Let's talk about timing. What is timing?
Timing in tennis is striking the ball, bringing the racquet to the contact point
exactly at the ideal time. It doesn't really matter how beautiful your swing is,
if the ball is not in position when you swing. That is, if the ball is here and I just hit my beautiful swing
I am not even gonna hit the ball. So, if my timing is not right, if I am not swinging at the right time
even if my swing is perfect, I am going to make mistake.
So, let's practice swinging at the right time, bringing the racquet head to the contact point exactly when we need it.
Let me show you 3 exercises to practice this. On the first one
what I'm going to do is hit a high lob to my partner, and my partner is going to try to adjust
and catch the ball right off the bounce every time.
For this, they are going to have to see the ball and kind of....
think about where it's gonna bounce and move to that position to be ready to hit it off the bounce
Once they get used to that I am going to ask them to hit sometimes off the bounce
sometimes off the hip and sometimes off the shoulder.
so that they are really forces to swing that racquet at exactly the right time
to be able to make contact in the different places. Let's take a look at this
a little bit higher, hip level... good...good...shoulder level
off the bounce
This exercise is very challenging, so be patient. It may take you a while
to get the feel for it
Another good exercise to improve your timing is adjusting to the incoming ball and working on sinking
as the ball sinks, so as the ball comes
as it bounces I want my body down. So I watch the ball as it is coming, I sink...I hit.
As the ball bounces, I sink and I swing. So I am synchronizing my whole motion
to the ball coming down and touching the ground
Let's take a look at this:
Finally, a very challenging exercise to work on your timing
is one where you use a metronome...and a metronome
keeps track of time and gives you a beep at a specific time frame
So what you are going to try to do is rally with
a partner and you're going to try to make contact with the ball exactly at the beat
Let's take a look at this:
The key, is trying to work on making contact exactly as it beeps. So that means maybe you
are going to have to let the ball bounce twice,
or you might really have to reach forward and catch it early
So really focus on the beat. The goal is
my racquet contacts the ball is it beeps.
Also, very challenging - with a little bit of practice
you will get better at really getting ready and putting the racquet in place at the right time.