Tennis Lesson: Top 10 reasons you lose tennis matches 

#1 why I lose matches? It's because I'm the one who dictates if I'm going to lose or win. I don't know what idiotic thing springs in my mind a couple of hours before a match, but it just puts me in a "either I'm going to demolish my opponent 6/0 6/0 or he's going to win 6/0 6/0". Then I would go into that said match trying to play lights out tennis and guess what? First set is over in 20 mins, 6/1 for him, with 5 winners, about a dozen unforced errors from me and add about 4 double faults and, well, you get the picture. Then, inner Paire/Fognini/Kyrgios comes out and I start insulting myself, "you're a moron, what are you even doing playing this sport?" and all that stuff. After another 20 mins or so, match is over 6/1 6/0 and I lost to someone who looks like he just picked a racquet 3 weeks ago.

I watched your video the night before my club tournament and I won all of my matches!!

1 NOT RELAXED IN MIND & BODY 2 INACTIVE FOOTWORK 3 MID COURT WEAKNESS 4 POOR SHOT SELECTION 5 FEELING LOST IN LOOSING 6 PROVIDING YOUR OPPONENT 7 NO RELIABLE SPIN 8 NO MASTERY OF SPIN 9 MISSING TOO MUCH OVERHEADS 10 WEAK RETURN

Hi, I am in 200 seniors ITF players, playing tennis 50 years,and this person did grate job !!! Bravo !!!

Superb video Pete. This maybe the most useful video I've ever seen for competitive recreational players! Many thanks, Dave from England

Thanks coach Pete! There are so many videos on strokes and technique. But i really love your videos on strategy and mental, which we tend to overlook. Really great stuff, please keep these coming!

From the UK… we were discussing these points today.. your video Is spot on..

You nailed it!! Haven't heard coaching like this in a long time! Thanks for sharing the top 10! I'm in!!😎

Awesome video and bang on point. I can see myself returning to this one many times after losses. Thanks Pete.

Fantastic video Pete! Thanks

Rick Macci is a gift for learners. Thanks for sharing

great job!! I have played a lot of tennis and most players that are average or below make these same mistakes that I have played including myself!! Thanks!!

Hey Peter, awesome video. I can't get to see in the end where to click for next free training series. Please suggest and keep doing such great stuff. Thanks

I like all of these 10 reasons and agree that most of them are very important to win. The only thing I don't understand is that serves haven't been mentioned as one reason, because the serve is one of the most important things in tennis. I know your serve is great, but for me it's the worst part of my game while my return is probably the best. :)

Thanks Pete, I Always see this video, over and over, and it's helpfull. Henry from Genoa.

Awesome tips! Totally relevant and spot on.

Wow! Thank you so much Pete! This has to be the most valueable Video of all time. Guys, watch this video over and over again, this man really knows his business. It took me sooo many years to figure out the things he mentioned here, gonna definitely come back every couple of weeks to remind myself of what is really important during matches. From my own experience the biggest game changer is improving your fitness. Especially on the slow clay courts here in Germany it oftentimes gave me a huge advantage. You can really improve your consistency and just grind people down without having to dramatically imrpove your technique. Over time that helped me to win an insane amount of thight matches through basically just outlasting my opponents. So the best tips I can give you Guys: Improve your stamina, get a lot of balls into play (crosscourt and high net clearance) and MOST IMPORTANTLY compete for every singe point!!

Thanks Pete for all you do ! I’m sixty two with a lot of experience on the court but always learning and open minded . You top ten is dead on in this content . These are all things we should work on and practice . K

Well done Pete. Good info

Thank you for this excellent lesson 🙏 appreciate

Great video, usefull tips. One more that applies to me and many others: you dont prepare early enough, you wait for the ball to hit your side of the court before doing the unit turn.

Covered it. Great job coach.

Great coaching! New ideas and so easy to remember. I just practiced your recommendations today and learned what I COULD do in a match now.

Excellent,very informative. Thanks coach

great breakdown especially showing the offensive/defensive zones of the court...played 25 yrs without learning this 😩

Spot on! Great tips Pete...

Great Video!!

coach, I am very happy such a Great guy like you puts such an effort like this quality training lesson free for every body in the world . I am a 5- 5.5 player who spent tons of dollars ( 30 k usd) over 20 years to just learn different things you are giving it for FREE. love you and hope some day we meet up and hit some quality shots and days. best wishes for 2020 and happy new year.

Des conseils pertinents et avisés Grateful Thank U

Now I know why I get beaten by the players I think I should beat every single time. Bad luck for them I came across this video. By the way I am 56 and a great tennis enthusiast ! Thank you very much Pete !

Great video i took notes Love it

Great advice thank you.

Amazing video, top top content and really well presented, credit to yourself! Thanks for helping many of us improve :) also love how you just casually whip those forehand winner short balls with barely any backswing, such good technique!! Did you used to play on the tour or what was your rating as your technique etc looks like you could easily be former pro or 2.1,3.1 etc. Anyway great vid!

great stuff! Thanks!

This video is so helpful!!

Nice video, I think most people will find this very informational :)

Excellent video

Thank you ! Watching you from Ethiopia .

The relax part is the most true! I play so good during Training and then during the Match I am totally tensioned and miss all the shots. Also footwork is totally off. Finishing the shot in 2 steps is a great idea but if you miss it you can easily be caught off guard. The areas idea is just genius I have to study this more as I have problems making winners from area 3. I will try the chip approach shot as a backup solution. Also the perfect game is so true, sometimes you have to just win ugly, perfect play is for training. My second serve is a pushed one, that is a big liability that I have to deal with. My return is my best part of my game, I can actually make more points on return than on my serve. I think you forgot one big point, not thinking during the game and analysing your opponent and learning his game and patterns.

Wow! Priceless points made. I’m pretty sure like many others I ticked off at least 8 of the 10 reasons! Don’t you wish you could have a mini coach on your shoulder to keep reminding you of these reasons!?

I love giving up early. I never really remember if I won or lost, but my body remembers for days when I tried too hard.

Excelent video great coach thanks.

One of the best videos I have seen.

THANK YOU COACH, GOOD VIDEO

Wow, what a great, beefy lesson!

This is what I needed thanks Pete

110% CORRECT...#1=playing with fear! Youre a middle aged 4.0+ player new to a club or group of guys and you’ve got to be social...play with lower guys in order to get introduced to your level players. You’re playing doubles and every mistake you make your partner grumbles under his breath. The other players are pushers, slicers and old fart dicers and you’re still trying to play your A game...how do you play down against these guys? ...you get frustrated and try to hit shots with all your mite with perfect form and grossly mess up. They’ll spray the ball in every direction 9 out of 10 times then once you adjust they hit a winner BY ACCIDENT, how does a good 4.0+ player play lower level players (yeah, you’re gonna say DONT play with them, but there are times you need to. You’re new to a club and have to play your way to your level. You’re in a casual club tourney and have to play the lower seeds. How do you play without fear? The tips here in the video are great mechanical tips, but the root of fear is HATE. You HATE to lose. You HATE to play what you think are lessor players. You HATE to make mistakes. All these things make you tighten up, play wildly and with anger. Loosen up, relax, HAVE FUN, stop over thinking and trust in your abilities. I recently saw a RU-vid video of young tennis star Christopher Eubanks playing (I forgot her name) a female basketball star at a challenge contest where they’d play each athletes game of expertise, them play a neutral game as a playoff. I was waiting for Chris to POUND every shot, every forehand, backhand as if he was playing on the tour. Instead he was forced to dink around with her looking foolish. But he clearly is a tennis pro...he had confidence in himself such as not to get frustrated. I’ve always said, there are THOUSANDS of tennis pros all with the same bag of shots in their skill set. But what differentiates the top 10 players above the rest...is the mental toughness!

Pete that was awesome!

Brillant. Absolutely spot on.

Can't agree more, I just cannot relax because too afraid of losing, I know if I can relax, my shots are much better, more pace, more aggressive and probably more consistent. 10 Thank You for the 10 Reasons !

this guy is a pro coach, no bullsh*t I am like a 6.0 and all of his points I struggle with from time to time.. and every reason is exactly why ... you beat yourself and results in loosing..

Just what I needed. Most of all - evaluating the opponent looking to make them play weaker. I definitely do not problem solve like this well enough because I dont think this way enough. in fact couple players next level from me have said that as good as I play, they 'like' my balls (often into their ideal hitting zones). while I can hit all shots, I dont hit enough of the shots they arent comfortable with. will think back and figure what those are. Thank you Pete!

I take a lot of lessons. I take lessons whenever I travel and I am always meeting with different instructors in DC. One coach recently said: I only use positive language on the court. We can figure out why something went wrong and reinforce it positively with new movement or new thinking. But there’s no point in saying to yourself “that’s my problem” or “I’m terrible at backhand volleys.” Everything can be worked on and reinforced positively. The negative is always 10 times more powerful than the positive so you have to do a paradigm shift when it comes to attitude.

One of your best videos I've seen man! Awesome!

Wow, this was a fantastic video! I hope it doesn't get too popular though so my club members don't find it ;)

Good tips there!

Amazing video!

this is awesome man

Great video !!!

I lose cuz my buddy is an astronaut and all I get are moonballs, so I always have all day to think about how I’m going to crush my shot and then I shank it in to the stands

You don’t need a practice partner with a big serve to work on your return. Have them serve from the service line instead of the baseline. The shorter distance helps you to work on shortening your backswing, moving with the ball toss and following the ball to the landing in your service box. Take turns serving a bucket to each side. I would add that when returning or serving always make decisions according to the service score. Don’t go for winners or aces on add out. If you’re up then play aggressive and put the pressure on. If you play baseball you already know about playing to the count on the batter, runners on base, outs and game score. It’s similar in tennis 🎾

The number one reasons are besides the obvious. You’re not looking at the ball. You’re thinking about the next point before you finished the current point.

Gracias

think this is really cool and it can help lots of players

ABSOLUTELY PANICKING AND RUSHING WORKS AGAINST YOU , THE 10 COMMANDMENTS NOT TO BE BROKEN LOL , THANK YOU

Imagine if he went: "1. You suck 2. You suck 3. You suck 4. You suck 5. You suck 6. You suck 7. You suck 8. You suck 9. You suck 10. You suck"

Who else paused this video to watch the highlights of the Nadal / Thiem match, It was amazing go watch!

a lot of great points but I sure wish the audio production was better. It would almost be better to just have quality voice over instead of all the super distracting noise

#1 real reason you lose, the other guy plays better.

We r on the beach in Cardiff by the Sea in Calif. bummer. Need a great coach to work with .wanna win a gold ball in the 60s next yr

What if you do all those tips and have good control? My flaws are being too relaxed at all times and never feeling any urgency to challenge the opponent. I can act as a wall to return most balls but it's always a long grinding point when I win.

What do you do in your laptop for tennis . Pl. Comment

Excellent summary.

ok.lets use those advices and see.

Does your opponent win most of the points or do you miss most of the points? When you realize it, that's a good starting point and then you can identify from these 10 most common reasons where you need to improve. Maybe it's just three or five out of ten that count for the most points you lose.

Good tips- I am currently competing with a consumate junk-baller, so it's all good.

Great lesson, reason 11 I'm shi*!

Where do you teach?

😭

I lose matches BECAUSE I relax 😂

I have 9 of 10 flaws

where are subtitles ?

I couldn't get what is the meaning of "Turkish nightmare" "Burgers and forehands"

I’m told that I go to easy on my opponent and my coach is right

I use to play tennis when I was 11 to 15 with my dad. I was so good like a pro. I want to start again now I'm in my late 30's and I know I have what it takes to compete in the Opens. I was that good. My father stopped playing with me b/c his goldigger gf used to tell him not to play w/ me anymore and he was stupid enought to listen to her and getting BOOTY was more important to him then his daughter getting a tennis superstar carieer. I did start playing at 31 again and it all came back to me b/c I had the experience from before and I was really good again. I know I have what it takes to compete in the OPEN"S b/c it is never to late to become a superstar tennis player or to become a superstar in no matter what career to choose to do . Age doesn't matter it just a number.

its not how to lose a game but how you can win them

Love reason 5

Bro you dont know nothing whats 6x6 like logan paul vs ksi😂

Great content, but … could you please lower your voice and talk slower - Relax - it’s exhausting listening to your machine-gun delivery. Thanks

Pete thanks for the video. However, I don’t see any improvement in your forehand. Didn’t you spend all that money and time to be coached by the best? But your technique doesn’t even look like anything’s changed. Maybe you are not coachable or you reverted back to old habits? Maybe the Turkish Nightmare can coach you up. His technique looks better than yours.

What the hell is the T shirt about? Turkish nightmares

Great Video!!!!