Movement awareness

Movement awareness refers to moving yourself into a position on the court that allows you to hit the stroke you desire.  This position is dependent on several factors.  You need to observe the ball as it is hit by the opponent to identify what direction it is headed and the ball flight to understand how it will react once it hits the court.

First, how high is the ball traveling over the net?  Will it land short or deep?  Then, what kind of spin is on the ball?  Does it have topspin and how high is the arc?  This will make it bounce up and you’ll need to determine how deep you need to be in the court to hit it.  Does it have underspin?  If so, it will bounce low and not as deep.  Is there sidespin?  This will turn the ball to the left or right after hitting the court.

Also, you need to observe how fast the ball is traveling.  If it is fast, you need to move quicker to get in position.  If it is slow, you need to pace yourself by taking shorter steps to time your arrival at the hitting location.

This may sound daunting to achieve, but it comes very quickly.  Be observant and realize that the real game of tennis is a game of movement.  Learning to hit a forehand, backhand, etc. from a stationary location is unrealistic.  It is fine to do that to understand the stroke mechanics, but as soon as you have the basics down, you need to move.  One drill to help you develop your court sense is to have a partner hit you a variety of shots all over the court.  Don’t worry how well you hit them.  Concentrate on how well you position yourself to hit the ball.  Then fine tune the mechanics.

Sounds easy!!  Let’s hit the court and have fun.