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Everybody swings slightly differently. This piece of advice won't apply to everybody but you may well recognise yourself here and this might help you.
When you are playing on the backhand a good guide is to try and get your racket head, wrist, elbow and shoulder all in line on contact with the ball just in front of your right knee.
If you have got a slightly closed grip it might mean you have this slight D shape here. That is going to lead me to block it into the side wall and also to get a bit close in order to hit the straight drive. If I could straighten that out: racket head, wrist, elbow and shoulder, it will help me to keep it straight and also give me distance here away from the ball.
If you have a slightly open grip on the backhand there is a tendency to hit the ball slightly late; to my view it is a shallow 'c' shape. The shot is going to be wristy and difficult to hit that ball straight.
As I say everyone hits the ball slightly differently and you might find that you have the slightly closed grip or the slightly open one and it works perfectly for you. Gregory Gaultier is slightly open there and he doesn't seem to have a problem with his backhand!
However if you do find you are having trouble keeping the ball straight this is one area you should look at. When you strike the ball are you hitting with racket head, wrist, elbow and shoulder all in line?
Body Orientation When Driving Straight And Cross
Here is a quick clip about the differences in body orientation from straight drive to cross-court drive.
Closing The Racket Face To Generate Power
We often talk about playing with an open racket face. So what does closing the racket to a flat face give us?
More Space And Time In The Back Corners
Letting the ball work for you after the back wall by waiting a split second longer will give you more time and space to ...
