The Myths of Tennis Movement (Part I)

Every year, players returning home from college tell me that they were "tested" in a two or three mile run for their teams. They were told, "Since you run several miles in a match, let's test this on the track." A three-mile run is a poor assessment for tennis, performance. In the past, I've called this "Dodgeball" logic (taken from the movie “Dodgeball” where it is noted, "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball.")

The average run in tennis is just seven feet. It's multi-directional, with an explosive start and precise stop. It's about power, endurance, agility and coordination. It has little in common with a longer, slower and straight ahead run.

While court movement is one of the most important areas in the sport of tennis, mythology and misconceptions as described above can limit performance.

We can start to take action by recognizing that great movement is not a talent, it's the result of learning superior neuromotor control and function. Sure, some people have better body types and possess a stronger athletic background in movement development, but it's never too late for any athlete to improve and develop.

Tennis movements can be broken down into components of quickness, power, agility, speed and efficiency. In today's lightning-fast game, these qualities are a requirement for achievement.

Myths #1 through #8
Myth #1: Great court movement is a natural talent
Reality: Great movement is a result of great training. How many times have we heard that some players are just "naturally fast," born and blessed with a wealth of "fast twitch" muscle fibers? Great footwork and movement is a skill, not a talent, and as with all skills, can be learned with proper training and practice. Some athletes have greater potential than others of course, but the goal is to achieve your personal best.

Myth #2: If you want to be fast on the court, focus primarily on speed
Reality: Work on quickness above speed. It's all about starting and stopping quickly.

Running has three parts: Starting, accelerating and stopping. The average run in any tennis movement, as explained above, is very short, just seven feet, which means the acceleration (speed) phase is not the most important part. Remember, the first step takes the longest (a body at rest stays at rest), so you can save the greatest amount of time with an explosive start. Stopping most closely coincides with the hit, so learn to stop by landing softly and quietly by dropping and absorbing, instead of stopping by lifting and dragging your feet. This will dramatically improve your setup to the hit.

Myth #3: Stay on your toes
Reality: If you want to move with power, it's all about force into the ground so "Get off your toes."

When you push into the ground, the ground pushes back (equal in magnitude opposite in direction, thanks Mr. Rabinowitz, my 12th grade physics teacher!). You push more mass more powerfully with full foot contact than with a forward toe strike. Pushing from your toes limits your force to calf strength and ankle mobility. The best players do not stay on their toes. They start on their toes before loading onto their full or mid-foot.

Myth #4: Straight ahead sprints are the best way to train tennis movements
Reality: Shuffle, shuffle, shuffle for agility … it's more about lateral than linear movement.

You run much more side to side,. or "lateral," in a tennis match than forward or "linear," yet most players warm up, stretch and train working on more linear than lateral skills. Remember to keep some space between your feet when moving sideways, with your toes forward, so that you can change direction immediately. Stop by dropping, absorbing and loading to ready yourself for the next movement. Learn to coordinate, rhythmically and quickly.

While we are on this topic, let's demystify the "split-step," which sometimes seems to be the universal correction I hear given to every volley mistake. The split-step is simply a transitional movement from a narrow stance, which helps linear speed, to a wider stance, which gives you the ability to manage uncertainty with great multi-directional movement.

Myth #5: "Hop" or "float step" to get ready for the hit
Reality: In order to lift for the hit, first drop low.

Great players watch movement cues carefully and reactively lower their hips right before their opponent makes contact. While this quick weight shift down and back might first lift their feet slightly off the ground (it's called a "counter movement") it's NOT a hop. The goal is a lower center of mass to put force in to the ground (think "butt back"). This loads your body to explode UP, which is a lot faster than falling DOWN on the first step. Give it a try and remember to engage your core before you hinge your hips so that your body is stable. As with every movement, engage and fire muscles in the most efficient order.

Myth #6: Watch the ball to get ready to react
Reality: Of course you should see the ball, but the best athletes see a bigger picture. They learn to read an opponent's cues to "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." It's all about your speed of reaction from the hit.

As explained in the previous myth, great players watch very carefully for subtle clues (called “cues”) from their opponent in order to react as quickly as possible. You might say they "read" their opponent and react accordingly. This can be challenging, as the better the opponent, the better these "cues" will be disguised. The best athletes in any sport recognize and react to movement from their opponent with relaxation and poise. The result is an accurate and well-timed reaction.

Mastery of this complex skill requires tremendous awareness, concentration and experience. It's similar to becoming an expert in a simultaneous game that fuses Lightning Chess with Liar's Poker.

Myth #7: Your court coverage is limited by the speed of your feet
Reality: The limitation to your court coverage is more likely the speed of your arms.

Running speed is stride length multiplied by frequency of movement, or how far you go times how long it takes to create each step. Believe it or not, the most limiting factor in runners who are not highly trained are slow, inefficient arms, not legs since your legs move faster and you must coordinate arms to legs.

Learn to make powerful, coordinated and compact arm swings, and you will be way faster. Try thinking "hands, pockets to ears."

Myth #8: Balance means "stillness"
Reality: Balance is probably not what you think. You can move with balance.

Ask several pros what balance is and I bet you get a variety of answers. Here's the application of what Isaac Newton has to say in his first law of inertia: Balance is zero acceleration (this is the other side of the equation which explains that balance is equal net force).

So stop and stay stopped, or move and keep moving at a constant speed during the hit, and by definition, you have achieved dynamic balance. In real world applications it's usually easier to move slowly through the hit than to go fast or to stop but styles vary based on physical stability and mobility, as well as the stroke production of each player.