Adult Recreational Tennis Player Limitations | Why Your Strokes Will NEVER Look Like the Pros 

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When I saw myself playing I almost wanted to quit.

Nick, I love your honesty. I used to think I looked like a pro player….but after watching a video of one of my match’s, I thought the video was in slow motion! 😂

I underestimated how difficult some of these motions are until I tried them. Having both arms coming together behind the back after a 1-hander? That's another level of flexibility.

Your bluntness is much appreciated Nick. At my club I try to help players that are plainly getting things wrong so that they can play to the best of their abilities. Sometimes this isn't appreciated by members that think they're pretty good and see my comments as unrequited or even an insult, for these people, all I can say is, it's their loss.

Thank you. As a 43 year old I needed to hear this. Have been getting quite beaten up to look like a pro.

What I like about this video (and your videos in general) is how much you emphasize players have different strokes. Some coaches get boxed into a very one dimensional view of how a stroke should be produced. I once encountered a player with this mentality at a tennis park and had a very unpleasant interaction with him. He insisted that my 1HB was bad because I used torso rotation and had a strong follow through. He told me to fix it by staying sideways and not following through to the side at all. He was extremely condescend about it too. Trying to make me look like an idiot in front of others, raising his voice and bickering. Ugh!

Nick, This video is right on!! Thank you! We have chatted before.. I will be 75 this July and I still play recreational ( and competitive) singles tennis at the 4.0 level. Love tennis, and still take lessons periodically in my attempt to improve and/ or to eliminate some bad habits. I have to accept my limitations ,and work with them , or else I will end up hurting myself. As an example, I just had a lesson on my one - handed backhand. Suggestions were made such as making sure that my grip is eastern , and to turn my shoulder to the point where my opponent can see my back when prepping to execute the stroke. I endeavored to do that while hitting yesterday; today my shoulder is bothering me. WTF! I ( we) also have to accept my limitations. For instance, I just can’t produce the racquet head speed needed to serve bombs or to hit hard, heavy strokes. I’m always chasing new racquets, hoping that they will help, but that is mostly bullshit: It’s the” wizard not the wand….”..And I’m mostly comfortable gripping my backhand with an exaggerated continental grip- etc… And I have the follow through problems that you alluded to…Thank You again, Nick…I will save this video… For me, one of the best! Ciao, John

This is a great video Nik. I played a match last sunday and I completely lost my two handed backhand. Some backhands I hit to the service line on my own side. I was really frustrated with myself but I had to remind myself later that I am not a pro player and need to focus on efficiency and reliability on my backhand not ESPN highlight reel quality. After the match I hit 5 or 6 topspin backhands with no issue. The rec level and pro level are two different worlds. I wish more players would appreciate that fact.

This video makes me so thankful i started playing tennis at 6 years old. Even though i stopped playing at 12 because of my knees, it was very easy to pick the sport back up when i was 16 because i had most of the fundamentals.

Very good to make this “clarification “; we all should improve ; but it isn’t our “job”… health is priority… professionals make their living with this… we should be our best version, have FUN and keep our health with the great exercise that tennis provides… I’ve reassumed my recreational tennis after 15 years and luckily (I’m a yoga teacher) can still manage and have sooo much fun, the feeling is great… but I do have to deal with the fact that I’m a bit perfectionist, so thank you for your words!

Great video. Once I accepted my limitations I have enjoyed playing this great game more.

So right! I remember when I first filmed myself hitting some groundstrokes. Boy did it look awkward😂However, if you are a big fan of the game, you will keep playing and enjoying the process of learning. Respect your body and the years pros put in to look the way they do.

Really appreciated your second point especially. Training your body for someone else's body is a recipe for disappointment, if not injury. Besides, even *if* it were possible to look like a pro or become a pro as an adult, I don't know any adults who have the time or money to put into the training that would be required to do it. It's hard to process the amount of time and resources pros pour into their game every day. I'm lucky if I'm able to get on a tennis court a couple of times a week! That said, I would certainly like to improve all my strokes and look as good as I can be where I am, so I appreciate your advice and videos to that end! 👍

The one handed backhand thing is super relatable. I find it extraordinary that Shapo can go that far back with his finish. I just hit an old school backhand and use the slice when the ball goes too high.

I find the biggest difference is the drastic difference in speed and anticipation. Watch a video of yourself and when think your lighting fast…..your not. Truly eye opening

I am a light-weighted guy (~60kg) used to play squash. My coach said my 2HBH form is good. Maybe because I am so used to rotate my body and leaning my body forward for my BH shot in squash. When I play my 2HBH in tennis, I don't even worry about my arms at all. I just try to rotate my torso for the shot. I feel my 2HBH is even better than my FH. Good to hear from you that it is actually harder than 1HBH in recreational level. This gives me lots of confidence.😀

What a great video and message! I never wanted to look like. a pro because I can't. But I work with what I can do. :)

It’s true Nick , that’s why I don’t wanna watch pro tennis before go out to play cause I will mess up to try copy their shot or make my strokes look pretty and hurt myself. I only can play my own games even it looks weird to some viewers but it works.

You have been so helpful in my new development, hopefully id find a way to send you before and now videos

Wait until you hit the 50 mark my friend! You are a 100% right on this video my friend. Great job on the video my friend.

So honest I love it! I would love to see the reactions of your clients when you tell them they should switch to one handed backhand cause they are overweight!

From your videos ive gone from an absolutely shockingly bad player that strangers at school would laugh at when playing a club level player in class to being able to have a range of effective, passable shots. Ok I’m not an athlete and I have limitations that can’t be overcome that put me at a natural disadvantage against most average people I.e. my height and limb length but I now have solid technique. Needless to say people are stunned and pleased that I’ve come on so much. I now enjoy holding a racquet knowing I won’t embarrass myself. Thank you.

What a downer, but honest indeed. At almost 49, I start to recognize some of the limitations, but not quite as you told them to be. One my backhand, I am happily running my arm onto the blocking position and stay in the throttle until then. So I do not expect my stiffer shoulder (which is not THAT stiff to begin with) to hamper my shot, as long as the blocking point ist far behind the hitting zone. And many of my clubmates state the my backhand looks like Dominic Thiem's, but I am double his age. So of course Thiem's backhand looks like mine, if at all. There is still enough power in my arm to destroy some balls (litterally), I just need longer to recover. Well, and my feet are kinda slow. But apart from that, I feel fine. No injuries, no limitations in my strokes, just enter the court and crush some balls and strings.

I am coming back to tennis at age 60 after retirement. As part of my retirement fitness routine I lost 12 lbs with hill repeat cycling every other day, push ups and pull ups on the non cycling days, and archery for my back and mental focus. I went from lowest gear slow up hills to 3 to 4 gears higher out of the saddle attacking hills, and only 3 pull ups to 35 pull ups in a row! My main limitations in tennis are cervical crepitous (painless grinding in my neck) with my two-handed backhand, decreased sense of balance, and over reliance on my arm strength and grip syrength. I feel like tennis is greatly helping my balance with the corrective foot work and eye-body coordination. I have to consciously relax my grip and allow the racket momentum to do the work by lowering thumb pressure and increased index finger gap. For range of motion at the finish, I try to have my anterior deltoid touch my chin and relax bend my elbows with about 100 shadow swings in front of a mirror everyday.

One underappreciated thing about professionals is their degree of flexibility and power allows them to maintain a decent form even when they get forced in less than ideal postures. A lot of people will look good if you keep sending them balls into their favorite spot and they barely have to move. A professional player will do that -- and do it better -- even on the dead run... while lunging... after 4 hours of play. That is just insane. It's good you're reminding people there are ways to accomodate physical limitations and that professionals are placing the bar way out of reach. That said, they do show us how to win matches -- you just have to look at their game using a broad brush and ask yourself what can you do, personally, in any one of those dimensions. It's better to have some regard for proper form most of the time than to not do it. Some physical conditionning is better than none. Sending back a bad shot is better than not sending the ball back at all. Start with the simple stuff.

There’s no way you’re 45 years old. You look great man! I hope I’m in a similar level of shape when I reach 45 years old

The point of tennis is to play a perfect game with no errors! Professional tennis players are the closest thing to seeing a person achieve a perfect match or game in tennis. I seen Aaron Krickstein down 6-0 and 5-0 and came back and win 13 games in a row! Brain Dunn didn’t know what hit him! Aaron was the most mentally tough player I have ever seen play at the professional level! It’s not how hard you hit the ball, it’s how well you can control every shot in tennis with ease. I literally go the clay court club houses with 30 years Wilson Profiles that need new strings and I can play doubles at all levels. I play tennis to learn control of the ball and the game. I don’t get mad at missed shot, and I always compliment everyone on the court that hits good shots. I can control the ball so well with these profiles and I let the racquet to the work. Tennis is supposed to be fun, who cares how good you are, we can all learn from every player. Coach Nick is awesome and keeps it real. Thank you

nick, i love your videos, the best on the net, so true, so intereting for me, we can dream when we watch the pros, but when we play as you say we have to find our own style

Great video as usual. Thanks for making tennis more accessible!

Words from the 🎾 wise. Thank you. 👍🙏

Great video, just have have fun playing and improving as much as we can. One huge limitation is also time, we dont put in anywhere near enough hours.

Thank you for your interesting thoughts!

Spot on with the double back hand for me. So many things involved to get a good swing especially since it is not engrained in my muscle memory. I have a lot of trouble dealing with deep pacey shots, and also hitting on the run.

Thanks Nick. Although that is common sense, it is always necessary to be reminded of it. Among many limitations at my 57 it is not possible for me to land carrying my weight on my bent left leg when serving. My knee joint already suffers a lot from this shock, so I'm content to move my right leg forward even though I lose power in this movement. Of course this gives me clear disadvantages on my second serve, but I have to accept it and continue to find ways to adapt my game to my limitations.

I play on recreational level. I'm pretty good at it (not sending many balls to out and to the net) lol Today, I literally tried to apply some professional skills I learned in theory and my game was an utter disaster, lost 3 double matches hahaha I had a good laugh and switched back to my 'bad looking' tennis and won 3....2 doubles and one singles....I accepted my limits and the fact that I'll never look like a PRO and it's fine...as long as I enjoy the game :) Best wishes and thank you for this video

Most people don't understand how hard tennis is to play. Most sports like baseball or basketball or football as a kid you can pick up easily and play for fun. It takes months to learn the skills in tennis to just be able to go out and enjoy playing a game at beginner level.

Hey Nick, great video as always. If I have limited range of motion in my back, preventing my one handed backhand from finishing as well as I would like, is that a reason to move to a 2 hander?

As a teen, we would do a stretch where another player would take our outstretched hands, palms forward, slowly pull them behind us, and each of us could cross our hands behind our back, not just touch lol

Great vid Nik! I agree that tennis is special in that if you put in the effort you will see improvement in your game. I don’t find that as true in other sports like golf.

Thanks Nick!

I'm a 42-year-old rec player from the UK. I'm my view you can "look" pretty good as a high-level rec player... it's not down to genetics, it's down to age. My body could do things when I was 30 that i now cannot do in terms of range of motion. I have had several surgeries - aging has killed my big weapons [serve and fourhand]. Adaption, as you get older, is the key. Diet and yoga have helped me.

Would appreciate a limitations video part 2!

Unfortunately, that's all true. I filmed a couple of my matches and then I speed it up to x1.5 and only then it looked like a kind of professional match. Only in a matter of speed, of course. I've been trying to reproduce this result without accelerating the video ever since...😂

The BH is the one stroke I see in Rec players where help is needed. I can’t comment much on the 2hbh but it seems to be everywhere. It’s a shame because the 1hbh is the ultimate stroke, most everyone uses their forehand as their go to stroke and that is because they lack the skills for a real 1hbh, the 2hbh is the safety net for the rec player. The other major issue I see in rec players is they swing too hard when they would be better off with proper mechanics first. The modern day rackets and strings are manipulating the player into swinging as hard as they can, huge mistake. They are relying on big bomb serves, The other issue is no one plays the net, s/v, net volley’, half court volley or shall I say 95% of all players are stuck on the baseline. It’s a shame as tennis is NOT a baseline sport , I repeat tennis is NOT a baseline sport but the modern strings and rackets changed the game and the player doesn’t know how to get off the baseline at the right time anymore. Oh well, no wonder 37 million people are now playing pickleball and so many pro tennis players have moved to pickleball, even NFL players are moving to pickleball.

Nik as a right handed high level golfer, the 2 handed backhand isn’t any easier, because you load in the backwards rotation and unload in the forehand you never learn to drive the left side, but hitting a couple hundred backhands I finally discovered a left side oblique 😂

wow - a lot of recreational players ( mostly guys) need to hear this ha ha

Super video

"Not in the slightest" lol 😅 so truthful

0:36 "nothing" i like this, lol

I'm amazed. It sounds like amateur tennis players do not know about... conditioning. That's not reserved to pro players, just work your physical conditioning, your flexibility everyday and things get possible if your body is not completely broken by life. Pro players can achieve level of endurance and mental strength that is hard to beat for sure, and they have to do it quickly to advance their career. But I do not buy the idea that it's impossible.

A few months ago with my one handed backhand, my arm whipped so far back on the finish, I underestimated how far I would finish, disengaged my torso rotation too early, and almost rolled over backwards from the arm lock I accidentally put myself in. Luckily I think no one saw me, because I looked as stupid as I thought I did when that happened 🤣

slightly disagree about the genetics reason, yes it plays a role in athleticism sure but it doesnt play a huge role or wholly determines whether you are athletic or not, its way more complex than you realize and not as simple as you make it out. So it is not impossible for someone to learn to hit like pros, its just highly improbable. Pros have the benefit of training from a young age with expert instructions and coaching thats really the major difference. but in theory it is possible to learn and acquire the same strokes as a pro because we're all humans the capability is there for some people. The question is who has the money and time to spend on training, experimenting just to hit like pros? If a pro takes 10-15 years to master with expert instructions then some self-taught through youtube average joe with no knowledge experience is going to take twice as long.

Maybe

I don't fine-tune my body, don't hit the same shot hundreds of times, so obviously I will never execute anything emotely close to the pros. My only objective is consistency and depth.

Most rec players should play classic style, eastern or continenetal forehand, and continental backhand. The style is the most forgiving of age, poor athleticism, poor fitness, bad knees and little training. Nowadays few teaching pros even know and understand the style, especially on the backhand side where they insist on teaching the eastern backhand, forgetting that Don Budge had a continental backhand. The continental backhand ISN'T just slice and chop. But you wouldn't know it from RU-vid.

I have rib/ab issues possibly costochondritis from the upper body rotation and also my serving wrist is sore once I added promotion to my serve to up the speed. It’s hard to take a day off as I am obsessed.

what do you consider a "young age" to start tennis?

When I clicked, I wanted to object to this video … after watching … I have to agree with all.

tough love .... Nick ain't no soy boy

I only just started looking like a pro on my strokes recently. And that’s after 5 years of intense training(1000+ hours a year) and I’m still not perfect.

The best way to confirm what Nic just said is to film ourselves. At that moment you will think but is it me, or can it only be in slow motion ?! It made me laugh but there are those who feel like crying....

Hello Nick do you teach tennis full time for a living?

Speaking about physical limitations. Do you think you would discourage a good high level junior but physically small from playing competitively and what height would be your cut off? Im aware that some of the greatest like federer are about 6 feet. Smaller players who have been somewhat effective such as michael chang i think 5'7. I think you are around 6 feet as well. Do you think a player of 5'5 in height could possibly make it?

Easiest way to look like a professional player? Buy their clothes! 😂

What, now i am really dissappointed Nick! Just kidding,it is a great video.

If my shots look smooth and have the fundamentals, I’ll be happy

I don’t care how I look I just want to be more consistent.

Rec players should all go see Nick.

I hit like medvedev but not on purpose and everyone makes fun of me saying I look funny what I play

“… recreational level players are overweight !…,” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 You ain’t lying !!!

Just do a John McEnroe serve!

I’ve been playing with my friend for 20 years and his serve and forehand still suck ! 😂😂😂 no improvement!!

I disagree with this. For most players, yes this may be true. But I’m 39 years old, started 2 years ago, never taken a lesson, and I’m just as if not more athletic than many professional tennis players. I don’t think any female out of the top 100 could compete with me.

It’s like 1 in 3 million to make it as a pro.

I consider myself a pretty good player I can beat tennis coaches. I videoed myself playing. LOL. Not elegant at all. So far from pros. The only way I can win points from pros if they double faulted.

Bottom line: Go out there and have fun.

I don’t care what I look like as long I give the other guy a proper match. I already know I look like shit.

I would say that the pros are using technique to overcome limitations that's why they are pros because they know a lot of secrets that most people don't know so they can "bend" their back and hit very intense shots without breaking their back and exceed the limits

Like, if you want Nik to become a doctor😋

Lately your videos have put me on a downer. Can we have some more positivity please.

In other words , if you’re a recreational players, no matter how hard you work at your game, you’re always going to play shitty!! …🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 It’s true!!!

TIL most rec players should take an appointment with an orthopedic.

Wow another rude video about how you don't think non-pros can't be high level athletes. Silly.

Ever heard of the Professor? Some people are late bloomers.

So Nick, let's say you look up and find a dish recipe by infamous Gordon Ramsay on the internet and attempt your take on it. So you are cooking and someone enters the kitchen and sees you trying hard and tells you "Your dish will look and taste NOTHING like Gordon Ramsay's dish". OF COURSE, DUH! What's the point of this video? And I don't get the "look like"... If all of your strokes "look like" the pros', then you probably HAVE the stroke of a pro which means you ARE a pro. You are stating the obvious here. In my club, we have many arrogant players, even the MOST arrogant of them never said or even HINTED that their play looks like , say , Roger Federer, which again makes me wonder what was your intention or motive for doing this video. Having said that, there are recreational players who have done some serious tennis training in their early years and can execute strokes that are very close to pro level. For example , I know some recreational players who can hit crazy pro level kick serves , just because they have put in years of work. Of course because they are not pro , they lack in other areas like fitness etc. So to conclude, yeah, you are stating the obvious here, yet, there are cases that could prove you wrong : non-pro players who have invested YEARS perfecting SOME of their shots thus able to make them look like pro level.

I have 18 months playing tennis and my shots are prettier than yours Nick. Ive always been best athlete in my grade. So, do not generalize…in few more years I WILL LOOK LIKE PRO!