Rec Tennis Player Delusions

Stop being delusional. There are no immediate changes in tennis. That's simply not how your brain works.
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I am not a CMPC, certified sports psychology practitioner, nor am I a licensed mental health counselor or PsyD. My aim is to bring the best information to tennis players around the world so that you can apply it for long-term improvement-but sometimes I will make mistakes.If this is your area of research or expertise, and you feel I’ve misunderstood something, please get in touch with me and if required I will happily issue a correction.

[@malharmalicoaching]

Here's the written version-you'll get coaching/guidance like this every Monday in your inbox if you sign up (and it's free): beforeandaftertennis.beehiiv.com/p/i-m-getting-worse Thank you for taking the time to watch and listen 👍🏼

[@germanslice]

The national coach gave me the one leg drill exercise for me to practice with learning how to pronate the serve balancing on just one leg and it was totally awful at first trying to hit the serve balancing on just only one leg because I was used to doing it with both legs. So if you tossed the ball up the spot you will fall over on the court or wobble but he did it to fix an erractic toss and that exercise showed me where all the bad tosses were and by isolating the leg out of the serve motion the bad toss started to adjust and correct itself and the serve became more cleaner and I developed a big flat serve as a result of persevering with that drill. So I never complained for my coach was a former Bolliteri tennis Coach so i knew he knew what he was doing ...Just a few months of doing that drill I was able to serve bombs just like the pros on tv do once the ball toss was all cleaned up. The guys only had a second of time or sometimes less to get their racquets onto the ball when it came down to them But I would not have had that kind of pace on the serve if I did not listen to the coach to just do the drill. And I became one of the biggest servers in the club and smashed up all the guys all off the court with it. The serve was unstoppable and I destroyed over half of the club players with it. Beat many of them in straight sets because they couldn't easily stop those big pronation serves. .

[@ybakos]

I like the phrase "delayed gratification," as a reminder of how we need to invest the time and be content with the temporary "worsening" in order to get the outcomes we're going for.

[@julianpenfold1638]

What's delusional is thinking you'll improve significantly once you have reached your natural level. Reaching your natural level in my experience takes between a small number of months and a small number of years. I'm assuming physical fitness is good, input is good and you dedicate a decent amount of time and energy to improvement. Professionals and elite level players plateau too, but their plateau is higher because they have the natural attributes required to play high level tennis. After that small number of months/years, I have never seen a rec player (or a rec participant in any sport, at adult level) improve significantly. Gains are incremental, law of diminishing returns.

[@winnie3257]

As a fellow coach, when I teach kids vs adults while it is known most kids absorb information and learn faster; many adults just cant control their body. However, there is a handful of adults that are stubborn or scared to make changes and embrace that change to get better. I would also argue what is that players goal? If they simply want to play USTA leagues they can still be a proficient player serving with the "wrong grip". However, if they want to learn how to hit heavy topspin but they are playing with a continental grip then they might want to consider the "delayed gratification" and change there habits to become better in the long run. Good video!

[@malharmalicoaching]

Thank you for sharing your nuanced comment. I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@orangecoolius]

tennis: a metaphor for life

[@malharmalicoaching]

Indeed.

[@jonathanchen1026]

You need to take a few steps back in order to reach that higher ceiling. You need to be willing to go through the growing pains

[@connorbond]

Serves are funny in that they are the hardest thing to master but the only thing that you can easily work on by yourself.

[@Biff420NoScope]

Very true. I just startet teaching my 9yo godchild and her mother how to serve, starting from a typical waiter’s serve. I am technically savvy, equivalent to 5.0 in US standards but teaching is a different animal, so I had to do a lot of homework on my side before starting this project. So even if you perfectly know what you are doing in terms of the technical aspects, you need to establish trust with your students. They have to believe that taking 2 steps back is the only way to go 3, 4, 5 steps forward and while their serve is ’under construction’ they cannot use it outside serve practice for months because otherwise they will refresh their existing, flawed muscle memory. This isn‘t an easy task for either side, the student has to make a decision. Does he or she really want this? If yes, I believe almost anyone can do it with 1 private lesson a week + 5-10 minutes per day of homework (from my limited experience mainly practicing correct ball toss). While the serve is more or less difficult to learn for anyone it is not rocket science. Students have to be patient and have faith in their teacher. Teachers need to keep students motivated and find a way to make them believe that they can do it if they stick to the plan. Goal is to have little improvements every week because stagnation kills motivation.

[@sebastiandomagala9233]

My son and I are going through the same process. My son's serve is about to establish itself again. Took a long time without any serve to speak of, but as children go they learn really fast. My own ball toss is a different manner, I have to Change from "J" to straight toss, bit 44 years of muscle memory is hard to rework. Besides, a fluent serve motion also requires a good grip. You cannot let loose your wrist If you try to hold a slippery racquet. But at the end this is more about coaches than players. How many coaches prevent the wrong movement to build up as a program? They all let beginners get away with the waiter's tray instead of teaching it correctly from scratch.

[@Biff420NoScope]

@@sebastiandomagala9233 yes, they learn fast but also adopt new mistakes if you don't correct them permanently, basically you have to stand next to them on every serve in the beginning, correcting the grip over and over for example. I have my two students come in with a fresh overgrip every time so it won't slip, that helps. I agree that you have to completely retire the old serve and start again from scratch. This took a bit of convincing especially with the little one. You cannot wipe muscle memory, only overwrite it.

[@Dasato123]

A very well presented video with a excellent message. The pushback/excuses from rec players should be immediate.😅

[@malharmalicoaching]

That was my goal. Thanks for the comment!

[@sebastiandomagala9233]

I changed from two handed to one handed backhand when I was twelve or something. And currently I am changing my ball toss to straight. I still remember playing virtually without any backhand to be worth mentioning. And as soon ad I stop thinking about it my old and crooked J-toss is back. The process is far from easy. Every player should be told so. Just like mentioned in the video.

[@malharmalicoaching]

Myelin and automaticity

[@nglfmark1]

Such great advice.

[@malharmalicoaching]

Hello. I’m glad you enjoyed the video.

[@PaulWolfe1]

I have always found that the eastern forehand works better for tosses that are a bit off. Yeah I know, fix the toss. Some of us just have limited time, there are a lot of things to work on in tennis, and we're not looking to turn pro. I have maddening trouble getting to ball toss perfect with my non-dominant hand. I'm just trying to make a jump from 4.0 to 4.5.

[@malharmalicoaching]

It's difficult to fix the toss in isolation. I totally get that it can be challenging knowing what to dedicate your time to. But you can always think about it this way, if you improved your serve drastically-would that help you make a jump up to a 4.5 level? If the answer is yes, then it might be time to switch away from an eastern grip.

[@Biff420NoScope]

@@PaulWolfe1 try this for practicing your ball toss: hold your racket with its tip facing-up and lead your straight tossing arm upwards ending with your left shoulder higher than your right shoulder. If the ball still ends up landing way in front of/ next to you rather than over your head (if you would not intercept it with your stroke) start with your right foot directly next to your left foot (you are standing in a 45 degree angle) like in the 2nd phase of a pinpoint stance. This can help with the trajectory of your ball-toss, because leaning forward in your tossing motion (frequent mistake) becomes harder that way.

[@pencilcheck]

as someone who look online and coaching, most of them are bad coaches and to draw students they have to say something bold and untrue. Don't tell you you haven't seen headlines of videos such as "doing this one thing that will add 10 mph to your serve", "how to hit like federer by doing this one simple trick", "you have been doing your backhand wrong", etc?

[@malharmalicoaching]

Yes, its' a challenge to get a click on videos.

[@garykim313]

If you can improve your serve linearly over time, I guarantee you I’d be serving like Zverev rn.

[@Shaunsweeney-Kubach71]

My suggestion is not to work on conformity and practice hitting a variety of lose shots, work on trick shots, try to make the most ridiculous scenarios, and practice hitting shots off those, if you keep practicing like a robot, you will never be able to know what you are truly capable of doing. Have you ever seen MEP play tennis, he beats people so badly that they literally quit playing him in the middle of the match, Ben hits slice and he shots aren’t textbook shots, but I will bet 500 bucks he will beat more than half the players making comments on this video. The reason Ben wins against good players is because his opponents never adjust to his left handed slice. Once the weather clears up, I am going to make a response video and show people how to slice and adjust against hackers and pushers! It’s taken me a while to figure out that adjustment is continuous in tennis and if we don’t adjust of practice every scenario and have fun, we will never improve in the game of tennis! I practice my serve with cones, and accuracy is more important to me than power, and I practice move forwards and backwards which I hardly ever see videos of players practicing overheads, or moving forwards and backwards! It’s always side to side and how to hit a forehand or backhand. It’s some observations I noticed and I practice every scenario I have ever seen on a tennis court and it’s helped me at the net and my overhead is way better than it was. Great job on the video my dude, and good luck with your tennis my friend.

[@ronm7114]

How about u just hold the racket the way u want

[@sixfivesixeightfivefivesix]

how about u miss the point of the video entirely and say something rly stupid instead

[@malharmalicoaching]

Sure. You can do that on most strokes in tennis. For example, most players doing use a pure continental on serve; individualism comes into play. That being said, as I mentioned in the video, rec players reach a certain level and then plateau because they are scared of their level dropping while making the changes

[@Krwler]

You can do that, my guy said so … but you won’t improve passed beginner level. There’s a reason why coaches teach particular grips and why every high level player practices these teachings. If you can show me a single pro who serves with a frying pan grip, I’ll wire you $250

[@ronm7114]

@@Krwler it depends on talent. I was never teached a grip. I just have my own. And i do play on a high level. I just hold what feels best to me.

[@winnie3257]

@@ronm7114 You can hold any grip, however hitting a kick serve or slice serve with a eastern or western grip can be very difficult. While holding that grip it also becomes harder to manipulate your shots regarding direction or height. Very similar on groundstrokes trying to hit a heavy topspin ball with a continental grip can be very difficult.