Tag Archives: ground strokes

Short-Angle (Side-Door) Groundstrokes

Posted on July 1, 2015 by in Championship Tennis, Primary and Secondary Strokes

The following post is an excerpt from Championship Tennis.  Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloChampionship Tennis Cover

Short-Angle (Side-Door) 

In a tennis match, most players prefer hitting hard to running hard. A short-angle, or side-door, shot is a terrific short-ball option that forces opponents to produce shots from an uncomfortable position. Instead of crushing the ball back, a player creates a short angle and demands movement, fitness, and agility from the opponent. Like any undeveloped tool, this is a risky option if attempted without training and repetition. When executed properly,
however, it results in taking opponents’ legs out from under them (wearing them out), putting opponents on the extreme defensive, or even giving the player an outright winner.
Unlike the high looper, the target window over the net for this shot is typically lower than on a standard drive. Because this is a cross-court shot, the ball travels mostly over the middle, or lowest part, of the net. Adding extra spin, especially topspin helps bring the ball down quickly into the court, and the resulting bounce can drag the
opponent even farther outside the court.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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Primary and Secondary Groundstrokes

Posted on June 4, 2015 by in Maximizing Tennis Potential

The following post is an excerpt from Championship Tennis (Available through Human Kinetics and Amazon) Thanks for visiting, Frank GiampaoloChampionship Tennis Cover

Primary and Secondary Ground-Strokes

The beginning and intermediate stages of stroke development often resemble a game of catch. Players are content to simply hit the ball back and forth. At the advanced levels, training starts to look more like a game of keep-away.

To maximize potential and accelerate the learning curve, players should begin by understanding the components of winning ground-strokes. To the untrained eye, perfect primary strokes are the main reason for players reaching the advanced levels of tennis, just as being tall is a prerequisite for playing top-flight basketball. But if just being tall was all it took to play in the NBA, my cousin, Big Vinnie, wouldn’t be driving a limo at Kennedy Airport.

Owning only primary strokes in tennis—or unusual height in basketball—is usually not enough. For players to experience accelerated learning, they need to develop additional tools and skills, or what are known as secondary strokes.

A good comparison that can be used to help players understand the importance of these strokes is to look at the differences between amateur and professional painting. Anyone looking to get started in painting generally begins at the same place: a prepackaged painting set that comes with a canvas or paper, brushes, and a strip of colored paint containing basic colors. As the person dabbles more in painting, though, one thing becomes evident: Using only basic colors makes the painting look amateurish. Advanced artists and professionals have learned that to make a painting jump off the canvas—to make it become lifelike—they need to use secondary colors as well. Instead of applying 1 shade of green, they may use up to 12 different versions.

The process of developing ground-strokes into weapons follows a similar principle: A player should start with a base version and then enhance it with three secondary options.

Contact: Frank Giampaolo
FGSA@earthlink.net
MaximizingTennisPotential.com
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