Over the years I’ve had the pleasure of coaching junior tennis players at summer camps. With experience and a lot of practice, I began to understand how to help children improve. Although it’s not difficult, I discovered that to get kids to learn you needed to be focused on a few key points in each lesson. You could also repeat yourself as if you were a broken record. CoachTube provides every athlete the opportunity to gain the tennis coaching courses knowledge, instruction, and motivation that they need to succeed as students and athletes. Access to world-class coaches online is how we do this. These lessons can be accessed whenever students want, so they can learn wherever and when it suits them.
Preparation for shots should be done early
Making contact with the tennis ball is only part of the battle. Preparing for the shot starts with footwork and racquet preparation.
Footwork: You need to align your feet with your body. Practice your split step to balance you weight, and then push the ball in the desired direction. Your spilt step should be timed just before your opponent touches the ball. When moving, take smaller steps to ensure you hit the ball. To help you aim in the right direction, angle your feet so that one foot faces the direction you wish to target and the other facing forward.
Racquet preparation: This is the hard part. You need to get your racquet head in place as you move your feet. This will increase your shot’s speed.
Focus on the contact point by bending your knees.
Tennis power is mainly generated by the legs and extension, not the arms. You are more likely to cause injury and strain if you use your arms to generate your power. Bend your knees as you move into the shot. Rotate the torso to increase power.
As you contact the ball, keep your eyes focused on it. Hold them there until the racquet is visible in your eyes. You run the risk that they will be moved too quickly and miss the ball. You should drive the shot with your legs and get them to a position that allows you to recover quickly for the next shot.
Shot recovery
We have already discussed shot preparation and contact with the ball. It’s now time to get back on track after the shot. It is important to practice your shot recovery. How quickly can you get from the shot back behind the baseline to the shot again? The best players on the planet almost recover right after making contact. It’s smooth and fluid. These critical nanoseconds will allow you to get the next ball back.
Increase shot recovery time
Slow it down
It will take practice to master the previous three points.
Slow down, practice shadow drills, and then take it step-by-step. Next, work on the push-off and spit step. Then, bend the knees and do short steps leading to the shot. Repeat those two steps, and then add stroke production. Before you move into shot recovery, add the contact point.
Once you have formed the pattern, you can speed it up and practice it 10,000 more times until you are ready to do some dead ball drills.
While the previous three points were about improving your game on court, the next two will help you get more out of your game off-court.
Flexibility and stretching
Everyone knows that stretching is something they can do, but not enough. It is not very enjoyable and often takes a while to see the results.
Stretching for 30 minutes per day can increase flexibility. This will allow you to move faster, reach more balls, and reduce your risk of injury.
Dynamic stretches are great for increasing endurance, muscle fatigue, and adding power to your game.
Your eating habits are important
Eating is an important part of improving your performance on the court and off it.
You should increase your carbohydrate intake if you are playing a lot of tennis. This will allow you to store and release energy when you play.
It is important to eat the right carbs. Brown rice, quinoa and whole wheat are good choices.
Avoid high-fibre carbohydrates on the day of play and avoid highly saturated and fatty foods. This is a good habit to keep up with every day! To compensate for the loss of sweat, increase your water intake and add some sugar to your drink. This will help replace any electrolytes lost.
