Court movement

Last night Dan, my tennis instructor, showed me how to move to hit a heavier ball. From the middle of the baseline, he took relatively large steps, hill to toe, not shuffle, to get to the ball. The back is straight, and with every step you remain balanced. If you're on your toes tipping forward on the backhand, you're doing it wrong. As you rip the ball, keep the back straight and remain balanced. It felt a little awkward at first, especially on the backhand side, since I always heard suggestions to take small shuffle steps. When I settled into it, I was able to hit a much heavier forehand with what seemed like little effort. On the forehand, I concentrated on getting to the ball quickly with big steps while remaining balanced, waiting for the ball, and then hitting with my wrist laid back, my head pointing down and to the side toward the contact point, and my back straight and even slightly arched, so I felt my shoulders were above my feet. On the backhand, it worked when I turned the shoulders to point to the incoming ball, looked down at the contact point. It helped me when I had my wrist laid back all the way on the backhand, even turning the racquet a little with the left hand to lay the wrist back even more. At the hit, it helped when I kept my left arm straight and pointing down.