| Spontaneous and correct footwork is the main thing | | | | your body should be at 90 degrees on to the net |
| for making your entire body well-balanced and playing | | | | where as your shoulders should be parallel to the |
| the best shot against the moving ball. This rule applies | | | | direction of the flight of ball that is coming. You need to |
| to all other sports such as Tennis where you need to | | | | transfer the weight of your body from the back on |
| strike a ball which is moving. | | | | your front foot in the same angle and direction of the |
| You cannot play a shot properly or even serve for | | | | shot at the exact time of impact. Even as your arm |
| that matter without the presence of a firm and proper | | | | swing assesses the speed of stroke, it's the weight of |
| grip on the racquet handle. When you are playing a | | | | the body which you transfer to your stroke at the |
| forehand drive, the natural grip is best while a weaker | | | | point of impact which determines the "pace" of the ball. |
| or lose grip would be best for a backhand stroke, with | | | | Now let us take a look at the difference between |
| a chop shot considered to be the most natural stroke. | | | | pace and speed which is used above. Pace is the |
| To get a perfect forehand grip, you should hold the | | | | power from which the ball jumps up from the ground, |
| racquet keeping its face perpendicular along the court | | | | where as speed is the ratio (for example miles per |
| with handle positioning towards your own body along | | | | hour) with which your ball travels in the air. However, |
| with the frame pointing towards the ground. For a | | | | there are times when a ball hits the turf at |
| natural and comfortable grip hold the handle, your hand, | | | | comparatively slow speed but jumps up with an |
| arm and the racquet in a one direct line. As you play or | | | | astonishing force because of the weight that's behind |
| swing the racquet, your arm should aligned with the | | | | it. |
| head of the racquet such that racquet seems as an | | | | There can be few players who only have either one |
| addition to arm. | | | | of the two (pace or speed) in their strokes while some |
| While playing a backhand shot a change in grip is | | | | players may have both in their shots. |
| necessary. To play you need to rotate your arm 45 | | | | You need to learn strokes in tennis in a proper order |
| degrees anticlockwise (considering you are a right | | | | that starts with Drive after which Forehand comes |
| hander) while continuously turning your body, and | | | | and then Backhand. Disturbing the order could put you |
| positioning yourself perfectly to meet and hit the ball | | | | into some serious trouble because you will not be able |
| back. This would make your hand move over the | | | | to counter attack from net if you don't know how to |
| handle of racquet with your knuckles positioning | | | | play the drive, which gives you the only available |
| upwards letting the stroke travel plainly across your | | | | success chance through a passing stroke. Moreover, till |
| wrist. | | | | the time you do not have a nice ground shot to lay the |
| Though the grip described above forms the foundation | | | | ground work by proper opening, you will never be able |
| for the grips used for various drives, you can change it | | | | to come to a point from where you can build upon an |
| slightly to suit your playing style while always making | | | | effective attack from the net. |
| sure that it stays close to the logics involved. | | | | As soon as you have a sound grasp of the |
| Once you get acknowledged with the basic principles | | | | fundamentals mentioned above, you can move to |
| of handle gripping, the next principle or step to learn is | | | | Service. After this, you should proceed to learn about |
| body position. You should learn playing strokes in a | | | | Volley, than Overhead Smash followed by Half volley |
| proper sequence and not in arbitrary manner. | | | | which is also termed as the Chop Stroke along with |
| An important condition to play any given shot is that | | | | some minor ornamental shots. |