The Most Important Element Of Tennis For Consistency

With so much tennis instruction on technique you may start to believe that it's correct technique that puts the ball in.

It doesn't. It simply helps you hit it more efficiently and control it more easily.

But YOU still have to control it. And you control it with intention. Meaning that you know EXACTLY what you want to do with the ball.

You must see the ball's trajectory in your mind's eye before you hit, ideally way before the ball bounces on your side of the net.

The video above shows you the importance of clear and early intention and how you need to work on it.

[golias]

He is like the tennis's philosopher of youtube. Thanks for the video!

[WillonFire]

Just wanted to say... You are my tennis coach! I have never had a single tennis lesson in my life but I started two years ago and from all the tennis instructionals on youtube, your videos were the most helpful and clear to me. I won my first tournament this summer and I'm only getting better! Thanks for everything and keep up these videos because these are Life to me!

[Skyturnip]

Holy shit! Your lessons are so pedagogical. This one is so simple yet so crucial. You really have a gift.

[annwest]

Intention so much sense. Thanks, Ann

[FCB.Diego]

Of all the videos that I’ve seen from you, this is the one that helped me the most and that I saw the biggest change in my game. After I started forcing myself to have intention with every shot, a lot of lessons and techniques I had learned became second nature and my body subconsciously new where and how to move for the highest percentage shot my current skill level could give. I use to shoot without intention and it was all over the place. This is by far imo for a beginner the most important lesson. It makes you do so many things you’re not even aware of. Thank you so much !!!

[Gs-ncjx]

So many times I watch one of your videos I just think “why hasn’t anyone told me that before”. Always so simple but so effective, best tennis channel on YouTube hands down !

[phantom]

Coach Tomaz - you are by far the best on Youtube because you teach not only technique by "feel". You stress being fluid, relaxed and comfortable which is extremely important and usually overlooked.
Thank you for sharing for philosophy and drills.

[skmalladi]

This is also called "visualization" and is very common is most endeavors, not just tennis. With enough practice, you will begin to form a good intuition of what kind of hitting produces what kind of results. It then becomes natural, a second nature so that even before you hit the shot, you'll visualize it and try to do what you see in your mind's eye.
Getting there is a big step and is a very important part of transitioning from conscious thought/planning/action to instinctive/reflexive play.

[igneus]

Actually my wife began to simultaneously say "Hi, I'm Tomaž from Feel Tennis." when I start the next clip lying in bed. Best instructor on youtube!

[arzoo]

for me this is your best video so far, taking paralysis from analysis right out of it!

[vinodkumarkaliyanthil]

Thomas, amazing. You are just awesome. Each and everything that we do, whatever it may be, has to have an aim or intention. That is what you taught. simply awesome.. I just implemented in my game, it changed just 200% within 14.24 minutes (the duration of the video) Thanks a ton again and keep up the good work. Eagerly waiting to have yet another amazing technique of transformation...

[ge]

Hi. I really like your perspective. Your lessons are the perfect complement to a great tennis book I am reading: "The Inner Game of Tennis" W.T.Gallwey. Thank you.

[nullumcorpus]

Clear intention! I never had this in my learning, practice, focus. But it's making a lot of sense. Tennis from an - excellent! Thank you.

[berniemechaca]

Tomaz,
Yesterday I was hitting around with a Tennis Partner & he made several comments regarding my strokes. I told him that he needs to decide what he wants to do with the incoming ball as soon as it's hit on by the opponent. I gave him a link to this video. I hope he takes a look at it & hope he understands what I mean.
Every time I hit I try to keep my intention as clear as possible. It's working for me. Thanks & keep on making these amazing Instructional Videos

[vikramdhunta]

You are by far the most articulate, accurate and inspiring tennis coach on YouTube. Your lessons resonate with my practice as I have started playing tennis recently. In fact I recently realized the intention phenomenon and you're absolutely right!

[xFlared]

This is a great theory. Personally when I play in a bad mood and have no confidence the ball just simply doesn't listen. My swing is shaky and hesitant. Mental attitude in tennis is a frequency that instantaneously manifests into body movement.

[tuisitala]

Fantastic advice, as usual so obvious when you point it out.

[TheArszenal]

Hi Tomaz, first of all i would like to thank you for all the teaching you’ve provided through YouTube. You’re hands down the best tennis instructor out here if not in general. Anyways i would personally like to highlight how important this piece of “intention” impacts your shotmaking skills. sometimes we can get very focused on the technique, such as when and how you want to prepare your racquet, but in fact what really affects your technique fundamentally is the image you have in mind. Personally i think this really shows when you’re training against a wall, when you are forced to think and “intend” the ball to be sent to a certain direction (usually in the dead center of the wall). That way you get to line up your mind and ultimately technique to make the ideal contact. All in all I again want to highlight how important this sense of image is and how big of an impact this has on your technique - sometimes it’s all in your mind. After having the Eureka moment, I now hit with clear imaginary target - usually imagining a circle on top of the net. Hope everyone benefits from this great piece of advice from the tennis master. Thanks again Tomaz!

[neilmatin]

Amazing lesson. So important to have this in mind than just worrying about technique/power/speed. Thank you!

[cheriem]

Tomaz is a scientist. This is a great video showing that you set the intention first, based on position, then you execute the intention. Love this.