Are you tired of losing points at the net? maybe you're frustrated by
being lobbed or passed? well if that's the case then you've clicked on the
right video because i'm going to show you the three
most common errors that tennis players make when they come forward
and how to fix them! Hey everyone, Simon here with top tennis
training, now a few weeks ago we asked tennis players around the world
to send us their clips of themselves playing singles
so what we're going to do in the next few videos is break down
some of the common errors that tennis players are making and how to fix them
so today's video is all about coming forward, where to position yourself
and how to finish those points at the net now before we get any deeper into
the lesson if you're serious about improving your game
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So common error number one is players coming forward and miss timing their
split-steps or not having one at all, so in this
first point we'll see the player in the green cap
hitting his approach shot down the line he comes forward
and he gets lobbed
now he's timing his split step very late and this is what cost him
that whole point so let's take a look so pay close attention to when he's landing
on his split step in comparison to the opponent's contact
point right here
in this point we'll see the lady in the white skirt approaching
down the middle of the court she moves in but she split steps once again
quite late and she gets defeated with that backhand passing shot down the line
so let's take a look
so in both of those points you can see that the player is doing a split step
but they're timing it after the opponent has made contact
now when you think about coming forward you're cutting the time that you have
to react to your opponent's shot in half so we have half the time
when we come forward that we have when we're on the baseline
and that's why it's vital that you're timing that split step so that you're
landing around the point of contact on the
opponent's strings
so if i'm timing my split step i'm landing
after the opponent has actually hit the ball the ball is already traveling
towards me now i'm late with my split step it's
hard for me now to cover any type of ball that the opponent
hits because the ball's already six or eight
feet towards me i've lost those initial milliseconds and
this is vital when you come forward because you have half the time
so this is why it's important to time that split step so that you're landing
around the point of contact on your opponent's strings
so when my opponent makes contact i'm already in this position
and i'm ready to react to their ball because around the time when i'm landing
the ball is going to be flying off their strings
those first four or five feet that the ball travels i'll already be able to
pick up the direction of where the ball is going is it going
to my forehand side is it going to my backhand side or is it coming up as a
lob if i lose those initial five or six feet
off the ball flight from my opponent's strings towards my
court i'm already late i've already defeated myself i haven't
given myself the best chance to actually win the point of the net now
both of these players if they had timed their split step
a little bit earlier so if they had time their split step so they're landing
just as the opponent makes contact they would have a much better chance
of reaching both of those balls the player in the green hat
that lob that he was defeated with he could have easily caught it
if he was balanced when the opponent makes contact
and if he was ready to move in any
direction
so why exactly is it so important to use a split step when you come forward
and also to time it correctly now if i don't split step and i just run forward
blindly so i've hit my approach up and i don't
stop now i can catch a ball that comes right
towards me so in the direction of my body
but anything to the right of my body anything to the left
or anything coming over my head i have no way
of stopping changing direction quickly enough
and then moving into the correct position but by doing a split step if
i've hit the approach shot i'm coming forward i do my split step
now i can push off in any direction
i can push off to my forehand volley i can push off to my back and volley
or i can push off for a lob so you have a wide athletic base
you're on the balls of your feet so you're not on your heels
so by being on the balls of my feet i can now easily
push off in any direction and i'm also staying light
so sometimes you might not time that first split step perfectly
you might do it a little bit early and you'll be stuck like this
and this is why a lot of the great volleyers when they come forward
instead of just doing one split step they'll do two or three mini split steps
so they're coming in one two three and then they're ready to move
if you can time those small split steps that will also help you
to be more alert to be lighter on your feet and to be faster
at reacting to those balls
i prepared
common error number two is players hitting their approach shot cross court
when they don't have a valid reason to now what i mean with valid reason is
there's a time and a place to hit your approach across court
if you've got a short backhand and you know that your opponent's passing shot
on the backhand side is weak then you can approach cross court
because you're putting the pressure onto the weaker side now if you have an
opponent that's far out of the court on one side and you
have a completely open court and space to hit into then you can
also hit your approach shot cross court so there's a time and a place to go
cross but around eighty percent of your approach shots
should be down the line and there's a very simple reason why this is
but let's take a look at some examples firstly so in this first example we'll
see the player with a green cap heading his return so he's returning a
second serve he's approaching cross court with that return he's
hitting into most players strength which is their forehand
and then he ends up picking up a low volley but then losing the point
now in the second point we'll see the player on the opposite side
he's going to hit his approach shot cross court he's coming in and he gets
passed down the line
now when you come forward the shot that you have to be most aware of
is the down the line pass and that's because we have the least amount of time
to actually cover that down the line pass and the ball never has to cross
our body's line to actually defeat us if your opponent hits a great shot
cross-court and passes you the ball still has to come across your
body's line so there's still a chance for you
to step across and actually reach that ball
but with down the line the ball's always the same amount of distance away from us
and that's why the down the line pass is the one you have to be most aware of
and you have to cover so when you hit your approach up cross court
what happens is if i hit my backhand now from here cross court
i have to move into that green zone to actually cover the down the line pass
so this takes longer and i have more distance to cover
before my opponent actually makes contact and this is why by hitting my
approach cross court i'm actually giving myself a
harder job to cover that down the line pass so if i
hit my backhand cross-court i have to move to here
a couple of down the line pass one step if i hit my back and approach down the
line now i have to just move to here to cover
the down the line pass
so when you're going cross court you have to have a very valid reason
for hitting your approach shot cross court if the opponent has a very weak
backhand i can hit my back and approach
cross-court even though i'm giving up space and even though i'm
giving them that down the line pass that's why 80 of your approach shots
should be down the line because now from here it's very easy for
me to cover down the line with one step
and common error number three is players moving into the wrong position
or waiting in the wrong position so they might have an approach shot
and they're hitting the approach shot but then moving into the wrong zone
depending on the shot that they've actually hit or they've hit their first
volley they're already at the net and they're
staying on the same spot they're not moving into the right zone
when they're already forward
so which zone should you be standing in when you're at a net
now any ball that i hit into my opponent's forehand side
the right-handed players forehand i should be
around here
so if the ball is on this side of the court i should be here
covering my down the line pass if i hit into the middle
of the court i should be around this red coat
at any shot that i hit into the back and wing of the right-handed player
i should be in this guy
this will ensure that i'm always covering the down the line i'm always in
the middle of my opponent's two best possible shots
number one being that down the line pass and number two being
the cross-court angle pass now with the cross-court angle pass
because the ball is coming across my body's line i have the ability to step
out with the outside leg so if it's coming to my forehand
i can go right leg left leg and cut off this angle
the same is true on the backhand side if i'm here
i can go left leg left leg right leg and cut off the angle notice also that i
never move too close to the net so around six to
eight feet will be your closing distance and this is because if
i get too close the lob opens up to the opponent becomes
very easy for them to to beat me with that lob now what
happens is you might stay around six to eight feet behind the net
and then as you do your split step you still have the time between the ball
making contact on your opponent's strings to them reaching you
to close down further so i might split step here
but by the time i actually hit the volley i'm three or four steps
closer in and this will allow me to knock off the short angles
so there you have it three common errors that players are making when they come
forward and how to fix them i hope that this
video will help you win more points in your own tennis matches and i hope
you've learned something new if you have enjoyed the video please
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leave a comment down below as well which type of video would you like to see from
us in the near future signing off simon
from ttt all the best and see you soon guys
oh nice
you