Movement

Overview

Your movement on the tennis court is of critical importance to your success as a tennis player. All great tennis players (with a few exceptions of those who have thunderous, unreturnable serves) are exceptional movers. In doubles, movement is more about reflexes and quick acceleration than it is about covering longer distances and recovering. Singles or doubles, movement is mission-critical!

So what does tennis movement encompass:

1. Good footwork.
2. Physical ability to move quickly and sustain your movement over a match.
3. Moving with a purpose – know where to move to in any given situation.
4. Embracing the Four A’s (Learn more about the Four A’s of Tennis Movement):
   • Attitude
   • Anticipation
   • Acceleration
   • Angularity
5. A key component of movement is recovery after hitting a shot. Moving to the ball is only half the battle.

Path to Mastery

1. Execute the kinetic chain on all your shots with balls coming right to you.
2. Video yourself and assess how you move in each direction: forward, backward, diagonals, and laterally.
3. Learning and executing all the core footwork and recovery patterns without the ball.
4. Execute the movement patterns in a practice situation.
5. Developing your physical abilities of: speed, agility, strength, flexibility, and fitness.
6. Develop the 4 A’s.
7. Apply the footwork and movement patterns to a match situation.