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Tennis - How to Control Your Swing Speed

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Doug Kegerreis: Hi! I am Doug Kegerreis, President of Chantilly International Tennis, and today you are learning how to play tennis.

In this clip, we are going to learn the first essential of hitting forehands and backhands, and that is learning to control your swing speed.

On TV, you may see the ball hit up to 120-130 miles per hour, but regardless of that, this is first and foremost a game of control. So, you must learn how to control your swing speed, and it is determined by primarily two things; that is, how far you take your racquet back, called your backswing and also how tightly you squeeze your grip.

First of all, on the backswing, if I take no backswing at all, my racquet will be here; if I take a full backswing, it may look like that. Now, if we divide that back swing into five segments one, two, three, four, five, you now have reference points to determine the length of your backswing.

For example, if I am standing in the middle of the court, I may only take my racquet back to a one, or if I have my racquet back at a five and I am hitting too hard, I might shorten it to a three. So, the segment in backswing is an excellent way to make adjustments to control your swing speed.

Second of all, many people grip the racquet very, very tight. Sometimes they are first learning how to play, they are sort of nervous, but the tighter you squeeze the grip, the firmer and the more powerful the rebound off your racquet. So, only squeeze the racquet absolutely only as tight as you have to squeeze it, and that will give you a more soft and controlled rebound.

Again, to remember, to control your swing speed by shortening your backswing and gripping the racquet only as tight as you need to.

Next, we are going to move on to the next essential and that is Racquet Face Awareness.

Expert: Doug Kegerreis

Doug is the President of CIT. With 25 years of professional tennis teaching and management skills to his credit, Doug is the consummate tennis expert. In addition to his duties with CIT, he is a physical education specialist at Oakton Elementary School, and fitness director of the 4-Star Jr. Tennis Academy in Merrifield. "CIT has at its core a commitment to develop players who will continue to play tennis." More »