I have coached high school and USTA Junior tennis for 30 years. When I coach footwork is one of the first skills that I look for when I evaluate players. If you can’t get to the ball, if you are not in the right position you are increasing the difficulty of your shot making. Kevin does an excellent job with this video. Many players have lazy feet. I train players to have happy feet. I really like his use of the term strike zone for hitting strokes. You got to move your feet to strike the ball in that zone.
I started playing somewhat recently and I'm starting to beat some friends that have been playing for much longer. Whenever they ask me what am I doing, I always answer "improving my footwork". If you do it right, high balls could become lower or even swing volleys, and finding the right timing is way easier. It even makes your shots stronger. Another thing is to proper second serve: being consistent without making it too easy to the other guy is a huge advantage to beginners.
@@sriramwdkw1566 you'd have to ask my trainer, but he'd always scream "LATE" at me when I'd hit the ball somewhat late, so I figured I had to move myself more... plus it's been winter season here, split-stepping is the only way you'd get some leg warmth sometimes lol
One of the best video for footwork I’ve seen out there. Very well explained. Footwork is one of the most underrated skill in tennis, once it’s down, the ball striking comes naturally because you have more time and options. The athlete with the better footwork will likely produce better quality balls on the opponent, be fitter and can out last the opponent late in the match. Great video 👍
My daughter is being getting 🎾 tennis lessons for 5 years twice a week 1 hr each now she is 10 years old and we have been doing 4 times 2 hr each , now ready for some match in June we started watching your videos it help us thx , I'm more nervous than her. I told the coach about you and he told me he's been following you for years since you started he said you stop recording for a while and came back
Great lesson! I have started my kid early in various sports that he enjoys, the problem with most clubs seem to be lacking these fundamental condition drills when it comes to group lesson for kids. I think this is exactly what I am looking for.
Thank you Kevin. Those were some excellent drills, and very clearly explained. I’ve been looking for something to help me with my foot work and I’m definitely going to be doing Those drills.. Great job.
I am definitely a baseline hugger, with a one-hand backhand on top of that. I often practice the open stance footwork drill, but only in the lateral direction. From now on, I will add the diagonal direction to practice setting up for a deep ball. Thank you for the tip.
Kevin! Robert here from CrusherTennis. Love that you did this video. I start off every clinic and lesson with footwork patterns and speed drills. It only takes 5min. in an hr lesson or 10min for a 1.5hr clinic and it is soooo important. I have students that purposely show up late to miss this part of the lesson, HaHa!
Good video Kevin. Funny thing is, all those years ago when I started, the instructor asked " what do you want to learn to become a better player?". Most of the class responses were a particular stroke, mine was footwork. What is the sense of having a good forehand or backhand if you cannot get to the ball? Not basic, how to walk, or run, but in the proper technique of how to advance towards the ball. Good video Kevin. Keep it up.
Great video Kevin. Footwork really isn't talked about enough and it's the area most people need the work. If players aren't set up in the right position (or as optimal as possible), the chances of executing a shot go down dramatically. And it often leads players tweaking and changing everything under the sun, when the real problem was the set up.
yes!!! I hit a darn good ball when it's the 10 percent of the time I happen to move my body to the right relation/position to the ball!!! but I can't seem to MAKE myself do it. i.e. when I drop the ball myself, I hit it perfectly every time! I need to figure out how to move my feet/get my body into THAT position with every (or most) ball that comes to me 😕
I agree that good footwork is necessary to have consistency and power. Unfortunately, good footwork requires good anticipation and ball path prediction. You can be the fastest mover to the ball but if you get to a poor ball position quickly it may be all for nothing. In my opinion, teaching good anticipation and ball path prediction is very difficult & that's why there are very few instructional videos on the subject (actually none that I've come across). Mostly, it is a matter of hitting thousands of tennis balls, being aware especially when the ball comes in a somewhat different location than you thought and then correcting that instinctive prediction. I do not know of anything more difficult than doing this well in our difficult sport of tennis.
At the 9:50ish mark in your video, you’re showing the proper footwork to go straight across baseline (orange cone) and further behind baseline (purple). Does the purple cone represent a faster ball that pushes you back? Could it also represent a higher ball that you are allowing to drop into your best striking zone? The reason I ask is that Id like to feed some practice balls to my son so he can practice the footwork and the shot (bring it together). Thanks
Wow I'm surprised most of my drills are already on this list, even the side jumps and burpees! I'll definitely try those that I haven't tried yet. And you're right, they really helps to improve your game! Getting into the right position in time really is one of the most important part in playing tennis. Even my coach is surprised with my progress in rally session after I started doing footwork drills on my own at home.
I like most of what you are saying, in particular breaking footwork into 3 categories. However, you were in a closed stance twice and saying hips are locked and that it allows the player to only use arms. This is not true because one can balance on the left foot and still generate plenty of hip and shoulder rotation especially if they pick up the right foot and spin as they hit. Closed stance is one of the basic 4 stances (closed, open, neutral, semi-open). Players should be trained to do all four so they can hit efficiently no matter which foot is in front when they arrive at the right distance to the ball. I am a USPTA pro and somewhat of a tennis footwork expert. I have a vast collection of footwork videos. Again, love most of what you saying, but I would correct this one part. When you watch the current pros playing, you will see that closed stance has not been completely abandoned, especially on the backhand side. Just watch current #1 Danil Medvedev. I saw him switching to closed stances on his backhand purposely many times during the Australian. And how often do you see a player with a one handed backhand hit with a stance that is not closed or neutral? Btw, I primarily teach the Etcheberry and Spanish footwork systems, but incorporate anything else I find that works, like Mike Genette's advance footwork. (Claire Liu was one of his students)
Please make a music video of tennis footwork drills. I started playing in March. I realize most people are not fit enough or too heavy to move to the right position to hit the ball. And the coaches do not mention so much about footwork. Footwork is very important and something you can practice at home.
There are studies that have shown an inside drop step is faster than stepping out laterally with the outside foot. Djokovic will do this after a wide split. Also, not mentioned was how to use a flow step to more efficiently move laterally. The number 1 thing I see at he rec level, is not incorporating the start of the recovery, as the end of the stroke. This separates a trained player from a rec player.
While you are correct that there is always a change in direction of the outside foot (a terribly designed piece of jargon in tennis from an era when nobody ran around a backhand); whether there is a change in position of the foot, relative to the centre of mass is variable. It relates to timing of perception; the phase of the split step when the ball angle is detected. It also relates to the perceived degree of that angle as to whether a full step from the inside leg crossing over is necessary. Associated with that perception is the reaction of the head across the frontal plain. Most of the reason for turning the outside foot is related to the better use of the glutes and hamstring group of muscle for more powerful initial acceleration; than in old school tennis up to the 60s and 70s, when players were encouraged to use side shuffling far too much and calf cramp in even aerobically very fit players was more common. In fact moving the outside foot away from the centre of mass is far less common at pro level than every other repositioning of the initial foot movement (thousands of examples on youtube). Players with better timing of the split step peak will often land with both feet already turned in the direction of a ball perceived as requiring running to reach it, in a position that looks more like a tall lunge, or rising out of the sprint start blocks. Watch the repositioning when a player has landed into the split step before detecting ball direction, especially if they are surprised by it: you may notice the "outside" foot actually retract to under the centre of mass as the head movement shifts it towards, if not over, the foot. The information regarding knee safety through limiting to a 90º bend is also not comprehensive; however, it is a safe start until players understand and have ankle mobility assessed. The more common cause of injury is the shearing forces through poor deceleration, and encouraging the rapid reversal is worse for this than either allowing the anchored leg to step up to the lunged leg, or reversing into lunge so that dropping at 90º is easier to assure, then move backwards to feet together. That is assuming the player can sustain simply walking backwards up slight inclines with no residual knee pain. . Being able to control beyond 90º flexion is actually one of the key ways to prevent knee injuries from overuse in tennis , and teaching how to give with an over flexion in a fall. You are right, not all footwork drills are created equal; and you at the very least did not show the really stupid robotic drills that are all too common.
Thank you for these tutorials, I implemented my volleys today at drill with holding the racquet more diagonally like you mention and I made practically all of them. Thanks so much!
Awesome to get some of the WHY on footwork; hanging around TH-cam and Instagram I see drills but not so much the objective. For juniors, do you start right away on some of the patterns or just focus on technique/hitting balls? I have an 11 y/o and a 7 y/o... 11 y/o would benefit enormously, just not sure about the 7 y/o who is hitting orange balls.
In the very beginning I do both technique and patterns but I disguise it. With kids, too much structure can take away the fun. I think fun leads to desire, and desire helps them want to learn the pattern later to win. thanks David.
yes, start juniors from the inception; because getting into an efficient running position is the foundation of all other tennis footwork variations, as it for overall healthy movement. If they can't, then assess the area of weakness and build it with skilled assistance. Many of the first corrections are improving stability in static positions under distraction; and the benefits to the end goals will multiply.
0:15 "Forehand, backhand, or *any of your ground strokes."* Forehand and backhand ARE ground strokes. I think what you meant to say was, forehand, backhand, or any of your strokes.
I have coached high school and USTA Junior tennis for 30 years. When I coach footwork is one of the first skills that I look for when I evaluate players. If you can’t get to the ball, if you are not in the right position you are increasing the difficulty of your shot making. Kevin does an excellent job with this video. Many players have lazy feet. I train players to have happy feet. I really like his use of the term strike zone for hitting strokes. You got to move your feet to strike the ball in that zone.
Thank Thomas!
How do you correct lazy feet and convert them into happy feet? 🐧
This is the best TH-cam tutorial on tennis foot work that I have seen. Great job Kevin
I started playing somewhat recently and I'm starting to beat some friends that have been playing for much longer. Whenever they ask me what am I doing, I always answer "improving my footwork". If you do it right, high balls could become lower or even swing volleys, and finding the right timing is way easier. It even makes your shots stronger. Another thing is to proper second serve: being consistent without making it too easy to the other guy is a huge advantage to beginners.
What drills did you do for this
@@sriramwdkw1566 you'd have to ask my trainer, but he'd always scream "LATE" at me when I'd hit the ball somewhat late, so I figured I had to move myself more... plus it's been winter season here, split-stepping is the only way you'd get some leg warmth sometimes lol
One of the best video for footwork I’ve seen out there. Very well explained. Footwork is one of the most underrated skill in tennis, once it’s down, the ball striking comes naturally because you have more time and options. The athlete with the better footwork will likely produce better quality balls on the opponent, be fitter and can out last the opponent late in the match. Great video 👍
Complete coaching , well done Kevin .
Too many tennis videos on YT , consist of incomplete explanations .
My daughter is being getting 🎾 tennis lessons for 5 years twice a week 1 hr each now she is 10 years old and we have been doing 4 times 2 hr each , now ready for some match in June we started watching your videos it help us thx , I'm more nervous than her.
I told the coach about you and he told me he's been following you for years since you started he said you stop recording for a while and came back
Brilliant video. I’ve been searching for a footwork overview and drill set like this for my 12 year old. Thank you!!!
Great lesson! I have started my kid early in various sports that he enjoys, the problem with most clubs seem to be lacking these fundamental condition drills when it comes to group lesson for kids. I think this is exactly what I am looking for.
Thanks for this , I'm starting to play again after a long break, these drills will help 🙏
Your videos are packed with drills to learn and improve tennis….thank you…
This is the best tennis coaching channel I have ever seen. Thank you!
All of your videos are exceptional, Kevin.
Thank you Kevin. Those were some excellent drills, and very clearly explained. I’ve been looking for something to help me with my foot work and I’m definitely going to be doing Those drills.. Great job.
One of the most useful video on tennis on the internet for beginners. Thanks for sharing 🙏🙏
I am definitely a baseline hugger, with a one-hand backhand on top of that. I often practice the open stance footwork drill, but only in the lateral direction. From now on, I will add the diagonal direction to practice setting up for a deep ball. Thank you for the tip.
Thank you. Really love how you start by trying to make us understand the importance on the footwork.
MASTERCLASS. Such an articulate explanation. Love it!
Coach Kevin!
Your lecture couldn't be better! From Korea
Kevin! Robert here from CrusherTennis. Love that you did this video. I start off every clinic and lesson with footwork patterns and speed drills. It only takes 5min. in an hr lesson or 10min for a 1.5hr clinic and it is soooo important. I have students that purposely show up late to miss this part of the lesson, HaHa!
lol...yes, some students are allergic to footwork. :)
Good video Kevin. Funny thing is, all those years ago when I started, the instructor asked " what do you want to learn to become a better player?". Most of the class responses were a particular stroke, mine was footwork. What is the sense of having a good forehand or backhand if you cannot get to the ball? Not basic, how to walk, or run, but in the proper technique of how to advance towards the ball. Good video Kevin. Keep it up.
Great video Kevin. Footwork really isn't talked about enough and it's the area most people need the work. If players aren't set up in the right position (or as optimal as possible), the chances of executing a shot go down dramatically. And it often leads players tweaking and changing everything under the sun, when the real problem was the set up.
yes!!! I hit a darn good ball when it's the 10 percent of the time I happen to move my body to the right relation/position to the ball!!! but I can't seem to MAKE myself do it. i.e. when I drop the ball myself, I hit it perfectly every time! I need to figure out how to move my feet/get my body into THAT position with every (or most) ball that comes to me 😕
Great video. Exactly what I was looking for
I agree that good footwork is necessary to have consistency and power. Unfortunately, good footwork requires good anticipation and ball path prediction. You can be the fastest mover to the ball but if you get to a poor ball position quickly it may be all for nothing. In my opinion, teaching good anticipation and ball path prediction is very difficult & that's why there are very few instructional videos on the subject (actually none that I've come across). Mostly, it is a matter of hitting thousands of tennis balls, being aware especially when the ball comes in a somewhat different location than you thought and then correcting that instinctive prediction. I do not know of anything more difficult than doing this well in our difficult sport of tennis.
amazing breakdown
Often overlooked at the rec level. Great content
At the 9:50ish mark in your video, you’re showing the proper footwork to go straight across baseline (orange cone) and further behind baseline (purple). Does the purple cone represent a faster ball that pushes you back? Could it also represent a higher ball that you are allowing to drop into your best striking zone? The reason I ask is that Id like to feed some practice balls to my son so he can practice the footwork and the shot (bring it together). Thanks
Top very well explained and easy to follow
Great job man. Love from Türkiye👍
Great content . I'm a former ranked player from CA. I like this coach excellent communication skills thanks
Great practice lesson, it's so useful!
👏🎾 Great Tutorial 👏🎾
I would really appreciate seeing the footwork pattern demonstrated on the backhand side
Thanks, I'll add it to the list!
Great information! Thank you! Спасибо!
Thank you - great video and explanation. Greatly appreciate it
Wow I'm surprised most of my drills are already on this list, even the side jumps and burpees! I'll definitely try those that I haven't tried yet. And you're right, they really helps to improve your game! Getting into the right position in time really is one of the most important part in playing tennis. Even my coach is surprised with my progress in rally session after I started doing footwork drills on my own at home.
The GOAT Federer said when he was coming up in the ranks,people thought he was working on his groundies but he was really working on footwork 🙂👍
This guy is gold❤
Grato vídeo. Thanks
Footwork gets one in a great hitting position, Really appreciate your drills Kevin👍🏼
Absolutely, thanks Chandrakant!
I like most of what you are saying, in particular breaking footwork into 3 categories.
However, you were in a closed stance twice and saying hips are locked and that it allows the player to only use arms. This is not true because one can balance on the left foot and still generate plenty of hip and shoulder rotation especially if they pick up the right foot and spin as they hit. Closed stance is one of the basic 4 stances (closed, open, neutral, semi-open). Players should be trained to do all four so they can hit efficiently no matter which foot is in front when they arrive at the right distance to the ball.
I am a USPTA pro and somewhat of a tennis footwork expert. I have a vast collection of footwork videos. Again, love most of what you saying, but I would correct this one part. When you watch the current pros playing, you will see that closed stance has not been completely abandoned, especially on the backhand side. Just watch current #1 Danil Medvedev. I saw him switching to closed stances on his backhand purposely many times during the Australian. And how often do you see a player with a one handed backhand hit with a stance that is not closed or neutral?
Btw, I primarily teach the Etcheberry and Spanish footwork systems, but incorporate anything else I find that works, like Mike Genette's advance footwork. (Claire Liu was one of his students)
Please make a music video of tennis footwork drills. I started playing in March. I realize most people are not fit enough or too heavy to move to the right position to hit the ball. And the coaches do not mention so much about footwork. Footwork is very important and something you can practice at home.
There are studies that have shown an inside drop step is faster than stepping out laterally with the outside foot. Djokovic will do this after a wide split. Also, not mentioned was how to use a flow step to more efficiently move laterally. The number 1 thing I see at he rec level, is not incorporating the start of the recovery, as the end of the stroke. This separates a trained player from a rec player.
Makes me realise how much work and effort I need to actually make.
While you are correct that there is always a change in direction of the outside foot (a terribly designed piece of jargon in tennis from an era when nobody ran around a backhand); whether there is a change in position of the foot, relative to the centre of mass is variable. It relates to timing of perception; the phase of the split step when the ball angle is detected. It also relates to the perceived degree of that angle as to whether a full step from the inside leg crossing over is necessary. Associated with that perception is the reaction of the head across the frontal plain.
Most of the reason for turning the outside foot is related to the better use of the glutes and hamstring group of muscle for more powerful initial acceleration; than in old school tennis up to the 60s and 70s, when players were encouraged to use side shuffling far too much and calf cramp in even aerobically very fit players was more common. In fact moving the outside foot away from the centre of mass is far less common at pro level than every other repositioning of the initial foot movement (thousands of examples on youtube). Players with better timing of the split step peak will often land with both feet already turned in the direction of a ball perceived as requiring running to reach it, in a position that looks more like a tall lunge, or rising out of the sprint start blocks. Watch the repositioning when a player has landed into the split step before detecting ball direction, especially if they are surprised by it: you may notice the "outside" foot actually retract to under the centre of mass as the head movement shifts it towards, if not over, the foot.
The information regarding knee safety through limiting to a 90º bend is also not comprehensive; however, it is a safe start until players understand and have ankle mobility assessed. The more common cause of injury is the shearing forces through poor deceleration, and encouraging the rapid reversal is worse for this than either allowing the anchored leg to step up to the lunged leg, or reversing into lunge so that dropping at 90º is easier to assure, then move backwards to feet together. That is assuming the player can sustain simply walking backwards up slight inclines with no residual knee pain. . Being able to control beyond 90º flexion is actually one of the key ways to prevent knee injuries from overuse in tennis , and teaching how to give with an over flexion in a fall.
You are right, not all footwork drills are created equal; and you at the very least did not show the really stupid robotic drills that are all too common.
Footwork is a really under-practiced aspect of tennis. Most 3.0 player could easily raise their level by improving their footwork.
I wish you did a demo on one-handed backhand footwork patterns. Most one handers don't hit from and open stance. Otherwise, great video!
He has a short video about open-stance 1HBH th-cam.com/video/YxhNvgr_3ws/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for these tutorials, I implemented my volleys today at drill with holding the racquet more diagonally like you mention and I made practically all of them. Thanks so much!
It's so awesome to hear that! thanks for the update.
Good workouts
thank you coach
Thank you
Very useful video, but please make it shorter, 5 mn max.
Awesome to get some of the WHY on footwork; hanging around TH-cam and Instagram I see drills but not so much the objective. For juniors, do you start right away on some of the patterns or just focus on technique/hitting balls? I have an 11 y/o and a 7 y/o... 11 y/o would benefit enormously, just not sure about the 7 y/o who is hitting orange balls.
In the very beginning I do both technique and patterns but I disguise it. With kids, too much structure can take away the fun. I think fun leads to desire, and desire helps them want to learn the pattern later to win. thanks David.
yes, start juniors from the inception; because getting into an efficient running position is the foundation of all other tennis footwork variations, as it for overall healthy movement. If they can't, then assess the area of weakness and build it with skilled assistance. Many of the first corrections are improving stability in static positions under distraction; and the benefits to the end goals will multiply.
0:15 "Forehand, backhand, or *any of your ground strokes."* Forehand and backhand ARE ground strokes. I think what you meant to say was, forehand, backhand, or any of your strokes.
Footwork is actually most helpful drill you can do at home to improve your tennis
15:03 ..don't tell kneesovertoesguy
After 6 mins talking, "let's get started"😮
Physical fitness is must to improve your footwork
how can I be down?
0.57 👻👻👻… Watch the door
😂
lol...it's our tennis ghost! :)
Like your videos...But they are tooo long.
Katy not too long for me. Sometimes it's just our attention span is too short. (Match 3 or 5 hours🙂👍)
You can also speed up video to 1.25 or 1.5
Title is very weird
Too many words.
Get to the point.