Essential Tennis

Call Directions Website Contact the school

Essential Tennis Essential Tennis exists to provide tennis instruction, news, and community to tennis enthusiasts everywhere. Improve your game! http://www.essentialtennis.com/
(1)

10/11/2026

Change direction down the line out of a cross court rally and you have just
created a problem for your own feet. The baseline rule says recover toward the
side the ball went, so you would slide across to cover the reply. The net rule
says be on the same side of the ball as you approach. Those are two different
places to stand, and splitting the difference between them is how you end up
covering neither.

The player in this point solves it by going forward instead. He sends the cross
court ball down the line, and rather than recovering back across the court he
follows it in. The volley he hits is nothing special. What got him there was
reading that he had hurt his opponent badly enough to make closing straight
forwards the right play.

So treat your own direction change as the cue. The moment you take a cross court
ball and send it down the line, ask whether you have hurt them enough to go. If
you have, move straight forwards behind it rather than sliding across, and you
arrive at the net already on the correct side of the ball.

10/11/2026

Why You Keep Losing to WEAKER Opponents (The Real Reason)

Most net players who poach time their move with the bounce. You see the ball land in the service box, and you go.Here's ...
10/10/2026

Most net players who poach time their move with the bounce. You see the ball land in the service box, and you go.

Here's the problem with that.

The bounce doesn't tell you where the return is going. It tells you the serve landed, and that's it. If your partner's serve is slower, whether it's a second serve or just an off day, the returner has a lot more time between the bounce and the moment they make contact. Enough time to see you moving, change their mind, and hit right down the alley you just vacated.

The diagram shows what that looks like. You start in the right position. You go on the bounce. By the time the returner swings, you've already COMMITTED to the center, and the alley is sitting open.

The problem isn't that you moved, it's that you moved off the wrong cue.

The better trigger is the swing. When the returner's racket starts dropping into the forward swing, they've already committed to a direction, and that's your signal: you're reacting to information, not just an event.

Tag a doubles partner who needs to see this.

10/10/2026

Watch a point between two competent players and the ending is almost never a
highlight. A serve, a cross court return, a backhand pattern back and forth, then
somebody shifts it over to the forehand side and both players hold that pattern
until one of them misses. It can look boring, and it is also how the majority of
tennis points are won.

Both players here were being smart, playing textbook tennis right up to the end,
and one of them simply made the mistake first. Winners happen, passing
shots happen, somebody closes and finishes with a volley. But across a whole match
most points finish exactly like this one.

So the next time a rally feels like it has gone on too long, resist the urge to be
the one who ends it. The pattern is already doing the work. Keep your shot quality
steady, stay with it, and let the miss come from the other side.

10/10/2026

Stop ARMING Your Forehand

10/09/2026

Why You MISS Easy Volleys:

10/09/2026

Most players decide whether they are in trouble based on where they are standing. At
the net the more reliable signal is height. The moment the ball has dropped below the
top of the net you are hitting up, you have lost any ability to hit down into their
court, and you are defending whether it feels like it or not.

Being stretched wide or caught off balance stacks on top of that, but the height is
the cue that arrives first, and it is the one you can actually register in time to do
something about.

From there the shot selection stops being a judgement call. Angle a low volley cross
court while you are off balance and you now have to cover the whole width of the court
before the reply arrives, which is not possible from that close. So the shot is either
brilliant or lost, with nothing in between. Keep it in front of you instead, take the
easy recovery, and stay in the point long enough to get a ball you can genuinely
attack.

10/08/2026

The PRIMARY Source of Power in Tennis

10/08/2026

Plan A at the net is simple. When you are not sure, keep the ball in front of you.
What is less obvious is how little it takes to justify leaving that plan, because the
bar for going cross court up there is far lower than the one you would use from the
back of the court.

Time is why. Standing close, you have taken most of it away from your opponent, and
that makes every small advantage worth more than the same advantage would be in a
baseline rally. An edge that is nothing back there is decisive here.

So stop waiting for the obvious opening. Your opponent does not have to be badly out
of position, just a little bit out of position. It does not have to be a glaring
weakness, just a slightly weaker side, because being right up in their face compounds
it quickly. And it does not have to be your best shot, just a bit of an edge. Any one
of those, on its own, can be enough at the net.

10/07/2026

STOP Chasing More Power.

Address

New Berlin, WI
53151

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+17732573717

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Essential Tennis posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The School

Send a message to Essential Tennis:

Shortcuts

Share

Category