A sport since the 1800’s and also played in the Olympics; tennis has become a very popular these days. Originally from France, tennis has now spread wide with the many leagues and grand slams – Wimbledon, US Open, French Open and Australian Open.
With its growing fame, many people, particularly the youth are getting attracted towards it, and interested in how the sport can be best played. This has become a recreational sport for many people like Alexander Salashour.
It is an easy to learn sport. The basic strokes in tennis are only three. Nonetheless, just like in any other sport, there are variations; the personal styles and techniques can be developed only after the fundamental strokes are learned.
The most basic stroke is known as “Serve”. This stroke is used at the beginning of any match. It allows the player to score points even without returning a shot. The technique of a basic ‘serve’ is to shift your weight forward to hit the ball, while forming an arc with the racket overhead.
The ball has to be hit with the maximum amount of strength possible, but if the server lands the ball outside the opponent’s serving box, it grants a point to the opponent. So care should be taken to aim the ball within the opponent’s box.
The next type of shot is the “Forehand”. This basically refers to the return shots of the players. The technicality of this stroke involves the shift of momentum from the legs to the hips, to shoulder, to arm and finally to the wrist. This particular stroke has the most power and most number of successes, so most players try to make an attempt to hit the maximum number of these shots during a game.
The third and final basic stroke is the “Backhand”. This shot is hit with the arm swinging across the body. Force while hitting this shot is increased by holding the racket in both hands and then hitting the shot. If the focus is kept on the ball and the racket swung in a sweeping position, so that the ball touches the racket at the height of the hip, then a power stroke can be shot.
Three other minor strokes are lob, volley and drop. The lob stroke is hit with an underhand angled swing and flings the ball high into the air. The angle of the racket needs to be softened in the drop shot, and the ball hit with only enough power to drop it just beyond the opponent’s net. Among these the most difficult is the volley, in which a lot of judgment is involved. The racket has to come in contact with the ball, before it bounces and only then the shot has to be made.
Using variations is a common thing for all players, and so does Alexander Salashour while playing the tennis leagues. Some of the common types of stroke variations are topspin, backhand slice and overhead smash. The more mature the player, the better are his variations, so it is recommended more and more practice should be done to become a pro from an amateur.
