Yoda - Feel the Force (Yoda Remixed)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GITb6rzpTWM
Some are born with great reflexes, quickness and hand eye coordination.
But even these practice to make tennis appear more like an art than hard work.
(While it's interesting hearing their childhood coaches gush at how a Federer or Sampras could make the progress in one or two session that others would take months to accomplish, they still had to work years to perfect their craft.
They couldn't play with "the force" if they didn't work so hard to make it look so easy.)
Great footwork is real key to getting in into position to hit as many balls as possible as quickly as possible.
You've got to be coming out of split step every time your opponent strikes the ball in order to get to most of them comfortably to hit it balanced and relaxed.
You've got to recover as quickly as possible to be ready to come out of a split step on that next shot, and the next and the next.
Match play often involves shots hit on the run, or when you are jammed.
Successfully playing these uncomfortable shots is a key to success - not just having fluid strokes.
The problem with match play is that oftentimes rallies never start - the point is over on the serve or return.
We waste a lot of time clearing balls from the court and getting ready to serve and return.
After a match, we may have only hit a relatively small number of balls under pressure, and not gained a lot of experience on how to hit them back with some zip and/or spin.
I have a hitting partner that we usually have two 3 hour sessions a week playing points that start with a moderately hard ball fed deep to the forehand or backhand.
We really try to play full out continuously with only occasional short break.
Almost every ball is hit on the run or forcing in some way.
We both take the net after any short ball.
There are lots of half volleys, difficult volleys and overheads with the ball coming out of the sun.
The hard shots are hit frequently enough to really develop a pattern to how to approach them.
In match play it is then a matter of execution rather than figuring out what will work (with a real expectation of success.)
We are both used to playing for an extended period feeling slightly out of breath with our hearts pounding, just like basketball, soccer and better tennis players do.
Practice serve and returning with a practice partner. Getting jammed, how to read a serve, being comfortable as possible with tough serves is key to returning in a more "relaxed" and effective fashion.
If you are intimidated by speed, hit with a hard hitter. You won't magically become relaxed until you train your reflexes for the timing necessary for a bashed ball.
A ball machine can be an effective way to work on getting comfortable with uncomfortable shots.
Fire to a position you have to run to.
Turn up the speed the and spin every time you fill up the bucket.
Even in one session it is amazing how you can be running and hitting shots you only rarely hit back at the beginning of the session.
This works great with running to volley and difficult half volleys too.
You can even work on uncomfortable shots at the wall.
Stand too close so you are often jammed or have to hit half volleys.