"Is Power in Tennis Everything?"

As a firm believer that inteligent play can beat muscle play, I tend to say no.

But, for about fifteen or twenty years everyone has been enveloped by this concept that power is everything. Fortunately for tennis John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Roger Federer were born.

If these creative players did not develop, I could argue that tennis would have become a monotonous boring power game, lead by endless rallies with left and right running, in a mindless string of points, games, sets and matches.

Apart from this comment, the focus of this lesson is on hitting the ball early. So lets get to the task!

Why hit the ball early, from the tennis instruction and tennis training point of view?

 Whether you are running left and right like a rabbit on the baseline or you are a creative player that does a lot more than that, including variations such as the attack, the serve and volley and other raffinesses tennis allows, power alone is not the answer.

The tennis ball moves fast because of two major factors and they are, timing and hitting the ball early.

Timing in a non-scientific explanation, is the perfect meeting of your swinging tennis racket mass head/strings with the incoming tennis ball at the earliest possible moment after the ball bounce many call the best moment, "on the rise" extremely early and in other cases at "the highest point", just when the ball comes to a halt on its upwards movement from the ground (on a volley at the highest point to make the kill).

To hit the ball on the rise at all times you have to be faster then a cheetah and as resistant as the wildebeest in the African savannah! This is almost too much for human beings, even though Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and André Agassi came close to perfection in this department.

Let's analyze what really happens when the ball comes to a halt on its upwards movement from the ground. Assuming that most topspin groundstrokes in a rally are struck at less than 80mph, by the time they reach the ground on the other side of the tennis court they may be clocked at about 50mph and as they bounce off the ground at about 20mph. At this point the ball has reached a speed that is accessible to almost all humans.

What does the ball hit with topspin, usually do? It comes through the air on a semi-circular (oval) trajectory and bounces off the ground on a semi-circular trajectory, more or less lively, depending on the topspin imparted initially.

Here is where it gets tricky! You have three choices:

1. You hit the ball "on the raise". (***** Level)

2. You hit the ball at "the highest point" (optimal)

3. You wait a little and hit the ball "on the descent". (not recommended)

In option number one, as I said before it is an excellent way to put enormous pressure on your opponent, but it requires almost extra-terrestrial speed, ability and skills. If you are a super talent by all means do it (Pancho Segura did it in his 50's!).

Pancho who? You may ask; "Pancho Segura, born Francisco Olegario Segura (June 20, 1921), was a leading tennis player of the 1940s and 1950s, both as an amateur and as a professional".
After retiring from the Tour, Segura became a teaching professional for many years in Southern California and is widely credited with helping form the young Jimmy Connors. Pancho Segura Bio

Why is it such an extraordinary feat? What's the great advantage of striking the ball this early?

1. It requires perfect timing on every stroke and the minimal off-center or miss-timed shot will lead to a mistake.

2. You will meet the tennis ball with your racket at the maximum ball speed when bouncing off the ground and therefore minimizing the need for you to generate power yourself, because you are using the incoming balls speed against your racket speed.

In option number two, you stack-up all the odds in your favor.

As the ball reaches the maximum height of its rotational bounce it also decreases its speed, if you have perfect timing you will strike the ball "dead on" at the top of the bounce. This is why you see players like Marat Safin hitting jumped backhands (this is not for the gallery), but rather because they are seeking to hit the ball exactly when it reaches it's "dead spot".

This has several advantages:

1. At the highest point the ball has lost most of its rotational spin and therefore is more controllable (some players, including yours truly here, experience/d seeing the ball enlarged and as if in slow motion, but this is a mental effect that almost relates to higher states of consciousness due to extreme training).  The Inner Game of Tennis W. Timothy Gallwey

2. When the ball reaches the highest point its gives the illusion of not moving or a "dead moment" in its flight, between ascent and descent, the ball seems to "stop" right there asking you, "hit me"!...And you must oblige with a vengeance, so fleeting is the moment.

Option number three, very common among lesser accomplished players, nevertheless an option.

You let the ball bounce past the "on the rise" and "highest point" and choose to hit the ball "on the descent", of course this is the majorities choice! Why? Because, the ball has lost most of its speed, you have more time, most players doing this have backed up several meters/feet/yards behind the baseline and they think they are neutralizing their opponents efforts. (Which in the case of Roger Federer, he loves these give-mes).

What happens in reality?

1. You will exert twice as much effort to make a ball that has lost its momentum move again. Your swings will tend to be exaggerated and hayward because of that.

2. Since the ball is hit "on the descent" and some players literally almost hit it on the floor (second bounce!) this is a highly uncontrolled shot which tends to fly upwards almost like the space shuttle, because you are unable to provide any kind of reasonable spin, leading to plenty of mistakes.

3. Finally, if you think you are neutralizing your opponent think twice, because in all likelihood he is on the other side, very much inside the court and having you run left to right like a puppet on a string. Is it worth so much punishment to win a point? No. I hope you agree with me. Consider option number two instead.

This completes the lesson for hitting the ball early and using timing instead of power. Hope you will use it to your advantage.

Enjoy your tennis!

Sergio Cruz

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