Great Tennis Footwork Is The Key To Great Tennis

Let me repeat that!

Great tennis footwork is the key to great tennis.

This for many people is something that is overlooked.

Too many people concentrate too much time and energy on a particular shot or shots, but the fact remains – it doesn’t matter how good the shot is if you are never in a good position to hit it!!

Just stop for a minute and think about what I just said.

Untill that makes sense you  can never move on.

Every tennis shot starts from the ground up and so your feet are engaged long before the racket gets anyway near the ball to play a forehand or backhand etc.

If you improve this aspect of your game you improve your  – SIMPLE!!

Try this simple to set up drill (it’s great for leg strength too)

I will be posting more drills so keep watching!

P.S. click HERE for more free tennis footwork videos

Moving Well For Clay Court Tennis

I have found that the number one thing about playing well on a clay court has nothing directly to do with shots.

It is in fact about your movement, more specifically – SLIDING.

Sliding into the ball on a clay court is vital and is the one thing that the players who don’t grow up on the surface find the hardest to add into their game.

In fact most people think that you have to learn to hit the ball and then slide.

No!!

You have to learn how to slide into your shots and then begin your recovery for the next ball – and that requires timing.

So how do you learn to do this?

Well, one of the best ways I have seen is to just get out there and slide around.

Getting a partner to throw a tennis ball onto the court in different directions while you run to and slide around to get the balls before getting the ball back to them is one of the best ways to work out how to move and recover on a clay court.

Just progress/transfer this game to when you have a racket and are hitting forehands and backhands and you are well on the way to feeling comfortable and moving better on “the dust”.

If you want more detailed tennis footwork info and advice – Click HERE

NADAL – Under The Hood Of The Clay Court Master

With all the many motoring analogies flying around these days when people are talking about the great tennis players not only of today but in the past, I thought I would take this opportunity to look at a few of the important elements that go to make up the modern clay court genius that is Rafa Nadal.

 

After his 3 set demolition of the tennis “Rolls Royce” Roger Federer, which left everybody in awe not only about Federer’s lack of ability to hurt Nadal but also Nadals untouchable performance, I thought I would wheel Nadal into the “garage”, open him up and take a look under the hood to see what we could find.

In The Garage

Ok first impressions are a well proportioned yet streamlined body kit which gives him the ability to generate power yet is aerodynamic enough to get around the track (court) time after time.

But let’s put him on a ramp to start our inspection at the bottom.Let’s look from the ground up to see what the secret ingredients are to his success.

The first thing to notice is the choice of axle and wheels.He has a wide axle and wider than average tyres with a low profile that enables him to have great traction without sacrificing manoeuvrability.He is of course a 4 wheel drive with independent suspension which is essential for success on “the dirt” of the clay courts.

But what does that mean for you?

Well, because all of the great tennis players are built from the ground up, that is exactly what you need to be paying attention to when looking for clues and tips to improve your game – so start with your feet and how you can improve how they work.

The ability to get to lots of balls in a great position to hit great shots is crucial.Too close or too far from the ball and you will have no power and a lack of control and because Nadal (and you) will have to hit shot after shot, the ability to stay low (for good balance) and come out of your shot under control and move to the next shot (under control) is of the highest priority.

Added to that is the fact that moving on clay is harder because it moves underneath you causing you to slide, so you have to learn how to retain your balance in and out of slides to the ball whilst keeping your footwork in check for maximal position.

This is why Nadal has done, still does and why you should do lots of on and off court drills without hitting balls.

Drills that force you to learn how to remain balanced, move your feet quickly and also to move all over the court to get to balls or cones etc in patterns that are similar to those you may come across when you play.

It doesn’t matter whether you do them on clay or not or even if you play on clay or not.Whatever surface you play on, you can improve your play significantly by introducing this type of practise into your routine.

Think of it like learning new words.

If you can increase the amount of words you know and use, then it won’t matter what situation you find yourself in as you will have more words at your disposal to cope.This is exactly why small children find it harder to communicate well – they don’t have many words to choose from!

It’s the same with your footwork & movement.The more you can increase your “movement vocabulary”, the more likely you will be to cope with whatever situation presents itself on the court and is why Nadal is a fluent multi-linguistic wizard (so to speak – no pun intended).

So that’s it for the bottom of the Nadal-mobile, in the next segment we’ll move up to look with a bit more detail at the engine to see what we can learn there.