Secrets of a True Master:
Introduction to My System

Welby Van Horn

At the advanced level, tennis has changed dramatically in the last 20-25 years. Semi-Western and Western forehands and two-handed backhands have become the norm. Players are also using much more body in their strokes.

On the forehand, tour players will sometimes rotate the shoulders up to 180 degrees on the forward swing. When they do this, the hitting shoulder will point to the net at the completion of the swing. The players are also "loading and exploding" as they first bend their knees and then push off the ground on the forward swing to generate additional force.

On practically every point world class players deviate from the fundamentals taught the beginner. A top player might jump off the ground to get a high ball into a better strike zone on a groundstroke. He might use an open stance to more quickly recover for the next shot (as opposed to the early-on fundamental of a "square" stance that I teach the beginner when learning the groundstrokes).

These deviations are an adaptation to the requirements of play. As the caliber of tennis improves, the game becomes faster. There is often not time to follow the fundamentals taught the beginner. The player must react and adapt to the speed and placement of his opponent's shots. But the tour players can make all of these deviations because they have first learned the fundamentals.

It's analogous to the accomplished jazz musician who, when improvising, plays "off" the melody, sometimes to a point that you cannot recognize it. Successfully acquiring such an improvisational technique is very difficult unless you are first grounded in the fundamentals of music.

Similarly, a top tennis player can successfully play "off" the early-on fundamentals, in particular the fundamental of balance, but he first needs to masters those fundamentals in order to do this. It is a mistake for a beginner or intermediate to copy everything the finished player does.

So what the pros may do and what the student learning the game should do are two different matters. The beginner and intermediate must first master the fundamentals. By first mastering the fundamentals, it becomes easier to improvise and incorporate the advanced stroking techniques used by the tour and other advanced players.

A student must first learn the proper fundamentals, with balance being the first fundamental. Once the proper fundamentals are learned, a player can start to improvise ( that is deviate from the early-on fundamentals) in order to meet the demands of play.

There is no substitute to ingraining the fundamentals in the beginner. There are 4 fundamental elements, and they must be learned in the correct order.

The four elements, in order, are: 1) balance, 2) grips, 3) strokes and 4) strategy

Why this order? Strategy is only useful if you can control the ball. You control the ball through proper strokes. Proper strokes are dependant upon correct grips. But proper strokes are based on good balance. This why balance becomes the first fundamental to learn.

Balance is the key fundamental. It is what makes the expert game look so easy. Proper balance means an economy of motion: achieving maximum results from minimum effort.

If the student follows the system in this order, he will wind-up with a fundamentally sound and good-looking tennis game. The system works because it lays out the proper fundamentals with precise instructions on what to do.

It makes heavy use of progressions. The steps you learn on one stoke or in one stage apply to other strokes or stages as well. For example, the balance that students learn first for the forehand is the starting point for the serve.

The system is also flexible. In the 50's, 60's and early 70's I used the system to teach the Eastern forehand and one-handed backhand strokes that were then the predominant style. But it can be used just as easily to teach the "modern" style of Semi-Western forehands and two-handed backhands.

Today, balance is a key word in tennis instruction. But as much as it has become part of the general tennis teaching vocabulary, you will seldom find it being treated with sufficient care and attention.

Over the years I have occasionally been criticized for "cloning" my students. And it is true that many players are instantly recognizable because of the way they have been taught. But every student eventually ends up with his or her particular stroking style and ways to improvise.

I clone them in the beginning but then they develop their individual games but always within what I call the "Range of Correctness".

This concept of the Range of Correctness is critical. I strive to shape my student's games so they remain within what I believe are the parameters of orthodoxy.

Tennis history tells us that the players who have reached the top using unorthodox methods are few compared to those who are in a more narrow range of established fundamentals. Some players have excelled not because of their unorthodoxy, but despite it.

One of the great advantages of staying within the Range of Correctness is that it helps promote an all court game with all court weapons. My Range of Correctness on the forehand grip is anywhere from an Eastern to a Semi-Western grip.

A player who uses a full Western grip is outside the Range of Correctness. He might develop a great forehand and baseline game. But using the full Western makes it very difficult for the player to develop good volleys.

The reason is that the proper advanced volley and the controlled underspin action necessary for volleys (as well as drop shots) are too foreign to the player who has become used to the full Western grip.

At the other end of the spectrum, using a Continental grip on the forehand groundstroke will certainly help make the player comfortable at net. However, it is very difficult to hit a powerful forehand. The Eastern and Semi-Western grips offer the advantage of enabling the player to hit powerful forehands but at the same time allow for a reasonable transition to the proper volley grips.

Todd Martin as an example of a modern player whose entire game is within the Range of Correctness. Because of this, his game is fundamentally solid. Todd has had a long and successful career notwithstanding 1) his relative lack of speed, 2) a lack of a huge weapon, and 3) injuries to practically every part of this body other than his head, which he uses very well. Todd's success has been, no doubt, in large part due to the solidity and completeness of his game which, in turn, results from all of his strokes being within the Range of Correctness.

I believe that you learn the game gradually, step by step. Like an infant, you must learn to crawl before you walk and then walk before you run. At the beginning, you have to consciously think about what you are doing as you learn the fundamentals. I like my students to practice their strokes in front of a mirror so they can see exactly what they are doing.

Progress as you are learning these fundamentals can be slow. But eventually, you will be able to perform the fundamentals without having to think about them (i.e., perform them unconsciously). When you reach that point, your progress will pick-up rapidly.

I also believe that you should never put a student in a situation where he or she will fail. In other words, do not ask the student to do something they are not capable of.

For example, assume a student can hit a forehand using the proper balance and stroke if the pro feeds the ball and the student is standing on the service line. But the student can not handle (i.e., loses the proper balance and stroke) if he attempts to hit the ball from the baseline. Don't have the player hit from the baseline. First have him perfect the balance and stroke from the service line without having to move. Then have him move for some balls but again hitting from the distance of the service line.

The next step might be mini-tennis gently rallying in the service boxes. The next step is to have the student try the stroke from a few feet behind the service line. After he masters that, he can keep moving back a few more feet each time he has mastered the prior distance. Eventually the player will be back at the baseline stroking the forehand with the proper balance and stroke.

I don't know who coined the phrase "stroke," but it's a perfect word. I emphasize at the beginning that you don't "hit" a tennis ball, you stroke it. A stroke implies a sense of feel.

Without trying to sound too philosophical, the proper attitude to succeed in tennis is analogous to the proper attitude to succeed in other parts of life. You are much better off "paying the price" in the beginning and developing the proper skills and knowledge rather than trying for the quick fix and paying the price later.

Of course, tennis should at all times be fun. But balance the fun with a willingness to take the time in the beginning to learn the proper fundamentals. In the long run, you will have even more fun as you keep improving and reach an advanced level.