Hard to overstate how impressive some of these accuracy demonstations are. Hitting a net post in 3 tries, hitting a water bottle in three tries, drilling the bench, the fence gap, and the gate with one swing. Phenomenal. Really walking the walk AND talking the talk, coach. Thanks for this video. Looking forward to working on this very thing next session.
I appreciate your use of common sense in your lessons. Simple analogies like throwing a ball, swinging a pole, aiming at a point are much easier to pick up than getting into the minutiae of where your wrist should be at some exact point in the swing.
Tom, that lesson was bosh. The example of serving in the desert is a great way to remind ourselves that we're not doing anything remarkable when we switch from the deuce side to the ad side. My personal "targeting sequence" consists of two spots. One is a spot in the service box, which I'll likely miss by two feet. The other is a spot above the net that I believe the ball has to pass through to get to the target based on the type of serve. When I miss, I adjust both as necessary, as you described. Great lesson and even better demos!
When I practice, I never count two long serves in a row as a double fault and I never try to hit closer to the net. I just back up a little bit to increase the distance. My chance of winning a point off a ball I hit long had been 50/50, whereas my chances of winning a point off a ball hit into the net were 0.
So many words to say nothing. There are 6 locations - left, right, body at two different set of targets, one to the left of your body, one to the right of your body. Then add to this that toss variations make each location easier, but changing the toss signals to your opponent where you are going. So you want to try hit all serves from the same toss. Then there is the issue that your racket is angled to expose the edge, which means you cannot aim at the target, since the edge will hit the ball off the line. Now add to that the idea that people advise pronation, which is really a twisting of the racket face. Add to that the fact that the natural throwing motion involves turning and in turning the hits and shoulders which creates slice and is counter to the kick. Quite a huge cluster of variations, some on purpose, some by accident. So the answer is nothing like you say. We only get one chance to hit a second serve, unlike your series of tries. So as a player goes from acceptable technique to wanting to actually use and control the serve, there is really only one option - learn to hit one serve to all locations. Logically, this has to be a topspin second serve, which really doesn’t swing sideways. 90% of the women on tour cannot do this. Check out the number of times a woman pro’s second serve is a slice directly into the forehand pocket of the opponent. It is by far the biggest difference in women’s and men’s tennis. You cannot feed a man a pocket second serve and expect to hold serve. So to correctly learn your own second serve, you cannot continue to trial and error a series to the same spot. You have to chance sides and locations after each serve. This is real life. Golfers don’t improve by hitting 100 5 irons from the same lie in a row. Change clubs after each shot. In tennis, we have to “change clubs” manually. Watching you hunt and peck for a location is almost worthless. But you did demonstrate that you have a nice serve. But that is not coaching.
@@TomAllsopp ??? Perhaps as a coach, you could video a student who has applied this approach successfully applied. After all, this is all that matters. Your skill does not matter at all. It is the success rate with your students that matters, if you are a coach.
@alexandermayer2026 I do this everyday. “Where did you miss your last 3 serves” - “don’t know” “It’s important that you know. They went long! Aim for the net tape on your next first serve.” - “I can’t serve from the deuce side” “Let me help you to understand alignment” - “wow you’re brilliant” “Yeah, thanks!” Pretty much my standard day.
@@TomAllsopp so you are dealing with students who have no awareness. I understand. If a student is not directed from the first ball they that it is vital to have a locked in plan, the stage is not set correctly. Grip, stance, intended spin, toss, racket dropping left and striking right should all be shadow swung for a good long while. You should be standing in front of them so that they know the line of racket travel. If they can successfully perform a shadow swing, often the very first real serve they hit is on the right track. If a shadow swing cannot be performed, there is essentially no chance a real serve will work out. And the toss has to be placed without a strike until it is in the right place. Correcting a serve looking at the result is just a random series because probably anyone of 6 fundamentals go varying wrong. You crashed into a car on your right; you should have steered more left. Not a good approach. How about driving down the middle. If a student evolves to a consistent error, progress is being made. But almost all students have random errors which individually require and unlimited number of fixes. Progress will never be made with your approach. And tomorrow the errors will occur for different reasons. Never ending. Shadow swinging is the start.
Hard to overstate how impressive some of these accuracy demonstations are. Hitting a net post in 3 tries, hitting a water bottle in three tries, drilling the bench, the fence gap, and the gate with one swing. Phenomenal.
Really walking the walk AND talking the talk, coach. Thanks for this video. Looking forward to working on this very thing next session.
I appreciate your use of common sense in your lessons. Simple analogies like throwing a ball, swinging a pole, aiming at a point are much easier to pick up than getting into the minutiae of where your wrist should be at some exact point in the swing.
Tom, that lesson was bosh. The example of serving in the desert is a great way to remind ourselves that we're not doing anything remarkable when we switch from the deuce side to the ad side. My personal "targeting sequence" consists of two spots. One is a spot in the service box, which I'll likely miss by two feet. The other is a spot above the net that I believe the ball has to pass through to get to the target based on the type of serve. When I miss, I adjust both as necessary, as you described. Great lesson and even better demos!
I love the alignment observation - I've not seen anyone cover that before. Thanks.
The best channel
Great suggestion. Thanks heaps
can you show us the actual grip you use for the serve? good lesson btw
@@dmf30 ruclips.net/video/SU8e3Gn7XD0/видео.htmlsi=EjLjsvdAvlgAsyQ4
When I practice, I never count two long serves in a row as a double fault and I never try to hit closer to the net. I just back up a little bit to increase the distance. My chance of winning a point off a ball I hit long had been 50/50, whereas my chances of winning a point off a ball hit into the net were 0.
@jacksonlar you ever seen anyone at a high level move back because they hit long?
Come on, Tom, I was expecting some magical tip! You’re pretty much saying trial-error-adjust, man!😀
I’m saying a lot more than that. And the exercise of aiming at different targets is genius, in my humble opinion, obviously
@@TomAllsopp
Yeah, that was great indeed.👍
The serve is the least important part of tennis so a video on dink shots Tom!!!!
So many words to say nothing. There are 6 locations - left, right, body at two different set of targets, one to the left of your body, one to the right of your body. Then add to this that toss variations make each location easier, but changing the toss signals to your opponent where you are going. So you want to try hit all serves from the same toss. Then there is the issue that your racket is angled to expose the edge, which means you cannot aim at the target, since the edge will hit the ball off the line. Now add to that the idea that people advise pronation, which is really a twisting of the racket face. Add to that the fact that the natural throwing motion involves turning and in turning the hits and shoulders which creates slice and is counter to the kick. Quite a huge cluster of variations, some on purpose, some by accident. So the answer is nothing like you say. We only get one chance to hit a second serve, unlike your series of tries. So as a player goes from acceptable technique to wanting to actually use and control the serve, there is really only one option - learn to hit one serve to all locations. Logically, this has to be a topspin second serve, which really doesn’t swing sideways. 90% of the women on tour cannot do this. Check out the number of times a woman pro’s second serve is a slice directly into the forehand pocket of the opponent. It is by far the biggest difference in women’s and men’s tennis. You cannot feed a man a pocket second serve and expect to hold serve. So to correctly learn your own second serve, you cannot continue to trial and error a series to the same spot. You have to chance sides and locations after each serve. This is real life. Golfers don’t improve by hitting 100 5 irons from the same lie in a row. Change clubs after each shot. In tennis, we have to “change clubs” manually. Watching you hunt and peck for a location is almost worthless. But you did demonstrate that you have a nice serve. But that is not coaching.
@@alexandermayer2026 ironic comment of the year. And you’re wrong.
@@TomAllsopp ??? Perhaps as a coach, you could video a student who has applied this approach successfully applied. After all, this is all that matters. Your skill does not matter at all. It is the success rate with your students that matters, if you are a coach.
@alexandermayer2026 I do this everyday. “Where did you miss your last 3 serves”
- “don’t know”
“It’s important that you know. They went long! Aim for the net tape on your next first serve.”
- “I can’t serve from the deuce side”
“Let me help you to understand alignment”
- “wow you’re brilliant”
“Yeah, thanks!”
Pretty much my standard day.
@@TomAllsopp so you are dealing with students who have no awareness. I understand. If a student is not directed from the first ball they that it is vital to have a locked in plan, the stage is not set correctly. Grip, stance, intended spin, toss, racket dropping left and striking right should all be shadow swung for a good long while. You should be standing in front of them so that they know the line of racket travel. If they can successfully perform a shadow swing, often the very first real serve they hit is on the right track. If a shadow swing cannot be performed, there is essentially no chance a real serve will work out. And the toss has to be placed without a strike until it is in the right place. Correcting a serve looking at the result is just a random series because probably anyone of 6 fundamentals go varying wrong. You crashed into a car on your right; you should have steered more left. Not a good approach. How about driving down the middle. If a student evolves to a consistent error, progress is being made. But almost all students have random errors which individually require and unlimited number of fixes. Progress will never be made with your approach. And tomorrow the errors will occur for different reasons. Never ending. Shadow swinging is the start.
@alexandermayer2026 I hope you’re not a coach