Tips: Getting back into tennis

Tennis, like all sports, takes practice. Lots of it. Its no surprise that when competitive players take a break due to injury, personal life etc. they are frustrated at their level of play when they return. However, you actually don't lose as much as you think.

One common misconception is you lose your strokes. Often I find that hard to believe. Your ground strokes, if you have been playing long enough, are etched into your muscles through something call muscle memory. It put it bluntly, its something you don't forget easily. So why are you missing so many shots? Why is your ball lighter? Simple, your footwork and your stamina.

The Stamina part is simple. When you get fatigued you over compensate with your arms, or you begin to change your stroke to make up for the lack of power or pop. The result? Nothing good.

As for the footwork, well its just like in tennis 101. Footwork is the basis of your game, and its the first thing that goes. If your footwork is not there, your strokes aren't. If you have to constantly adjust your strokes to make up for your footwork, its no wonder you balls fly out, or get shanked, or into the net. So how do you avoid the returner's rut?

Staying in shape definitely wont hurt, but just because your in the shape you were doesn't mean your going to avoid the rut. What you really need to do is A) footwork drills for 10 minutes before you go out to hit and B) really concentrate on your footwork as your hitting. Trust me the strokes will be there, the footwork wont. You need to pay special attention to it for the first week or so you begin hitting, and I guarantee you will see you game where it was in no time.