Tennis: Mental Drills to Hone Proper Impact - Forehand Topspin

a nano sec before impact, right shoulder stops and flings arm into impact ... and fully extends arm towards target

Unit turn - coil from shoulders to hips, .... legs stay squared to opposite court

Takeback: Lift elbow ...palm down ...strings down ... hands at shoulder height ...keep racket in front (do not loop behind back)

Fwd Swing: Accelerate gradually so that your muscles do not "contract" (flinch) and cause you to lose spacial awareness of sweet spot ... and thus mis-hit

Do NOT stop swing at impact in some insane attempt to better control the ball ... or keep it in-bounds ... racket must go thru the ball and arc over left shoulder

Feel Tennis: Add a small pop with wrist (like a trampoline effect) at moment of impact ... but this is absorbed into the full swing and is imperceptible to the naked eye

Amount of topspin is determined by the path of elbow in fwd swing ... loop elbow down-up-down for rally ball and envisage elbow moving straight across a table for a flat ball

as ball approaches, keep Left Arm extended and used as a measuring tool that "measures" the distance the ball must be from your body for optimal contact with racket at impact ...do not let ball get closer than an arm's length

Memorize these 8 points and during knock-ups / warm-ups, repeat 1 or 2 with each stroke ... it will develop an instinctual reaction and an auto reactive behavior useful in fast paced match rallies when time is short

Follow thru: Pronate from shoulder and extend arm ...try to rotate pit of elbow ... not wrist ... keep wrist slightly cocked post-impact

additional points: 1. keep head steady thru impact ...do not lookup 2. Curl RIGHT foot toward opposite court to create more coil on backswing 3. Watch the ball bounce up from the ground and onto your strings 4. Take back racket with left hand on throat (to coil shoulders)

Throw the arm ... do not throw the racket head ... if you throw arm, racket head will trail and you'll get max power with less effort

Follow thru: Maintain spine angle at impact ..do not pull up erect with lower back muscles ...instead rotate around spine with these muscles esp the left side lower back muscle

Hit ball with extended arm ... increases radius of swing for more leverage (power)

Hit inside - out ...this technique in tandem with hitting in front will square the strings to the ball

Follow thru: As you point the racket to the opposite court, momentarily frame the target area inside the oval shape of the racket head as it travels over to your left shoulder .. this will ensure your wrist stays laid back thru impact and gives a flatter trajectory ... altho it tends to pull shot to the left

Takeback: Hands must be at eye level or higher ... the "drop" from this height and into the slot increases racket speed

Hitting ball "in front" essentially means right arm is on a 45° vector off shoulder line

Post Impact pronate entire arm (from shoulder to hand) pointing tip of racket up and toward opposite side

Fwd Swing trigger: Envisage sponge in left hand and wipe across a large glass plane

at impact, left hand is higher than right

at the very start of (and thru-out) the FH swing, envision a high finish (over shoulder) and the swing will take care of itself ... Jeff Salzenstein

unit turn from hips to shoulders only ...keep legs facing opposite court ... ball stays low, doesn't fly and more spin