Playing VS ESSENTIAL TENNIS... but with a CATCH! (Tennis set mic'd up) 

Guys! Just to answer a lot of the questions. I'd love to play all of the creators that everyone suggested (and I'm sure I will) but there are only so many hours in a day hahah I spend a lot of hours on court coaching every day so it ain't easy. That being said, I am going to start playing more to maintain my level as it is currently dropping fast 😂 Want to get more pros, high level juniors and so on. So stay tuned, subscribe and hit the bell button!! Appreciate the support

Karue: "You have to be really good at forgetting errors". So true. Joel and I enjoyed our time with you immensely, Karue! Thank you so much for welcoming us in. Can't wait to share the behind the scenes footage 😊

A great example of just how good you have to be to make it professionally. I feel like people write off anyone who's not top 150 on the tour. When you see matches like this and series like on Tennis Brothers, you realise just how good you have to be to even get a single point.

I felt sorry for the other guy at first but as he got more annoying it became very enjoyable to watch his utter destruction 😄

The difference in level is really stunning. A 4.5 player hardly wins a single point once an ATP-level pro like Karue decides to play seriously and hit winners.

I do admit, these are my favorite videos. It is a good reality check for us rec players!

Love this lines. Karue I had no idea you were so funny! “It was a foot in” and “See, he’s just a man”.

Fuuuuuuudge! Karue is a beast. I always wondered how Karue would handle someone like MEP but this answers the question. You don't grasp the speed, control, and quality of shots when he's hitting against Giron or Osaka. But watching him against a 4.5 it's night and day. Karue is on a totally different level. Is it strange that if I ever see Giron or Osaka with Karue at an event that I'd be most excited about meeting Karue and ignore the actual pros? Love these videos along with the tips and all the advice he gives us normal players.

That crack when Karue hits a ball is just so satisfying

Karue's shots were so good, it was hard for his opponent to even see it and call it...let alone hit it lol

I love these modified sets! I’m a 4.5 and my bf is a 5.0 and I need ideas on how we can play competitively with each other without him “going easy” on me. Keep ‘‘em coming! And thank you for the analysis talks at the end!!

4:28 "I think it was a little long what do you think?" You: I think you are blind.

It’s like Mike Tyson use to say, “ Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face” so it’s the same when you play an ATP pro. I have had the experience of practicing with a player from Florida who was on the Futures Circuit and got to experience what it’s like. I played 5.0 in my USTA section and reached the semifinals often but my best shots were his average. After a hour and a half practice I was out of energy from the workout. He took a half hour break and played a practice match against another player. There are so many levels in Tennis. Actually getting your tennis butt kicked is a good learning experience if you then work on developing your skills around what you experienced.

Great video! I'm approximately a 4.0 and my wife, who plays good veterans tennis 2 age groups older than me, used to beat me handily before she got injured. There is no hiding place on a tennis court. Keep up the good work!

Good try, Joel! Much respect for getting out there and taking a shot. One of your inside-out FH returns from the ad side was fantastic. Thanks for taking the grenade so we can starkly see the difference between your levels.

Love this collaboration! Although I love watching you hit your groundstrokes and probably could watch you hit all day, it was a little refreshing to see you play more aggressively! Looking forward to the next video!

I was lmao, 😂 the ET guy kept grunting like a crazy

Damn. I feel like we have all thought about how wed do against a pro. Not that any of us would think wed do well but losing nearly every point on the second ball really shows how big of a gap there is wow. Great content!

the rules/concept is great. have only watched 2 points so far and already love it haha!

YESSSSS!!!!! Best content type right here. Mic’d up sets of Karue playing, and it it’s high-ish level or a well known RU-vidr it’s a bonus. So good!

This series is so good, thank you! Please consider collaboration with Kevin/Total Tennis Domination!! That guy is so funny, seems like great sport!!

The collab we all needed 😀

Great collabs. Love the post match commentary. I've been trying to improve my lazy footwork so it was really helpful that you mentioned to focus on your footwork in the videos.

Your boy needs new contact lenses on the calls. You clearly hit the aces, and clean winners. This was a fun match to watch my friend.

Video request: A good gym routine for rainy days that will build / tone the muscles needed for advanced level tennis.

great to see Ian here! He is FOR SURE the OG !

I think the interest in this kind of matchup is because club level players wonder what it would be like to hit with a pro going for winners. What always happens is that even club pros who are often between the 4.0-5.0 level dial back on their strokes when hitting with lower level players. I had the opportunity to hit with a teaching pro who had previously worked as a hitting partner with Federer in Dubai, and as you might expect, he could crank the ball when he wanted to. I would encourage him to do it when I was on the court and it was fun to experience that higher level! With that said, I think Karue hits an even bigger ball! Whew!

You guys are absolutely class! Love the content

This is my first time watching any of your videos, but I think you could definitely make top 200 ATP.

Both these guys are way above Ian’s league and it is hilarious that Ian gives him advice!!

4:23 how dare you challenge that serve 🤣

Love this content! Definitely helps me understand how to approach playing someone who is higher level than me

That forehand at 8:42 was immaculate👏had buddy froze up lol

This collaboration is great! Very original and entertaining. All in good spirit as well!

Never seen this guy in any of the ET videos in the past 10+ years, but ok. I guess Ian didn’t want to take the bagel. Would have been a better video though because we’ve at least seen him play and we know his level. Oh well. Nice playing as always Karue.

Great great video! Thanks a lot! But I would like you to play against Ian as well as he is the main character on Essential tennis.

Awesome content. Karue is so good, and the analysis is great

Super awesome as usual Karue. Would be awesome if you could play Winston's friend, coach Chase. I think he's a 5.5+/6.0

I'd pay to see intuitive tennis versus karue

I play sets like this all the time in practice. Serve and two balls to finish the point. Also opponent hits only second serves and then return and 2 balls to finish the point. I'm a 5.0 player who has played a couple of low futures level players and while they're better than me at everything the biggest difference I find is how they immediately start to control points. I think any 4.5-5.0 level player who is serious about improvement should play sets with rules like this and just generally work on serve/second serve return + 1.

Yeah. Poor lad literally have no answers lol. This is a really nice trend going on here with all this collab! Loving the content! 🔥

3rd ball controversy I love it!

Great video. As a 4.5 myself I’ve learned through bitter experience that my only hope of being even remotely competitive against a good 5.0 is to get to the net. If I’m stuck at the baseline they can break me down within 3-4 strokes, basically toy with me. Against someone as good as Karue I’d be lucky to win five points in a set.

line calls and grunts are hilarious =P

Love your “down the line” shots--pls make a video for this -both BH & FH

Love what you're doing thanks Karue!

The serve difference makes this match an instant no contest. A better handicap to try is only one serve for Karue and 3 serves for his opponent. And the opponent can hit within the doubles lines while Karue must stay within the singles. And/or Karue must also hit between the service box line and the base line.

“I think it was a little long. What do you think?” *Ball wasnt even close to touching the service line 😂

Ah ha this is the content I like to see!

Murray casually beating Dominic Thiem in the background! This series is really cool, especially since the opponent doesn't know what you are trying to do. An interesting one would be you just hitting high over the net with lots of spin/ safety and backing your own movement to grind out points. I bet the opponent would go crazy haha.

Power and accuracy just next level 👍

Could you please make a video about the serve 🙏

That's a challenging drill. Good stuff.

4:24 "I think, it went a little long..." jajaja :D when you have to pull all the tricks ;)

Very best type of content!!! You beat these guys hard but with very good sportsmanship. Keep going!

What a difference in accelaration and being proactive to hit the ball!

Perfect drill for my vision of my tennis game. Great thx

Been a fan, and showed these Rec players how hard it can be at higher levels. I play 4.5 and try to follow your tips - definitely it's a different train of thought when hitting the shots. Reaction time is just so much faster. I would like to watch more of these videos.

You should play Coach Gu from Tennis Spin. I think he was a D1 college tennis player!

lol, wrecked. The level difference is crazy. Fun stuff to watch

Nick from intuitive tennis just did a video recently saying how a good rec player has no chance against a high-level player...even an older one. Easy to see the difference in this match. Of course the high level player is superior in every way. Fun to watch.

Thanks Karue for a great video. Of course it shows the differential in levels between you and Joel, but more importantly, we are able to learn from WHAT makes your playing better, the strategy, footwork, etc. The breakdown after is extremely beneficial because you can see things 4.5 level players don't.

Hey, can you post more vids of you playing matches against your level? It's nice to see yourself being tested by same or higher level players.

that was actually very fun to watch. ANd yes that serve was in by a foot.

That's awesome! Love the court as well.

Very enjoyable! Real insight into the features of an effective, aggressive game'

These sets against 4.5/5.0 players with stipulations are super fun to watch!

I love when pros crush rec players. Very enjoyable.

Everyone’s recommending other RU-vidrs…I wanna see a real battle with Karue vs Mackie McDonald! Battle of the Bruins!

Like seeing RU-vidrs working together 💪🎾

I wish you continued success in the field of tennis and youtube thank you

At 60+ I played Seth in an open tournament at Sunset. He was going for all of his shots so I was able to win a couple of service games by serving out of my mind and hitting corners. I was probably topping out close to 110 mph that day. I almost won another game serving at add in by hitting a flat second serve but I didn’t have the guts to go for a corner. Seth hit the heck out of the ball but he wasn’t that fast for his level of play, 12 UTR back then. I’m sure if he had focused on just making returns I wouldn’t have held even once as the pace and spin on his ground strokes were far too much for me to handle.

Those are not grunts… those are angry screams! 😂

Come Karue, let's see you play Iain! I am definitely one of the people that enjoys watching you thrash players.😊

@4:25 "I think it was a little long" LOL 6 inches inside the line/

looved this!!!! i am attacker and this is soo difficult but if i go passive i start missing more lol

Amazing content. Really fun to watch, Karue. Thanks for sharing this!

You should try to place against Inuitive Tennis, would love to see that match up!

Great vid!

I absolutely love the concept of this video. I think it would be better to have a more talented non-douchey 4.5, and have him deliberately try some different tactics to see how each one plays out. Also, if there were a way to take away the easy aces / service winners. I think what people really want to see is how effective a 4.5's serves, slices, lobs, topspin, approach, etc would be against a top player. Which ones are dead in the water and which ones can hang in there somewhat. Thanks again for the excellent content!

Loved this! Love also in some other videos when you stop the video during points and draw little pictures showing the options on the table and the reason why you go with one or the other.

Really interesting video. Any advice for what to do when finding oneself in Joel's position, i.e., hopelessly outclassed? One thing I wish he had done was hit two first serves in the 3rd game when he got to game point. I groaned when he spun that 2nd serve... that was almost the same as conceding the point, and it was likely to be his only chance to take a game. Your pace was clearly making him late on almost everything even when he got it back... any tips on what to do when someone is overpowering you? I know you say to win with your feet, but I think Joel was already moving his feet as well as he could. Should he perhaps have shortened his swing, and played your groundstrokes more like service returns? Would it have helped for him to play farther back? Of course, no tactic would allow him to win, but how could he have perhaps won a game?

What a cool drill. Very challenging. Amazing how even an atp player makes the same mistakes I make. Less often and less of a degree of course, but interesting how tennis is tennis regardless.

Went through this horrifying experience decades ago - by accident (entered wrong tournament) - as 4.0 playing a former D1 player from Michigan State. Lost 0 and 1, but I suspect the pretzel was a gift. But the final lesson for me came an hour after the match when I showered: I discovered a half-dozen bruises on my torso from his body serves! So, I have always well understood the "pro gap" since.

Best crossover!!

Would love to see you play some higher rated players maybe local D1 or D2 college guys. Amazing content though 👍🏽

Huge firepower difference, of course. Huge pace, Karue, big serve and return.

Imagine you play against Karue and you get to pick one handicap for him, he only gets 1 serve or he starts each game down 0-30. What would you all pick?

As a 4.5ish player I appreciate the reality checks that these beat-downs provide. I love to see them.

Red dude is perfect example of a 4.0 thinking he’s Federer

"what if i lose to this guy"...Haha... funniest comment of the day!

So entertaining watching someone better than me get absolutely waxed. The disparity is huge between us and the next level.

Karue is the best player on RU-vid. We appreciate your insight. How do you feel about doing a video on recovering on balance after your stroke. I’m currently working on that with my backhand.

A drill I loved doing was playing a normal set but one player had to hit down the line no matter what and the other player had to hit cross court no matter what.

Enjoying your videos. Thanks

Another “great” set. They really are instructive for us mere mortals. 😂 Thanks again for all the great content you put out.

It'll be great to see Ian play a set against Karue!

“I think it was a little long…” 😂😂😂

Down 0-40 every game vs a 4.5 would be a good challenge!

This folks is why you should consider who you are getting your online instruction from. Not all pros are equal.