Here’s something that trips up almost every tennis player I work with.
They want more power on their groundstrokes. So what do they do? They swing harder. They muscle the ball. They put everything they’ve got into their arm.
And it doesn’t work.
I was working with a student and we uncovered exactly why this happens. She was doing a ton of work to move her body forwards, kind of like she was trying to shoulder bump or elbow her way through the ball. Lots of effort. Lots of sliding and leaning.
But here’s what was missing: rotation.
When I watched her swing in slow motion, something fascinating showed up. The hit happened, and then the twist came after. Her shoulders and hips were rotating, but only after the ball had already left the strings.
That’s backwards.
What the pros are doing is completely different. They start with the big, strong parts of the body. The hips initiate. The torso follows. And the racket? It’s the last thing, trailing behind like it’s being pulled along for the ride.
That’s what lag actually is.
All of that twisting gets unwound before the ball ever touches the racket. By the time contact is made, everything is facing forwards. Hips forward. Torso forward. Racket forward. The whole body transitions from facing sideways to facing the target before contact happens.
That’s the whole key to hitting a solid groundstroke.
Here’s a way to think about it. Instead of a contraction in your arm, think of it as a stretch. Create separation between your lower body and your upper body. The more stretch there is between them, the more easy force you can generate through the ball.
When my student started doing this correctly, something amazing happened. Her skirt started moving before her racket did. That visual told the whole story. Her lower body was leading, creating that stretch, and then the racket would whip through as a result.
Compare that to what most players do: the racket and the body move at the same rate, in sync, together. That’s not bad. But it’s leaving a ton of free power on the table.
The tricky part? Your arm really wants to be involved. It’s so used to providing most of the energy that when you take that job away, it feels left out. It wants to jump in and help.
But there’s no bonus points for arm effort. In fact, it’s the opposite.
The key isn’t moving faster. It’s moving earlier. Your hips need to clear before the ball gets to your racket. Not at the same time.
In baseball they call this “clearing the hips.” The hips clear the plate before the bat gets there. If the arms get past the hips, it’s a garbage swing. Same thing in golf. Same thing in tennis.
So if you’ve been muscling your groundstrokes and wondering why they feel so effortful, try this: slow your arm down and speed up your hips. Not faster with the hips, just earlier. Initiate sooner. Let the rotation do the work.
You might be surprised how much easier and more powerful your shots become when you stop trying so hard with the wrong body parts.
Keep up the great work out there.
Your Coach,
Ian
