Understanding your follow through in your tennis groundstrokes traps and tips will give your strokes more consistency and power. Mastering the different paths and point of attacks will make your shots much more efficient and straightforward to execute.
Stay away from misconceptions
There are misconceptions on what constitutes an appropriate follow through. Numerous teachers will state to have the racquet begin low and then finish high on the finish. This is fine, yet it doesn’t apply to each stroke that you hit.
Be ready to learn
If you have ever watched and contemplated many stars ground strokes, you will see that when they finish their racquet diversely relying upon what shot they need to hit. If they need to hit a low shot, then they will drop their racquet down low and then finish it high. If they have a shot that is about stomach high, they may finish with their racquet over their body in a more horizontal path. If they have a high shot, then they may hit a cut and have a path that goes from high to low with the racquet almost straight downward at the finish of the shot.
Monitor your location always
Your follow through will fluctuate if you are in different areas of the court. If you are deep in the backcourt, ordinarily you will hit topspin and do the standard low to high finish on your ground strokes. Rarely will your path be downward unless you are hitting a cut. On a high shot from the back court, a higher backswing and a more horizontal follow through are needed, or a much higher follow through than ordinary. This depends on whether you are hitting a flat ball or one with topspin.
Be keen when in the middle of the court
If you are hitting from the mid court and moving toward the net, the follow through can be long or short contingent upon whether you have time to hit it or you are hitting on the run coming forward. If you have a lot of time to hit the ball, your follow through ought to be exaggerated on the longish side. This gives you more control and helps in your momentum coming into the net. If you are moving and running into the net, the shot is a shorter one and commonly with backspin with a punch sort follow through and fast contact.
Approach
Hitting the ball when you are closer to the net and endeavoring to put the ball is hard. Always keep away from a low to high stroke with a high finish. Your approach should be more on a level or high to the low path to shield the ball from going too long and outside of the court. Putting the ball away on a short shot near the net with a high ricochet you have to hit downward sharply to apply the power.
Follow through
Understanding how to follow through on your ground strokes will make them much more consistent. Your follow through will change if you are hitting the ball low, mid level or high. Your follow through will be different if you are hitting from the back court, the mid court, and up at the net. It will likewise change if you are hitting on the run or have a ton of time.
Conclusion
Don’t fall into the trap that each shot needs to have a low to high finish. When you master the finish on your strokes and adapt them to the situation and the location where you are on the court your game will achieve another level.