Tennis Improvement Memo 148: Why 'Follow Through' Doesn't Mean You Actually Will

▶ Are you hitting with a full follow-through?

"Follow through to the end!" is probably a classic piece of advice for strokes.

If you follow through, you get speed.

If you follow through, you get spin and your shots become stable.

I think quite a few people have been taught this way.

So, how did it go?

When you focused on a full swing, were you able to swing through cleanly?

Actually, I think there are a great many people who would say "not really".

You try to follow through as advised, but it ends up feeling "uncomfortable."

The swing feels "forced."

It feels "tacked on" (related article: "People who say 'heave-ho' after hitting. What is the true nature of a 'tacked-on' swing?").

"I intend to do it, but I can't"—this is what that means.

It's just following through.

Why can't you do this?

▶ The correct answer is that you "end up following through"

Because there is a reason you can't follow through, the result is that you don't get ball speed or your shots aren't stable.

That reason is "a mismatch in hitting timing.".

If your hitting timing is off, no matter how hard you try to follow through, no matter how much you relax to avoid tension, or even if you focus on catching the shaft with your left hand during the follow-through—in short, no matter what you do—you won't be able to follow through smoothly.

However, if your hitting timing is perfectly matched, you will follow through naturally without even thinking about it.

Therefore, advanced tennis players don't consciously think about "following through."

This is because they naturally "end up following through.".

▶ The law of cause and effect

When the hitting timing is perfectly matched, the follow-through, where the racket is swung cleanly to your back, happens naturally.

I don't mean to say "let's swing through to our backs," but like a reverse forehand, there are cases where the form results in swinging through above your head (therefore, the reverse forehand is not the "cause" for applying spin, but the "result" of a swing that applied spin).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B97RcXWeENY

However, the fact that hitting timing is not something you can just match even if you try is also why tennis feels difficult, which makes it tricky.

▶ I can follow through during practice swings, but...

I think you can follow through during practice swings.

That is because there is "no" hitting timing.

Because there is "none," there is no need to match it, so you can follow through.

However, in actual hitting, there is hitting timing.

If your hitting timing is off, your contact point will be too far back, too far forward, too close, or too far away, forcing you to hit in a cramped or overextended way, so you cannot follow through cleanly and comfortably.

▶ Cause of timing mismatch #1

So why does the hitting timing get off and mismatch?

If we solve this, it seems like we could hit strokes that swing through cleanly.

As I always say, if there is a "mismatch between your image and reality", your hitting timing will definitely be off.

I also talked here about how I recently misjudged the timing of sitting down because my image of the height of the bath chair was off (related article: "The 'mismatch between image and reality' problem that happened to me").

At this time, a force to reflexively brace yourself will occur, and your body will try to apply the brakes.

Or, you might fall on your bottom, and the fact that your form is disrupted can also be explained as being due to a timing mismatch.

▶ Cause of timing mismatch #2

Also, even if your image matches reality, there are times when you are not focused.

“When you are not focused” in other words, often means you are “thinking about something” in your head, such as your hitting method or form.

In other words, surprisingly, when you are thinking during play about the advice mentioned at the beginning, “Let’s follow through to the end!” regarding your hitting method, your timing for hitting the ball gets thrown off, and you are forced into a cramped or overextended swing, which is why you “cannot follow through.”
Even if you do follow through, it feels awkward, forced, or tacked on.

Also, because your timing for hitting the ball does not match the moment you feel
“Now!” the resistance (impact feel) becomes stronger, and you cannot swing through comfortably (related article: A nice shot has 'no impact feel').

▶ If you don't consciously try to follow through, you will follow through!

So, what should you do?

Of course, you should not think about or be conscious of “following through to the end.”

Then, since a follow-through is like braking distance in a car, it will naturally follow through unless you try to force it to stop.

When you are conscious of following through, tension occurs, so the “result” where the arm is swung through by momentum as seen in the video mentioned earlier does not appear.

By the way, there is often advice to “stop” the swing, such as in a block return, but doing so consciously is not really recommended.

Because the opponent's ball is fast, the result of using a blocking method is that the follow-through “stops.”

▶ Run through to the end!

A follow-through is not so much a “cause” for hitting a nice shot, but rather a “result” that appears when you perform a swing without being conscious of following through or stopping.

It is similar to how you “run through” unintentionally after crossing the finish line with momentum.

If you have that image, your stroke will follow through to the end.

▶ Bonus: Misunderstanding the Law of Cause and Effect

Of course, if you try to stop on purpose, your performance will drop, so in that sense, running through or swinging through can be called a “cause” for producing good “results,” but this article does not deal with special cases where you stop or are stopped on purpose.

This is the same as when I mentioned here that saying form doesn't matter doesn't mean the counterargument, “Then is it okay to hit back with a crazy form like doing a handstand?” holds up.

That is because such a crazy form would not happen unless you intentionally “consciously” did it.

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