Bailey’s Blog

It is important when you practice something that you practice it correctly. Having correct muscle memory is essential for good habits, injury prevention and effective shot making.

I am a huge fan of shadow tennis i.e. practicing the footwork with a racket in hand  but without a ball i.e. similar to how golfers and boxers train.

Many times I will get my students to shadow swing several times across the baseline with out and recovery steps and an allocated contact move (3 - 4 repetitions) and then immediately feed an appropriate ball that matches the shadowed move. This really helps the student “feel the correctness” of the shadow and thus compare it to the feel of the fed ball hit.

It is important when you practice something that you practice it correctly. Having correct muscle memory is essential for good habits, injury prevention and effective shot making.

I am a huge fan of shadow tennis i.e. practicing the footwork with a racket in hand but not hitting a ball i.e. similar to how boxers and golfers train.

Many times I will get students to shadow tennis across the baseline (3 -4 perfect practice swings) then immediately feed the appropriate ball. This really works because the student can “feel the correctness” of the shadow swing and compare it to the feeling of the fed ball.

One of the best tips I could ever give to improve footwork, balance, weight transfer, power and early preperation in your game is to turn both feet so the toes are facing the side fence!

This improves -

1. Footwork - because you have to move them to get them side on
2. Balance - as this naturally gets the body side on
3. Weight transfer - as it is easier to transfer the weight from the back foot to the front foot
4. Power - because weight transfer is what gives you power
5. Early racket preperation - turning the feet and thus the hips aids early racket take

Turning the feet is a major fundamental to better tennis!