All great players have this one (supremely important) quality in common….a solid, repeatable impact point (or contact point) when striking the tennis ball. The question becomes why? Why is the impact point so important? 

As we’ll see in future lessons, it has a lot to do with timing. You see, amateur players will sacrifice timing for the ‘perfect’ technique while pro players will sacrifice technique for better timing (read that again). And in this case, having the appropriate impact point for the situation at hand. 

Have you ever heard a Spanish tennis coach speak about the importance of movement? What’s their secret? Impact point, set-up and balance. Those are the 3 pillars to which the Spanish system emphasizes when developing players…and consequently, great movers.

Height off the Ground 

In this lesson, we’re concerned with the first pillar - the impact (or contact) point and it’s relationship off the ground. In a 2014 article entitled ‘The Secrets of Spanish Tennis’, Chris Lewitt states the following:

“Spanish coaches look for the contact point to be at the right height. In Spain, the most frequent directive to describe this is: ‘hit the ball between your hip and shoulder.’ In other words, don’t let the ball drop below your hips or bounce over your shoulders where it’s out of the strike zone (to borrow an American baseball term). Thus the height of the struck ball should be between the hip and the shoulder for the majority of shots.”

Unless you’re in an attacking or defending position, meeting the ball at or around hip/waist height allows the body to rotate freely and produce the most ideal mechanics for proper body sequencing during a tennis swing. As we’ll see in the next lesson, there’s more to it than that. 

While simple in theory, hitting the ball at the correct height off the ground, on a consistent basis is anything but easy (especially once a player progresses to higher levels of play where the variation in ball speeds, heights and rotations become extremely dynamic and unpredictable). 

You see, many players will simply stand where they are and hit the ball either below their waist (sometimes even below their knee) or above their shoulders. But if we can’t hit the ball in the correct spot - with good rhythm - good luck trying to hit quality tennis shots!

That means that on almost every shot you hit, you’ll have to adjust yourself in order to meet the ball at the appropriate height. Which reveals one very important factor - while movement is important (as mentioned by Lewitt above), that’s only part of the equation (the 2nd part). The first part is your ability to read the ball early, and make a decision as to where it’s going to land, and what kind of adjustment you have to make to hit at the correct height. Meaning, perceptual skills play a vital role when it comes to hitting the ball at the correct height off the ground.

Think of it this way, it’s your opponent’s job to make life difficult for you. They don’t want you to hit the ball in a comfortable position. That’s why some players you play against will hit a low slice to your forehand or a high, heavy ball (with lots of spin) to your backhand. Or they’ll move you from side to side. 

All of these scenarios are intended to make things challenging for you on the tennis court. Not to mention that with forehand grips being more extreme (overall) than ever before, it’s hard to hit a quality shot when the ball is low. Likewise, when the ball is high, we have to adjust - the last thing we want to do is hit the ball above our heads (surely that won’t produce an elite-level shot).

Impact Point When Rallying

In this lesson, we’re primarily looking at the impact point on groundstrokes, from the perspective of a rally situation. We’ll get into all the various phases of play (and how to recognize which of them you’re in) in another lesson.  

In a nutshell, rallies occur during neutral phases of play. During rally scenarios, we’re trying to gain an advantage - putting ourselves in a winning position (or creating an error from our opponent). And it’s very difficult to gain an advantage if we’re hitting the ball from our shoelaces.

For a better impact point, your goal is to read the ball as soon (and as quickly) as you can and make the appropriate adjustment with your movement.

Notes: 

1. When attacking or defending, the impact point will obviously vary. But for now, we will build the basics from the back of the court and look at special circumstances in the next lesson.

2. Each drill/exercise will have a special focus - but the beauty behind these drills is turning the desired skill into a habit. That means we must practice it with clear purpose and intent - while providing the appropriate cue words (see below).

Take Action

The following drill is my go-to drill for improving the impact point - and consequently - timing. I use these drills with beginners, elite players (and yes, even pros). 

It’s just that this quality is so fundamental, I want to make sure we’re not forgetting about its importance. 

Impact Point Drill #1 - ‘Up’, ‘Back’, ‘Stay’

The main aim of this drill is to make contact with the ball between waist height and shoulder height (nothing above or below is acceptable). While we mentioned that hip height is ideal when it comes to the impact for rally balls, the truth is that as we play at higher levels (and particularly when playing on surfaces that enable higher bouncing balls), rally balls can be struck at chest - and even shoulder - height.

In any case, with this drill, if you perceive the ball quickly, it will enable you to initiate your movement sooner, allowing you to get into position faster and ultimately, strike the ball at the appropriate height. 

Instructions

Start by rallying with a partner up the middle of the court (you can also perform this drill during a crosscourt rally exchange). Every time your opponent makes contact with the ball, you must make a decision based on the trajectory of the ball, it’s speed, spin and a variety of other factors. In this drill, there are 3 possibilities as to where the ball will land:

1. The ball is going to be short: in this case, as soon as you know it’ll be short, call out the word ‘UP’ and make the correct movement forward as quickly as you can. 

2. The ball is going to be deep: in this case, as soon as you know it’s going to be deep, call out the word ‘BACK’ and make the correct movement backward as quickly as you can. 

3. The ball is going to come right at you: if this is the case, as soon as you know it’s coming right at you, call out the word ‘STAY’ and simply get into position to strike the ball at hip/waist height. 

Try to call out the appropriate decision and at the same time initiate your movement to the oncoming ball. Because this is a reception oriented drill (you are receiving the ball), perceptual skills are of supreme importance. The words UP, BACK and STAY are your cue words. 

Don’t worry if you’ve made an incorrect judgement (we all do it, even at the highest levels of the game). Simply continue practicing - the more often you do this, the better your perceptual abilities will become.

And for the purposes of this drill, after every shot, recover back to your starting position - somewhere behind the baseline (even if the ball lands very short and you would normally move to the net). Remember, the primary aim here is to improve your perceptual abilities from the back of the court, during rallying.

A couple points that you should keep in mind. 

1. If the ball is low (slice or very flat ball), you might think that it’s not possible to make contact at waist/hip height. If that’s your belief then I have news, you’re wrong! If the ball is very low, you must get very low - it’s that simple. Look at the image below - this player is receiving a low ball. To have a better impact point, what does he do? He gets into a very low, strong position in order to execute the shot more effectively (his back knee is almost touching the ground).  

2. If the ball is deep and high bouncing, move back MORE than you normally would. Most players are hugging the baseline. The best male players in the world, often use the back of the court - this gives them time and space to neutralize a rally and try to take offense in subsequent shots. The best female players do in fact stay close to the baseline, but they also move back if necessary - those that try to stay on the baseline on very deep balls often suffer as their shots lose quality.