Thanks Tomaz for the lesson. This is exactly what I have been thinking about recently. I believe early preparation is not only beneficial "just in case". It will make a huge difference in shot quality. Against the slower balls, being able to prepare early will help us punish those balls instead of just hitting them back consistently.
Great lesson Tomaz. In fact, late forehands is causing me some elbow irritation. I am playing a stronger player on Friday evening and he hits quite fast versus my regular opponents so I will be more mindful to prepare early. Let's see if I can get a set from him!
Tomaz, first congratulations for 200k subscribers!. Second, I think my biggest issue with late balls is because I often misjudged the ball depth and speed. Could you please suggest some drills to improve this? Thx
Thank you, Grace, sharp eye on the subscriber count! ;) Yes, ball judgment is difficult... Most of this skill is developed in childhood and then the brain is not very receptive any more to improve the ball judgment ability. The good news is that it can be improved. One reason why you may not judge the ball well is because you don't really pay attention to it immediately after it has been hit. You may be really paying attention to it only after it has bounced. That's too late. So try the tip that I share at 2:12 in the video: when the ball goes up - you go up. If you try to do that you will need to really pay attention to the ball and consequently your judgment will improve. This drill is similar: ua-cam.com/video/iXvWh-xMSd0/v-deo.html. Also experiment with counting, I shared this here: ua-cam.com/video/1vxiFqELj3c/v-deo.html. But generally, playing lots of sports with balls flying around (not golf!) will keep improving the ball judgment ability.
@@feeltennis Thanks for the response. I am a big proponent of a correct split step, not for the movement, but for the paying attention to opponents contact. You can tell by most peoples reaction times, that even though they think they are paying attention to opponents contact they actually rarely are. To split step at the correct time means they have to be paying attention. If they are paying attention to opponents contact they will anticipate better and probably more importantly, practice the skill of anticipation to the point that it becomes a subconscious habit. Then it becomes almost amusing how much better the players become, now that they have time to make their choices. This video and the one you linked me touches on quite possibly the single most important issue when it comes to learning to play tennis well, which is, stop trying to do everything after the ball bounces. Everyone would play so much better if they were in position ready to swing BEFORE the ball bounced on their side of the court. The main mechanism that allows this to occur is the split step. Don't worry, everyone agrees intellectually with what I've just said. Getting people to actually do it is another thing entirely.
@@Whisper555 All good points, fully agreed. One simple drill for attention is just to ask the player to say "HIT" when I hit the ball (assuming I rally with them). I ask them to say out loud so that I (and they) can hear whether the sound of them saying HIT matches exactly the sound of my contact. In most cases they are all late at first but gradually get better. Then they realize that they never pay so much attention to opponent's contact in their usual tennis. So that can "wake them up" and improve their attention if they keep practicing. You can also try them saying "SPLIT" instead of HIT to remind them to split step although the jump into split step needs to happen before the contact...
Other than not watching the ball, this has got to be the most common problem in tennis. Only, what are the two most common pieces of advice given in all of Tennisdom? 1. Keep your eye on the ball and 2. Get your racket back early. Gee, if only someone had told us...
@@kkkkkkkkkkk3333 Just to give you provisional feedback that I tried it today and it works like magic. Suddenly I hit more sensible balls. The only struggle is that I soon get comfortable and forget. But when I don't it's mostly effective. Ned to work on making it second nature
I have strayed away from wanting to hit with men as they are stronger and hit faster. I thought I couldn’t keep up and I’d get an injury. Your comments are a breath of fresh air as I haven’t had to prepare early and now you have shared this awesome secret!!! We are so lucky 🫶
Also try moving back couple feet off the baseline. Give yourself some run way. You will also need to hit/aim a little higher so you don't leave a short ball
Thanks!
Thanks Tomaz for the lesson. This is exactly what I have been thinking about recently. I believe early preparation is not only beneficial "just in case". It will make a huge difference in shot quality. Against the slower balls, being able to prepare early will help us punish those balls instead of just hitting them back consistently.
Thanks Coach! always interesting and informative 👍 appreciate
Great lesson Tomaz. In fact, late forehands is causing me some elbow irritation. I am playing a stronger player on Friday evening and he hits quite fast versus my regular opponents so I will be more mindful to prepare early. Let's see if I can get a set from him!
Great, you can also apply this tip for preparing early: ua-cam.com/video/iXvWh-xMSd0/v-deo.html
Excellent video. I think this would also be very useful for balls that skids on fast surfaces
Great instruction
Great video Thomas, thanks you!
Very useful video.
Tomaz, first congratulations for 200k subscribers!. Second, I think my biggest issue with late balls is because I often misjudged the ball depth and speed. Could you please suggest some drills to improve this? Thx
Thank you, Grace, sharp eye on the subscriber count! ;) Yes, ball judgment is difficult... Most of this skill is developed in childhood and then the brain is not very receptive any more to improve the ball judgment ability. The good news is that it can be improved.
One reason why you may not judge the ball well is because you don't really pay attention to it immediately after it has been hit. You may be really paying attention to it only after it has bounced. That's too late. So try the tip that I share at 2:12 in the video: when the ball goes up - you go up. If you try to do that you will need to really pay attention to the ball and consequently your judgment will improve.
This drill is similar: ua-cam.com/video/iXvWh-xMSd0/v-deo.html. Also experiment with counting, I shared this here: ua-cam.com/video/1vxiFqELj3c/v-deo.html. But generally, playing lots of sports with balls flying around (not golf!) will keep improving the ball judgment ability.
Great insight instruction
Excellent tips.
This video deserves more likes, views and subs.
Much appreciated. Not that many really understand the importance of the concepts shared...
Good info. Thanks
In the last case, a more vertical stroke with good racket head speed is necessary. That's how I would do it.
Great lesson but I would like to see how to prepare early for a one handed backhand. That would help a lot of people.
Most people do not comprehend whether it is a forehand or backhand before it has crossed the net.
Yes, not used to being highly alert. This drill can help: ua-cam.com/video/iXvWh-xMSd0/v-deo.html
@@feeltennis Thanks for the response.
I am a big proponent of a correct split step, not for the movement, but for the paying attention to opponents contact.
You can tell by most peoples reaction times, that even though they think they are paying attention to opponents contact they actually rarely are.
To split step at the correct time means they have to be paying attention.
If they are paying attention to opponents contact they will anticipate better and probably more importantly, practice the skill of anticipation to the point that it becomes a subconscious habit.
Then it becomes almost amusing how much better the players become, now that they have time to make their choices.
This video and the one you linked me touches on quite possibly the single most important issue when it comes to learning to play tennis well, which is, stop trying to do everything after the ball bounces.
Everyone would play so much better if they were in position ready to swing BEFORE the ball bounced on their side of the court.
The main mechanism that allows this to occur is the split step.
Don't worry, everyone agrees intellectually with what I've just said.
Getting people to actually do it is another thing entirely.
@@Whisper555 All good points, fully agreed. One simple drill for attention is just to ask the player to say "HIT" when I hit the ball (assuming I rally with them). I ask them to say out loud so that I (and they) can hear whether the sound of them saying HIT matches exactly the sound of my contact. In most cases they are all late at first but gradually get better. Then they realize that they never pay so much attention to opponent's contact in their usual tennis. So that can "wake them up" and improve their attention if they keep practicing. You can also try them saying "SPLIT" instead of HIT to remind them to split step although the jump into split step needs to happen before the contact...
Other than not watching the ball, this has got to be the most common problem in tennis. Only, what are the two most common pieces of advice given in all of Tennisdom? 1. Keep your eye on the ball and 2. Get your racket back early. Gee, if only someone had told us...
ball up! racqet up!😊😊😊
An invaluable tip I would never have realized without it being actually said. Can’t wait to try it out today.
@@anthonyacquah9393 me too!!! i really have been wanting to know about practical prepare timing..
this is a good tip!!
@@kkkkkkkkkkk3333 Just to give you provisional feedback that I tried it today and it works like magic. Suddenly I hit more sensible balls. The only struggle is that I soon get comfortable and forget. But when I don't it's mostly effective. Ned to work on making it second nature
@@anthonyacquah9393 thanks a lot your feedback
i really wanna try it.. but i have injury..🤣
@@kkkkkkkkkkk3333 oh Bummer!
Get better soon. Cheers
I have strayed away from wanting to hit with men as they are stronger and hit faster. I thought I couldn’t keep up and I’d get an injury. Your comments are a breath of fresh air as I haven’t had to prepare early and now you have shared this awesome secret!!! We are so lucky 🫶
Much appreciated!
Also try moving back couple feet off the baseline. Give yourself some run way. You will also need to hit/aim a little higher so you don't leave a short ball
@@K4R3N Makes sense! Thanks for the tips 🤗
Thanks!