Effort in Producing Ground Strokes

[indnix]

John: I took a lesson about a month ago. I haven't taken a lesson in about 30 years. However, the pro indicated that I was working too hard in hitting my shots. I have always kind of muscled the ball around. He said that this might affect my fitness in the third set. I agree with him. This has been an issue for me recently, particularly as I am getting up in years.

I have reduced the amount of grip pressure quite a bit on my serve (without letting go of the racket!), with amazing results. I have not been as successful in loosening my grips on the groundstrokes though. I think this is what the pro was getting at. I would love to spend less effort in producing my shots.

Can you give some suggestions?

[johnyandell]

My usual answer with these kinds of questions still applies. I'd like to help but it's impossible to give you any (responsible) advice about a stroke I can't see.

More than likely you are having problems in one or more key positions, the turn, contact or extension, either in the shape or the timing--so you compensate with more muscle. You sense that since you don't have the leverage, if you relaxed your grip you couldn't make the ball. The forehand articles in Advanced Tennis, for example, go into a lot of detail about what they and how to create them.

Send in or attach some video and I can say more. In the Your Strokes main page there are guide lines on how to film.

Regards,
John Yandell