Hi and welcome back!
To continue our journey from the serve lesson i now progress onto groundstrokes.
Dont forget our aim is to get you looking around for less cues but equally important at the right cues to gain more anticipation! Also remember this is how we view our opponent hitting the ball!
Again i am going to split this up into 4 phases
Phase 1 - The Look
Here our aim is to pick up everything before the start of the upper body movement and this carries on until the player makes their first foot movement.
What do we look for?
Here we determine the possible grip to be used and keep a focus on our opponents hips for a hint of direction they will move to. I understand that they will move to where you have hit the ball but this doesnt tell you that they may be a little more defensive or aggressive in their shot making, nor whether it will be an inside in or inside out shot!
How does this help me?
This tells you about player direction and possible spin of the shot
Phase 2 - The Setup
Here we are looking for anything that will tell us about ball direction. By studying our opponents we can tell what type of leading footwork patterns they use to hit certain directional shots! A closed stance for instance on a backhand topspin will not likely see the ball go crosscourt!
What do we look for?
Having a focus on the hips this moves swiftly to the torso and upper body. We continue to focus here until the upper body has completed its unit turn fully. Our peripheral focus checks out the placement of the leading foot to help determine possible direction!
How does this help me?
This tells you of the likely direction the ball maybe hit.
Phase 3 - Hit to Contact
This phase gets us looking at the swing path to contact to bring us further along the anticipation path.
What we look for?
From the upper body our focus moves to the arm and racket and finishes at contact point
How does this help me?
At this stage we should know spin and possible depth of shot.
Phase 4 - The Hit
This phase confirms everything we think we now know about the shot. When we get to know our opponent more we can read more and advance to a more anticipated game and winning outcome!
What we look for?
From the contact point we watch the racket just past here then pick the ball up to focus whilst our peripheral vision stays with the player to pick up on balance and movement.
Great exercises for tracking the ball i have given on the serve anticipation lessons however....
On the opponents hit say CON on the bounce CEN on your hit TRATE.
Alternately count between contact point hits from racket to racket
Take a Phase at a time and practice away
Again this will be apart of my up and coming anticipation course that you can book in early January. Only 12 places available.
Have fun with it and i anticipate more wins coming your way!
Andy
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