David Ranney's Tennis Blog

A Better Way To Warm Up Your Serve

In all the 50 years of my tennis life I learned to warm up my serve when playing by serving three balls and having my opponent catch them. Then my opponent would serve them back and I would catch them.

I have discovered a better way, however you will only do it this way if you are playing with a friend. If you are playing a tournament match, you will still warm up the same old way.

Here is how you do it;

You (or your opponent) will warm up your serve while the other player will warm up their return of serve. Warming up your return of serve does not mean hitting the ball back to your opponent, it means hitting the ball like you would if you were actually playing. Once you have finished warming your serve up, then your opponent can warm up his/her serve and you can warm up your return of serve.

When you do it this way, you get to practice your return of serve, and how often do you do that? I also find that I will hit more serves, so it is like going out and hitting a mini bucket of balls. And, how often do you do that?

How often have you missed your return of serve once the game starts (at least in the beginning) because you haven’t hit any return of serves when you have warmed up the old way?

So, go and use this way of warming up and see if you like it better than the old, usual way. I know I do.

About How To Practice

Here is the main question that was asked by David, one of my book owners. He then pretty much answered his own question and hopefully I added a little more to the answers he found in Lesson #15 and #41 in my book.

 

"Is there ever a time on court, during a point, when one should consciously think about strategy (or stroke mechanics)? I think the answer is no during a tournament match or match that is important. But how does one practice stroke mechanics and consciously be aware of your body mechanics and/or strategy? Only during practice or drills? "

 

And he answered himself with this:

 

"After I emailed you I realized that probably all I had to do was go back and read "the book" again. Of course, it's all right there. I found some good answers to my question in lessons 15 & 41, and they are very helpful. I have been working so hard on my stroke mechanic and strategy stuff that I'm afraid I have neglected practicing the mental game. As you have pointed out, we all practice the other stuff at the expense of not practicing the mental game. Perhaps the answer to my question lies in deciding when and what to practice at any given time. Or, as you have pointed out in lessons 15 & 41, one can practice both strokes and strategy and the mental game at the same time. In a tournament match however, it's all mental game. Thanks again for your help and congratulations on your good summer season."

 

Here are my additional thoughts:

 

I am glad that you found the answers to your questions in my book. That saves me a lot of thinking and typing. (lol). Maybe, that should be my answer to all the questions people ask. I should tell them to just read my book again.

 

One of the things I would add is that you can use what happens when you hit balls to direct your practice. Here is what I mean. When I am practicing, different things happen as I hit the ball. Maybe I am hitting balls long. When I become aware of this, I then spend a few minutes dealing with that issue. If, for some reason, my backhand feels “off,” then I will deal with that for a few minutes. Maybe I notice that I am not breathing properly. I will then spend some time being aware of my breathing. So, what I practice on will depend on what is happening at that moment, but I will only work on one thing at a time. These things will change from day to day. How to “fix” these things, as you said, are all in my book.

 

Now, I also have a check list that I use from time to time. My check list is a list of things that I have become aware of that I need to either work on or need to make sure I am doing. See the index of my book for a list of some of these check lists. And, I add to my check list as I become aware of different things that are going on with my game. This check list is a work in progress.

 

I use the same process to fix “my problems” when I play games except that as things come up, I only visualize the correction and then I let it go and just go back to my core principles. I do not work on fixing it (except in my mind and in between points) when I am playing points. If it continues to be a problem, then I will work on it in my next practice session.

 

My last words of wisdom are to make sure that you spend enough time practicing the core principles. I practice them this way. Let’s say that I am hitting backhands cross court and I am working on my footwork. After a time, I will then play a game of seven points, again just hitting backhands cross court. Now that I am “in a game mode” I will forget about my footwork and just work on seeing the ball and breathing (core principles). See Drill #5 in my book for more ideas.

 

Thanks for your e-mail and I hope I have added to the answers you found in my book.

How to practice on a back board

I have talked with some of my students about hitting against a back board but not many people actually do it I think it is because there are not many around.

 

Anyway, here is what I tell my students.

 

Because the ball comes back so much sooner than when playing on a “real” court, you must stand back far enough so that the ball bounces twice. This will also mean that you need to hit the ball higher on the backboard so that when the ball does come to you on the second bounce, it will not be too low.

 

You can practice seeing the ball to the blur, breathing, being aware of the relaxation of your body and doing the bounce-hit while hitting on the wall. Doing the “Mother of all Tips” (holding the follow through) is a little more difficult because the ball is coming back so soon. But you can work on your “stroke awareness.” You do this by “feeling” your stroke. Feeling your stroke means that you pay attention to how your racket and arm is going back, the path of the racket as it hits the ball and most importantly of all, where it finishes.

 

If you work on your serve, the thing to do is (other than feel your stroke) is to work on seeing the ball to the blur of the racket and making sure that your breathing is relaxed before you hit the ball.

A Question on Saying "hit" in the Bounce-Hit Excersise

I got this question from one of my subscribers to my Mini Lessons that i thought was a good one.

 

"Have you ever tried touch or hits by adding the s you more naturally tend to exhale. I have used the touch when I feel too tensed at key points and I guess the associations with the word touch seems to bring more calm than hit."

 

Here was my answer:

 

The reason I would not want to use “touch” is that I want to make sure that I am saying “hit” softly. When I make sure that I say “hit” softly and at a lower octave, I know I am relaxed. I have not tried using "touch" or adding the "s" and I guess I need to try it before I say it doesn’t work or isn't a better way. Thanks for the ideas.