Instruction
How I teach tennis.
A guide to what happens on court. Enough of it written down that you can follow what we're working on, and why.
How I Think About Learning
- 01
Spin is the foundation.
Learning to control the rotation of the ball is what makes the rest of tennis possible. As players improve, they add speed without giving up that control.
- 02
The ball only knows what the racket does to it.
Footwork, rotation and knee bend all matter — and only because of what they do to the racket at contact. So I work backward from the ball: what we want the racket to do, then the movement that produces it.
- 03
Every swing has a path and a face.
Where the racket travels, and where the strings point as it arrives. Those two ideas explain most of what happens to the ball.
What a Lesson Looks Like
A plan, not a script.
- 01
Review
Start with what was learned previously and see what has held.
- 02
Build
Introduce or reinforce one primary idea.
- 03
Apply
Increase the difficulty — distance, movement, different balls, or a more realistic situation.
- 04
Play
Put the idea into points, or another situation where the player has to make decisions.
The four parts aren't four subjects. One idea runs through all of them — we introduce it on easy feeds, then keep asking for it as the ball gets faster, less predictable and finally live. What changes is the context it has to survive, not the thing being taught.
The sequence is consistent. The time spent in each part isn't. A concept might click in ten minutes or take several lessons.
A note on age
The gate usually isn't age. It's whether a player can swing the racket fast enough to produce spin — which arrives earlier than most people expect. A five-year-old generally isn't there yet, and until they are we build the same shape at a speed they can produce, so nothing has to be unlearned later.
The First Lessons
What the first few hours on court actually look like — what we work on, in what order, and why. Follow along if you want to know what your player is doing this week.
Lesson 01
Building Topspin
Learn the action that creates topspin, then begin carrying it into a real forehand.
Lesson 02
Adding the Transfer
Connect the body to the forehand, combining weight transfer and rotation with the topspin action learned in Lesson 1.
Lesson 03
Preparation and Rhythm
Add the preparation to the forehand and connect preparation, transfer and finish into one continuous, timed movement.
Explore the Strokes
Building the Forehand
The Finish
Topspin is the central objective of the groundstroke.
View lesson→The Transfer
The body creates the momentum; the arm delivers it.
View lesson→The Preparation
Good preparation creates the time and rhythm for the rest of the stroke to flow.
View lesson→
How It Works in Practice
These are private lessons.
The curriculum gives us a direction. Private instruction determines the pace — we don't move on because a lesson is over, we move on when the player is ready for what comes next.