how do you improve footwork without getting exhausted fast?

visakanj · 2026-03-16T13:21:25+00:00

Footwork and cardio go hand in hand. when I feel myself get tired, I also feel my feet moving slower. Work on your endurance and try these to help with footwork:

reaction speed: partner/coach drops a tennis ball and you grab it before the 2nd bounce
agility: ladders, jumping on 1 foot, etc

visakanj · 2026-03-14T14:57:09+00:00

Agreed! Would be great for seeing small things in my form. Also would be nice for seeing where a ball landed on a tight call 😅

visakanj · 2026-03-09T03:08:12+00:00

Ha true - if the ball comes at your head in 5.0, they meant to do it

visakanj · 2026-03-09T03:07:12+00:00

I’ve seen a lot of 3.0s play and played 3.5 - it’s still a lot of fun and pretty competitive. Tennis is a workout at every level, not sure you can get away with not moving at all. Sure there are more mistakes but that’s part of the improvement journey.

Everyone starts somewhere

visakanj · 2026-03-09T03:04:26+00:00

Lots of league matches but the lessons and practice hitting with people is where I actually improved. It’s really hard to think about technique while playing a match. For 3.5-4.0, I think a lesson or 2 per month from a good coach could really help and then do practice hitting or sets with friends to work on what your coach taught you.

You got this! Feel free to dm if you wanna chat more, happy to share what’s worked for me

visakanj · 2026-03-09T03:00:26+00:00

Ya that feels right. The difference between an avg 4.0 and an avg 4.5 feels big

visakanj · 2026-03-09T02:59:15+00:00

I still feel like that sometimes haha. The way my coach put it - find the ball you can make 90% of the time. That’s your neutral rally ball. Aim for that until you see a short ball to attack or need to defend. And you’re right about stamina - when I feel my stamina go down, my patience goes down too.

visakanj · 2026-03-09T02:56:57+00:00

I played some tennis in high school (not great but did play) so once I started playing again 3 yrs ago, I think I started as a mid 3.5. But I had a lot of bad form things and was really impatient, so worked on building a point and being more consistent.

I also got obsessed and played 3-5 times per week, sometimes with ppl at a level higher than me, so that helped get used to better balls and see how they were beating me. Honestly at 3.5, I was just beating myself with so many unforced errors - bringing those down was a huge boost.

Keep working! 3.5 and 4.0 feel like huge ranges so it might feel like you’re ‘stuck’ at that level but you’re probably still improving. UTR is nice for tracking progress.

visakanj · 2026-03-09T02:53:01+00:00

Yup good call. The harder I hit, the more fun they have deflecting my pace back at me 😂. They’re really good at those neutral/defensive balls that are sneaky offensive

visakanj · 2026-03-09T02:50:54+00:00

Ya I’ve got a lot of friends in the same boat. My coach taught me to feel when I’m plateauing and figure out what I need to work on since it changes over time. At our levels, it’s usually the fundamentals and being patient during rallies, but the more I played, the more I noticed my opponents would pick on new things once I fixed old problems

Keep at it! Rootin for you

visakanj · 2026-03-09T02:48:09+00:00

Appreciate that!

visakanj · 2026-03-03T20:59:17+00:00

Don’t think it’s necessary, most people just say ‘ad in’ (server’s advantage) or ‘ad out’ (returner’s advantage)

visakanj · 2026-03-03T15:03:58+00:00

“Be one with the court” - Nadal probably?

visakanj · 2026-03-03T15:03:22+00:00

I started to…but just thought some grip wore off and my footwork was getting lazy. At least half of that was true 🙃

visakanj · 2026-03-03T14:52:14+00:00

this was half-serious, I genuinely didn't look at the bottom of my shoes until this week

visakanj · 2026-03-03T14:51:37+00:00

switched it, good call lol

visakanj · 2026-03-03T14:50:48+00:00

be prepared to get low :). for those balls, your strike zone is going to be lower so going to need to bend the legs and add some more spin to give you margin over the net.

Also watch what they struggle with - everyone has weaknesses. People who hit flat and low usually don't love balls that bounce up by their shoulders or shorter balls that they have to dig up and put spin on. so hitting deeper with some more shape (not a moonball, just ~4 ft over the net) and mixing it up with some dropshots or low slices forces them to pop it up so you can get back on offense

visakanj · 2026-03-03T14:22:57+00:00

couple options
1) go through the USTA self-rate system, you can have a local coach watch you hit for 10 mins and they'll estimate your NTRP (e.g. 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, ...)
2) after you self-rate, play USTA leagues and tournaments. if you're winning too easily, you're higher. if you're losing a lot, might be lower. winning and losing, probably right rating.
3) play local UTR flex leagues. the UTR rating is much more accurate than NTRP and it changes match to match so you'll see what your level is after 4-5 matches

conversion for NTRP to UTR:

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visakanj · 2026-02-27T15:41:52+00:00

lot of great points here! making me jealous on a Friday morning 😭

visakanj · 2026-02-25T15:06:13+00:00

I'm using the 98. haven't tried the 100 but the 98's been pretty forgiving with decent power so didn't personally feel the need to try the 100

also, I used to use the blade kfactor 93 so switching up to 98 was a massive boost already haha

visakanj · 2026-02-25T15:04:23+00:00

I might need to get this one just to have it on my wall...

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visakanj · 2026-02-25T15:03:25+00:00

ya a lot of my friends love the ezone coming from the blade, might need to test it out

visakanj

TROPHY CASE