5 Tips to Improve Your Tennis

I am not only a racquet and string nerd. My main goal is always to work on my game. Here are 5 Tips to Improve Your Tennis.

When you’re browsing through Tennisnerd.net, you might think I have an unhealthy obsession with racquets and strings. I do like to experiment and test new gear, but I always want to make sure I prioritize getting better as a tennis player. I have picked up a few things over the years that I summarize below. If you are interested in hearing more about how you could improve as a player without paying a lot of money in coaching fees, let me know in the comments below.

Here are my 5 Tips to Improve Your Tennis.

Do not only play points.

If you want to get better as a player, work on your game. Most club players go to the tennis court, play a match and leave. If you play matches all the time, you will get better at playing games, but you won’t improve your technique and footwork. I believe this will hold you back from enjoying tennis more.

I do a lot of drills. It could be basic things like hitting cross-court, volleys, or some mini-games where you work on one area of your game in a competitive format. I also do some footwork exercises and strength and conditioning off the court. I have noticed a significant improvement in my own game after focusing on these things. Matches are fun and useful to build mental strength and strategy, but you need to continually work on the basics too.

You will need a hitting partner that wants to work on these things with you for this to work.

Go to a coach or…

The obvious tip, right? The problem is, not all coaches are useful. Some are great. Some steer you in the wrong direction. And it can get expensive. If you don’t have the money to regularly work on your game with a coach, consider:

Watch a lot of tennis videos.

Most online coaches upload training tips online for free. You can watch many different videos to see which one works for you. You might find a style of coaching or explaining things that resonate with you. I also like watching pro players hit (see the video above, there are many more on my YouTube channel) from a court level view. You can pick up a lot of things from just studying the way they hit the ball.

I also did a few Tennisnerd Academy videos with two friends who are good coaches. The sound isn’t great, and they have since left the island, but if you want more content like this, let me know,

Record yourself

I have mentioned this tip before in my post Recording yourself. But I can’t recommend it enough! Being able to study yourself and watch yourself play in slow-motion is an invaluable tool for improving as a tennis player. I do it all the time for my YouTube and Instagram videos, and it is probably my top tip for technical improvements. You need to know what you’re looking at, though, so this works best in combination with studying the pro players and other coaching videos.

Don’t change racquets all the time.

This is a strange tip to come from as self-proclaimed Tennisnerd, but believe me, it’s true. If you keep changing racquets, your muscles will need to adjust to the new feel, the difference in weight and balance, the strings, and so on. If your goal is to improve as a tennis player, you should ideally stick to one racquet setup and work on your game. Finding that racquet setup is not easy, and that is why I offer a personal consultation to help you narrow it down. My consultations are even better when you have a link to a video with yourself hitting tennis balls (although it’s not necessary, of course).

Try to commit to a setup. At least for a period. When your game is improving, you might find the need to customize your racquet or get a new one. It’s normal. Your needs change with your game.

Summary

Those were my top 5 tips to improve your tennis. I focused on practical habits that can be real game-changers. If you want me to create more content like this, perhaps with a focus on technique or strategy, let me know.

What part of your game do you need to work on most?