so sad and so true... just happened to me, it feels like my whole tennis carrer have could be so much different if i ever have some coaches like this before in my life...
All of my" coaches" have been lazy or dumb too! It's terrible! I've lived in 4 states in my life. The same lazy teaching pros. Most don't have my talent! I guess this is why America hasn't produced a Novak!
So crucial, being loose, finishing and control.. man Kevin you are indeed one of the best instructors for breaking down and simplifying different important fundamentals for tennis up to improvement for all levels. Such clear instruction and insight.
For the past 4 years I’ve been struggling with my forehand. I couldn’t find a proper way to do the backswing to connect to the forward swing until I saw this video. Now I’m able to smoothly do a full ground stroke with power and pace. You’ve changed the way I play for the better. Thank you.
A week or two later, I can say that this is pretty much one of the most impactful and helpful tennis lessons I’ve EVER come across! Started adding this drill to my first practice rack and it’s opened up so much for me in such a short time; I’m accelerating with more confidence, hitting with more accuracy, and even getting better at short balls. This is like the tennis equivalent of the one hand and working on your follow-through by the net drill in Basketball. Thank you so much Coach Kevin! You’re the man!! Now I just need to add my top spin back to my shot… maybe this can help.
Excellent video. Not many instructors address short court and swing speed. Not sure if you agree, but î have found that if you swing slower you need to start the swing earlier to meet the ball at optimal contact point. If you speed up the swing, you need to wait a little bit before you swing in order to meet the same ball at the optimal point of contact
Wow! This video right here has improved my swing more than any other I've watched (and I've watched a ton). The beginning of the video described me to a T so I assumed it would be helpful but I was shocked at just how much it helped. I watched the video just before going to the court with a ball machine and set up the drill like it's shown. Some kind of magic just started to work when I did the short court drill with a slow but full swing and follow through. Swinging slow and finishing over the shoulder has just now today magically improved my swing. This is my new favorite drill I think. For reference I'm a new player, maybe 3 months, and a 3.0 a best
This video is absolutely groundbreaking. In my junior tennis years, not one coach ever taught me exactly the way you should hit a ball, until this video. Thank you Kevin!!
The first half seems like a personal attack😡. Thank you so much for this video, I know what to work on now. Keep up the great work, I love your videos!
you're an incredible coach. very articulate and able to to break down the movement patterns into simple steps. I also really appreciate how you give us tips, like opening and closing the racket face, to help us focus and make adjustments during the drills. keep up the great work coach!
woo, very good drill. I think this is what Agassi talked about when he said "get power by holding the ball in your racket longer". Hitting it full stroke but really slow is a much better way to explain it. The demo helps a lot too. Thanks. subscribed.
This is the best explanation you find out there! Love your instruction. Question: say I lack control (I do lack) what should be a practice session for me? Practice what you shown here with the ball machine for 1h ?
One thing, Kevin, you should mention is to use your legs and your body when swinging. When you show the right slow swing, you’re clearly going down a bit, bending your knees and coming up with the stroke movement. It took me some time to find this out which eventually helped me to fix my problems in the short field.
This is an outstanding video. Kevin Garlington's method of training in slow ball hitting is right out of industrial psychology. His method is for the student to control the pitch with the minimum amount of speed necessary to clear the net from the service line. One can go further by judging speed by listening to the percussion of the ball from the racket face. The angle of departure above the court must be enough to clear the net. A good rule of thumb is that the ball will land just behind the net at the optimum angle and minimum speed.
Great job Kevin ! Kudos ! However, when a player gets more advanced (e.g., college, Futures, etc.) I have them start with volley-volley instead. My friend, the great Mark Woodforde, got me into this approach. He even executes volley-volley from service line to service line (which is further than most players stand), requiring hitting volleys with great pace. Then the movement volley-volley drills (Romanian, etc.). I think it really gets the reflexes going right away, deep knee bends, quick foot work. Fantastic way to start a practice ! Amazing how many college-level players can't execute volley-volley at first.
100% true! Great video. The value of short court is so undervalued. If I see a club player or any tennis player for that matter be able to slow the ball down without rigid or jerky swing I know they’re a good player. “Its easy to hit the ball hard but hard to slow the ball down”!
Great video lesson. You've inspired me to focus better during the mini tennis warm up and not simply suffer through it. In truth, I don't really have the short court control issue with my forehand, but rather my one handed backhand. I'll try the face angle control to see if I can stay in the service court and not either duff into the net or overpower it long. Cheers!
So, so true. When I started playing more than 40 years ago, nobody played in the short field for warming up (actually we did not warm up at all). For years ago I started to play with a friend which is 16 years younger than me and he regularly warms up with playing in the short field in the beginning. And I felt exactly the way that you described. It was so tough to realize that my technique was not working in the short field. I was not able to hit my forehand for which I use a semi western grip in the short field without hitting the ball either in the net or way beyond the service line. It took me quite some time to find out how to fix my technique. But it was worth the effort because I’m playing much better now, meaning more consistent which is the most important thing in tennis. Tennis is a failure game and making less failure than your opponent is making you winning the match.
Kevin, your lessons are fantastic...the other key element that i've learned that is so crucial thought out my recreational tennis matches, is that...TRACK the ball carefully & extremely at all times. I would widen my eyes to focus & track the ball at-all-times. hope this help other players :)
Very detail concept. when i was learning tennis, i always tell my tennis partner to warm up at the service line and feel the ball bounce off the string without the racket going haywire. when im able to consistently feel that grip of the ball precisely every single time. i feel that i can control the angle, the spin, the contact, the direction of the ball, and lastly the freedom to release your full power when i need to.
You are a magician, or a shrink, you described my exact problem, it was like you were in my head. I think you solved my biggest problem, the key is to be loose, then you can finally see the racket head moving with you, in a rhythm with your body 💡amazing
Simply excellent emphasis and insight, Kevin! I would go further and encourage players to try to hit the ball harder by swinging as slow as possible. I believe it is possible, in fact, key to a high level playing, to be able to swing slower but to hit the ball harder because you can focus on hitting the ball cleanly ....even adding in a pause or slowdown so as to focus on your contact angle but your emphasis on mastering a slow swing speed for control (and its impact for controlled power) is excellent and the first video on UA-cam that I've seen explaining this aspect. Keep up the great work
Hi Kevin, this is a great video, thank you! I have to admit, the warmup service line rally has become a little robotic to me and this now helps me focus.
Im so gonna try and do this.. I have a slinger bag and this is exactly what im lacking. Control. From the baseline im a big power player. When people rip it at me they get it back twice as hard. But as soon as they slow down the pace and give me moonballs for example or just balls with lack of pace, I have zero control and its so frustrating. Gonna spend some real time and try to master this. Thanks!
Hey Kevin, thank you so much for this, awesome video as always. Q question - I actually really quite enjoy the short court soft warm up phase, then, when I move back and have the extra space, that's when things fall apart! Quite the opposite of what you're saying it should be!! Any tips on transferring that soft controlled swing control to when moving back to the base line?
I don't play in the front because its a risk of hitting the ball OUT so I play it safe from base-line. He is right that we gotta get to the level of playing it easier from the front so that we can play it MORE easier with direction & control from the base-line. 👍👍👍
I'll try to include the slinger settings when using the ball machine. The height is almost at the lowest settings and the speed is maybe 2 clicks. It's tough on the slinger because it creates so much spin. thanks
Hi Kevin, I have an extreme western grip which makes it very hard to open the racket face and swing through slowly. So, how can somebody like Khachanov do this slow swing service line drill when the racket face is closed due to the extreme grip?
Hello Kevin, Are you controlling your racquet face using wrist adjustments while keeping your grip placement intact or are you making grip adjustments during the stroke?
It's amazing how the universe works. The exact technical problems i have in my game i see a solution on UA-cam the same day!🙏
Did you ever get to ask technique questions to those pros you filmed?
It's called algorithm dude
I'm very talented. However, I still don't get this. I have control and feel like Fabres Santorum. Remember him?
Non of my real life coaches has explained this before, you just made me understand what I've been doing wrong for so many years. Thank you!
so sad and so true... just happened to me, it feels like my whole tennis carrer have could be so much different if i ever have some coaches like this before in my life...
@@nolo5000 exact same thing over here.
Same here. to make things worse, im practicing in my dad's old tennis racket where it's just too small head size, 95 sq. in. !!
All of my" coaches" have been lazy or dumb too! It's terrible! I've lived in 4 states in my life. The same lazy teaching pros. Most don't have my talent! I guess this is why America hasn't produced a Novak!
So crucial, being loose, finishing and control.. man Kevin you are indeed one of the best instructors for breaking down and simplifying different important fundamentals for tennis up to improvement for all levels. Such clear instruction and insight.
I appreciate that!
I know right, so smooth and clear!
For the past 4 years I’ve been struggling with my forehand. I couldn’t find a proper way to do the backswing to connect to the forward swing until I saw this video. Now I’m able to smoothly do a full ground stroke with power and pace. You’ve changed the way I play for the better. Thank you.
I don't care if my tennis friends beat me after I forward them this brilliantly conceived video. This channel deserves many more subs.
A week or two later, I can say that this is pretty much one of the most impactful and helpful tennis lessons I’ve EVER come across! Started adding this drill to my first practice rack and it’s opened up so much for me in such a short time; I’m accelerating with more confidence, hitting with more accuracy, and even getting better at short balls. This is like the tennis equivalent of the one hand and working on your follow-through by the net drill in Basketball. Thank you so much Coach Kevin! You’re the man!! Now I just need to add my top spin back to my shot… maybe this can help.
Me too brother. Me too.
I knew all about the importance of full swing practice with short balls but the take away I got is your the racket face suggestion. thankyou.
Excellent video. Not many instructors address short court and swing speed. Not sure if you agree, but î have found that if you swing slower you need to start the swing earlier to meet the ball at optimal contact point. If you speed up the swing, you need to wait a little bit before you swing in order to meet the same ball at the optimal point of contact
Wow! This video right here has improved my swing more than any other I've watched (and I've watched a ton). The beginning of the video described me to a T so I assumed it would be helpful but I was shocked at just how much it helped. I watched the video just before going to the court with a ball machine and set up the drill like it's shown. Some kind of magic just started to work when I did the short court drill with a slow but full swing and follow through. Swinging slow and finishing over the shoulder has just now today magically improved my swing. This is my new favorite drill I think.
For reference I'm a new player, maybe 3 months, and a 3.0 a best
Kevin, you're the only guy I follow on youtube that has broken down advanced techniques for a 3.5 like me to easily grasp. Keep em comin brotha!
This video is absolutely groundbreaking. In my junior tennis years, not one coach ever taught me exactly the way you should hit a ball, until this video. Thank you Kevin!!
you sir, are an incredibly teacher. the way you are able to communicate every detail so clearly, is really rare these days
Kevin is a genius. How can you make this complex instruction more simple? Excellent, dying to get on court.
Yours might be the best tennis channel
The first half seems like a personal attack😡. Thank you so much for this video, I know what to work on now. Keep up the great work, I love your videos!
Your lessons are excellent to all learners❤thanks
What an amazing explanation of ball control! Thank you!
Excellent instruction, I'm having the exact problem when warming up in mini tennis.
you're an incredible coach. very articulate and able to to break down the movement patterns into simple steps. I also really appreciate how you give us tips, like opening and closing the racket face, to help us focus and make adjustments during the drills. keep up the great work coach!
Excellent explanation about how to use the short court drill to practice topspin.
woo, very good drill. I think this is what Agassi talked about when he said "get power by holding the ball in your racket longer". Hitting it full stroke but really slow is a much better way to explain it. The demo helps a lot too. Thanks. subscribed.
I like how your explanation is so clear and understandable
The actual drills start at 06:00
Very very very important!!! Thank you so much
My fav tennis instruction video ever. Thanks
This is the best explanation you find out there! Love your instruction. Question: say I lack control (I do lack) what should be a practice session for me? Practice what you shown here with the ball machine for 1h ?
One thing, Kevin, you should mention is to use your legs and your body when swinging. When you show the right slow swing, you’re clearly going down a bit, bending your knees and coming up with the stroke movement. It took me some time to find this out which eventually helped me to fix my problems in the short field.
This is an outstanding video. Kevin Garlington's method of training in slow ball hitting is right out of industrial psychology. His method is for the student to control the pitch with the minimum amount of speed necessary to clear the net from the service line. One can go further by judging speed by listening to the percussion of the ball from the racket face. The angle of departure above the court must be enough to clear the net. A good rule of thumb is that the ball will land just behind the net at the optimum angle and minimum speed.
Makes sense, thanks Kevin
HE IS SPOT ON RIGHT
Body is for speed to get to the ball
Racquet hand is for direction which is to direct the ball.
ACCURATE EXPLANATION 👍👏🙏
Incredible lesson, thanks bro.
Excellent class, awesome thank you!!!
Great job Kevin ! Kudos ! However, when a player gets more advanced (e.g., college, Futures, etc.) I have them start with volley-volley instead. My friend, the great Mark Woodforde, got me into this approach. He even executes volley-volley from service line to service line (which is further than most players stand), requiring hitting volleys with great pace. Then the movement volley-volley drills (Romanian, etc.). I think it really gets the reflexes going right away, deep knee bends, quick foot work. Fantastic way to start a practice ! Amazing how many college-level players can't execute volley-volley at first.
This is gold. Amazing instructor. New subscriber. I'm going to work on my short game next time I get out instead of rushing to the baseline.
Okay when you showed how people play the short court and how tight they are, I laughed cause... that's me
Thank you for the video ! I'll try it during my next training session 😊
100% true! Great video. The value of short court is so undervalued. If I see a club player or any tennis player for that matter be able to slow the ball down without rigid or jerky swing I know they’re a good player. “Its easy to hit the ball hard but hard to slow the ball down”!
"Educate the hand". Well said Kevin!
Can't wait to get on court this weekend and try this out!!!
Awesome advice. Still struggling in warm up when close to service line. So lack of control...
Great video lesson. You've inspired me to focus better during the mini tennis warm up and not simply suffer through it. In truth, I don't really have the short court control issue with my forehand, but rather my one handed backhand. I'll try the face angle control to see if I can stay in the service court and not either duff into the net or overpower it long. Cheers!
Thanks a lot, exactly what I needed. I play old man's doubles and it's almost never played behind the baseline.
Great teacher
So, so true. When I started playing more than 40 years ago, nobody played in the short field for warming up (actually we did not warm up at all). For years ago I started to play with a friend which is 16 years younger than me and he regularly warms up with playing in the short field in the beginning. And I felt exactly the way that you described. It was so tough to realize that my technique was not working in the short field. I was not able to hit my forehand for which I use a semi western grip in the short field without hitting the ball either in the net or way beyond the service line. It took me quite some time to find out how to fix my technique. But it was worth the effort because I’m playing much better now, meaning more consistent which is the most important thing in tennis. Tennis is a failure game and making less failure than your opponent is making you winning the match.
Kevin, your lessons are fantastic...the other key element that i've learned that is so crucial thought out my recreational tennis matches, is that...TRACK the ball carefully & extremely at all times. I would widen my eyes to focus & track the ball at-all-times. hope this help other players :)
This makes so much sense. Thank you!
Wonderfully informative
Best tennis tutorials on youtube
I can’t wait to try this out asap
Very helpful. Going to try this out this week.
Great Video!
Thanks Ricardo!
Can you do a video on 'racket head speed', 'opening the racket face a little more' etc? definitions and how to adjust and adapt?
Great video! Just what I’ve been trying to improve. Thanks!
Thanks Kevin, my tennis improve alot because your fantastic video.
Kevin, this is insanely great.
Having you as a coach would be so cool. Good video!🔥
Kevin I really liked this video and the concept of feel that you’re teaching. Please make more videos that focus on this!
Very detail concept. when i was learning tennis, i always tell my tennis partner to warm up at the service line and feel the ball bounce off the string without the racket going haywire. when im able to consistently feel that grip of the ball precisely every single time. i feel that i can control the angle, the spin, the contact, the direction of the ball, and lastly the freedom to release your full power when i need to.
You are a magician, or a shrink, you described my exact problem, it was like you were in my head. I think you solved my biggest problem, the key is to be loose, then you can finally see the racket head moving with you, in a rhythm with your body 💡amazing
That was so informative! Thank you!
I'll go out and practice this. Thank you!
So important. Thanks!!
spot on.
This is a great tip.
THIS is the video I needed to watch!!! Thanks Kevin!
great video and makes a lot of sense. many times i am blasting the ball without much control :D
Thx, nice video! Greetings from Austria :)
Hello man keep up the good work lov ur vids:)
Thanks, will do!
Great video Kevin. Perfect explanation why playing in T-field is so important for base line control. Greetings from Germany
This is incredible Kevin. Just enjoyed my first Tennis lesson.
Welcome to the sport George!
@@TotalTennisDomination. Thanks. In what state are you located?
Really like this, very practical.
Patrick mouratoglou teaches to have your wrist loose when hitting with your forehand? Is this true?
Great video as usual Kevin!
Great, great lesson
Kevin, question: in this exercise, do you adjust the "openness" of the racquet-face by shifting the grip or by rotating the wrist?
Amazing, I enjoyed the really slow swing but opening the racket face.
Also, what forehand grip do you use? And would this drill work on the backhand?
Thanks, I have a semi western grip. Yes, this is great for forehand and backhand.
Waaaawww I needed this
Simply excellent emphasis and insight, Kevin! I would go further and encourage players to try to hit the ball harder by swinging as slow as possible. I believe it is possible, in fact, key to a high level playing, to be able to swing slower but to hit the ball harder because you can focus on hitting the ball cleanly ....even adding in a pause or slowdown so as to focus on your contact angle but your emphasis on mastering a slow swing speed for control (and its impact for controlled power) is excellent and the first video on UA-cam that I've seen explaining this aspect. Keep up the great work
Just like in music, i you want to play somethn very fast you need to practice very slow.
Great video !
Hi Kev are you changing the racket face my slightly adjusting the grip or are you using the wrist
Kevin, do you have any videos breaking down the techniques of where the racquet face needs to be and how to get it there ?
Hi Kevin, this is a great video, thank you! I have to admit, the warmup service line rally has become a little robotic to me and this now helps me focus.
SUPER SUPER HELPFUL!
Glad it was helpful Janek!
Im so gonna try and do this.. I have a slinger bag and this is exactly what im lacking. Control. From the baseline im a big power player. When people rip it at me they get it back twice as hard. But as soon as they slow down the pace and give me moonballs for example or just balls with lack of pace, I have zero control and its so frustrating. Gonna spend some real time and try to master this. Thanks!
Thanks you brother domination
youre goated bro thank you
Hey Kevin, thank you so much for this, awesome video as always. Q question - I actually really quite enjoy the short court soft warm up phase, then, when I move back and have the extra space, that's when things fall apart! Quite the opposite of what you're saying it should be!!
Any tips on transferring that soft controlled swing control to when moving back to the base line?
I don't play in the front because its a risk of hitting the ball OUT so I play it safe from base-line. He is right that we gotta get to the level of playing it easier from the front so that we can play it MORE easier with direction & control from the base-line. 👍👍👍
I am able to do this but when I am in a match, I lose all confidence and start stiff stroking my shots again 😅
What was your settings on the slinger for this drill?
how can practice swinging racquet left hand right hand at home right sir
All great information. Any chance you can share your Slinger settings for these drills?
I'll try to include the slinger settings when using the ball machine. The height is almost at the lowest settings and the speed is maybe 2 clicks. It's tough on the slinger because it creates so much spin. thanks
@@TotalTennisDomination many thanks!
What ball machine are you using and is it a good one?
this is great but what about the backhand??? Do you do the same method for the 1hbh side?
Yes, exactly! If you were hitting with a partner then you would do both sides at the same time. Thanks
Hi Kevin, I have an extreme western grip which makes it very hard to open the racket face and swing through slowly. So, how can somebody like Khachanov do this slow swing service line drill when the racket face is closed due to the extreme grip?
Same problem here.
Your problem might be timing. Hit the ball one bit earlier in front.
@@mihailcondorache787 thank you very much for the tip! Will try this next time.
Excellent video. My forehand issues in a nutshell. Now I know why I can't seem to hit short court. Thanks!!
Haha, that example at the beginning sounds soo familiar 😂👍🏼
Hello Kevin, Are you controlling your racquet face using wrist adjustments while keeping your grip placement intact or are you making grip adjustments during the stroke?
Great explanation of why I hate half court warm-up!😅
4:48 starts around here