Kerry Mitchell: True Alignment

Look closely at the legs--can you see True Alignment? Many coaches talk about the role of the shoulders and the arms in producing power. Many talk about different stance positions. But few have talked about the exact role of the legs during the swing in producing power in tennis shots. What is the optimum position of the legs? How does this relate to the position of the hips? By this I mean not only how the legs set up, but how and when and where the legs move during and after the hit. To what extent are these positions critical in understanding how to hit a great tennis shot? What the high speed video shows may surprise you. For years teaching professionals taught their students to step in to the shot with their front foot, creating what is called today a square or neutral stance. Many still teach this, but with the age of Borg and those that followed him, teaching the stances has become confusing and often a struggle for both the player and the instructor. Can teaching extreme stances create more problems than it solves? Now many coaches are teaching open stance almost exclusively, even to beginners from...