Tennis the Opposite Hand

February 5, 2013 | By Bill Longua
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The higher you are on the ability chart, the more you will be aware of how important your opposite hand and arm plays in hitting your strokes correctly. If you are just beginning or have only been playing a little while, you probably do not, but should. If you are in the intermediate levels, pay more attention to it to help improve more quickly. Let’s go over some areas.

On the forehand the opposite arm should be extended out from the body about the same distance the hitting arm is in preparation on your backswing to maintain an equal balance of the weight and body.

If you hit a two hand backhand, the opposite hand is the power hand on the shot. That is the hand that will snap up the backside of the ball, thus creating power and spin. When preparing to hit either the one hand backhand topspin or slice, the opposite hand is holding the throat of the racquet to maintain the proper angle between forearm, wrist and racquet shaft. The topspin preparation has the head and handle of the racquet parallel, while the head is above the handle when preparing for the slice backhand. The hand stays on the throat until you step forward to hit, this will maintain proper form.

The opposite arm on the overhead must go up when you bring the racquet back behind your head. Some players like to point at the oncoming lob to help track it, which is fine, but the real reason you need it up there is for shoulder balance.

The serve is pretty self-explanatory, because it is the opposite hand and probably is not used to doing a whole lot, practicing your toss is a must to develop a consistent toss for a consistent serve.

The opposite hand on the volley is very important in two areas. First, the hand is on the throat of the racquet when in the ready position and helps to keep the head of the racquet above the handle forming the correct angle. Just like on the one hand backhand, it stays on the throat until your forward step, if you volley with two hands, the opposite hand reaches forward to make contact with the ball.

So, both hands are needed to play good tennis.
 


Bill Longua
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