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The time you spend practicing your tennis can work in one of two ways, it can foster improvement or it can ingrain less than sound skills and/or tactical ideas.

Don’t put time in on your clubs ball machine unless you have a firm grasp on the detailed stroke mechanics that plants the seed to become a fundamentally better striker of the ball.

Poor strokes don’t improve with time or practice they improve only when they don’t violate the laws of physics as we currently understand them.

The net, the baseline, service lines, and sidelines are the determining factors of how the ball must fly in order to land fairly in the court and good stroke mechanics have evolved to respect those mathematical demands.

Have you noticed when you watch top players that their swings, allowing some flexibility for personal style, all finish in the same general area?

That finish is up near or over the shoulder on the forehand and two-handed backhand and a fully extended vertical racket, while maintaining a body position as near sideways as is possible, for the one hand backhand.

Get the truth from your coach, and then work hard at honing the right swing.

With time and patience you’ll be surprised how solid your racket skills will become, and you can then enjoy the ability to compete at a higher level as its own reward.

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Howie Burnett is a member of the United States Professional Tennis Association and tennis director at the Island Country Club on Marco Island. Burnett welcomes questions on strokes, tactics or etiquette. To reach him, call the tennis shop at 394-4464 or e-mail him at islandclubtennis@hotmail.com.