Tennis Basics Include Grip, Stroke, And Footwork-Here's Some Help With All Of Those - By: Gregg Hall

So you know that strokes are important in tennis, you know that you must concentrate. To play tennis well and confidently you must be conversant with good footwork and proper grip. This second article on the basics of tennis will introduce you to the concept of good footwork, stroke and grip and why these are considered tennis fundamentals.

Grip is how you hold the tennis rackets. A faulty grip may ruin your service and injure you badly. Hold the racquet head perpendicular to the ground, the edge of the racquet frame pointing towards the ground and the handle facing towards your body. It is sort of a hand shake gesture if put plainly. Ensure that the line of the racket, the handle, your arm and hand is one. This is ideally your forehand grip.

The backhand grip should be about ninety degrees turn of the handle from what it was for a forehand grip. The hand should be on top of the handle and the knuckles of your hand should be facing up (as in pointing up). It is advisable that the natural grip is modeled around these grips for maximum output and efficient play. Do not give up your comfort but try to reach a middle path if need be.

Once you have your grip in place, you need to learn the stroke. Returning the ball will be impossible unless you learn strokes; the forehand and the backhand. Shoulders parallel to the ball or rather the line in which the ball would be traveling, the body perpendicular to the net and the weight moving from back to the front when you are anticipating the stroke to actually hitting the ball respectively. Transferring weight is of great importance since faulty execution may harm your back. Swing your stroke to increase the speed of your return. Learning forehand and back hand will set the foundation to your tennis. How you learn strokes is up to you. But it is suggested that you learn strokes in the following order. This is because your body gets more and more flexible as you progress in the game making it easy for you to pick up new strokes.

First learn the forehand and the backhand. Then learn the service. Once you are comfortable with these, practice for a while and get accustomed to the movements in the court. Next learn the volley and the overhead smash shot where you go close to the net and smash the ball in the opponent's court. Finally you can learn on improvising on your volley by learning and playing some half or chop volley strokes.

Last but not the least is the footwork. Positioning your body correctly, shifting your body weight as per your need and being agile on your feet may decide on how well you are actually placing the ball in the court. Wrong footwork may not just cause physical injury but will definitely hamper your quality of play. Remember every stroke has its own footwork and one must follow that.

About the Author

Gregg Hall is an author living on the Emerald Coast of Florida. Now that you know a little more about playing tennis be sure that you get quality tennis racquet by going to http://www.nsearch.com

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