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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the GoTennis! Podcast

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With that said, let's get started

with 10 minutes of tennis.

Today is 10 tips.

In 10 minutes, focused on the return of serve,

I'm calling it ripier returns,

'cause clearly I'm addicted to alliteration.

So number one, Justin, we're getting started.

Your number one tip is strong ready stance.

Talk to me.

100%.

If you have no strong ready stance,

you're not ready for the ball,

you're not ready for most things, okay?

And just some tips on a strong ready stance,

as you really should have your head leaning forward

or sustaining up.

You should also have the weight on the balls you think.

You should also try and be relaxed

until the ball's about to make contact and then engage.

I see a lot of people in very, very tight and very engaged

by the time the ball struck,

the body and the muscles don't wanna react.

So there's a lot of things I could go over that ready stance

that are so critical, but what's really important

is to have a strong, I always talk to the kids,

think about a sumo wrestler.

And think about, you know, he's like ready to bounce

into the ball, right?

So just making sure you have a strong ready stance

and you're not standing vertical, it's very critical.

So I'm looking forward to seeing a sumo wrestler

play in tennis someday.

Number two, big roll with a non-dominant hand.

Yes, so non-dominant hand again, for one hand or especially,

it's holding the weight in the middle of the racket

so the right hand is loose.

And it's easier to react and respond

and then if you have to grip change.

Okay, the non-dominant hand in a two-hander,

we wanna try to make sure if you're right handed,

your non-dominant hand is taking over on the return

versus being too tight on the right hand.

Okay, so the right hand is too tight,

it's really hard for the non-dominant hand

to utilize on a two-hander return.

So very important to be understanding

of the non-dominant hand.

Number three, similar to that one leads into grip tension.

Yes, so grip tension, I put that in because it's separate

for the reason that a lot of people,

if they're making poor returns,

I see it a lot where they're just too tight

before the ball struck and the tension goes up the body.

So really there is no return, there's no unit turn.

And then the hand kinda dictate where the return's going

purely because of grip tension.

So grip tension, I put that separate

then non-dominant hand for the reason that sometimes

on the full hand we're standing there,

we're just too tight, what we gotta do is stand and lose,

lose and react.

- Yeah, and that's good because the first three

are similar in that there's a theme.

And you have to find that time to relax,

that's fantastic. - Yep.

- Number four, your outside foot for solid returns,

where are you going with that?

- Yeah, if you watch the pros, they'll direct,

if they're going to their backhand,

let's say right hand left hand doesn't matter,

if it's going to their left side of their body,

they'll tend to put, what we call the step down,

the left foot turns outwards,

so it actually fires the gluteus maximus

and allows that compact return and bang straight back.

So if you practice every time it goes to your left foot,

every time it goes to the right, right foot,

if not saying that that's all you do,

but that's where you're driving force behind the return is.

If you don't practice that, you're stepping in

and you're actually really not getting that force

behind the ball.

- Got it, and quick definition for me,

outside foot means it's facing the outside of the cord

in my mind, do you simply mean the foot,

if I'm going even toward the middle,

I want the same foot in the same direction,

stepping outside?

- Yeah, I say outside foot because you're thinking about

leaning out and putting it out to the outside

and bending it right forward.

- Got it, that makes sense.

- So I throw that outside foot,

but you can say right foot, left foot, same thing.

- Yep, I get it.

Number five, the benefit of a slice return.

- Yeah, I mean, look, I can, I can, I'm an Aussie,

but what I can say is Ashbide dominated the sport

because the first slice back came to turn.

And everyone can argue the fact

as many times you want, but I've seen the statistics

and the slice return was absolute masterful

because from a young age,

was taught with the non-dominant hand,

taught to hit the slice when she needed,

and then bring the two handed in

if she wanted to hit a two-hander.

But it always started up here to get ready for a one-hander.

So it's critical again, non-dominant hand,

by teaching straight away, if you teach this,

you give the opportunity to learn a slice return

as soon as possible.

If not, you're always going to be a two-hander

and a two-hander's slice.

We don't see that very often.

There's a reason for that, right?

- Yep, yep.

- Number seven, racket centered at the,

wait a minute, nope, that's number seven.

We're at number six, right?

Number six, elbows away from the body.

That's why I write these things down.

Elbows away from the body.

- Yep, yep, you brought up one with a latent unit.

You know, and he tends to be here, right?

But then you see a lot of players now,

some relaxed elbows drop, but elbows out away from the rib cage

so that they're learning to respond with their hands.

Versus if their elbows are in,

they tend to be too tight and taking too backswing.

The other issue with the elbows I find down into the rib cage

is people tend to get lazy and sit.

I call it sitting on a toilet,

versus leaning forward and leaning into the ball

because the elbows are out.

So it can be a very good common tip

to get your elbows out so you're leaning into the ball.

It keeps your whole body like going this way

on the upper body, versus sitting down straight.

- Makes sense.

Now actually number seven, racket centered at the start.

- Yeah, so centered at the start.

Many of us see a player standing there

with their racket like this, right?

And they should have it centered

so that they can respond backhand or forehand.

And I see a lot of players, sometimes like this.

And I wonder why it's harder for them

to get that backhand set up ready to go.

And so I always say try to make sure

your focus is on the racket centered,

because you're gonna be a fast response, which side?

- Probably a similar tip at ballies as well.

Even that racket so you're being able to go

one side of the upper right.

- 100%.

- Yep, makes sense.

Number eight, your mental routine.

You have marked target, toss, and contact specifically.

- Yeah, I mean, everyone's got different routines.

And all the players will tell you they're different routines.

They have different cues, but very similar are the cues.

And the cues are for me, before the return,

before the guys are addressing the serve,

you should be broad vision picking a target, right?

And the players do it all the time, right?

So they first serve seconds,

so they're already pre-picking what they're gonna do

and what they're going to set the pointer off the return.

So they're already picking their target.

If it's 30 or they may be thinking

of percentage return, if it's love 40,

they're thinking of more aggressive return.

And the aggressive return doesn't necessarily mean power.

And aggressive return can be the area of the court.

So, you know, all it could be aggressive

is stepping in and putting more pressure on.

So there's all these things,

but what picking a target is critical to making that count.

Okay, it also helps because your hands are going

in the direction you've already picked.

So there's sometimes at the higher level

or whatever level of your processing speed,

if you've got a target, it makes it easier.

You've already made the decision, right?

You're not gonna look off the ball either

because you already know your target.

So, so targets number one,

I get through the routine, target, ball toss.

Ball toss is because you're watching the ball

and then you're watching them hit the ball.

So you instinctively seen something earlier

if you need to be on the ball earlier.

Okay, you start also by watching

the ball toss, get your engagement step

which some people do a split step and step up.

And some people are just two feet on,

but the engagement of that step ready to go

has a lot to do and watching the ball toss as well.

So there's some big advantages from target to toss

and then the biggest one is contact point.

Like literally just hypnotize,

making the commitment, hypnotize on contact.

You don't need to look where you're going

because everything's all set.

Watch the ball hit the racket.

So many of us look up just like the golfer,

the amateur golfer that looks up before he hits the ball, right?

Yep, yep.

And if he's got the steady base,

he's gonna push off from the outside leg

and go weight transfer.

If he's not, he's gonna stand up

or he's gonna look off.

So these are all sort of setting your tone

to giving you tips for a turn.

I like it.

Number nine, return is not a ground stroke.

Yes, I don't know how many people

take the big backswing on a return

when actually there should be more compact

and taking time away from their opponent.

I mean, it's just so critical.

Yes, I do see a lot of these young players

playing further back,

but we are seeing them starting to push further up.

And they do go up and back and up and back

just trying to adjust the returns

to make them more a strategic position for them.

But on the other hand,

if they could be up on the ball,

which is, you know, a drop of it

is one of these biggest things.

Agacy, one of these biggest things

is they just took time away from him

straight away because of the solid return.

So you really should be focusing on compact return

is not a ground stroke.

Because a ground stroke is a lot more big at backswing.

There's a lot more room, you know.

Biggest difference.

No backswing on the return.

I love it.

Number 10, last but not least,

happy hip stance.

That's a fun phrase.

Happy hip stance is a must.

What do you mean?

Yeah, it's one of my favorites.

That's why I put it in number 10

because I knew everybody was like,

"What is going on?

What is in focus?"

But depending on the player,

depending on the junior,

depending on a 40 year old, 50 year old,

3035, it doesn't matter what level you are.

If you put your feet together like this

and just up and down, up and down,

stance you with your feet, jump up in the air

and then land.

That's your happy hip position.

Okay?

If you're not in this position

when the return is being struck,

there's a good chance you're too far out

and now your feet can't work correctly

because your hip sound engaged.

You see?

So all these people that watch "Jog of it"

and go, "Oh, I'm gonna really spread my feet out.

You can't move your feet that way.

You can't even gauge your legs and your body that way."

So you gotta find your happy hip spot.

And I find a lot of people are too wide

and they wonder why they can't move into the ball

or drive into the ball.

Or even the soft ball comes in their feet of flat

like this, because they're too far wide.

If they hear, they go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

They engage.

So that's a big one.

It's a tip that really helps a lot of people

help some on their split step,

help some on engagement,

help some on drive forward.

Just understanding where they're happy hips for them.

- That's all 10.

Justin, you know, there's been 10 tips

in 10 minutes.

Thank you, sir.

We'll see you next time.

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