Summary: <img width="1024" height="576" src="https://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Focus-On-The-Finish-To-Play-Great-Tennis-1024x576.jpg" class="attachment-large size-large wp-post-image" alt="" style="float: left; margin: 0 15px 15px 0;"><p><img class="aligncenter wp-image-13122" src="https://blog.tennisevolution.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Focus-On-The-Finish-To-Play-Great-Tennis.jpg" alt="" width="768" height="432"></p> <div class="smart-track-player-container stp-color-2d7bbf-EEEEEE"></div> <h2>Show Notes</h2> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hi, it’s Jeff Salzenstein, founder of Tennis Evolution, former top 100 ATP player, and USTA High Performance coach. And, welcome to our Tennis Evolution “Tip for The Day.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, we’re going to talk about an aspect of the stroke that actually gets very little attention, in my opinion. I actually believe it’s the most important part of the stroke, especially when we’re talking about forehands and backhands, even returns in volleys. Maybe not so much the serve, but this aspect of the stroke is overlooked, not focused on enough, and it’s actually the one thing that many players struggle with. Many players at the recreational level really struggle with this aspect of the stroke. Pros do it well, college players do it well for the most part, but it’s the intermediate level player, sometimes junior players, but definitely adult recreational players, that forget to do this really well.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And, one of the problems is that it’s not emphasized by coaches. A lot of coaches are focusing on the backswing and the contact point, and I don’t really focus on those things. I actually focus more on the finish.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you’ve been following me for any length of time, you know that I’m absolutely obsessed with the finish. It is, to me, it is the most important part of the stroke. It is where the rubber meets the road. If I see a good finish with good balance on the forehand or the backhand, I’m pretty sure that that’s going to be a high-quality shot. It may not go in every time, but the quality of the stroke is going to improve, the quality of the shot is going to improve, if there is a tangible, directed focus on the finish.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Now, sure, you have to have the correct grip. It sure helps to have a good first move and a solid backswing, but I find that if you hold the racket correctly, and you do make a decent first move to the ball, if you can just focus on finishing correctly a full finish every time, not just poking at the ball and stopping the finish, it can really help you improve a lot.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Why is that? Well, I find that a lot of players, when they play points, they run around, they’re chasing the ball, they’re trying to win the point, and they’re so fixated on making contact that the stroke slows down or stops too soon, and I really like a full finish as a fundamental.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So, on the forehand, you go over the shoulder, nice high finish over the shoulder, on the backhand—two-handed backhand, same thing, one-handed backhand, you have a nice, extended finish with an almost straight arm. And, again, the problem that I see is a lot of players short-change themselves with the finish, and what’s really cool i</span></p>
