Comfort and Power Zones

Dave Hagler

In the never ending quest to develop better players, coaches need to help players increase the range of their comfort and power zones. Comfort zones describe the range of height where a player can return a shot with confidence.

Power zones are the range where a player can add velocity and/or topspin to an incoming ball. If you increase the range of your comfort zone the range of your power zone will also get bigger.

In prehistoric times, players used wood racquets with strings that were initially gut, but later a variety of materials. The rackets and strings had limited spin and power potential compared to today.

On grass, hard courts and indoor carpet, most balls at or above chest height were low velocity balls. The ball bounced higher on clay than these surfaces, but shots did not have close to the same velocity or spin rates they do today.

Court surfaces tended to be much faster than they are today. If we exclude clay, players needed to be proficient at returning balls that were mostly below chest level.

All Heights

Times have changed. Contact on most shots is higher, but players have to deal with balls that are high, low and everything in between.

Recreational players who are proficient at hitting two handed backhands probably have broader comfort and power zones than players who hit one handed (generally weaker on high balls) or who generally hit two handed but are not comfortable slicing (weak on low balls).

At the professional level you see players who are skilled at hitting balls that are at extreme heights. Walt Oden, a tennis professional and coach in Ohio, points out that contact point discussions should include not just height and spacing, but how far forward or backwards.

More in Front

Walt contends when coaches say, "out in front," it makes sense for the player to have a clear understanding of how far in front is desirable. He correctly asserts that pro contact points on most groundstrokes are farther forward than those of lesser players.

Power and comfort zones tend to be higher on the forehand side for most players. This is at least partially due to grips but there are other factors, as you will see later.

Here are some ways I help my students expand their comfort and power zones. The first thing is to observe the player during a match or point play. I compare what I see to what the player believes.

I can then feed the player balls at varying heights and see how well the player does. Keep in mind that hitting a ball at a given height is a bit different if the ball is dropping, rising, or at the top of the bounce.

One other important factor is the faster the swing speed, the less relevant the trajectory and spin of the incoming ball. Therefore you are correct in assuming that racquet speed development is an important part of this process.

Dropping and Rising

We determine a player's range of comfort and power, first on dropping balls, then on rising balls. A basic tenet of player development is to have a player hit an incoming ball in their power/comfort zone and then increase the variation in height, spin (type and amount), speed and movement.

It is interesting that many junior players believe their power zone is lower than it actually is. You can feed balls to a player, observe them rallying or playing, or look at video of one of their matches.

If you aren't already doing so, feed them balls at different heights. Observe, ask questions, and determine which balls they hit well. At this point, you should have an idea if they will struggle more with a higher or lower contact point.

You can then give the player balls to hit that are in the direction where it looks like they will be more successful. After this, go in the opposite direction and see if they struggle – they probably will.

The player may have to make backswing adjustments; changing the height of the hand and elbow(s), the racquet head angle and height, or many of these. Once the player understands how to make these adjustments you can increase the variation in the ball you give them.

If you look at the players in the videos, the youngest is 10 and the oldest just turned 19. The younger players are still working on being able to handle high balls with short backswings and adjusting their preparation to deal with the incoming ball.

Some of their issues with low balls are movement or stance related. All these players understand that if you do everything you can to optimize position, you make your life a lot easier.

Grip Changes?

The oldest player changed his forehand grip and takeback during his freshman year in college to help him hit high balls (both rising and dropping) more aggressively. His grip is semi-western, but he moved it slightly towards eastern – which in his case was the right move.

One caution – what is optimal for one player may not work as well for another. Help each player find an efficient method that will work under pressure. If you are struggling try to expand your range of comfort and power by hitting balls well out of your comfort zone, then narrow the range, then broaden it again.

I'm stepping into a minefield here, but I believe that players can expand their comfort and power zones by having some grip flexibility, depending on the height, speed and spin of an incoming ball. If a slight to moderate grip modification will help you hit balls that are above or below what you like, you should do it.

I have taken video of players who swear they don't modify their grip, yet they do. If you practice this a bit, you will probably find you start to change your grip without even thinking about it.

Experiment with moving your contact point forward and backwards and see what you learn. The goal is to move to get as many balls in your power zone as possible, but learn to be comfortable with a broader range of incoming shots.