Spacing:
The Final Frontier

Dave Hagler

Players want to get better. Coaches want to facilitate this. Strokes and footwork are examined and analyzed as we seek to optimize biomechanical technique.

But an important but often ignored component of efficient technique is spacing. This is the distance between the player and the ball. In this series of articles I’ll show you the drills I use with my players to develop great spacing.

If your spacing is off, are you generally too close or too far from the ball? 95% of the players and coaches I’ve queried would answer, “Too close." I concur.

I always assumed this was a visual problem, a tracking issue, and everyone I spoke with seemed to agree. But 2 questions kept coming into my head: If spacing errors are visual tracking based, then wouldn’t the number of shots where you are too close and too far be approximately equal?

Also, why is it easier to hit a tennis ball that is curving away from you, but easier to hit a baseball that is curving towards you? The answers are surprisingly related.

I asked Dr. Dennis Richardson, an Optometrist who is also a Certified Tennis Professional, and David Yu, M.D., an Ophthalmologist who plays tennis recreationally if there was something in our visual system that would predispose us to tend to get too close to (as opposed to too far from) the ball.

Each assured me that this was not the case. So spacing problems aren’t visual. You aren’t jamming yourself because you don’t know where the ball is going to be, because you probably do.

The root of spacing errors is simple. Players learn if they are too close to the ball they have ways to compensate.

You see this a lot on forehands where a player opens up early because he is too close to the ball. A player can also hit with a decreasing radius swing (which may be “normal" for players with western grip forehands and extreme grip backhands), by bending their hitting arm more through the swing.

Shot quality will probably be compromised and the error rate will increase, but the player has a chance to make the shot. If the ball is too far away, you can’t extend your arm out away from your body very much at all. So if you are too close you probably have a much better chance of making the shot than if you are too far.

The dichotomy between ease of hitting and the direction of break in baseball and tennis is also easy to explain once we understand it is not visual. If a tennis ball is curving away from you, you can move towards it. If the ball is moving into you, you can move away, but not as easily or quickly as you can move forward.

Due to time constraints, baseball players do not move their feet towards the ball to hit balls moving away or into them – they can’t. But on balls which curve towards them, they can compensate much the same way a tennis player might by adjusting the hand and arms and moving them in closer to the body.

Optimal spacing will vary from player to player and stroke to stroke. The same player may have slightly different spacing on two different forehands, even if the ball is the same height when struck.

Factors to consider are height at contact, angle that the ball is moving towards the player, stance, grip, player movement, target, incoming ball speed, spin and trajectory, and racquet speed. Tennisplayer contributor Dr. Doug Eng verifies that optimal spacing on groundstrokes will promote a racquet swing path which allows the racquet face to remain at a desired position and angle for a greater distance.

Dr. Brian Gordon states there is a mostly linear hand path going into the contact point in the ATP type III forehand. Without correct spacing, there is no way this can happen.

Great athletes have great what is called Proprioception. This is the sense of where they are in space. They also have great Kinesthesia. This is the sense of their body movement. Some level of these two qualities is something we are born with and/or develop naturally.

But these skills can be enhanced. To create great spacing we need to know our position, balance and movement in space and in relationship to the ball.

So, is the difference between professional and less skilled players due to increased proficiency at spacing or is it in adapting? The answer is both. Tests have shown tennis players, as a group, are exceptionally adept at quickly discerning ball speed in visual tracking tests. But players who track well still make spacing errors.

Improving

If the issue is not visual, are there ways to improve spacing? The answer is absolutely. As you learn better spacing, your shot quality will improve and frequently you will have more viable targets in a given situation.

I feel the key is in doing specific drills. So here are some spacing drills that I use with my players. For each drill I have the players do them from the service line, from ¾ court and from the baseline.

Forehand to Forehand

The player hits a forehand moving towards the sideline followed by another moving away from the side line. You should do this from the deuce and add sides because shot angles are different.

Backhand to Backhand

Same drill with backhands. The player hits a backhand moving towards the sideline followed by another moving away from the side line. You should do this from the deuce and add sides because shot angles are different.

Inside Wipers

Player starts in the center of the court. Every ball is hit as an inside ball--in other words if the ball is hit to your backhand side you hit a forehand. If hit to your forehand side you hit a backhand. I learned this drill from North Texas University Women’s team Coach Sujay Lama in 2001.

These drills are the precursors for the next drills more advanced spacing drills. Stay tuned!