Balance and the Overhead Smash

Since we see photos of pro players off balance while hitting the ball, why is balance increasingly considered important in tennis?

Because balance is the key to coordinated movement. But don't get the idea that you must always be in a balanced pose. To the contrary, to be perfectly balanced is to be perfectly motionless in the Yoga posture known as the "the mountain" pose. That won't get you very far on a tennis court.

Some kinds of imbalance are natural, and we use them to generate motion. For example, walking is a controlled fall forward in which you make yourself fall forward and then catch your balance by putting a foot down ahead of yourself, coming into balance briefly and then continuing the controlled fall forward for the next step.

Of course, you're in trouble if that controlled fall gets out of control.

We use the same type of imbalance in serving. At the moment you make contact with the ball, you are off balance and falling forward. A little. As in walking. That controlled forward fall makes you step forward to catch yourself, thus transferring your weight forward and adding momentum to the serve.

What happens when we are too far off balance and in danger of falling?

The body has built in reflexes to bring us back into balance whenever that happens. For example, if you loose your balance to the left, what happens? Your right leg and arm kick out sideways to the right. That reflex throws body weight in the opposite direction, to counterbalance the weight falling to the left, thus bringing you back on balance again.

The human body is one of Nature's great achievements in this regard. We manage to keep our balance while walking upright on but two limbs. In addition to that built in instability, a very heavy part of the body is the head, and it's on top, making us even less stable.

So Nature has also given us a complex array of balancing reflexes to keep us from falling easily and to prevent serious injury when we do fall. For example, when you trip, what do your arms do? They instantly come up to break your fall and protect the head.

We are least stable when falling backward. That's because we're built for moving forward. We do much of our forward balancing with the toes, and the heel is supposed to rock us in walking. But when we are moving backward, we are going against that design. Imagine trying to walk with your feet on backward. It wouldn't be easy, would it?

Another problem with moving backward is the way the knees and elbows bend. That's great for falling forward, because it enables you to land on your hands and knees, protecting the head. But when we fall backward, we are in great danger of leading with the head.

This is why people put on spectacular displays of gymnastics when falling backward. A very complex series of reflexes fire to bring body weight low, pike us at the hips so we land on the butt, and somehow get the hands or elbows behind us to stop the upper body before it whacks the ground.

These reflexes aren't under voluntary control. They are controlled by the spinal chord and unconscious brain centers that contradict anything you do that would make matters worse by bringing body weight higher and/or more backward.

Like raising your arms while you are moving back under a lob to hit an overhead. Like tipping your head back to look up at the ball while you are moving back under a lob to hit an overhead. In fact, your backward-balancing reflexes don't like you leaning or running backward at all. Ever.

They are very negative about that, and you can't convince them to let you do it unmolested. They think you are an idiot for wanting to run backward while tipping your head back and raising both arms.

Which is why doing that is so awkward. You are fighting yourself when you do that. Your poor muscles don't know which set of commands to obey - your voluntary ones or the reflexes. Your reflexes will win the debate.

Try this experiment: Walk backward and try to tip your head back to look up while raising both arms. Do you feel muscles freeze? Especially in the back of your neck? That's your backward balancing reflexes kicking in: they don't want you to do that.

What does all this mean about hitting overheads? It means two things.

First, if at all possible, don't just backpedal, turn and sidestep back. Your reflexes like that much better.

Second, you do have to look up, but you don't have to raise your arms prematurely. So, don't. There is no reason to cock your racket back over your shoulder, point up at the ball with your free hand, and then try to move backward under the ball while maintaining this awkward pose. It won't do diddly to keep your swing from being late. In fact, it will cause your swing to be late.

Keep both arms down while you move backward. Keep your racket in close, down by your right leg.

The first time you try this, you'll be amazed at how different and good it feels to move this way. Hopefully, you won't have to raise your arms till you are done moving backward. When you do raise your racket, keep it in close: don't wave it around at arm's length behind you. This technique simply minimizes what you do to set off your backward balancing reflexes. It makes a world of difference in which you are much faster and more coordinated.