Lateral and Forward Movement

Most movement in tennis is lateral or side to side.

As we saw in Part 2, establishing upper body momentum in the direction of movement is an essential part of an explosive first step reaction. When your center of gravity is low it is much more natural to establish upper body momentum in your reaction and movement technique. (Click Here.)

Lateral Movement

Though tennis calls for quickness in every direction, the majority of movement required is lateral movement. While it may be quicker just to turn sideways and sprint when running down a wide forehand, tennis players not only need to get to the ball in time, but need to be in optimal position to execute the stroke. Lateral movement techniques enable you to flow more smoothly into the optimal hitting stance and execute. Let’s look at the lateral movement footwork out to the ball and then the recovery patterns back toward the middle.

Crossover

Crossover footwork is the quickest, most commonly used lateral footwork pattern in moving to the ball in pro tennis. You will sometimes see players use shuffle footwork when they are only a step or two from the ball. But the crossover pattern is effective for…