Now let's break down Federer's footwork now Federer is
definitely one of the greatest movers of all time.
If we took away Federer's footwork and we made him have
just average footwork he wouldn't be half the player that he is
his footwork is the glue that gels his entire game
together it's what allows him to defend to actually have that chance to then
attack and there are three main steps that we
can all learn from when it comes to Federer's footwork
the first one of course is the split
step. So we know that the split step is
important we know that we should always be doing a split step
when the opponent makes contact so this step right here
but what makes Federer's split step so good is how wide he is
and how explosive he is, how springy he is out of that split step
so a lot of players will do a split step but they'll land quite heavy
and it's almost as if they haven't used that ground force that they've created
from that split step. When you do a split step you want to
feel like you're using the ground as almost a springboard you're blinding
and you're pushing off in the direction that you need to go in
if you're landing heavy and flat-footed you're not going to have the benefits
or all the benefits from having that split step so if you're landing on your
heels now if i want to push off to my right i
have to lift the heel off the ground get onto the
balls of my feet before i can then run off to the right
side but if i'm landing like federer which is explosive but on the balls of
my feet i'm now ready to push off in any
direction
so we can be more explosive with that split step we can train our split steps
which is something that federer does on a daily basis and we can also land on
the balls of our feet so we're ready to push off in any
direction
now the next step that federer does extremely well and uses very often
is that cross over step so this is especially good if you've hit a wide
forehand or a wide backhand you're on the run you've hit that shot
and now to get into a good position i can use a side shuffle step
which takes a lot of time and actually is very energy
draining it drains the energy especially from the inner
leg muscles the groin muscles or i can use a crossover step
and this is what federer does so i can use a crossover step
cover much more ground with just a few steps
and also save energy so be more energy efficient throughout the course of a
match so crossover step would be now this
right leg crossing over my left leg as this
so mastering the crossover step will help you to recover quicker it will help
you to cover more distance with less steps
and it will help you to save energy over the course of a match now federer
also uses the cross behind step and we see this very often when he's hit
a wider deeper backhand
so he's being pushed back he's hitting a backhand
and instead of having his feet level where he can now use a crossover step
so if he's finished his backhand and his left leg has
come across and join the front leg almost in a line
so this and this the crossover is easier but often when you hit a deep backhand
you'll end up with your legs out of line so your back leg will be slightly behind
your front leg so it might be like this now for me to
do a crossover step from here is very awkward but across behind step
is very easy so i can hit that high back and you can finish in this position
now i can cross behind and still have the benefits of that
longer range of motion with that cross behind step
so left leg crossing over this is a crossover step
and this is the cross behind step with the cross behind you won't cover as much
ground with one step but it's still a lot
better than using the side shuffle step so if
i've hit a wide backhand and i finish with my feet in the line i
can use crossover if i hit one and i finish with my foot
out of line i can use the cross behind so if you
master both of those steps and start using them especially when
you're recovering you'll see a massive difference
in how quick you can get back into a good position on the tennis court
now this lesson is from our pros revolution course which is available on
our website i'll leave the link to the full
course beneath this lesson so if you want more videos
just like this one if you want to get even deeper into federer's game
if you want to get deeper into nadal djokovic
teams game all the best pros in the world we've analyzed their games
we've looked at what you can learn from them what we can copy from them
and how you can now improve your own game by copying
your favorite player so click on the link below this video
for more information about the full course
thank you so much for watching the video guys i hope you've enjoyed it and i hope
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suggestions signing off simon from ttt all the best
and see you soon guys take care