Fantastic Lesson Coach Steven ... Im a tennis finatic but along side that have done 20 years of competitive boxing and Muay Thaiboxing ... You are 100% right in how power is created like a punch ... Ive only just made the parallels/adapatations to tennis recently... but have never seen it articulated as well as you have done in this video ... I cant wait to put your lesson into practice and take my game to the next level... thankyou and keep up the amazing work... Shawn from New Zealand
Thank you Shawn.. agreed. I like using the punch example because the mechanics become very clear. For some reason once the racquet comes into play, technique goes haywire... along with a lot of technical analysis! lol Appreciate your comment.. lmk how it goes!
Great video, good information! One thing I have noticed with many coaches giving lessons is that they don't teach these intricacies. They stay with general and known info, ie, low to high, hit out in front.. and just let players hit balls and give complements on any form, good or bad. I think this is to keep students coming back to get lessons on a long term basis. What they fail to realize is that teaching good information like you do, WILL cause rec players to go back for more instruction and create better players.
Love the way you've used different angles to show body position and racket position. Many times instructors assume what they're saying makes sense when in actuality the viewer or student doesn't actually know the angles or posture. For instance, hit the ball in front of you. That could actually mean several things at contact and could depend on body rotation etc. etc.
This was a seriously helpful video. There is so much advise in this video. In my opinion one of the better videos I have seen. I implemented some of the lessons learned (6 ball shadow swings at home, throwing a punch anology) and my groundstrokes were so much more consistent. Placement was better than it has been in many years. My balance was pretty good. When I made a mistake I actually knew what to do. Many, many thanks, Coach. You helped me get some joy back in the game of tennis.
This is such an excellent video! According to Nick from Intuitive Tennis channel, the “aim” comes naturally? What an incompetent remark to make as a tennis coach...
Lots of good points. I particularly liked the one regarding trying to maintain the direction of the racket as it strikes through the ball, a part of the swing which is often overlooked.
Excellent points! In fact the real subject of this video is hitting in the power zone; why your aim sucks is a result of not hitting in the power zone for the various angled shots. From a pedagogical point of view, I believe instructional videos like this should only be 5-8 minutes long. That is plenty of time to make some fundamental points and include correctional exercises. It then is easy and convenient to replay the video to concentrate on its content. In this video, running almost 36(!) minutes, the amount of content is so great that it can't be absorbed in one, two, or even three viewings. And replaying it is clumsy because one has to remember the various timings to come back to specific points that the viewer needs to reinforce. It is no coincidence that virtually all the tennis instructional videos on TH-cam are around the 5-8 minute length. This one could easily be broken up into a discussion of the power zone, the forehand power zone, the backhand power zone, the serve power zones (deuce and ad court serves), etc.
I’ve personally, altho prob not super popular, loved long form content by which to stack a number of concepts to see how everything works together. Thanks for the feedback.. I’ll keep experimenting!
This fixed wrist position, especially for the forehand, all the way through contact rarely if ever discussed! I've been releasing the racket too early probably related to the fact that I learned to play back in the 1960s, While I've transitioned to a semi-western group, there have been good days and bad with some shanking. Thanks to Coach Stephen and this video (especially around the 28:00 plus minute mark). I can report that my forehand has improved with more power and topspin, simply by focusing on a more fixed wrist through contact. Coach Stephen, thank you for sharing your journey through tennis improvement and the lessons you learned along the way.
Everything you present is helpful and I love the detail. There is one area of confusion. A punch with your fist seems different than a punch with a racquet in that the ball (which is the primary target) is at an angle from our final target. The forearm is usually at an angle to ball (except with western grip). The racquet face is moving from it's back (lag) position at about 45 degrees to the ball depending on where we make contact. The movement of the hand covers a shorter distance, but still has a inside out angle to the ball. It this sense, the shoulders/hips would be at an angle to the hitting direction when making contact to get maximum force. The grip used would effect this angle some. It looks like many of the pros have their shoulders square to the shot like you show. It feels like I am over-rotating past my power position when I square my shoulders, and I have close to a western grip on my forehand. It might be that I am not quite getting the use of the shoulder into the shot and the idea you show of the shoulders perpendicular to where you aim.
You forgot about some physics, "angle of incidence" or reflection. "Changing the ball angle by attempting to return a cross-court shot down the line, or returning a down-the-line shot cross court is asking for lateral problems," he said. But this does not mean you have to return the ball where it came from every time, he says. If a player chooses to change the ball angle, the margin for error can be reduced by hitting the ball harder. Graphs charting ball angle relative to force show the ball leaves the racquet at a larger angle if the swing is slow, Professor Brody says. "The ... statement that the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence holds for light reflecting from a plane mirror, but not for tennis balls rebounding from a racquet," he said....." www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/1738810
The information you provide in your vides are exceptional (I have not heard or seen in my private lessons or videos online). They are extremely helpful; Thank you! btw, we have not heard your student ever talk - ask him to say hi at least (just kidding) :-)
I bet if the section on hitting through the ball was incorporated at the very beginning of teaching new players the game they would advance quickly. I just started playing again after a long layoff and the lesson resonated. I tend to have too much topspin on some of my shots, and after watching this and hitting a couple of baskets of balls, I fixed the issue. It is a small change with huge benefits.
although i don't like technical videos so much, i found this to be practical also, not an original idea the 1,2,3 or the three ball drill but you explained it passionately, thanks!
You have an innovative breakdown to power production. I can see how you relate this directly to balance and core stability and adding the racquet contact point for maximum impact. Thanks, a very observant approach for common mistakes and a new attack re balance and core.
This is such an eye-opener to me! Great stuff and a very very good strategy to help you find your power zone and where to hit the ball. Just Stop and pop, since that comes natural. Can't wait to try this out.
is it unconventional to use the wrist to accelerate the racquet? I always thought leg push and core rotation are 99% of the source of acceleration and wrist should be loose so that the racquet can freely move.
Wrist should be relaxed so it can snap when the racquet catch up with body rotation, its like a whip, the further it is from the rotation sorce the less it should be stiff. Its the difference similar to winning a stick and a whip. Im not quite sure what you mean by use the wrist to accelerate the racquet, like instead of having it relaxed and make it happen you make the screen wiper consciously and forced way?
IMO not unconventional.. the forearm which controls wrist movement is the last piece of the kinetic chain. A ton of racquet head speed comes from firing the forearm but yes the swing initiates with the lower body. Even if the wrist doesn’t visibly move around a whole lot, the forearm squeezes to stabilize the racquet at contact.
@@15PointsOfTennis The wrist is a hotly debated topic, especially with the FH. How much wrist layback is within the range of acceptance in your opinion? What many coaches fail to realize is that some players have limited range of motion in the wrist joint, maybe only be able to layback/extend wrist to 30-45°. How will this affect their ability to aim and hit with power? You've raised many good points in this video. There are relationships with grips and power/strike zones too. Especially on the FH where so many grip options are available compared to all other strokes.
Very cool insight on subject matter!Thank you for these explanations. Do you happen to have a podcast ? These would be really cool to listen to while driving.
Great video. Let's add to it with some technical information. Generally, the dwell time for the ball to be in contact with the strings is only about .0004-.0005 seconds which translates to the ball remaining on the strings for about 1-2 inches before flying-off. Furthermore, the direction of the ball is also impacted by where the ball is struck on the string bed. A ball hit in the sweet spot will rebound with maximum power and angular rebound compared to one struck off-center where torque affects accuracy. If you do a freeze frame of your helper hitting one of his forehands toward the end of the video, you can see that the ball is hit off-center. Don't get me wrong -- your advice is well-taken but racquet head size, string characteristics, string pattern, and racquet head speed also affect accuracy. Players following your excellent advice who fail to achieve desired results may want to consider these other factors impinging on the process of hitting a tennis ball . . . not to mention a person's physical attributes which has to be yet another video! :-)
I really enjoyed how you explained where the power stroke zone is relative to the position of the body and the location of the ball. Remaining supple, flexible and responsive is also key to directing the ball! Great video
Steven, your content in on point man. I've been actively working on all of these concepts that you bring up for the past 18 months and how you present the content is excellent. The longer videos are fine - I find that a lot of shorter videos don't get into the theory enough so keep it up. Kudos x 100!
👍 I would’ve liked to start w 2 hands in terms of developing fundamentals.. Idk that much about racquets but I’ve been told to use the heaviest racquet you can handle. I prefer the racquets that are aerodynamically shaped to drive the ball flat instead of spin. IMO young kids who don’t have the required strength sometimes develop bad habits trying to over spin the ball.
i started playing tennis when i was 5 years old to my 16 birthday. Then i stopped playing tennis and switched into the sport of mma. After 6 years i switched again. Nowadays...i play better than before...on a higher level..but i had to train a lot to come back at my old level. I wish i would have seen your videos some years earlier! Great Tipps!!! But there is still some problem with my forehand going on...its like...i lost my ideal strike zone and clean contact point on my forehand (deep balls into my forehand/ when i want to go cross court/ or sometime when i want to play a winner with topspin on high rang balls) I know that back in my young ages..i had a very good technique..on my forehand and backhand. Im still not quite sure...if its because of my movement of mma...or stance of mma...or because of wrong body movement of mma..or a wrong swing path related to my semi western grip. but i feel..that that problem will be solved in the near future. coach steven..if you have some tipp for me...i would be very glad to hear from you!
I’m guessing your referring to balls at different heights? Even doing a reverse FH swinging vertically or a high hammer FH pronating more downward, I still try to get the students to keep the strings facing the target through the hitting zone. Seems tougher for balls that have a bit of side spin so not a perfect concept
Great analysis and breakdown man. Probably the best breakdown of aim that I have ever heard in my 30+ yrs of tennis and that's why I struggle with the harder/more powerful shots. I would usually redirect the balls and can achieve pretty good direction, but will normally do it with either topspin or slice. Never had to really stroke it cleanly especially since the ball are going back at a decent speed anyway. But like you said, it's not enough to go to the next level or against really good opponents. I have been focused more on the body position, that will allow your stroke to have a longer impact with the ball and that works fine, except when you don't have the time to set up your body or feet properly. Anyway, great video Steven.
Fantastic Lesson Coach Steven ... Im a tennis finatic but along side that have done 20 years of competitive boxing and Muay Thaiboxing ... You are 100% right in how power is created like a punch ... Ive only just made the parallels/adapatations to tennis recently... but have never seen it articulated as well as you have done in this video ... I cant wait to put your lesson into practice and take my game to the next level... thankyou and keep up the amazing work... Shawn from New Zealand
Thank you Shawn.. agreed. I like using the punch example because the mechanics become very clear. For some reason once the racquet comes into play, technique goes haywire... along with a lot of technical analysis! lol Appreciate your comment.. lmk how it goes!
Great video, good information! One thing I have noticed with many coaches giving lessons is that they don't teach these intricacies. They stay with general and known info, ie, low to high, hit out in front.. and just let players hit balls and give complements on any form, good or bad. I think this is to keep students coming back to get lessons on a long term basis. What they fail to realize is that teaching good information like you do, WILL cause rec players to go back for more instruction and create better players.
Agreed! Thanks for watching!
Excellent coaching thank you so helpful to me
At last I know the answers I searched for. Thanks,
Love the way you've used different angles to show body position and racket position. Many times instructors assume what they're saying makes sense when in actuality the viewer or student doesn't actually know the angles or posture. For instance, hit the ball in front of you. That could actually mean several things at contact and could depend on body rotation etc. etc.
Thanks! And agreed I don’t like vague advice :)
Summary: Wrist release at contact.
This was a seriously helpful video. There is so much advise in this video. In my opinion one of the better videos I have seen. I implemented some of the lessons learned (6 ball shadow swings at home, throwing a punch anology) and my groundstrokes were so much more consistent. Placement was better than it has been in many years. My balance was pretty good. When I made a mistake I actually knew what to do. Many, many thanks, Coach. You helped me get some joy back in the game of tennis.
Wow! Great lesson. Can’t wait to try this out!
Very nice explanation, advanced but fundamental things you should understand to get to the next level. Thank you!
as much as I love your videos, for the 15, 25, 35 minute ones.... leave time stamps to get to different “chapters”, not enough time in the day
This is such an excellent video! According to Nick from Intuitive Tennis channel, the “aim” comes naturally? What an incompetent remark to make as a tennis coach...
great topic. maybe somewhat for advance level. but good stuff.
You are one of the best coach on yt. So much truth in this vid. Totally resonates.
Wow, amazing explanations
Thank you from Spain
The 3 balls tips is actually similar to what Agassi said: "Focus on 6 inches before the contact point and 6 inches after the contact point"
Haven’t heard that one before so thank you.. pretty much the same concept.. Agassi was pretty good at it!
Lots of good points. I particularly liked the one regarding trying to maintain the direction of the racket as it strikes through the ball, a part of the swing which is often overlooked.
You keep asking me what's going on, but never give me time to prepare a response.
You are at Campbell Community Center???
Talk more about the path of the swing
This is a very underrated channel, you have very good insights and I’m surprised you don’t have a million subs
I completely f agree!!! His course is worth buying and his videos have definitely improved my game even more...
Agree, this channel worth to watch again and again when player need to know theory behind.
Excellent points! In fact the real subject of this video is hitting in the power zone; why your aim sucks is a result of not hitting in the power zone for the various angled shots.
From a pedagogical point of view, I believe instructional videos like this should only be 5-8 minutes long. That is plenty of time to make some fundamental points and include correctional exercises. It then is easy and convenient to replay the video to concentrate on its content. In this video, running almost 36(!) minutes, the amount of content is so great that it can't be absorbed in one, two, or even three viewings. And replaying it is clumsy because one has to remember the various timings to come back to specific points that the viewer needs to reinforce.
It is no coincidence that virtually all the tennis instructional videos on TH-cam are around the 5-8 minute length. This one could easily be broken up into a discussion of the power zone, the forehand power zone, the backhand power zone, the serve power zones (deuce and ad court serves), etc.
I’ve personally, altho prob not super popular, loved long form content by which to stack a number of concepts to see how everything works together. Thanks for the feedback.. I’ll keep experimenting!
enjoy watching the long video. very indepth explanation . hope to see more of these
What a phenomenal lesson!!
This fixed wrist position, especially for the forehand, all the way through contact rarely if ever discussed! I've been releasing the racket too early probably related to the fact that I learned to play back in the 1960s, While I've transitioned to a semi-western group, there have been good days and bad with some shanking. Thanks to Coach Stephen and this video (especially around the 28:00 plus minute mark). I can report that my forehand has improved with more power and topspin, simply by focusing on a more fixed wrist through contact.
Coach Stephen, thank you for sharing your journey through tennis improvement and the lessons you learned along the way.
Everything you present is helpful and I love the detail. There is one area of confusion. A punch with your fist seems different than a punch with a racquet in that the ball (which is the primary target) is at an angle from our final target. The forearm is usually at an angle to ball (except with western grip). The racquet face is moving from it's back (lag) position at about 45 degrees to the ball depending on where we make contact. The movement of the hand covers a shorter distance, but still has a inside out angle to the ball. It this sense, the shoulders/hips would be at an angle to the hitting direction when making contact to get maximum force. The grip used would effect this angle some. It looks like many of the pros have their shoulders square to the shot like you show. It feels like I am over-rotating past my power position when I square my shoulders, and I have close to a western grip on my forehand. It might be that I am not quite getting the use of the shoulder into the shot and the idea you show of the shoulders perpendicular to where you aim.
You forgot about some physics, "angle of incidence" or reflection.
"Changing the ball angle by attempting to return a cross-court shot down the line, or returning a down-the-line shot cross court is asking for lateral problems," he said.
But this does not mean you have to return the ball where it came from every time, he says.
If a player chooses to change the ball angle, the margin for error can be reduced by hitting the ball harder.
Graphs charting ball angle relative to force show the ball leaves the racquet at a larger angle if the swing is slow, Professor Brody says.
"The ... statement that the angle of reflection equals the angle of incidence holds for light reflecting from a plane mirror, but not for tennis balls rebounding from a racquet," he said....."
www.google.com/amp/s/amp.abc.net.au/article/1738810
The information you provide in your vides are exceptional (I have not heard or seen in my private lessons or videos online). They are extremely helpful; Thank you! btw, we have not heard your student ever talk - ask him to say hi at least (just kidding) :-)
really great thanks
Very good analysis of strokes and angles.
TH-cam: Recommended For You
Also TH-cam: Why Your Aim Still Sucks
One of your best lessons! You should get the tennis youtube award for this! Thanks so much! You are the best of all! Oliver from Hamburg
I bet if the section on hitting through the ball was incorporated at the very beginning of teaching new players the game they would advance quickly. I just started playing again after a long layoff and the lesson resonated. I tend to have too much topspin on some of my shots, and after watching this and hitting a couple of baskets of balls, I fixed the issue. It is a small change with huge benefits.
Great videos, Steven. I have been playing at a very high standard for years but still learn a lot from your analysis
Okay, I'm in for another viewing. It's worth the time to see what I've missed the first time. Thanks.
Coach, GREAT video! Congrats and thank you very much for sharing all your knowledge!!!
although i don't like technical videos so much, i found this to be practical also, not an original idea the 1,2,3 or the three ball drill but you explained it passionately, thanks!
Double thumbs up...
You have an innovative breakdown to power production. I can see how you relate this directly to balance and core stability and adding the racquet contact point for maximum impact. Thanks, a very observant approach for common mistakes and a new attack re balance and core.
This is such an eye-opener to me! Great stuff and a very very good strategy to help you find your power zone and where to hit the ball. Just Stop and pop, since that comes natural. Can't wait to try this out.
Thanks a lot couch! Amazing videos . Keep like this, you see going the right way
I love to watching your video and it work for me when I’m at the court, thank you so much
is it unconventional to use the wrist to accelerate the racquet? I always thought leg push and core rotation are 99% of the source of acceleration and wrist should be loose so that the racquet can freely move.
Wrist should be relaxed so it can snap when the racquet catch up with body rotation, its like a whip, the further it is from the rotation sorce the less it should be stiff. Its the difference similar to winning a stick and a whip.
Im not quite sure what you mean by use the wrist to accelerate the racquet, like instead of having it relaxed and make it happen you make the screen wiper consciously and forced way?
IMO not unconventional.. the forearm which controls wrist movement is the last piece of the kinetic chain. A ton of racquet head speed comes from firing the forearm but yes the swing initiates with the lower body. Even if the wrist doesn’t visibly move around a whole lot, the forearm squeezes to stabilize the racquet at contact.
@@15PointsOfTennis The wrist is a hotly debated topic, especially with the FH.
How much wrist layback is within the range of acceptance in your opinion? What many coaches fail to realize is that some players have limited range of motion in the wrist joint, maybe only be able to layback/extend wrist to 30-45°. How will this affect their ability to aim and hit with power? You've raised many good points in this video. There are relationships with grips and power/strike zones too. Especially on the FH where so many grip options are available compared to all other strokes.
You are an excellent coach. I have a feeling you could apply your sense of logical deduction to any subject and do well.
If someone wants a lesson from you where can they find you coach ?
outstanding video, many very crucial and valuable tips, and science, thank you
Very cool insight on subject matter!Thank you for these explanations. Do you happen to have a podcast ? These would be really cool to listen to while driving.
Thanks for watching Edwin.. no podcast at this time :(
Your tear down analysis is great, thank you!
I didn’t even know a two handed forehand existed lol
Really good breakdown of the ball contact point mechanics.
At 5:15, did I hear a "punch" sound efx?
Great video. Let's add to it with some technical information. Generally, the dwell time for the ball to be in contact with the strings is only about .0004-.0005 seconds which translates to the ball remaining on the strings for about 1-2 inches before flying-off. Furthermore, the direction of the ball is also impacted by where the ball is struck on the string bed. A ball hit in the sweet spot will rebound with maximum power and angular rebound compared to one struck off-center where torque affects accuracy. If you do a freeze frame of your helper hitting one of his forehands toward the end of the video, you can see that the ball is hit off-center.
Don't get me wrong -- your advice is well-taken but racquet head size, string characteristics, string pattern, and racquet head speed also affect accuracy. Players following your excellent advice who fail to achieve desired results may want to consider these other factors impinging on the process of hitting a tennis ball . . . not to mention a person's physical attributes which has to be yet another video! :-)
Thanks for the data on that.. I did not know!
I really enjoyed how you explained where the power stroke zone is relative to the position of the body and the location of the ball. Remaining supple, flexible and responsive is also key to directing the ball! Great video
OOqOqp
Steven, your content in on point man. I've been actively working on all of these concepts that you bring up for the past 18 months and how you present the content is excellent. The longer videos are fine - I find that a lot of shorter videos don't get into the theory enough so keep it up. Kudos x 100!
Glad it’s been helpful! Thx for sticking with it
so important for depth consistency
what's with your yawning assistant ??
Lots of new stuff for me here
My daughter's starting to use a two handed forehand. What racquet would you suggest? She's very petite for her age
👍 I would’ve liked to start w 2 hands in terms of developing fundamentals.. Idk that much about racquets but I’ve been told to use the heaviest racquet you can handle. I prefer the racquets that are aerodynamically shaped to drive the ball flat instead of spin. IMO young kids who don’t have the required strength sometimes develop bad habits trying to over spin the ball.
Excellent video! Thank you!
So much good info here
Great video !!! Thqank you !!!
Great stuff thank you!
16:25 hey...wake up !
Oh shiiit...deep knowledge is going on here....must see ladies and gentlemen :D very useful video coach!!! Thanks a lot!
i started playing tennis when i was 5 years old to my 16 birthday. Then i stopped playing tennis and switched into the sport of mma. After 6 years i switched again. Nowadays...i play better than before...on a higher level..but i had to train a lot to come back at my old level. I wish i would have seen your videos some years earlier! Great Tipps!!! But there is still some problem with my forehand going on...its like...i lost my ideal strike zone and clean contact point on my forehand (deep balls into my forehand/ when i want to go cross court/ or sometime when i want to play a winner with topspin on high rang balls) I know that back in my young ages..i had a very good technique..on my forehand and backhand. Im still not quite sure...if its because of my movement of mma...or stance of mma...or because of wrong body movement of mma..or a wrong swing path related to my semi western grip. but i feel..that that problem will be solved in the near future. coach steven..if you have some tipp for me...i would be very glad to hear from you!
Would love to provide feedback.. if you can send me a clip of your FH to my Instagram @15pointsoftennis
Great job! Steven.
You god's work
Great video again !!!
Always excellent
How do you adjust for strike zone?
I’m guessing your referring to balls at different heights? Even doing a reverse FH swinging vertically or a high hammer FH pronating more downward, I still try to get the students to keep the strings facing the target through the hitting zone. Seems tougher for balls that have a bit of side spin so not a perfect concept
Thank you!
Great analysis and breakdown man. Probably the best breakdown of aim that I have ever heard in my 30+ yrs of tennis and that's why I struggle with the harder/more powerful shots. I would usually redirect the balls and can achieve pretty good direction, but will normally do it with either topspin or slice. Never had to really stroke it cleanly especially since the ball are going back at a decent speed anyway. But like you said, it's not enough to go to the next level or against really good opponents. I have been focused more on the body position, that will allow your stroke to have a longer impact with the ball and that works fine, except when you don't have the time to set up your body or feet properly. Anyway, great video Steven.