The different roles of the non-dominant arm in tennis
One of the things I've come to realize with the few years of teaching behind me is the fairly common habit among recreational players of underusing the non-dominant arm. As in the vast majority of sports or hobbies, we use an arm that will dominate the movement (ex: the right arm for a right-hander in tennis who will hold the racket, the arm which will throw the ball for the pitcher in baseball, etc.) but what about the other arm? What should he do, how should he position himself and ultimately help us perform better. (I'll be speaking from a right-handed perspective here, so left-handed people will need to understand that it will be the opposite in their case!). I will review each of the strokes that can be produced in tennis trying to explain the task of the non-dominant arm during the execution of these.
In the neutral waiting position first of all, the dominant hand, so the right hand will be on the handle, and the left hand, non-dominant, will be placed on the triangle of the racket. The hands will be positioned in front of you with the racket head pointing in front or towards the sky. This position must be regained each time a strike is completed. From the second the striking motion is completed, you must try to return to this waiting position quickly, firstly to better recover your balance in the center of the body and secondly to have the racket in the middle of the 2 reception options of the next ball. Some people drag the racquet to the side where they just hit the last ball, but this has the effect of slowing down preparation for the next shot. That being said, I come back to the non-dominant hand in this context to mention that by being on the triangle of the racquet at each start, if we have recovered well after our stroke, this will allow us to quickly rotate the racquet to change of grip during the tee to the next ball to be hit. It is with this left hand that we can better control the change of grip and its precision.
The forehand
So, let's start with the forehand. The left hand is going to be very important. First, always starting from the idea that the left hand is already at the triangle of the racquet, we can easily go up and bring the racquet backwards with the left hand, which will have the effect of rotating the body on the right side, which is a good thing to later benefit from the rotation of the hips in the strike. Many people stay very open by only bringing the racquet behind their back instead of pivoting, this will cause some problems later on. This will also help maintain good balance and posture throughout the beginning of the movement. Second, the left hand will detach from the triangle of the racquet at the appropriate time to stay close to the right hand to once again maintain optimal balance. Third, the left arm will be used to accentuate the rotational movement that will be set in motion by the hips beforehand. At the end of the strike, the left hand and arm should slide with the rotation as relaxed as possible. It is not recommended to bring the left arm towards the torso after the strike because this compresses the upper body, stops the rotation and makes us lose a lot of power!
The reverse
Now for the backhand, we will distinguish two types, the two-handed and the one-handed. For the two-handed backhand, the left hand will be more important than on all the other shots, and it will even dominate the right throughout the work! For this shot, we must feel that all the work comes from the left arm and hand. The right hand is there as a support, to better control the power and the direction of the ball. It will be important not to try to dominate with the right arm during the backhand with 2 hands because it will be difficult to lengthen your shot and direct the ball correctly. The right-hander hitting a two-handed backhand should feel like a left-hander on the forehand.
For the one-handed backhand, the non-dominant hand will still be very important. First she will start the racket take-off motion backwards being on the triangle of the racket just as mentioned for the neutral ready position. The left hand will help us bring the racquet back while maintaining good posture, good upper body balance and will provide us with the support necessary to start accelerating the racquet towards the ball. The left hand will let go of the triangle during the descent of the racket towards the ball. We will then send the whole left arm backwards (try to feel the shoulder blades which come together in the back), this will allow us a better explosiveness in the strike but also to keep the balance well with the right arm on the right of the body and the left arm that keeps the balance behind.
As for the volley, again we must emphasize that the non-dominant hand must be on the triangle and the racquet must be in front of us at all times to be very quick to react when the ball will arrive. The left hand will be used to maintain balance during the forehand volley while for the backhand volley, it will support the right arm by remaining on the triangle until the moment of hitting the ball. The left arm will then go backwards a little like the one-handed backhand for once again more explosiveness and to keep the balance of the upper body well.
The smash
For the smash now, as soon as the ball goes up in the air on the lobe, the player will have to raise both arms in the air at the same time in order to prepare well, then go to position himself under the ball before hitting it. The left arm will again be essential to keep a good balance of the upper body and then to transfer all the energy from the left side of the body to the right side to maximize the power of the strike.
Finally, for the service, the left arm and hand will be of paramount importance. First, the left hand will be the one that will allow us to properly throw the ball, which will set the tone for the rest of the movement. We must make sure to have adequate ball grip in the left hand and make sure that when raising the left arm, it remains in extension until the ball is released and that it remains at the top by the following. As with the smash, this will allow us to keep a good balance at all times and again transfer power from the left side to the right side of the body to maximize the power of the serve.
It is also important to note that at all times the non-dominant hand must be as relaxed as possible, because tension on the left side will invariably lead to tension on the right side which is holding the racquet and thus a loss of performance during strikes and an additional expenditure of energy!
The club tennis player should, in my opinion, pay more attention to the work of the non-dominant hand because this can really help us improve the balance of the upper body, maximize power and often help to distribute the work with both arms and not leave all the burden of hitting to the dominant arm. Imagine a baseball pitcher, a football quarterback or a gymnast using only one arm to throw or spin, it would seem strange and inefficient, the same goes for the tennis player who must use both arms as often as possible.
So in all aspects of your game, think about the unloved…the non-dominant arm!
Happy tennis :)