Why you hit the ball late in tennis, and how to fix it

Meet it in front. Fix your timing with your feet.

Traced from real footage

See it, eight instants at a time.

Every frame is traced from real match footage, so you see the shape of the stroke, not a drawing of an idea.

Sinner's forehand, instant 5 of 8 — Sinner's forehand: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip; the dot marks contact.

Sinner's forehand: eight instants traced from the footage, frame for frame. Hover or tap to flip; the dot marks contact.

Key facts

1
A tennis ball stays on the strings for about 4 to 5 milliseconds, and less with stiffer string beds and frames.
2
During that contact the racquet travels roughly 2.5 inches of arc at a swing speed of 40 to 50 mph.
3
Ideal forehand contact sits in front of the lead hip, between waist and chest height.
4
Late contact is almost always a spacing and footwork failure, not a swing failure.

Why it works

The strings, not the ball, are the spring. The ball squashes and wastes much of its energy deforming. The string bed stretches, stores what it's given and hands most of it back. Your job is to deliver the racquet to the right place at the right speed, in advance.

In front of the lead hip, the racquet is still accelerating, your mass is moving toward the target and the face is easiest to keep square. Meet the ball late and the racquet is already slowing, the face drifts open, and the ball flies long.

So when your forehands start going long, closing the face treats the symptom and swinging slower gives up the shot. The fix is in the half-second before contact: split earlier, take the first step sooner, and use small steps to set your spacing.

The line to say on court
“Space first, then swing.”

Drill: Hit and freeze

15 min · alone or with a partner

Hit ten drop-fed forehands. Freeze at contact for a count of one and check, with a partner or a phone, that the racquet is in front of your lead hip.
Take twenty fed balls to alternating depths. Adjust with small steps and freeze on every fifth ball.
Film ten rally forehands from the side. Mark the contact frame on each and count how many are in front of your hip.

Number to beat8 of 10 filmed contacts in front of the lead hip

More drills like this: forehand, practise alone, beginners

Faults and fixes

The ball gets behind you

Your split step and first step came late.

FixSplit earlier and think "meet it in front".

Jammed, with the elbow tucked

You arrived too close to the ball.

FixUse adjustment steps to make space.

Reaching with a straight arm

You arrived too far from the ball.

FixTake small steps in and load the outside leg.

The face opens at contact

The racquet is slowing down and the wrist is collapsing.

FixKeep a firm hitting structure and extend through the line.

Trying to fix it at contact

Contact is over in about 4 ms.

FixFix the half-second before: feet first, then swing.

Questions players ask

How long is the ball on the racquet strings?

About 4 to 5 milliseconds. Stiffer string beds and frames make it shorter.

Can you control the ball during contact?

No. Contact is too short to see, feel or correct. Everything was decided before the ball arrived.

Where should I make contact on a forehand?

In front of the lead hip, between waist and chest height. There the racquet is still accelerating and the face is easiest to keep square.

Why do my forehands keep going long?

Often because you're late. Late contact slows the racquet and opens the face. Get there earlier with your feet rather than closing the face.

What this doesn't cover

Normal video can't show contact. At 240 frames per second, 4 ms is a single frame, so the energy story is a model, not a film. It explains energy, not feel. Exact figures for how much energy the ball and the string bed return vary between sources.

Sources

Cross & Lindsey, American Journal of Physics 70(5), 2002
Tennis Warehouse University: string bed energy flow and ball testing
OnCourtOffCourt: dwell time
Elliott, British Journal of Sports Medicine

Move and reactWhat is a split step in tennis, and when to do itA split step is a small hop you make before every ball, timed so you land around the moment your opponent hits. Start it on their forward swing. The landing pre-stretches your leg muscles like a spring, so you push off harder toward the ball. Land too early and the spring goes slack. Land too late and you're still in the air.Move and reactHow to get a faster first step in tennisTo get a faster first step in tennis, let your body fall toward the ball, then drive your outside foot into the ground so your first contact points at the ball. The common club start adds a small step away from the ball first, the false step. It feels like getting set, but it's a delay with a foot movement attached.StrikeWhere is the sweet spot on a tennis racquetA tennis racquet has at least three sweet spots, centimetres apart. The vibration node gives the cleanest feel, the centre of percussion gives no jolt to the hand, and the maximum-rebound point gives the most ball speed. They don't coincide. Hit off-centre and the frame twists, the ball loses speed, and a shock runs to your wrist and elbow.StrikeHow string tension and type affect spin in tennisSpin comes mostly from string snapback, not tension. During contact the main strings slide sideways and snap back as the ball leaves, adding rotation. Slick polyester slides further than nylon and, in one test, gave roughly 20% more spin. Tension barely changes ball speed, so a steeper swing path is the bigger fix. Strings also lose tension from the first minute.