NUMBER 1 REASON Why You Are NOT Getting Better at Tennis 

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Great reminder. When I first recorded myself playing I was amazed at how little intensity I was displaying on the court.

This is one of your best instructional videos overall. As both Tipsaveric and Federer noted- Good Footwork is the foundation of good players/ Good Footwork makes the best players

Nick is absolutely right as always.😎The thing with me is that it comes to my mind to be more involved and lift my feet off the ground but at that very moment my mind is too much focused on movement and as a result I start losing my touch with technique. The second problem is that even if I manage to do that, my level of fitness drops dramatically after 10-15 minutes of hitting. I guess I just need to work on my fitness and stamina. 🧐

So simple and when you can keep this up the results are almost instant .... goes back to the concept of footwork being the key to any tennis shot. Thanks !

The past 3 months I was implementing exactly this - move at intensity no matter what!! The result: before that I got beaten by the same guy 4:6 every time we’ve played, now I’m dominating 6:2 every set. Something that I was getting wrong was thinking: “If I move at high intensity on every ball I will get tired after 3 games.” That is NOT true- try to hit when you don’t set up and you are late - it is exhausting! So, when you move at high intensity you are actually saving energy at the long run.

My first coach said... "have happy feet" in other words keep your feet moving and stay on your toes.

Totally right. And not only is intensity important to get better, but also to stay fit. For us over 50, the first things that go are the legs. Also, high blood pressure, diabetes, natural loss of muscle mass, you name it. Doctors say, "get more exercise". The difference between tennis being just a game, and being a tremendous aerobic exercise, is maintaining intensity on the court. Move those feet and the legs are exercised, the heart rate goes up, everything. 10 minutes on a stationary bike is boring as hell. 1 hour on the court is funner than almost anything (I said almost....). I just played an hour and a half with a friend, high intensity, and got a tremendous workout, heart rate up, legs burning, everything. If you want your tennis to be a good alternative to jogging, gyms, stationary bikes, climbers, etc., it must be high intensity. If not, you're just casually climbing the stairs. Great video, Nico. Would love some videos specifically focused towards us older players. Sometimes, modern twisty, pretzel like strokes (you know what I mean), are too much for us. But we still want to be update. Thanks in advance.

I find that this method/level of intensity is very effective in generating split steps very naturally with people who are not even trained to do it. Thanks Nic as always. Great video. Cheers! M

Super! I’m just getting back into the game after almost 40 years and my footwork is the most needed adjustment I need so this video is something special. Thanks! Soon I’ll upload better videos of my killer forehand…thanks again 🎾🤗🏆

Testified. Great video and it’s really the truth. Trying to get juniors to have this mindset from the start.

I played yesterday for my club in a doubles tennis league. The biggest thing I noticed was there is no kinetic chain to a lot these players shots. They just use their arm. It's especially noticeable on their serves and forehands

I watched a different video on intensity (also by you) a while ago and it made a huge difference. I was taking a tennis lesson once per week (now twice), and played against the wall inbetween. I started playing in January this year, but wasn't able to use the wall until summer season started. Let me tell you, the difference between no intensity and moving as much as possible was me hitting the wall once or twice before losing the ball, and hitting the wall over ten times. It's HUGE. A couple days after this, I realised that I lose my intensity as I get more tired. This would cause me to miss a lot of balls again. It turns out, though, if you force yourself into more intensity, even when you are tired, you suddenly play much better. It's insane. Coach then started telling me that I should have a solid stance when hitting the ball, though. It does make sense, and I try to actually stand still before hitting the ball (if I have the time), but timing that right is tough. Either way, though, between wall training and higher intensity, my consistency has gone through the roof. (In comparison to before, anyway - in the grand scheme of things, it's still shit :D)

6:29 4 balls in your pocket? looked like a magic trick

The reason people don’t play with intensity during recreational doubles is because it’s slow and sucks 😂 Man up and play singles.

I think it helps if you practice with intention. If you are practicing with certain intentions, you will orient yourself towards that. It's also why it's suggested to be purposeful in your practice rather than doing it for the sake of practice.

Dođe mi da se preselim u USA da me Nik trenira. Best youtube coach.

I totally approve

Meanwhile me, trying to make my shoes squeak in a clay court

Thank you so much Nick for this video it is going to make my tennis a lot better, that’s I’m lacking in my games and practice

I love your videos! Thank you so much! If I had a million dollars, I would give it to you for being an awesome coach. Thank you!

Again, excellent! Thanks for the tips

Thankyou, this is my biggest flaw. Helpful as always.

Easier said than done, because you need to be quite fit for that no?

I find hitting sessions can encourage lazy footwork so avoid them. Nowadays I pretty much only play matches when I go on court so have to be intensive all the time.

Nick I wished that this video was made 6 years ago, because I was tought that the Roger Federer (relaxed) way "IS" the right way way and this caused me 90% of my high school matches :( Now I'm 21 and I realized it too late, and my game went from level 1 to 10, had a lot of regret not playing with intensity 😭

Eye opening!! Thank you so much!

Great video for training my boys and girls high school teams.

As a junior I was a not too bad table-tennis player. The #1 of my team came from Tschaina and played for a good amount of money in the German league. Back then he told me Chinese coaches stick pushpins through the insoles of kids' shoes to keep them on their toes all the time.

This is a great video

Coach just revealed without saying why pushers dominate rec tennis. We set up the hackers with softballs to them and follow up with junk balls to get them out of form because they lack the intensity to get to the junk ball EARLY and set up. And please, don't advise them to ATTACK with intensity softballs hit right to them. Lastly, please, coach, delete this video!!! Pushers need love too!

So true. Going out to a practice session in 30 minutes I am gonna make sure I do this. No more (intuitively) lazy tennis!

Great video coach Nick!

Great video, I always thought I played tennis intensively and then I watched a video of my match and I looked very slow and laboured. Will take your tips on board, thank you!

Your most helpful, valuable lesson!

Indeed Nick!❤

❤

Hi Nick, great advice as always. Just wanted to let you know that when a video is on HDR on youtube a lot of laptop have trouble displaying them. Just wanted to let you know since it would be unfortunate is people can't watch it cause of this, while HD would do fine.

Effective but exhausting

I just started playing again and the biggest problem is reacting to the ball when its short Im almost scared into sitting on the baseline.

True, but a 50yo doesn't have the stamina for it. Any advice?

Maybe this is the reason why i ve been playing so horribly lately, im fast but i feel always like my timing is off, i have to move like this

Nick...you just showed me the mirror 🙌🏼

Nik, i found your chanell couple weeks ago and noticed that you mostly play/train on hard court. Why don’t you do it on clay courts?

Harsh truth sensei. Thanks for putting me to shame.

8:00 learned without the split step, as it was not in the game back then. But, I also played A LOT of basketball (forward) and I can get going very quickly. After playing a lot of tennis, I have discovered that in certain conditions, I am doing the split step without even wanting...it just happens, like my body knows better and does the move for me.

Great video Nick! 👍

Thanks Nick!

So.. so… true 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

thanks for video

This is great advice.

How does it sound on grass and clay?

Wenn ich meine Intensität im Match bewusst erhöhe, bin ich immer erstaunt wie gut ich plötzlich die Bälle treffe. Es fühlt sich dann richtig gut an. Und trotzdem verfalle ich nach wenigen Ballwechseln wieder in alte Muster. Wahrscheinlich weil ich mich wieder auf andere Dinge konzentriere. Ich muss mir so viele Sachen während des Matches immer wieder ins Bewusstsein rufen. Die meisten Dinge fallen mir dann immer erst nach dem Match wieder ein. Dann ist es zu spät.

Resting on the balls of your feet also forces you to flex the knees which reminds your body to match your height to the height of the incoming ball to find your ideal point of contact.

At 72 years old I intuitively try to save energy if I expend that much energy for every point I’ll never finish the set Lol, also I have a very good friend who when I play doubles with him and his sneakers squeak, I know we’ve lost the point he never seems to make the volley when that happens but good advice for younger more agile abilities.

The greatest teacher🎉🎉🎉

This is so true. As I get more movements on my lower body the timing and the contact of all strokes instantly gets WAAYYY better, but I just can't keep doing it for hours and hours.

It has sense. More lessons with Anna? She is funny and gracious - I want to see how far she went in tennis...

This is so true it’s painful to hear. I wish I had a shock collar that zapped me when I stop moving my feet.

Nick, thank you so much! Your lessons are so valuable ❤

I'm not sure intensity is the right word, and I'm not sure there's one thing. Being in position and then hitting with intention would be how I would describe what you're referring to and I'd agree with that. Personally, intensity hurts me more than it helps me as I will tend to overhit because my intensity leads me to overconfidence.

Did you lose your mind😂

Electric shockers against kids, damn, no wonder some parents lost their prospect children.

Movement , footwork , balance , keeping space and early preperation are the 5 keys to improve your tennis , I am also a tennis trainer and this is what I am telling to my students.

I'd be interested in a video on how to play with intensity without tiring oneself out more than necessary in a match setting. (Other than just getting in better shape, of course).

Invaluable lesson! Thanks Nick!

Jimmy Connors squeaky shoes sound was a thing of beauty.

So true, yet so hard to correct. Despite my best intentions, I find myself off balance because of this exact laziness all too often.

Tomic's father used a BB gun to get Bernard moving when he was a junior

❤🎉 great sir

why can't I play intuitive tennis anymore again?

hahaa no way, electric shockers in the heels got me

you did shamir dirty

"Oh you mean butt shake?" -Ana

Might work only for rec players in their 20s-ish with reasonably good foundations after more or less good performance career as juniors. Close to useless for the rest, majority of rec players really..there are decent reasons why they play the way they play. I can bet even Anna with her good fitness, work with who you should be proud of looking at her development in tennis(not knowing though her performance in competitive play), would have big issues in implementing good solid footwork in her tournament matches. We often hear especially from RU-vid coaches: do this like a pro, do that like a pro)..c'mon, this content is not for pros or similar performance public, go easier on us)) give us some real, down to earth concepts)