Trying to hit a tennis ball "hard" often results in decreased ball speeds because of a mistaken notion of how power is generated. Players who rely primarily on their arms for hitting powerful tennis shots often grip the racket too tightly, resulting in tense muscles, which decelerates the swing. Use your legs, hips and torso to accelerate your racket and hold a looser grip to swing fast and hit more winners.
Step 1
Warm up by hitting your normal groundstrokes. Attempt to hit hard, fast or powerful shots to various areas of the court.
Step 2
Turn around and hit balls into the fence from your baseline. Practice following through, bringing your racket over your opposite shoulder, to maintain racket head speed. Touch your back with the racket after each swing to see if you are following through enough.
Step 3
Hit balls into the fence holding the grip with your pinkie off the handle. Note the difference in tension in your hand when your grip the racket this way.
Step 4
Practice shots opening your hips earlier than normal. Use your lower body to drive your torso forward, pushing your shoulder forward. Let your arm follow your shoulder, rather than using your arm to push your shoulder forward.
Step 5
Practice bending your knees to an almost sitting position, then pushing upward as you begin to swing forward to generate reactive power and increased ball speed.
Step 6
Turn around and practice hitting balls with a relaxed grip and full follow-through. Practice hitting balls with a lower center of gravity and an earlier hip rotation into each shot.
Step 7
Practice with foam or low-compression balls. Hit from baseline to baseline until you can sustain a rally with a partner, playing all balls on one bounce. Note how far you follow through on each shot.
Step 8
Hit with regulation balls, noting your increased swing speed and full follow-through. Allow balls to go long at first, working to bring the ball back into play with a full swing, rather than shortening your swing. Experiment with changing your contact point and angle of the racket face rather than chopping at the ball.
Step 9
Repeat the process of hitting with foam or low-compression balls for several minutes, then regular balls, three times each practice.
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