Split and Manage
I think the single most important habit for a tennis competitor is learning to manage time better by consistently executing the properly timed split-step. This is a physical response to your opponent's contact. This allows you to react to their ball at the earliest point in the ball's flight in order to maximize the available time you have to design and execute a stroke. When executed correctly, it also gives you the most time to move to the best position to hit that shot. We emphasize this habit in HP so much that if any player misses a split-step in training, everybody has to run!
Most club/recreational players don't do this at all. Most competitive juniors do it sometime, but usually late. That's better than not at all, but if the point is to utilize the entire time frame and you are splitting late, then you aren't fully utilizing the entire time frame. This becomes more critical as the skill level and pace of the average shot increase,, because the shorter the time frame, the more important we use ALL of it.
The physical act of the split-step is very simple. It is the unweighting of both feet, by lifting them off the ground. I have heard it compared to the unweighting necessary to turn your skis when skiing. It is better performed as a lifting of the feet vs. jumping up in the air, as the idea is to gather balance and momentum, and not move the head too much. If your head moves too much, you will have a harder time tracking the moving ball. Even a lifting of just the heels would help alot, as long as it is timed correctly.
When competitive juniors are asked "what's the cue for you to split step?", they invariably answer, " when my opponent hits the ball." But in reality, this cue is too late. By the time the eyes see the opponent's contact, and send the signal to the feet to lift and separate ( split-step), the ball is nearly over the net - and this player is almost as late to respond as if they hadn't split- stepped at all. The correct timing may vary slightly from player to player, but what is chiefly important is that the feet are LANDING back on the ground simultaneous with the opponent's contact. That means the cue must anticipate the moment of contact in order for the first part of the split-step to happen BEFORE contact, and the feet land on the court AT the moment of contact. At HP, we train the players to use the cue of the opponent's racquet moving forward toward contact. Most player's have some sort of a loop in their backswing, so if you watch that loop as it begins to move forward to the ball, that moment is ideal for lifting your feet and having them land simultaneous with the opponent's contact.
The split- step should happen on the baseline to react to the next contact, on the service return , (the cue being as the racquet rises from the opponent's shoulder toward contact), and when moving forward toward the net. This split-step serves multiple purposes. It accomplishes all that the others do, and it also facilitates the gathering of forward momentum so the player can re-direct that momentum into the volley - a critical requirement of a solid volley. If you approach the net with all that momentum and don't split-step ontime, you will be unable to change direction to cover any passing shot, or control your forward momentum.
If you don't currently split-step on EVERY contact of your opponent, then that is where to start your game improvement. If you do use the split-step, check the timing you are using and the cues to which you are responding. Make sure that you are reacting to the moment PRIOR to contact so you can use ALL the time available from your opponent's shot, and give you the best opportunity to move and strike the ball effectively. Start to manage TIME better when you compete, and I guarantee you'll have a much better TIME competing!
