February Tip of the month: Is tennis an arm game?
This tip is more for club players, but it can be relevant to any level of player because it reinforces fundamentals. In addition, if your game breaks down at crucial times during competition because of nerves this tip can also be helpful to you.
Look around at your local tennis club and you will see that one of the biggest ‘problems’ players have is that they do not finish their swings. It is possible for coaches to spend hours and even years screaming out ‘finish the stroke’ (I know, I’ve been there!), without any success. The reason why the reminding doesn’t work is because, although this looks like a simple technical issue, it is not!
The real reason the follow through stops abruptly is because of fear and unless we address the fear, it is highly unlikely things will change. Sometimes, the fear can be obvious and sometimes it can be very subtle, but the fear and desire for control will be there for anyone to see if they choose to ‘look in’ as opposed to just looking outside.
It would be better to address this fear in the body, rather than come to any ‘understanding’ with the mind, which will not help in any way. The body is tangible and ‘real’, while the mind just creates one fictious story after another.
So how does the fear manifest? Yes, the swing stops abruptly, but let’s go deeper. How does it feel when the arm stops abruptly? The arm feels heavy, does it not? Why does the arm feel heavy? Could the reason be because we are hitting the ball only with the arm? Coaches talk about how good technique is all about using the body like a kinetic chain to hit the ball. Let’s try and explore what this means.
Why does the arm take over or why does the kinetic chain break down? The reason is the desire for control. When missing is not an option, fear comes in and everything inside (the mind) speeds up, while everything outside (the body) slows down. The kinetic chain cannot be unleashed when one becomes careful; as a result the arm takes over. The tight arm and wrist pushes and wills the ball over one way or other, often the result can be acceptable (the ball goes over the net) without being pretty or effective.
To allow the kinetic chain to unwind in full flow, tremendous trust is involved because the focus needs to be on the big body parts, shoulders and hips, so that the arm and wrist move almost by themselves as a consequence of the rotation as opposed to independent of the big body parts. In this scenario, the arm is light and the wrist loose, which allows them to accelerate forward and across your body without any effort.
It is no coincidence that many club players are plagued by all sorts of elbow and wrist injuries. The isolated use of the arm and these joints leads to tremendous pressure on them and eventual collapse. As I said, in this case the arm becomes heavy and the wrist tight, which will shorten the swing considerably. The physical isolation and heaviness of the arm while hitting the ball is a reflection of an active mind and the desire for control.
Instead, if players could bring their attention to their hands and shoulders (hands to find the ball and the shoulders turned to hit the ball) and then just allow the arms to go through without any effort to control, a pretty comfortable and smooth looking swing would emerge and there would be no pressure on either the arm or the joints. Of course this is not easy to do because the desire for control goes very deep and other issues are involved beyond just control.
However, even if just once you can experience the effortlessness of hitting the ball with a loose arm, it will be enough. To experience the kinetic chain in its glory is a magnificent feeling.
Play around with this on the court and see what your experience is!