If you could give yourself ONE tennis tip...

[Strategy]

If you could go back in time when you were just learning and tell yourself ONE tennis tip that would make your life so much easier and really improve your game much faster, what would it be?


Also, please don't post things like "practice more" lol. I'm more looking for technical skills, like rotating shoulders when hitting a forehand, etc

[v-verb]

relaxed wrist - lay the wrist back on the forehand and backhand, swing fast - not hard - on the serve

[Cheetah]

footwork.
watch the ball.
relax.

[The Meat]

Listen to your coach more attentively when you were a junior.

[Head Pegger]

Spin for the win.

[firepanda]

I'd switch me to double-handed backhand and left-handed straight away. I'm very much sinistrous, but I started out righthanded with 1HBH, which... didn't end well. When I was 8, I stopped taking group lessons and my Dad took the opportunity to make me southpaw, 2HBH, continental serve, western forehand.

[sureshs]

Originally Posted by Strategy

If you could go back in time when you were just learning and tell yourself ONE tennis tip that would make your life so much easier and really improve your game much faster, what would it be?


Also, please don't post things like "practice more" lol. I'm more looking for technical skills, like rotating shoulders when hitting a forehand, etc

It is one tip at a time at a certain stage, but no single tip for everything.

[boramiNYC]

learn how the mind and body work. that's the foundation.

[floridatennisdude]

Self: lose some weight

Self: go f yourself

I need a new coach. This didn't pan out.

[corbind]

Originally Posted by floridatennisdude

Self: lose some weight

Self: go f yourself

I need a new coach. This didn't pan out.

You need a new coach now?

[Headshotterer]

keep the eye on the ball until it crosses the net

[SystemicAnomaly]

Originally Posted by Headshotterer

keep the eye on the ball until it crosses the net

Don't understand this. Are you talking about an incoming ball or an outgoing ball? A better mantra would be, "keep your head still and eyes fixed on the contact zone for (nearly) all of the forward/upward swing" for an incoming ball.

[Headshotterer]

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

Don't understand this. Are you talking about an incoming ball or an outgoing ball? A better mantra would be, "keep your head still and eyes fixed on the contact zone for (nearly) all of the forward/upward swing" for an incoming ball.

this is for when i am going to swing and hit. and my brain tends to take the eyes off earlier, so trying to keep eyes on before it crosses the net guarantees a focused impact

[5263]

Originally Posted by SystemicAnomaly

Don't understand this. Are you talking about an incoming ball or an outgoing ball? A better mantra would be, "keep your head still and eyes fixed on the contact zone for (nearly) all of the forward/upward swing" for an incoming ball.

I'd like to second this one above as the most important basic fundamental that
should always stay intact in your game, then add one that is more for the next level.

Using the open stance on the Fh and even the Bh sometimes to make court
coverage more efficient, well as how the open stance helps with attacking
mid ct balls with better net clearance control.

[Mick]

don't try to copy exactly a pro's stroke. Implement what's good about that stroke into your own stroke.

[ShoeShiner]

Originally Posted by Mick

don't try to copy exactly a pro's stroke. Implement what's good about that stroke into your own stroke.

Same as Mick's.

[Logic Dude]

Either switch to lefty or get excellent footwork from the start.

[CCH4TENNIS]

Originally Posted by Strategy

If you could go back in time when you were just learning and tell yourself ONE tennis tip that would make your life so much easier and really improve your game much faster, what would it be?


Also, please don't post things like "practice more" lol. I'm more looking for technical skills, like rotating shoulders when hitting a forehand, etc

Find the ball by stalking it moved my tennis to another level

[mikeler]

I'm fairly close to ambidextrous, so I wish I had started out left handed.

My current tennis tip to myself today would be "Stop hitting so many drop shots!"

[Muppet]

I used to tell myself this in the 90s, and now you've reminded me.

"Be the ball."