Touch and feel in tennis refer to the ability to control all the movement of the ball direction with precision and finesse, often using delicate shots to outmaneuver your opponent weakside and touch the ball grea advantages. While power and speed are essential, mastering touch and feel can give you a competitive edge, allowing you to vary the pace and various spin of your shots to keep your opponent off balance called weak body coordination . In this blog, we'll explore different aspects of touch and feel in tennis and how you can improve to level up your skills to elevate your game performance.
4 Types of Touch and Feel Shots:
- Drop Shots: Drop shots are soft, delicate shots that land just over the net, often catching your opponent off guard. They require precise touch and control to execute effectively and great footwork for defence and attack the ball.
- Slice Shots: Slice shots involve hitting the ball with underspin, causing it to skid low and stay low after bouncing skills is really need to make a defence or attack the ball. Slices are useful for keeping the ball low and forcing your opponent to hit up on the ball otherwise it will be return weak.
- Lobs: Lobs are high, arching shots that are hit over your opponent's head opponent without overhead will have hard time, typically when they are positioned close to the net. Lobs require good judgment of distance and right angle timing to land the ball accurately.
- Drop volleys: Drop volleys are volleys hit with a soft touch to drop the ball just over the net this requires timing and experience to perform well like the pro player Alcaraz. They are effective for catching your opponent off guard and setting up an easy winner.
4 Strategies for Developing Touch and Feel:
- Practice Soft Touch Shots: Spend time practicing drop shots, slice shots, and soft volleys to develop a feel for the ball and improve your ability to control its placement and spin.
- Focus on Relaxation: The more your breathing and mind are relax your grip and arm muscles when hitting touch shots to allow for a softer, more controlled best shot. Tension can lead to erratic shots and loss of control. Poor percentage of the ball means your mind is not relax.
- Use Your Wrist: Get timing of the wall & use your wrist to impart spin and control the direction of the ball on touch shots. A slight flick small angle of the wrist can make a big difference in the placement and trajectory of the ball.
- Work on Court Awareness: Develop a keen sense of court awareness to know when to use touch shots. Know your opponents angle postion. Look for opportunities to hit drop shots or lobs when your opponent is out of position or expecting a different shot.
Practice Tips for Improving Touch and Feel:
- Hit Against a Wall: Practice and practice again and again . Hitting against a wall can help you develop the feel if your touch and feel by allowing you to practice a variety of shots and work on your control and placement.
- Focus on Control: During practice sessions, focus on controlling the ball rather than hitting it hard. Most beginners wants to hit the ball hard without control of the ball postion. This will help you develop a softer touch and improve your ability to place the ball accurately.
- Play Mini-Tennis: Find a partner to warm-up your game. Play mini-tennis, where you hit the ball softly and focus on placement and control, rather than power. This can help you develop a more and more feel for the ball and improve your touch.
Play varios of players! Great practice routine and focusing on developing your touch and feel, you can become a more versatile and effective player, capable of using finesse to outsmart and outmaneuver your opponents on the court.