Beginners and Intermediate players always looks good when rallying with their coach. They have a good technique and seems to have a beautiful stroke to put the balls back in into play.
The balls always seems to have great loop over the net and rallying can last more than 10 times.
Trouble comes when players start playing with each others. The beautiful strokes and the controlled situation seems to vanished. Both players can’t control their shots making them looks silly. They made up their mind to just stick to playing with the coach.
Why is that happening?
Number one reason is the footwork pattern. But in this article, the second reason will be discussed which is the racket swing.
When rallying with tennis coach, usually coaches will hit with reasonable speed, height and spin. Players are able to take their time and swing the racket and contacting the ball in their striking zone. This will differ when playing with other players where the pace, the height, and the spin of the ball is not consistent.
Players need to anticipate the ball quickly and make correct decision to execute the stroke. Some players are using the same backswing path making it hard for them to contact the ball comfortably jn the right striking zone. A lot of players, especially beginners, only have a big racket backswing. This will make their contact of the balls not consistently in front of their front foot (for neutral stance).
To be better at this, learn to have 3 types of racket backswing. One; the full swing, two; the half swing; three; the no backswing. By practicing those 3 types of swings, players will be better at receiving faster balls, shorter balls also the deep balls.
Make zones in the court. The full swing zone is behind the base line. The half swing zone is at the service line, while the no backswing zone is at the net. Coaches need to vary the speed of the balls. The fast ball should be received by using the half swing strokes and vice versa.
By getting the knowledge of the 3 types of backswing, and executing it in practise, players will become better at rallying with each other. They have the awareness of the types of the swing and will try to improve from time to time.