Why do all my balls pop up when I hit a ground stroke in tennis?

Question

I just began tennis this summer and have only been playing for 4 weeks. I am trying to keep my racket face closed so it doesn't pop up, but every time I do a low to high stroke it just goes up and comes down slowly instead of fast and straight. How should my grip be, how far should my racket be pushed back before I hit, where should I hit, at what time do I hit, and how should my racket look like during my following through. Please help! My tryouts are starting in a day! Thanks!

Answer 1

Your balls pop up? Um...ow.

Answer 2

Exaggerate the feeling of keeping the face closed. Whatever feels like you are keeping the face closed try to do it even more.

Answer 3

you're doing mostly the right thing. the ground stroke is a low to high stroke. you start at your waist and hit the ball an arm's length away from your body. your racket head needs to be closed but what you're not doing is putting top spin on the ball. you need to push up and over the ball. hit hard and follow through up across the ball.  

Answer 4

I recommend you use this grip: The Western Grip used by famous pros such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. Here's how you put your hand on.

http://tennis.about.com/od/forehandbackh...

At first when you try to phantom swing with your new grip you will be like " How the h**l am I going to hit the ball with this c**p of a grip." What you need to do is try to hit a ball with it, and you'll notice you'll need to keep your wrist FIRM and HELD BACK. I can't explain so here is a video of Djokovic with Western.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gq09yHPmK...

The reason I'm mentioning this grip is because, with the grip automatically being closed, you don't have to worry about your shots popping up. They will already hit the ball at lower heights. But remember that you need to drive the ball forward rather than brushing it up because the SPIN will drive the ball downwards to the ground and the DRIVING will make the ball beam through the air. You can interchange SPIN and POWER remember that if you use more spin then you should aim higher so the ball will land on the other court.

Answer 5

since you are a beginner i can only think of one thing... your stroke.

How should your grip be? i suggest semiwestern or western. Your choice.  Besides your grip could be anything you feel comfortable for the stroke.

What i think your doing wrong is either catching the ball too late when its slightly behind your area of contact, or maybe your wrist "brush" stroke at the end of the motion. If you are catching the ball at the wrong time behind you will most likely see that your angle of contact is angled upward instead of how it should be, angled downward *slightly.

If you are not using the brushing stroke correctly it is impossible to hit the ball hard without making it go high. Although this is not a completely accurate comparison you could see it as a windshield wiper motion after you made contact with the ball. The faster you do this brush motion the more the ball goes down from spin *assuming that you have the racquet face down.....

Perhaps you are leaning backwards on your legs instead of forwards? that could also be it.

I wish you good luck on your tryouts.

.. o where to hit it uh...

Hit it at a level slightly around your waist. Hit it while the ball is one to 2 feet ahead of you. Hit it on the ball... around the middle of the ball? Hit it higher up on the ball if you want it to go down more...

this is a video of a good followthrough

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IedzW2QNs...

Again good luck I hope this helps you. It sure helps me :P