John Yandell: The Myth of the Tennis Tip

“Racquet back early! Contact in front! Keep a firm wrist! Rotate your right side through the shot!”

“Extend the followthrough! Move your feet! Keep your eye on the ball!”

“And remember to stay relaxed!”

We’ve all heard these “tips” and a few dozen or a few hundred more besides.

Go to virtually any tennis facility and observe any pro teaching a lesson. You’ll see this format: the pro on one side of the net with his basket, the student on the other side. The pro will be feeding the students an unending stream of balls, and usually an unending stream of tennis tips as well.

You get one tip: “Swing low to high!” Then you get a few balls. Then the pro says “Good. OK. Better!”

Then you hear the same tip, and get a few more balls. Or a different tip, “Followthrough more!” and then some more balls. The entire hour is typically based on this cycle.

There’s a lot of talking and a lot of hitting, but you see the same students and the same pros out there every week with the same routine–sometimes for years at a time–and often the player’s strokes never appear to make significant…