Tip of the Day: When all else fails, point the racquet in the direction you’re aiming for

Every so often when we take to the courts, nothing seems to work in our favor. We can’t find a groundstroke rhythm, our serve placement isn’t effective, and it feels like the tennis half of you didn’t show up to play.

In this case, the attitude is to battle through, go back to the basics and try to gain a footing instead of throwing the match to end the misery as soon as possible. But sometimes focusing on footwork or analyzing swing patterns isn’t helping the cause either.

Meticulously dissecting every part of our games could hurt more than help us as now not only do we have no rhythm, but we don’t trust ourselves to get the job done with the tools we have. So what do we do?

When all else fails, going back to the basics of tennis is the best route out of the funk.

In the simplest terms, think about where the racquet is pointing during contact, and extend that controlled feeling for as long as the swing will let you. At the end of the day, it’s the ball reacting to the strings in the middle of the racquet. Wherever the strings go, however they go, that’s the direction the ball will be released.

Focusing on the where, creating big, HUGE, targets across the net, and thinking solely of where the racquet is pointing can help shift your momentum when all hope is lost.

One shot after another, a much-needed rhythm will start to take shape. You’ll feel for yourself the control you have over the ball and find that the tennis-playing half did in fact show up to play.

The best part is that “pointing the racquet” doesn’t have to be just in times of dire need. It’s a great trick for finding a rhythm during warmups, practices, and anytime you feel like a reset button needs to be pressed.

Having this tool in your back pocket will only help your game—and speaking from experience, it’s the most underrated and most effective system to have in your arsenal.