How to Hit HARDER with MORE CONTROL (Drills included) 

It's amazing how the universe works. The exact technical problems i have in my game i see a solution on RU-vid the same day!🙏

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!

I don't care if my tennis friends beat me after I forward them this brilliantly conceived video. This channel deserves many more subs.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!!

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!

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!

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 instruction, I'm having the exact problem when warming up in mini tennis.

"Educate the hand". Well said Kevin!

Very very very important!!! Thank you so much

Yours might be the best tennis channel

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.

My fav tennis instruction video ever. Thanks

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!

Excellent class, awesome thank you!!!

Great video! Just what I’ve been trying to improve. Thanks!

That was so informative! Thank you!

Very helpful. Going to try this out this week.

This makes so much sense. Thank you!

THIS is the video I needed to watch!!! Thanks Kevin!

Incredible lesson, thanks bro.

I can’t wait to try this out asap

Kevin I really liked this video and the concept of feel that you’re teaching. Please make more videos that focus on this!

Great video as usual Kevin!

Thanks Kevin, my tennis improve alot because your fantastic video.

Thank you for the video ! I'll try it during my next training session 😊

I'll go out and practice this. Thank you!

Really like this, very practical.

I like how your explanation is so clear and understandable

So important. Thanks!!

Kevin, this is insanely great.

Wonderfully informative

What an amazing explanation of ball control! Thank you!

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 👍👏🙏

Great video Kevin. Perfect explanation why playing in T-field is so important for base line control. Greetings from Germany

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.

Great, great lesson

Makes sense, thanks Kevin

Your lessons are excellent to all learners❤thanks

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.

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.

Excellent explanation about how to use the short court drill to practice topspin.

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”!

Can't wait to get on court this weekend and try this out!!!

Thx, nice video! Greetings from Austria :)

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 a great tip.

Waaaawww I needed this

Having you as a coach would be so cool. Good video!🔥

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 :)

Great teacher

youre goated bro thank you

Awesome advice. Still struggling in warm up when close to service line. So lack of control...

Thanks you brother domination

SUPER SUPER HELPFUL!

Great Video!

great video and makes a lot of sense. many times i am blasting the ball without much control :D

Best tennis tutorials on youtube

spot on.

Hello man keep up the good work lov ur vids:)

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 ?

Thanks a lot, exactly what I needed. I play old man's doubles and it's almost never played behind the baseline.

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?

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.

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.

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?

Kevin, do you have any videos breaking down the techniques of where the racquet face needs to be and how to get it there ?

Excellent! Mea culpa!

This is incredible Kevin. Just enjoyed my first Tennis lesson.

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!

Just like in music, i you want to play somethn very fast you need to practice very slow. Great video !

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.

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.

Excellent video. My forehand issues in a nutshell. Now I know why I can't seem to hit short court. Thanks!!

good stuff

Great explanation of why I hate half court warm-up!😅

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?

Can you do a video on 'racket head speed', 'opening the racket face a little more' etc? definitions and how to adjust and adapt?

What was your settings on the slinger for this drill?

I am able to do this but when I am in a match, I lose all confidence and start stiff stroking my shots again 😅

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 RU-vid that I've seen explaining this aspect. Keep up the great work

Hi Kev are you changing the racket face my slightly adjusting the grip or are you using the wrist

if only there were coaches like you in my area

Haha, that example at the beginning sounds soo familiar 😂👍🏼

Kevin, question: in this exercise, do you adjust the "openness" of the racquet-face by shifting the grip or by rotating the wrist?

You, sir, know what's up !

What ball machine are you using and is it a good one?

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 hate short court. Going to work on this.

I have the same problem, going to try this drill. I slice and dice when im near the net, and want to move back quickly. Then when i have some approach shots to hit, I either hit it long or hit in the net.

All great information. Any chance you can share your Slinger settings for these drills?

Perfectttttt

how can practice swinging racquet left hand right hand at home right sir

this is great but what about the backhand??? Do you do the same method for the 1hbh side?

Patrick mouratoglou teaches to have your wrist loose when hitting with your forehand? Is this true?