping movements

This tennis forehand drill is performed by two players situated in each side of the court, one in the far east of the court while the other is in the far west. This means that if the two players are facing each other, the first player is in standing in his or her far left while the second player is also standing in his far left side. Again remember that both of them are facing each other. As a result the two players form a diagonal formation across the court. Then on the first player hits the ball straight into the opposite side of the court allowing the other player to run quickly to the other far side of the court performing a forehand approach.

The Backwards skip is not commonly practiced nor it is not usually executed by players in a tennis game unless you have to retrieve a that landed behind you. This will happen when you are standing near the net but your opponent is clever enough to place the ball behind you. In this situation, you can turn your back towards the ball and then run to get the ball or if it allows you can just do backward skip to get to the ball.

Sidestep Shuffle Slide

This is another step in tennis footwork drills. This is done by moving sideways or doing sidestep shuffles. Continue this tennis footwork drill with the series of sidesteps while maintaining a low center of gravity. You can do it several times until you feel you are satisfied with it.

This footwork drill is commonly performed by tennis players to go back to the center end part of the court after recovering a ball on the left end or right end of the court.

Backwards snake

The backwards snake is performed in similar manner as the backwards skip but instead of going straight you do a snake pattern or an S pattern. This tennis footwork drill is important to develop your muscle that allows you to perform properly the backpedal movement at an angle.

Carioca

The carioca step is done by doing sidesteps but instead of going the normal sidestep you do it with one foot crossing the other foot. You can do several steps going to the right side and then several steps going to the other direction.

This tennis footwork drill is another step to develop your coordination ability. This footwork pattern is used when you want to recover quickly to the center of the court after you have hit the ball.

Backwards Slant Slide

This tennis footwork drill is done like the backwards skip or the backwards snake, but take note that in backwards skip you simple do backward step while in backwards snake you do a snake pattern but in the backwards slant slide you move backwards in a zigzag pattern. This mean you move back alternately to the left and then to the right direction. In the end you form a zigzag pattern.

In the actual game of tennis, you have to have confidence to perform this tennis forehand drill or skill because if you are not, you will lose points. If a player can execute this tennis forehand drill with perfect timing you should be able to win the game. If you don’t do it perfectly, and you give you opponent a chance to prepare for his return you might lose a point. A successful serve and volley play can be done by a perfect serve with the ball landing on the corner baseline, allowing you opponent to return a short ball.

This drill is commonly executed by a player who is in the center end of the court and tries hit the ball that landed in the middle right or left side of the court and then he wants to go back to his original position which is in the center end of the court.

Heel Kicks

The Heel kicks tennis footwork drill is done by jumping in position with your foot touching your stretched hand. While jumping, bend your feet to touch your hand. The right foot touches the right hand while the left foot touches the left hand. This drill allows the development of your ability to spring your legs or develop other leg movements.

Wedel

This tennis footwork drill is also done by jumping but in different manner. You jump with your two feet together from right to left direction but move forward at the same time. You can do the forward movement with the left and right pattern continuously or go back to your original position and repeat the pattern.

This allows the development of the muscle to do spring movements allowing you to move forward and sideways quickly when the ball lands in the far side of the court. You will execute this step if you are in the center end of the court and the ball lands in the far right or far left of the court between the baseline and the net. You move forward quickly moving right or left depending where the ball is. After you hit the ball, you move backwards to the center end of the court to be ready for the next ball.

Split and Sprint

This is the last but a very important tennis footwork drill and this is done easily by its name itself. You take a split step with your feet apart and sprint as fast as you can. Split mean jump in place with your feet apart and sprint means you ran forward as quickly as you can. This drill can be done in short intervals simulating movement at the baseline or when hitting a tennis volley.

This drill is very good to develop the quickness of the player in the court. A very good execution of this drill in the actual tennis game is when the player in positioned at the far end of the court and the opponent hit’s a drop shot near the net. You have to master this drill if you are playing against a player like Roger Federer because he is one of the best, if not the best player who can perfectly execute drop shots.

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