Check out the full training video with Naomi here: kzread.info/dash/bejne/h66ryJiOd82bmZs.html

@Southpaw101

3 жыл бұрын

Do you own the tennis court you play on? Seems like you have bought this property is that correct?

@Whisper555

3 жыл бұрын

Yes Ian. Most recreational players cannot hit all the variety of shots in mini tennis to a target with confidence consistently. Then they are surprised how tennis on the full court is difficult to be consistently efficiently effective. Unfortunately it is very rarely coached like this.

@boyzemail4769

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for this video! Many ideas in this video has helped me out and next time I practice, I will definitely try your suggestions! I like videos like these and hope you keep making more like this one! Great job 👏 👍

@tomharrison6607

2 жыл бұрын

what kind of racquet was kyroo using and how many square inches is it i hope i spelled his name right the reason i am asking is because i am in my late 50s and looking for a lighter racquet to use i use a head prestige 93 sq inches 330 grams pretty sure i need a lighter racquet 95 sq would be preferred thank you any suggestions

@JT-zv1rx

Жыл бұрын

@@tomharrison6607 I know it’s a little late but I only saw this video on Ian’s channel right now. Karue plays with the yonex vcore 95, which weights 310 grams in stock form. Hope it helps 😊

Appreciate it, Ian!! 👊🏻 Couldn’t agree more with your comment about people “not liking competition”. Happens in every level. Competition is key and it is supposed to be fun

@edblair5253

2 жыл бұрын

Competition is racist and misogynistic unless you are the one winning. We dont fail children at school and everyone gets the same reward regardless of results. Younger generations dont want to compete

It's very honest and gutsy on your behalf to admit that you struggle with topspin backhand in your mini tennis. Not many coaches admit what they need to do better in their game! Hats off for that, Ian!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

We all have something to improve, even at the highest level! Thanks for watching Dionisios!

That ball just sitting there behind him makes my almost-middle-aged ankles hurt.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

😬

That is so awesome that you got that content!

Great tips! Thank you so much for this video.

Great video ! So much learning

Thank you very much. It’s very useful and encourages me.

Much appreciated! Great lesson!

This is such a good video in combination. Superb, thanks. Both your channels are fantastic. Keep it up.

Thanks Ian for sharing this video and adding your comments with it. Very enlightening and helpful.

Thanks for posting this. The vision, along with commentary, is very helpful.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was helpful Wayne!

Very clear and useful

Ian, I noticed that when you talked about having trouble hitting topspin on your BH, the motion you made looked like someone hitting a BH with a weak continental, almost Eastern forehand, grip, i.e. with their palm IN FRONT of the racket handle. Someone who hits a solid topspin BH would pantomime the shot with their knuckles facing forward, their wrist neutral or slightly extended/laid back. In other words, their hand would be ON TOP of the handle (wrist neutral), almost BEHIND it (wrist flexed). Can I suggest that you try a little experiment? Try hitting your BH with the following (weird) grip: hold your thumb out like a hitchhiker and place it along the back of the racket handle. Make sure the handle is well into the palm of your hand. This will ensure you are holding your hand on top of the grip, with your knuckles forward, and will help stabilize the racket at contact. It also forces you to hit the ball well out in front of you, which itself generates topspin (your racket is rising at this point of the swing). It _will_ restrict the follow-through/release of the shot a bit, so it may only be a temporary fix for you, but just try it for a hitting session and see if it doesn't make your BH feel more solid and put more shape on your shots. Further tricks/hacks for topspin: 1. *Think about swinging DOWN* at the start of your acceleration forward. It gets your racket accelerating at an earlier point in the swing and accentuates the low-to-high racket path later in the stroke. 2. *Close your racket face* at contact (5-10 degrees). Check out slo-mo videos or stop-action photos of the pros at contact for proof. 3. *Keep your head down/still* through contact, with your gaze fixed at the point of contact until you finish your follow-through. You should just be able to see the ball land when you look up. The following drill from Tomaz Mencinger naturally incorporates the above suggestions. You hit 2-3 softly fed balls down into the court on your side so they bounce over the net, followed by 2-3 that you hit normally over the net, but KEEPING THE SAME STROKE MECHANICS, only changing your aim. I hope these suggestions can be of help and get you hitting a solid BH with topspin - and confidence - whenever the ball comes to the-artist-formerly-known-as your "weak side". And thanks again for everything you do for us out here in the greater KZread tennis community! Sincerely - JD, Montreal

Hi Ian. A great video. Thank you. I'm a Club Pro Coach in Australia and am always learning, and always keen to learn more about high performance training drills. Love your work and respect your willingness to open yourself up and expose your game's vulnerabilities in the interests of assisting others improve their games.

Such a great video, our coach has finally got most of our club warming up with mini tennis what a difference it has made in everyones consistency once a match starts, some real gold in this episode .love the matches you show also, you guys are amazing resource and entertaining as well thank you

I saw this too. It's a great video. Thank you for your insight.

They look so smooth when they are practicing.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! Short court helps with that, as well as using your body! Thanks for watching!

This is absolute goldmine of information. Thank you Ian for also presenting other peoples work. This is pretty much how I train young students who want to learn tennis minus the advanced stuff. Hope a this video reaches the maximum amount of people!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

Another very useful, well annotated video. Thanks, Ian.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad it was useful to you David!

We warm up short court most often. With one partner I warm up using foam, or starter balls and volley from inside the service line. I would suggest to those who struggle with short court to use the foam or starter balls. They slow things down and allow one to focus on the swingpath. As for the pro warm-up, xlnt ideas. I like the target challenges a lot. My struggle is to produce top spin bh short court. I have no problem with slice on the bh or the fh side when doing short court warm-up. Good stuff, Ian.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's a great tip Joe! Thanks for watching!

not surprised ,ive been plugged in to his content for a while now,,good stuff for sure

3Ps: Patience Pattern Pressure! I'd add a 4th P: Playful... relaxed and having a good fun time always makes for a great warm up and games ❤🎾

I 've watched it when he upload it...excelent video and this is they way i started training when i started playing tournaments about 10 years ago...very efficient way, highly recomented to everyone, you will see a massive improvement in your game

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad people can relate to this! Thanks for watching!

Nice lesson! Very informational. :)

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it, make sure to check out Karue's channel!

The mini tennis is how I start to warm up everytime I play

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad to hear that Jacob!

Great video

My instructor and I do very similar routines like that every time. This demo really emphasizes why this is good.

what an insight!

Quality material! I look forward to Ian every day.

Great analysis Ian! We are big fans of Karue and My Tennis HQ as well. One thing we do with our mini tennis/short court is we go cross court. It helps with understanding what you need to do to move a player off the court. And love the idea of having some sort of measurement for every drill. Points, numbers, time etc.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's great work! Karue has some great content, thanks for watching!

Thank-you sir for the video I will definitely try it when I recover👍

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it!

I began my journey in tennis with "Mini-tennis" and kept it as a warm up since then with my brother. It's just something that we've been doing ever since. We also use mini tennis when playing with new strings or tennis balls that we've never tried before to get a feel of it all. Thanks to Ian and the ET team for this video. Diamond content is an ET norm now... No fluff, just high quality stuff. Cheers!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

As a subscriber to Karue's channel, I had already seen the full post, but having your breakdown added immensely to the value Ian. Thanks for reposting it...

I started out practicing "mini tennis" from the get go - didn't know any better my partner suggested this was a great way to start learning. So now I ALWAYS warm up 10 minutes with this. Love the idea of accelerating/slice practice with the mini tennis will add it to my practice.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you're putting it to use! Most players don't but it's a great way to get started!

Me and my partners always start with mini tennis. A great way to practice brushing up from both sides...

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome that you do that Tom!

@williamseymour1362

3 жыл бұрын

Same!

@dennisbrowne2424

3 жыл бұрын

Same here, and the top spin warm-ups can get pretty intense, but a lot of fun.

I watched this training video when it came out and really liked Karue's commentary. Many great points and especially liked that you are trying to hit quality shots in practice but also pushing passed what you are comfortable with. The structure around the practice and each drill, systematically going through 5-10 minutes of different aspects of the game is what stands out as making it a high quality practice sessions. I was surprised they didn't split-step when doing short court because my coach always told me to do this:-)

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you found it useful Sabina!

Thanks Ian, enjoyed your breakdown. Short court is a great warm up, many little game options: cross-court short court, feed and volley short court. Love the no winner scoring too. Quality deep groundstrokes are more difficult than they look here but well worth the practice!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

So glad you enjoyed it Elizabeth!

Thank u for making great videos. Please make a video on Platform vs Pinpoint stance and how to perform them.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Great idea! We have a few videos about that already!

@avikammishra8941

3 жыл бұрын

Ok

Mini tennis is even better if you don't use it to talk and not pay attention to form and tracking the ball. My team thinks it's social time lol. I remind them to clam up lol.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely, need to focus on control!

@shafikmahomad6629

3 жыл бұрын

I hate it when people don't focus on that mini tennis stage of the warmup.

@melfox215

3 жыл бұрын

@@shafikmahomad6629 Come on. The first few minutes, you can socialise before the training turns into war. At least with yourself :)

@shafikmahomad6629

3 жыл бұрын

@@melfox215 One doesn't need to be antagonistic in warmup, but if/when they talk to me or someone on the side, it distracts me... It's a bit of lack of respect for your training buddy I consider... - unless both of them don't really care

@melfox215

3 жыл бұрын

@@shafikmahomad6629 I just think you got some mamba mentality which is good to improve, but not easy to enjoy what you're doing. I don't have a problem in switching my mindset, so I can start like kidding around and then turn into beast mode as long as my stamina allows me to.... that's my only serious concern about staying focused now.

I’m lucky to have a playing partner who also likes to use drills and mini tennis to work on our game. One fave drill is 2cc/1dtl - so good for groundstrokes accuracy &.movement. The other is a mini-tennis game but we use cones to make the baseline only 4’ either side of the net. You have to have a soft touch, anticipate, and quick recovery. I found them both in your drills library! Such a good resource.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's great to have a hitting partner like that, thanks for watching!

I do mini tennis all the time but not hitting it fast. I find it really helpful to get a feel for the ball. Sometimes we just start hitting the ball to each other so that we have to hit it in the air which is good to prepare for volleys . We also use slices.

Watched this video earlier on Karu’s channel.Also very fun to watch with your helpful comment.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you found both videos helpful!

This is going to change my practice. I like the three p’s. You spent most of the time on adding pressure. I totally want to add that to my practice. You only mentioned pattern. I think you could do a series about practicing single and double patterns.

I agree competing is fun! I think small pressure games like these also helps bridge the gap between high pressure match points and no pressure practice points.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! Bridging the gap between practice and match is so important!

I like the slice short court game with no winners! Win with patience!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! It's a tough drill!

@nurbanukaskc8424

3 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/loetvMGtZ6-vdtI.html

All very cool and helpful. Only quibble: we called it Tiny Tennis coming up. I realize more people call it Mini Tennis. But that doesn't mean that I like it.

My coach, that is no. 428 (no. 1 is Alex Zverev) in German rankings and got a coaching licence for competitive tennis, ALWAYS begins our training sessions with mini tennis. We don't use to play little matches there, but doing some drills like 1 player only plays cross balls and the other one only longline shots. Last training session before lockdown, he instructed me to vary between 1 topspin ball and 1 slice ball in mini tennis regardless if it's forehand or backhand. It was sort of weird in the beginning, but I got used to it soon. I think it's very good to activate your focus on what you're doing and exercise grip changes all the time. Long balls down the middle is another exercise he likes to do after mini tennis. Both chapters take like 10 minutes each and then the remaining 40 minutes of the training session are specific.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That is awesome to hear! Glad it's been helpful Mel!

Thanks for your comments to Karue’s video which I watched several times. I struggle with my one-handed backhand as well. I think the difficulty is the contact point and the lose hand wrist. When I was young, we never did mini tennis as it was not cool. Totally wrong mindset. If pros do it, there must be a good reason for it. When I got older (and wiser 😉), I tried it and found that I actually can’t do it because my technique is not good enough. And not just me, most of my friends or opponents were not able to properly play mini tennis. Simply poor tennis technique. Then I found a younger player with proper technique with whom I regularly play mini tennis as wem up…and it’s really helpful for your whole game. Everyone should do it even if it feels very strange. Keep on trying , figure out what you need to change, and will pay off. 😢 btw, I am competing in tennis since 45 years.

It’s weird that they warmup topspin mini tennis before slice. My coaches growing up were Peter Burwash coaches and they believe that you warmup the touch shots first before you move on to the topspin. This video was eye opening to be on the receiving end of Osaka’s shots - talk about bombs! Btw I did their down the middle game last week - it was good practice :-)

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Awesome, good for you!

Love to do that kind of training! I would need same level partner to training with though

Mini tennis requires ball control and placement. I have been using this type of warm up routine in coaching since I got PTR certified back in 1990. So many players can benefit from doing drills and skills on a regular basis. I always refer to the movie The Karate Kid. “ Wax on! wax Off” as an example. It’s the correct repetition of certain muscle movements that later translate into proper technique. If you have done it several thousand times you will be ready on match point.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Love it!

Surprising that in the mini-tennis warmup, footwork and split-stepping does not seem to be emphasized, they are just hitting casually and kind of flat-footed. Obviously I am not criticizing them, I am just surprised, because footwork is usually my big focus warming up! Ps. Your statement about inserting competitive elements, "That is how to start to make it (competing) fun" is a beautiful insight.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Good point RE split steps.

It would be cool if you interviewed more pro players too !

Mini tennis is best accomplished with softer hands and concentrating on follow through. Once that rythm is handled, doing it full speed, full court becomes easier to understand.

Having coached football for many years I personally know that the top pro soccer clubs use the very same sessions that I used.. Tennis is the same ,we are only human and often keeping it simple is the best way to develop talent from grassroots level to Ronaldo or Roger Federer thru repetition and common sense. Thanks for the interesting video Ian :)

Tennis spin suggested playing a game from 15 30 or 30 15 i really like that drill playing the important points with pressure.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

i wasnt surprised about mini tennis bc my friend and i play it all the time

Yup, surprised to see a pro starting with mini-tennis. One thing that I notice about the pros hitting mini-tennis, they hit with SLOW, FULL SWINGS using the SWEET SPOT- and not the little jabs and pokes and off-center hits most club players do. Mini-tennis requires much more FORM, CONSISTENCY AND EYE-TRACKING than most weekenders possess, hence the reason most avoid it like the plague.

EIGHT LESSSSS GOOO

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

💪

do you have a link to his site ?

how do you get Coache's Eye to fill the entire screen on the TV... what do you use to shoot the video etc.?

Great stuff! I have a question abt mini tennis. I usually start with this before my hits. One thing I find though is if I use my normal semiwestern fh grip, I can control the ball as well and so I switch to a more conservative grip. Should this be the case or should I be using my regular fh grip during mini tennis too?

@asafkaskc7839

3 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/loetvMGtZ6-vdtI.html

@ommpaloomplak53

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely use your normal grips

Mini tennis is great because it can give you a good warm up for the body rather than get straight into in at the baseline. Also great for touch with the ball .

The 2X-crossCourt then 1X-downTheLine is a drill that I see Djokovic do a lot in his training with tour players.

One question about training rallies: what you're talking about around the 9-minute mark is the idea of hitting a quality shot, not just getting it in. To me, a quality shot is one that puts pressure on the opponent - even if it's down the middle and bounces hip high, it should have something or other to it that makes it more than just a meatball. But if the point is to have a nice steady back and forth, do you want to dial that back a bit in the service of keeping the rally going? That is, is the point to get some consistent, multi-shot rallies going, or is the point to hit a down-the-middle ball that you're not trying to crush the other player with but that nonetheless gives the other player some trouble, even minimal trouble, and let that person fend for her/himself? If that makes sense.

With regards to warning up with mini tennis, I've noticed only the first team players in the two tennis clubs I've been a member of do it. I personally like to warm up with it myself but most of my team mates (2nd, 3rd team and social members) head straight to the base line.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

It's a really strong way to warm up and get your body and swing moving!

This is the sweet science of our beautiful complex sport

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That it is! Thanks for watching Hector!

My coach and I do 99% of this on Saturday. I wasn’t shocked with the mini tennis. I don’t like it either. I always hit to hard, but he has a good overhead. (Is that because there isn’t a lot of topspin?) He’s always telling me stay behind the base line! I couldn’t play Monday and Wednesday because the weather was so bad. But we need rain in Vegas! I’m just grateful I can play tomorrow.😁

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you're doing most of it. And that's the goal with mini tennis, to work on topspin and control!

short court is the best!!!

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

💪 Glad you like it!

Every training session I start with a mini tennis game to keep it fun to hold focus of the young students.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's awesome!

@nurbanukaskc8424

3 жыл бұрын

kzread.info/dash/bejne/loetvMGtZ6-vdtI.html

@atrem7942

3 жыл бұрын

@@nurbanukaskc8424 nice job, problem with this exercise is, it is very monotone, also you make it look easy for beginners it isn't

Mini tennis topspin is to warm up the muscles and tendons for the shot, but not to "learn" it. Once you have the technique, it's done to groove the brush and the timing, and get your body comfortable for the court.

I always started with short courts or mini tennis but my partner and I never do only slice and we go to crosscourt instead of down the line.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's a great way to do it too Send!

Hitting partners Karu Sell is an awesome player.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Yes he is!

Plenty of videos on this not sure why he said there are none years ago Wozniacki has a video out.

I'm not surprised except for it already being what I do. We even play sets where if you double fault or fail to convert a game point, you go back to 0. Forces you to confront pressure harder than in a real match. Super fun!

@tennisone6376

2 жыл бұрын

arent u supposed to go for your serves what dumbass rules

@InfiniteQuest86

2 жыл бұрын

@@tennisone6376 Lol I've seen you trolling on other tennis channels too.

@tennisone6376

2 жыл бұрын

@@InfiniteQuest86 you dont want to play safe but high quality is opposite what you suppose to do

@InfiniteQuest86

2 жыл бұрын

@@tennisone6376 This is how you practice playing high quality under pressure rather than falling into playing safe and losing points.

Is that Wim Fissette in blue shirt feeding for the hitting partner and Naomi?

15:50 oof that hurts my soul

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

All our souls! 😆

I feel like most amateurs who do mini tennis stand right on the service line, which is more of a warmup for a half-volley, which you hardly ever hit. Here they stand slightly behind the service line, which allows you to hit more of a full groundstroke motion.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

You're exactly right! It also depends on how much power/spin is being put on the ball

Fear of not hitting the ball makes me hit it way too hard for mini-tennis. Thanks for getting me to leave my comfort zone!

It would be obvious to EVERY student I coach 1 2 1, I always start off a session with it, it looks simple but lots of players really struggle with it

Another warm up drill is to simply start with a few touch volleys too.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

That's another great way!

I'm always having problem playing minitennis with other players because I have very good topspin and they simply can't deal with it. Minitennis with them push me back to just ping the ball with them flat, otherwise they simply can't react to my topspin (in minitennis) :(

Super Super

I kinda practice all of these patterns and plays but I still get nervy while playing a big match. (It has improved from the past though) I just don't know what else I should do to get those nerves to a minimum. Whomever I ask I only get one response "you need to play more matches, more tournaments, etc". Is it really that? I'd love to get your opinion, it's very trustworthy.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

You need to do more pressure and competitive games and practice matches. We did a whole video series about this, start with this one! kzread.info/dash/bejne/oWat2MyJgsmbktY.html

@abhraghosh8372

3 жыл бұрын

@@EssentialTennis thanks 👍

Every tennis player is different, just because a professional player trains one way, it doesn't guarantee that the same practice routine will work for you as an amateur. I'm not saying they're wrong to do train like this or nobody watching should try and implement drills and techniques used here. Everyone should probably at least try at least one of these methods. Just don't think something is wrong with you if you don't see results after trying some of these methods for a while.

Who edits these videos?

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

James and Tyler.

So this is a video about another video?

Actually, my play partner and I start exactly like the first step, it was something I thought we needed to get us dialed in, but after that we are content to just rally around. I wish we could have the camera at Naomi's end ;)

During the short court tennis warm-up, I was really surprised to see both players not doing any split steps. Maybe the focus was on the feel and topspin & slice, but still surprising as split steps are one of the first things most coaches repeatedly emphasize to a player. Any thoughts on this, Ian?

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Great observation! I always split step when doing short court, but I agree, they are mostly just focusing on the topspin and slice in these few drills.

This is smart of Naomi. To have a superior former ATP player like Karue as a hitting partner helps her step up her level.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Absolutely! He's a great addition to her team!

@Gidoza

3 жыл бұрын

He posted a video after she won the US Open, he was so proud to be part of her team.

13:37 aint that the truth...I constantly am suggesting pressure point, 21 or open point after 4 neutral balls.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

It's a great way to practice match play pressure!

This is great, especially the "no winners" game. I think I'm in the minority (learned the game in the 1960s) -- it was as much a social grace as it was a sport. We were encouraged to learn how to rally with someone not as "good" as we were, to make the game fun for everyone playing. I enjoy competing when it's match time, but I do get frustrated trying to warm up with players who can't (or won't) keep the rally alive.

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

Glad you found it helpful Gretchen!

Their half court is not training session, it is a warm up to their training, please dont confused that!!!!

I was laughing when you brought up how amateur players think competition isn't fun. That's like virtually saying games aren't fun which is like - "What?!" I understand a lot of where that mentality comes from. Sometimes someone needs to remind them that everyone starts somewhere.

Serious question: Will Osaka be able to beat a male player of that caliber? Honestly curious.

@ringo119

3 жыл бұрын

Nope

@info781

2 жыл бұрын

Just check UTR , men and women are ranked on same scale.

One of the best "woman" players in the world Ian

😆😄

Why don’t they never practice serve ?

@EssentialTennis

3 жыл бұрын

They do! This was just a small selection of drills!

@K4R3N

3 жыл бұрын

Serve is something you can easily practice by yourself.

Didn't know Andy Roddick got demoted to being a sparring partner.

@maxpowers4436

3 жыл бұрын

Andy got demoted to retiring years ago.