Tennis Skills Checklist
1. Forehand tennis grip

The grip varies with different strokes and the it should feel comfortable.

Grab the racket as if your shaking someone’s hand, this is the Eastern
grip. Move the thumb to contact the outside of the middle finger of the
hand.
2. Forehand swing

3 parts to swing: (1) back swing (2) contact point (3) follow through.

Back swing- racket must be under contact point of ball, racket face
pointing down.

Contact point- contact is made alongside the body and opposite the
forward foot. Racket face must be perpendicular to contact.

Follow through on the diagonal and touch the shoulder- ‘Windscreen
wiper’ motion is the way to get topspin and the best way to hit. This
eliminates hitting underneath the ball to the sky.

After you hit the ball, the racket face must be facing the net- then
‘windscreen wiper follow through’ or rainbow motion across the front of the
body and racket head touching opposite shoulder from hitting arm.

If the ball is hitting the net, the racket path has to go from lower to higher.
3. Backhand grip

Right handers- hold the racket by your left knee with the butt of the racket
facing forward, left hand on the racket face. Right hand then grips handle
of racket.

Or, wrist needs to rotate inwards, can do by rotating racket anti-clockwise.
Keep right hand loose, naturally turns racket.
4. Backhand

At the start of the back-swing phase you should hold your racket in the
backhand grip so that the face of the racket can be brought into an upright
position to meet the ball.

Look over shoulder at the ball when preparing to hit the ball, whether it’s
open or closed.

When doing the backhand with one hand, the point of contact is one hand
in front of the body. When 2 handed backhand, the point of contact is level
with the front hip.

Follow through with windscreen wiper and racket face, facing the net.

If players can’t time ball when hitting backhand with topspin, they need to
go less up and down, more flat or straight through.
5. Serve

Less movement the better, straight arm, move in an arc. Lift the ball, less
you move your fingers, wrist and elbow, the less chance you have of
something going wrong.
o Lift the ball in the toss
o Reach up, extend up as high as you can until arm becomes
straight- 1 & 2 should all be in one fluid motion. Rhythm in
the serve is very important
o In hitting, snap wrist as you hit the ball and follow through
onto the left side if you are right handed.
o Rotation of hips and reaching up is important in the serve.
o Feet should be facing the opposite tennis post- diagonally
across.
6. Volley

Preparation for Volley- ready position with racket held at chest height.

Basic Volley- keep racket in front, never let it go behind the shouldersstep into the ball and block- if running towards ball do a split step which is
to run and skip onto 2 feet.

The Volley is a punch, restricted volley follow through called a ‘punch or
‘high five.
Things to think about?
1. Can you follow and apply basic tennis rules in a game?
2. Can you perform either a forehand stroke and a backhand stroke with correct
form and accuracy?
3. Can you demonstrate the sequential body mechanics used when serving?
4. Can you keep a rally going with a partner (or the tennis machine)?
5. Can you demonstrate an active and thoughtful part in games when attempting
to return the ball (moves to try and return the ball).