Follow through completely. Finish your stroke. How many times have you been told this or said it to yourself? As most experienced players know, ending your shot with the proper follow-through means you were successful in accelerating your racquet head through the hitting zone, which is a critical element if you want to hit your ground strokes with depth and pace. But sometimes it seems the harder we try to follow through properly the less effective we are at doing it.
Whenever I have students who are having a tough time finishing their forehands and backhands well, I sometimes take a backdoor approach. Here’s what I do. Rather than require them to focus on their finish, I ask them to swing so that every ball goes past the baseline and, ideally, hits the back fence. This can’t be done without really hitting through the ball. After about ten minutes of this drill, I then have them attempt to make the ball land within the confines of the court. Typically, the results are pure magic. Not only does the ball begin to fall into the court, it does so with depth, pace and the kind of finish that results from properly accelerating the racquet head through the hitting zone. Try it the next time you find yourself hitting tentatively.