The deception of the follow-through

Thursday, March 17, 2011

By: Rob Smith

Professional tennis is played at such a fast speed that it's hard to see the most important part of any shot - what we call the contact area. Simply put, it's the area where the ball meets the strings.

The experience of contact is so short that the ball has left the strings by the time our brains have registered the event. Contact lasts 4-6 thousandths of a second, but it takes 70 thousandths of a second before the message reaches our brains. But make no mistake -- contact is the element of any swing we wish most to control because it is the key determinant for what will happen to the ball.

Are the other stages of the swing - the preparation and the follow-through - important? Absolutely. A great preparation gives you more shot options, and a properly-executed follow-through will greatly assist with injury prevention, and can help you identify what may have gone wrong should you have missed the shot. But, as we've all experienced, having a good preparation or follow-through won't always guarantee good contact (though they may certainly help).

High speed photography allows us to see a little bit of what we're visually missing. For example, the best players keep their swings on a "long" path towards the intended target, extending well beyond the contact itself. This is what is often referred to as a long contact area. If we define the follow-through as beginning the moment the contact ends (when the ball leaves the strings), we'll see below that the beginning of a good follow-through is simply an extension of the path the racquet was on during contact.

So let's take a slightly non-sequential look at Roger Federer's swings, and, as we discussed in the first blog, you'll note again further evidence that the human body hasn't yet caught up to the speed of tennis. In this case it's our eyes, the eyes of those watching someone else play.

This is what most people will see at first - preparation.


And at the end, after the blur of contact, the follow-through.


But, because of the swing speed, we can't see what happens in between the preparation and the follow-through - the contact area. It just happens too quickly for us to see. In this picture, taken just after contact, Roger has terrific extension (indicating a longer contact area) towards the intended target. This longer contact area will reduce the chance of mis-timing or a mis-hit. While we don't see the ball on the strings here, there is a high degree of certainty that his contact was long and clean.


Likewise, with Roger's backhand, you can see great preparation.


And at the end of the shot sequence, a follow-through which, if you miss seeing the contact area, may look as if he swung to the side too quickly. Notice the slightly bent elbow and opening of the body which for many players is why they won't hit a clean backhand.


And yet again here you can see the truth (which shall set you free) - the racquet extending towards the target just after the moment of contact.


So don't get fooled into thinking that imitating a top player's follow-through will lead to an imitation of their bank account. There is a visual deception of many elite players' swings that leads normal players into a rush to finish the shot, rather than to lengthening the contact area.

Here's wishing all of you clean, healthy, long and successful … contact.

Photos by Ineke Zondag