Hands down the best tennis instructor on youtube.

It's just incredible that after so many lessons and years practicing, nobody ever told me this and that's why I've always been late when playing against better players. I always wait for the bounce before I initiate the swing. Actually my arm usually hurts after those games and you also gave us an explanation about that. Thanks so much!

Wow, only now do I see the difference and realize the real meaning of 'early preparation'.. Thank you so much!!

You are one of the best tennis coaches online. Thank you! Simple and precise. Every single point you made makes perfect sense and can be easily absorbed. Bad practices that previously bothered me can be easily corrected by one or two of your sentences or a simple structured demonstration. You are THAT good!

One of the best videos for beginners

Eureka! great baseline lesson .Ive watched many videos regarding ground strokes and not one ever focused on that aspect

After a month of practicing this, I have made material improvements on my ground strokes. Thanks Tomaz.

Thank you, I finally realised that bringing the racket simply back even too early wasn't necessary without the combination of initiating the stroke early as well as shifting my usual stroke one fraction earlier, I also always wanted to hit the ball while descending even when facing deep balls, understanding that it has to be the opposite was crucial, I look forward to seeing you on a real court when I'll manage to go to Slovenia

Really like your somewhat scientific approach to tennis, based on understanding mechanics and psychology sometimes. Keep up the great videos!

Thanks, coach! I'm now back to playing tennis after a 14 year hiatus, and I notice how often I am late on backhands. It is good to have the idea of preparation in one's mind. I will go hit the wall and am sure this video will have made a difference.

This one lesson has been a complete game changer for my forehand. Thank you so much Tomaz!! you're the best

Fantastic Thomas! Exactly the instruction that I've been looking for. I've been consistently late but no one has ever explained how to handle this problem properly especially the backhand.

Thanks Tomaz. :-) I never understood why I was always late on fast or deep balls, yet you see the pros, Federer for instance, able to handle any ball.

Very goog analysis... Clear, simple, clever ! You are e very good coach. Thanks a lot.

Your videos used to be boring but now they are interesting.Thanks.

Your creativity in drills to hit early on deep shots is brilliant. So easy for students to follow and also learn fast.

You say the same things my coach does, but you also explain very intuitively 'why' I should be doing what you're telling me to do. I find it much easier to follow advice when I understand the reasoning behind it. Thank you.

you are the best tennis instructor that ever stood infront of a camera

Another amazing, well explained video! Thanks so much Thomas for sharing your knowledge with us. I could never understand why I was able to only occasionally hit high deep balls early . Now I know what to do thanks to you. Excited to be even more consistent now when hitting deep balls and those occasional deep heavy topspin balls.

So simple yet extremely effective. Thank you coach!

Very useful, I always struggle with deep balls on my forehand. What you say is pretty logical really if you give it some thought but it seems I never did.

Hi Thomas! This explanation helped me to handle much better with deep balls and improve my early preparation for other balls. Thank's a lot. Congratulations here from Brazil.

excellent video as usual. I will be trying this!

I feel like the importance of hitting the ball in this way is overlooked grotesquely. If you're playing someone who has played tennis more than 1 time in their life, you're going to receive balls deep, relative to where you are on the court ALL the time. Especially if you're playing in front of the base line. Great instruction and lesson to learn here. So important :O

Thank you for your advice. I always have that problem with my forehand.

My Dear Friend - You are Amazing - Where were you in the 90's. You are the best coach I have witnessed. You make the Word Understanding Make sense. BravoO Coach!!

Thanks for posting this! Very helpful!

IT is all good points and seems doable for "planned" simple balls - like in the video. For situation when you get different depth, spin and speed ball the question is HOW TO BALANCE between, 1. Approaching (running) to the ball, 2. Adjusting to the ball (small steps), 3. Initiate the swing. We always start with 1. but if we try to "be early" - we might start 3. (initiate swing) too early and latter be forced to do 2. (Adjustment - Readjustment) to the ball. In such case it will be tricky and difficult to maintain balance with closed stance and raquet at the back, that is when we can become LATE with the swing. IT would be very interesting to hear your Mr. Thomas insight how to balance between 2. Adjustment to the ball and 3. Swing initiation or in case we have 2 > 3 > 2 situation where we get late and struggle with timing and stance balance. Thank you.

Thank you Thomas. This video is really very helpful.

Awesome vid and concept!!! Thankyou!

This helps me a lot! From now I will watch where the ball bounces and change my timing according to it. Thank you.

Thank you so much.. This simple piece of instruction is very vital for playing faster tennis rallies also stepping stone for taking ball on the rise. I always tended to go to back foot for the deep high balls and ended up hitting ball with the jammed TRex hand but will follow your instruction in the future

Thanks Thomas always gets me this one, can't wait to try and hopefully remove those leaning back, jerky weak shots. Pete

Very nice video. I have never seen the idea of early preparation presented quite this way before. Very informative!

This video is really helpful. Thanks!

Fantastic video Thomas - this is one problem that I have when faced with flat and deep balls with pace

Very good coach...you're one of the best.

Hi.... ur material its amazing, thanks by ur guide...... congratulations by excellent job!!!

great instruction! exactly what I am looking for

Excllent tip !!! Thank you.

Best instructor ever!!!

always good instructions ,and explaination

dang it, why didn't I know this years ago.. good lesson!

Good understanding of contact point well done.

Thank You, will give it a try !

What a great video! Thank you. It's always great to relearn things and keep improving. Also, is it possible to see a video about two-handed backhands in the same topic? I'm a 4.0 player but my backhand has a weak technique. It's obvious when someone gets me with a high-bouncing topspin or deep shots.

Great video.. Tq coach

THIS IS WHAT I NEEDED THANK YOU SOO MUCH SIR :D

Excellent tip

Love it! Thanks mate.

Great video..thanks ! Cheers

This is just outstanding!

great lesson coach!

For me, inorder not to be late in handling deep ball is to rely on the ball ground impact sound and the ball racket impact sound. The time interval between the two sounds should be shorten to gain perfect timing of striking the ball while on the rise.

Great lesson, thank you.

You are not one of the best coaches online. You are the best!

excellent tips thanks .

I can only say very well explained ! one of the things that happens to me, to many times To Late to late hitting the ball , awkward, cause I wait to long.... good video's thx

Great coach

Happens to me all the time w/ a deep ball - I'm late and jammed. Thanks for the instruction - I will try to incorporate next time out.

Thanks for the lesson. I watched this two years ago and practiced with a ball machine. It worked perfectly for me. I remember I was so consistent such that I won 11 points in a row. Then I stopped playing due to the new born. Now I start playing regularly and got the same trouble again. Will practice to see how it will work this time

The difficulty is to predict how early should you start your swing, e.g. predict whether it's a short ball or long ball before the bounce. Is there any way to improve this prediction?

i have encountered a bottle neck in playing tennis, and one of the biggest problem is that i dont how to react to deep balls. this annoys me. thanks for the tips and instructions, they are really helpful! thanks

I am impressed.

good concept. The other way to solve this problem. I initiate my stroke when ball fly over the service line and ignore bounce

Just wow!

Valuable video

Brilliant.

Good video

Nice video! Is there anyway you can please do a video on shoulder internal rotation during the forehand? How and when does the shoulder internally rotate on a forehand stroke?

Thanks for the nice video. Could you give some advice on how actually read the oncoming ball earlier? I guess that if you know how to read the ball better it wil help to get prepared for the next shot just in time.

wow thanks so much, great video. Also I have a question about serves so every time I serve, halftime I don't make it in the box and it goes right over the box, how do I fix that.

brilliant

This is very good video and explanation -- I think this applies to taking ball on the rise as we can only do that if we initiate stroke early...So what should be the trigger point to initiate stroke as the ball crosses net ?

Theoritically, early initiate the stroke help u hit the fast and deep ball but in reality u need to wait and see the ball coming then initiate the stroke later

Thanks for the great video! A question: Will it be better then if you always start your swing early? A friend of mine does this and his strokes are very consistent. Now I understand why.

excellent concept, and presentation. I have a few questions : after the serve how can i recognise if i must prepare early since i just landed from my serve? does that concept fits a general early prep for passing shots, especially indoor? On the other hand does that mean i have to see the ball and start late on a short ball or pusher's limp second serve? thanks

i like your videos:)

Very helpful! I have done similar drills with balls fed as 'lobs' and I had to set up and begin swinging early. Is there ever a situation where you would back up to give yourself more time?

Good lesson! I wonder if a better solution for deep ball is to move back as soon as you expect ball is deep ? Do you plan to offer a footwork lesson about how to move backward efficiently for fast/deep balls?

great video; however for ball that coming not too deep, but very fast pace at you then what is your reference point to start the swing?

Great video. I do love FeelTennis. However, I think it's mislabeled "ball landing deep" and "ball landing short" at 11:10. You can see the ball trajectories.

initiate before the ball bounce!

I got confused at the end of the video: on the left image you claim that the ball is landed deep, but that ball is coming down, and on the right image (tagged short) the ball is coming up. I think it's the other way around. Also I don't understand why to start earlier the swing when the ball come deep when your reference system is hitting time. (I perfectly understand why to start earlier if we take the bounce as the reference). Making some implications regarding the bounce of the ball, I'd be inclined to think that the player only need the horizontal position of the ball to reference the start time of his/her swing.

I sometimes be too early on the backhand side. Any suggestions?

really important stuff and well done. huge congrats. the only thing is Tomaz that you end this video like a soap opera, with another complication on the horizon. you say; you have to calculate when the ball will come etc - but how do we calculate or gauge? small matter, inni? hope that episode comes soon, or maybe it's already out. anyhow, you talk about things other guys don't dare touch...

how can u tell

Cool. Vamos Tomaz! Haha.

hitting the ball on the rise

Sasha only thrown on ballot too late or long for your example anyway the adjust should be you moving back to hit a better return because the risk is to high if you miss the ball

Hm, but what about movement? Wouldn't it also be smart to move back or position better if you see a deep ball coming while also starting the swing earlier? Thanks.

Can I ask with what grip you are playing with? Eastern? Modified eastern (between eastern/SW)? Or SW? :D

Sasha is famous. Thank you Sasha :P

Nobody comes close to your knowledge of tennis and biomechanics. Best instructor

Gavin Belson?

From what i see, i think the emphasis should actually be on footwork first- getting that first step and the feet in the right position first.

I thought only federer could handle deep balls like that

is this basically on the rise?

Your student's left arm is completely dead on the side during the stroke

As a player improves his game this should happen to him naturally and if its not happening naturally than his basic techique might be wrong but ok he has a channel and needs to create some contents!