Tennis - Hitting the ball On The Rise

Andre Agassi often plays inside the baseline, taking the ball on the rise and robbing his opponent of time.

Hitting the ball “On The Rise”

Being able to hit the ball on the rise is vital if you want to rise your level of play.

On the rise simply means hitting the ball while it is rising.

Typically, when the ball is landing deep near your baseline, in recreational tennis, you see the player back-up. You see them move away from the balance and them saying things like I had to move back because the ball was deep.

Well, you don’t have to move back. You can just hold your ground. There is no need for you to move back to buy yourself more time.

How do you learn how to do it?

First, it requires a deep ball. You cannot do it on short balls.

Match the drop the ball with the drop of your racket. They should drop at the same time. This is typically not what you would see recreational players do. Typically, recreational players keep their racket up until the ball bounces - which is the reason that they have to move back from the baseline. They are late. They are not able to hit the ball on the rise because they are too far away from the ball with their swing because their racket is still up.

If you drop your racket by the time the ball hits the ground, you are closer to the contact. The racket goes back and the hand goes forward and this is called the lag. The head of the racket goes the opposite direction of the hand. And then, just hit the ball. Hit it right after contact with ground.

If you struggle with deep balls, here is the key. Take your racket back and when you see the ball very near the baseline, you need to begin dropping your racket. This is easier said than done. Players do not like doing this. They don’t like committing to the swing before the ball bounces. But for deep balls, you don’t have a choice in this matter. You cannot get to the ball with the racket held so high and still hold your ground near the baseline. Drop the racket to low height with the ball. Make sure it is at its lowest height when the ball hits the ground. And just hit the ball as it is rising. Pay attention to the timing of the racket drop and the timing when you are hitting the ball.

Don’t just hit the ball when it lands in the court. Hit it anytime the ball lands near the baseline - whether it is in or out of the court. Do not wait to see if it lands in or out of the court. If it is out, just call it out after you hit it.

If you learn how to do it, you will gain confidence and become a much better player.

Reading material

https://tennisone.tennisplayer.net/club/lessons/sammel/early/ball.php