Keep the Ball on the Strings

Make contact with the ball just in front of your forward foot and keep the ball on the strings as long as possible. The racquet face should travel on a straight upward line through the hitting zone in the direction you want the ball to go. If you’re trying to hit the ball crosscourt, make contact a little farther out in front. But if you’re trying to send the ball down the line, make contact a little later, closer to your forward foot. In either case, you’ll increase your accuracy if you keep the ball on the strings for as long as you can. So at impact, don’t swing your racquet around so quickly; instead, push it out in front along the line that you want the ball to go. And as you hit through the ball, your weight should be moving forward to add extra power to the shot.

This illustrated lesson is an excerpt from Bring Your Racquet: Tennis Basics for Kids

www.kirkhouse.com/books/bring-your-racquet