Leg Drive on Groundstrokes

Leg drive is the foundation link of the kinetic chain on every groundstroke. It is also the link recreational players skip most often. They tend to stand relatively upright and swing primarily with the upper body. A player with good leg drive bends the knees during the loading phase and pushes into the ground as the forward swing begins. That generates ground reaction force, the ground pushing back, which travels up through the hips and torso before reaching the arm. This lower-body contribution is largely responsible for the difference in smooth-looking power between advanced and recreational players. From the waist up, their strokes can look similar.

Leg drive requires knee bend during the loading phase. A player who never lowers their center of gravity has nothing to push off from when the forward swing begins. It also requires timing. The push should happen as the forward swing starts, not before or after. Then the force arrives at the hips and torso exactly when they need it to begin rotating. Players recovering from injury, fatigued late in a match, or simply unaware of the leg's role often default to an arm-dominant swing. It looks superficially similar but generates measurably less pace for the same amount of effort.