The Utility of a Coach's Input, Part One

I know of very few really good tennis players who have achieved their playing level without significant coaching input. I know many poor tennis players who have had little coaching input -- and it shows in how they play the game (badly).

I recently have received additional professional-tennis-coach advice from two separate coaches, and this advice has made a relatively quick improvement in my play. Today I'm writing about one of those coaches: Tom Herb, Sr.



I met Tom when I began attending a 4.5-5.0 organized-practice (OP) sessions at the Wessen Indoor Tennis Club in Pontiac, Michigan. From the very first sessions I realized that he is different from most other pros at the many clubs I've attended who facilitate the OP practice drills and games. The vast majority of pros in OP sessions meet the requirements of the activity: they comment, encourage, keep things moving. Tom Herb does all that, but he does something more: he teaches. He is, I realized quickly, a natural teacher.

In the first session, he explained and drilled those of us on his court in a subtlety of doubles net-play teamwork and movement. Now I thought that I knew how to play doubles, but this session was a real eye opener.

Although the doubles instruction was interesting, I don't play much doubles; I'm a singles player. Over the next few OP sessions, I was becoming increasingly frustrated because I was having a difficult time keeping the ball in play with my groundstrokes.

Part of my difficulty was my lack of competitive play the preceding summer. Due to nagging injuries, not only did I not play any tournaments, I didn't even participate in my usual summer flex league. So during the off-season indoor OP, I certainly wasn't playing my best to say the least.

Tom took me aside and did a short mini-drill intending to lead me to hit more topspin on my groundstrokes. (I thought I was doing so, but it turns out I was unintentionally trying to rip most of the shots rather than playing high-percentage shots until I got the short ball that I should rip.) Unfortunately, this drill without explanation -- which he promised another time -- didn't really solve the problem. In an all-important follow-up session he hammered home several key points.

First of all, he explained the three varieties of groundstrokes: rip, grind, and roll. Rip is how I was trying to hit most of the time, which is rather flat, hard, and, therefore, low over the net. This is what you hit when you get your ideal set up for the point-ending winner. Grind shots are one's bread-and-butter shots -- the topspin shots one hits to stay in a point, move the opponent, position for an advantage. Roll shots are semi-moonballs, defensive, rather high in trajectory, with heavy topspin -- intended to keep the opponent from attacking.

In the drills we did together to practice and distinguish between the three shots, I was struggling hitting the heavier-topspin shots cleanly. In response to this, he asked me how much short court I've played, which was very little. He emphasized the utility of short court, which, when properly done, helps hone skills in good footwork and full-swing topspin mechanics and execution.

Since then I've played a ton of short court. Whenever I begin to hit with a practice partner on court, I like to begin our session with several minutes of active short court. When I use my ball machine, I start by placing it behind the service line and setting its controls so it gives me a vigorous short-court session. Even when I hit off the wall, I now find the best use of wall work is to stand away from the wall about the same distance I would from the net when playing short court against a partner or the ball machine. Then I hit easy- to moderate-speed shots but with heavy topspin.

This simple instruction from Tom Herb has made a significant difference in a relatively short time. There was a learning curve, of course, but in the months since he first introduced these ideas, I've had a chance to improve my skills in this regard, and as a result, my competitive play.

Even occasional input from a good tennis coach like Tom Herb, Sr can make a huge difference.

Have fun. Be healthy. Play tennis.