Lazy feet - Need help!

[martini1]

So I am playing regularly again after an on and off summer. Found myself getting the lazy feet habit again. A bit of ball watching and not slow in getting ready. On the short balls I am not coming in early enough as well.


Any drills or metal prep I can constantly remind myself to move in and get ready sooner? I also need to read the ball a lot sooner, before it crosses the net!

[LeeD]

Play someone who beats you easily, forcing you to move earlier and quicker just to get to his shots.
You already know the problem, so apply a solution.

[boramiNYC]

Try strengthening your feet muscle by simply jumping up and down like 100 reps or so at a time. Once you feel lighter on your feet you can give variations to straight up and down jumping by jumping various shapes. There is mental side to lazy feet but when the feet are physically not strong, good movements simply cannot happen.

[corners]

In practice you can try to hit every ball from a neutral stance, stepping into it. This will force you to hustle to get to the ball in time to step in. At your current level you should eventually be able to do this, and then you'll have to start using open stances again when you go up a level and face faster balls. But now it will be out of necessity rather than out of laziness or bad footwork habits.

Lots of people watch the pros and think they hit open stance on purpose. Look at Fed. If he has time he'll step into the court and hit from a neutral stance. But on most balls he doesn't have time and is forced to hit from open or semi-open stances. If he played me he'd step into every ball and hit a winner off each one.

[5263]

If you can concern yourself with gaining great position to receive the ball and
not be happy just to reach it.
That is what gets me going...to try and have a good position relative to the
incoming ball that gives me a shot at a super contact point!

It will also help with balance and control of your shots.

[salsainglesa]

well, the lazy feet comes with the lazy reading of the ball.... goes hand in hand.Its the two weak links found the most on rec players.

Recognize the ball as soon as it hits the opponent raquet, sincronize with your split step. And voila! Thats step one if you know what i mean

[vil]

My nephew was like that. He had great shots when they were in his strike zone but he just wouldn't move if the ball went 2m aside. He was beyond lazy, he was simply sleepy, not reacting quick enough and once he knew, he wouldn't get it anyway, he just remained standing still waiting for an ideal one. Used to frustrate me to death.
OK, probably extreme example but if I were you I'd started to practice reflexes. You need to coordinate your eyes vs feet.

[charliefedererer]

We all have an instinct to get after balls once they are coming to us.


Concentrate on recovering after every shot - that way you can be moving forward (or to the side) out of a split step as your opponent is hitting the ball.

[martini1]

Thanks guys. Been away a few days. I appreciate the input.

[wiibssz]

Tip from my coach. 10 minutes of rope jumping before you practice. Seems to really help.

[martini1]

Originally Posted by wiibssz

Tip from my coach. 10 minutes of rope jumping before you practice. Seems to really help.

I have seen people doing that! Tks

[Larrysümmers]

when im on i notice im always on the balls of my feet bouncing around. its amazing how much better you hit the ball when you actually split step lol

[pnoytennis]

cardio and lots of it and when i say lots, i mean massive amount. you will be never lazy in footwork again

[danno123]

I have the same problem. I sometimes go into "spectator mode" during a point. I've been working on it when I play and doing a drill with the ball machine.

My current drill is to set the ball machine up to hit
forehand, forehand, middle, backhand, backhand - REPEAT

During the drill I hit:
forehand cross-court, recover right of center;
forehand DTL, move left and recover left of center;
hit forehand inside out, recover left of center;
hit backhand cross-court; recover left of center;
hit backhand DTL, recover right of center

This drill gets me into the habit of moving my feet after the shot is hit to recover to the correct position.

I still catch myself not split stepping or standing with my feet too close together. Anyone have a drill to ingrain that habit?

[SystemicAnomaly]

To reinforce what others have already said: split-step, split-step, split-step. And make certain that your split-step is properly synchronized to your opponent's forward swing and contact.

[frenzy]

@danno123: my coach taught me to say "split" out loud each time my opponent hits the ball. After a while doing this consistently it will be a habbit.

[martini1]

Originally Posted by frenzy

@danno123: my coach taught me to say "split" out loud each time my opponent hits the ball. After a while doing this consistently it will be a habbit.

Must be weird at first! Especially playing someone for the first time.