okay let's do the same thing we did last time i'm gonna play out points with you
i'm gonna observe how you perform during the points and coach you accordingly okay
safin i know it's early but it looks like you didn't use your body that much there right
make sure you load and unload right off the get-go
it looks like you pushed on it a little bit there's a little bit of
a push make sure for spin you go straight up okay
beautiful job safin see that that return was much better good job
go again safin one more time
too good i think you're returning pretty well today but still i feel like you're close to
the baseline do you always stand that close yeah do you like that i just feel like i'm
better off taking it early than taking it late really well that's not a clay court
i think you think it works for you i think so yeah i'm not a big fan of it simply because
it makes it more difficult the less time you have the more difficult the stroke
becomes if you can pull it off however if you like federer when he's playing well
you can stand closer but most players like to back up and give themselves a little more space
yeah on the second serve yeah i'll back up but see that's weird there's only a second serves you back
up on the first first serve you just stand there i mean a lot of times it depends on the opponent
what kind of serve let's let's monitor the amount of return errors and we'll go from there
go again that was lucky
was not so lucky nice shot safin or maybe you can stand there i don't know
you're defying the odds you're like federer jr
two words come to mind when i see a point like this footwork and intensity
which can be one word and called electricity you got to move more
especially on miss hits on balls that appear to be easy more intensity a lot more intensity
you feel like you're moving too much
really that's what i think honestly really it doesn't look it it doesn't look like it really
it doesn't look like it it looks like you're just missing those quick little
adjustment steps sometimes yeah just like i feel like you're standing in place too much
that's what i'm that's what i'm seeing obviously like when you get a ball in the corner you run
explosively to the ball i don't mean that i mean more on balls that appear to be easy
yeah we talked about this last time i think that's part of the reason why you frame so much
i think that's where mentally but you tell me the exact opposite but to me what i'm seeing is that
there's less intensity when the ball appears to be easy so my recommendation is doing even though you
think you're moving too much increase the amount of steps that you're doing prior to hitting a
ball like that so you got a little shank that i hit the forehand shank you come up there and
let's hear those shoes squeak let's make some adjustments otherwise you're just going to be
like taking one long step and making a mess out of the slice like you did there okay
you thought about calling that out didn't you oh okay it looked like you're about to call it out
go again
go again safin. Safin i'm on purpose serving a little bit more to you so you
can work on your return but now i'm going to open it up just for the reason that i want
you to be more intense more electricity not get too relaxed on that return okay
nice safin was that shank or for real for real i'm gonna see a replay on that
it was a little bit shanky come on you know it was what happened there was like you put enough you
put enough spin on there that the shank got some control on it i don't think you caught it clean
racket face opened up too much there like this close it more
i don't mind you hitting like that but get a central target you're trying to go inside out
there you weren't planning to hit it anywhere plan to go right down the middle now okay
go again same side
it's really tough to run around your backhand on a bombs so i would have maybe
done a chip backhand there yeah go again same side
beautiful slice safin very nice
you know what i'll be honest with you i think your're took close to the baseline on the return i i don't
i think it's like you're making good returns but often i feel like when you make one it's like uh
yeah exactly like it's not really your intention like you hit a little bit late it ends up going
inside out you hit a winner you hit it too early it goes cross-court you hit a winner
right there's a lot of backhands where like you're either like pushing on it or you're when
when you're blocking you're opening the racket face look the less time there is the less
control you you have over what's happening so it's never wrong to be fluid on the return and i'm not
i don't i'm not saying you don't ever want to stand where you're standing it can work when
you're on fire but just keep in mind that your positioning on the return serve can be fluid
it can be there's nothing wrong with being fluid there if you've got a guy who's served big
don't be stubborn and stand there and make tons of return mistakes
like give yourself a little more time by backing up
you see the greatest of all time do that too yeah um when you're feeling like on you feel
like you're controlling the ball well now go ahead and stand a little closer but just be fluid don't
get stuck never get stubborn always like be ready to adjust when you need to when it comes to uh
placement on the return like i love when you if you can go hard through the middle
on the forehand you sometimes missing that extra bit of spin yeah you know and so sometimes like
it doesn't go over the net or it flies on you a little bit make sure you finish it off but
towards the end of the return you finish it off all the way you apply apply some top spin that's
still like the one shot where in pressure moments i don't i can't rely on it the return to serve the
forehand in general yeah the forehand the forehand um i'll be honest with you like it's it's today
i've seen some mistakes that i've seen like when we first started working together yeah
you gotta remember to use your body the thing that i told you about the intensity that's
super important to have a lot of electricity intensity around the setup process of every ball
that's going to reduce the errors also when you load the forehand your body is going to get more
involved that's going to help and the intention has to be to play a little bit higher over the
net how you're going to do that you go a little bit more vertical on the ball you know how to do
it you know how to put more spin yeah and let's do one another one more round of me serving and i'm
i'm going to give you a lot of second serves this time okay and we'll keep working on it
safin on the squash shot don't use the wrist here it's gonna it's gonna fly on you
keep the wrist passive and just work with your with your hands more with your feel
more finesse don't just slap at it it's gonna fly on you
i hope i just didn't waste like five minutes explaining why the forehand doesn't work sometimes
because there was nothing what i told you to do yeah
it was a slap shot down the line slap shot those can go in but those can miss who
cares if you can get a couple of winners like that but you're gonna miss a lot
that's what spin can help you with yeah and shot selection don't
go for the line you're gonna be aggressive but play ti more
play it more in the like between uh the the middle of the court and the singles line and apply more
shape on it that's gonna reduce your errors that's your answer right there okay come on
nice footwork very good i like that i thought i was going to get you with a
little underhand but you reacted well good job
there you didn't react well safin come on be ready back there come on electricity
you don't know what's going to happen i could do a first serve too i'm in control
that was a good shot right it's okay to congratulate
your opponent every now and then come on fair play you want a friendly atmosphere it's better
the problem is i don't want you to leave the forehand loopy and
slow either like you have to hit it fast but with more spin okay
safin go again more power swing fast but with more spin
better
sliding too much like i'm happy that you know how to slide
but do you remember our very first lesson body to forehand
i told you don't slide when it's unnecessary to slide yeah there i feel like what was the reason
for sliding you were right there man yeah let's see leave sliding for defense emergency because
i feel like i put my foot down too hard it automatically happens is that what it is
yeah that could be it could be i felt like you're out of position there that's why u missed it
footwork's safin when you're returning slice it's all about footwork
more than other shots see a lot of times when it comes through hard you have to do less work
than when it comes slow because that ball had a lot of action on it more intensity more footwork
good see if even though you made that i still feel like it's too risky
i'm still worried about that shot
again it's like right on the line
i'm worried about it man it's just everything is like when you hit winners
i mean yeah it's a good shot it is but in the context of doing that ten times in a row i don't
think you can do it yeah a couple of them are going to slide on you i prefer you hitting like
there instead just as hard you get a winner
well look when the ball is high like that give you a high ball there put it away you got to change
the trajectory of the ball so you can't swing like a normal way you have to change the ball
you have to swing down on it a little bit more same thing i'll give you one right here change
the ball change the trajectory okay you let that drop a little lower go one more time come
better way better okay that ball was a little closer to the net was easier but
you get the idea okay all right one more last one
best return so far very good safin nice work that was better it's a good target too good
area on the court to play to if you can hit your winners there you're gonna be missing a lot less
because what's probably happening at these matches that you're playing you're beating yourself
you're playing well yeah you're playing well you're getting close but then when it
when it comes to important points you're probably making some silly mistakes
so it's about cleaning up your game about understanding high percentage tennis
it's about understanding that you have to exert an enormous amount of effort on every single ball
otherwise you can forget playing high level tennis and you have to make the balls you cannot
those couple of winners that you hit they're meaningless if you're going to make
a double the amount of errors right so keeping the ball in play
with an aggressive mindset that's how you have to approach it
now i know how it feels though because sometimes you want to get it in and you start slowing it
down too much and you're continuing this anyways i want you to serve a little bit okay okay come on
once this video is done i want you to take a look at that shot like i hit a return pretty
pretty sturdy through the middle there was literally no setup steps
yeah there's literally one step set bam frame
you gotta dance around that ball it's coming right at you doesn't mean it's gonna be easy
right at you means like right there that's what i mean by set up steps in intensity okay
there was a slice right slice approach you can't just step and deflect
because slice has less pace than a regular ball
so you got to take a full swing on that backhand but again more setup come on
great backhand safin
too good
there you go safin and beautiful serve nice way to hit a spot right in the corner good work
there you go safin come on
that was a lot of spin on that forehand was that a shank okay okay
safin again continue to work finding that angle so i can't hit a forehand okay
again find that angle safin come on
go again
common safin shorter shorter in the box exit the ball
yes safin yes no safin no
great serve though but where's the footwork man we talked about it many times today
look he's you're like stuck
what do you think tell me what is going on i agree with what you're
saying so go ahead my setup i feel like i'm too lazy sometimes okay why don't you
i don't know come on do it do it or you're gonna have a hard time at the high level you cannot
you you cannot accept that you make a mistake like that
that mistake does not exist at a high level that's what you're looking for a
wide open court footwork you can't you gotta start doing this come on one more time second
that was a good one actually go again safin do you think i meant that or was accident
how dare you take that back
nice topspin safin very good
down to the slice safin inexcusable man come on down bend knees touching the ground
are you telling me what was wrong while i catch my breath right i'm not sure what i was trying
to do on that shot what should you have done let it bounce absolutely it's not
a good area to play swing volley from listen swing volley is on the higher balls and they're
going to be struck higher yeah you don't want to hit a swing volley around the waist so there's
again footwork allright last point okay first serve winner takes all
fantastic serve safin beautiful your slice has gotten a lot better
this is a big improvement what you got to continue to work on angling the second serve
what else you got to work on you tell me work on the footwork come on man come on man you got this
yeah you're still doing fitness yes but you know moving your feet it's mental right
yeah so no matter how much fitness you do if you don't want to move if you're let's say the l word
you know the l word is no l ah yes stands for lazy you don't get lazy ever or forget tennis
try something else yeah try golf i don't know about golf but tennis you got to move like crazy
like a maniac eyes bulging out of your skull like djokovic that's the example i always use you have
to be crazy as far as movement and footwork and the amount of effort you're exerting on
the court then you're gonna have results okay yeah but you're showing improvements there's
a lot of good things going on like we talked about today the forehand we know what to do
second serve we know what to do return of serve we know what to do we're on the right track
but the big takeaway from today's point play coaching is that the footwork and
the intensity in the electricity it has got to increase now this is not news to you i've been
telling you this from day one so now it's time to put this into practice okay come on