The Practice Court

3/31/09  Tuesday  1:00P.M.

Chico Racquet Club

A New Feeling

Out on the practice court I felt something different today, something I’ve never felt before.  I was working on the ball machine, focusing on what Eldon had helped me with the day before in my lesson on the penetrating forehand shot. 

What I felt was the head of the racquet being a little heavy and like it was lagging behind in my swing as it made contact with the ball.  (This is a little similar to the golf swing where you want the club head to lag behind in your forward body rotation in the down swing.  When the club lags you get something of a catapult effect and more power.) Then I felt the acceleration of the racquet head through the ball and the follow-through finishing over the left shoulder with the wrist turned over to a considerable degree.  The strange thing was that I wasn’t swinging very hard!  I was making an effort to take the ball out in front of my body with my forearm extended.   My wrist felt like it was fairly laid back but not rigid.  The trajectory of the ball was really cool.  The ball was going over the net about 2 to 3 feet high.  It seemed to travel about that height almost to the baseline where suddenly the ball dipped down into the court and then jumped back to the fence.  I hit about 15 balls this way and it felt so good.  But then I lost the feeling!   I was a little tired and I began to muscle the ball by swinging too hard. 

The good thing here is that I realize now how much in the past I have been trying to hit hard by muscling the ball.  That’s not giving me what I want.  It’s so interesting that I’m discovering that one doesn’t have to swing so hard to get a penetrating ball.  It’s more a question of timing, taking the ball out front with an extended forearm and hitting out diagonally through the ball before your wrist rolls over on the follow-through.