How Two Hula Hoops Can Help You Play Winning Tennis

Will, I´m afraid that if I use this strategy my opponents (villains), will destroy me. I usually play in clay courts, and I´m not shure this will be efective. I´m not a patient player and I hate long rallies. But I´ll try, and I´ll tell you. Thanx.

For a beginner like me, this really helped, as it takes the "over-thinking" out of the equation. And that "trying to think too much" is what ruins a lot of my game. Trying this tip for just two games, where i didnt think about where my opponent was, but just followed this tip, made me win both games - yay!

Just one question though - as you didnt explain my options when i got all up to the net, I started to think again! Newbie problem I'm sure - but any good, *simple* rule up there? Please?? :)

Hey Will, have you heard of the Wardlaw Directionals? If so, what do you think of that technique/startegy? Once I viewed this video it reminded me of the directionals, somewhat anyway.

I'm very familiar with the Wardlaw Directionals and I'm a fan -- it's a nice explanation of why some shots are higher percentage than others.

The concepts discussed by Wardlaw -- court geometry and inside / outside groundstrokes -- are something that I incorporated into the video above. I didn't explain all that stuff specifically because it would literally take hours to do a comprehensive job. The hula hoop explanation is much easier to remember and apply.

I'm not sure how a any predictable strategy is a good one, especially one like this that practically does not require the opponent to run at all.

I agree that simplicity is good, but one needs to be simple without being predictable.
For example, an opponent can figure this policy very quickly and just sit on top of those hoops and whack away. if the hero gives pace, but in such predictable way it's very easy to counterpunch. only time i can see this work is with someone who will self-destruct with unforced errors, in which case most other conservative plans would work just as well.

good strong advice.
sometimes when your deep in the court but you see a gap you try for it & OMG... thats what we call an "uncalled for unforced error"
when you really know better (or should have learned from the last 23 times you missed it).
strong.
simple.

dont you know ... the simple things in life are often the best!!

Thanks for the tip. I'm an absolute beginner and sometimes catch myself overthinking where to return an opponent's shot. It didn't take long to learn that 'hit 'em where they ain't' often leads to unforced errors for a beginner like me. After playing last weekend this is a perfect lesson for me, thanks Will.

No problem! Happy to help.

Awesome!, i g2 go premium!

Nice job Will.
I like these strategy videos.
Where can i access the older ones? (like the shrinking the court video)

Will this is very disappointing...
You always have two choices: hula hoop number one OR hula hoop number two.
This is no strategy, this is common sense.
I am sorry to post this comment, I really am, but you really need to try harder to convince that your Premium service delivers better advice in improvement of the game ;)
I hope you really got my comment in the sense I have intended it.
Otherwise, I do appreciate your tips and advices very very much! Don't go cheap Will, please don't!

calinetzu this must be the lack of understanding in you that's talking. Sometimes it's the simple things in life that are the most valuable. This is one of those things and is in my opinion pure gold given to you absolutely free and you're complaining?!?! Instead you should go out on the court and try this simple strategy and see how it works for you. I have and as I've already said it's pure gold. I won both my games in large part due to applying this Hula Hoops strategy and also the stoke fundamentals found in FYB Premium.

Did you know there are 20 fundamentals you need to do when you’re hitting your forehand? Well neither did I, until I saw the Real Life Amateurs section in FYB Premium, which finally helped me solve the riddle of my inconsistent forehand. THANK YOU WILL! A great shot here and there is worthless. I’ve seen so many players hit the odd winner but loose 1-6, 0-6 because they missed 8 out of 10 shots because they were going for too much. Good technique and consistency with simple but fundamentally sound strategy is the key to winning tennis for most of us. Don’t try to be Federer or Nadal as that will never happen. If you’ve ever seen pro level tennis live this should be crystal clear to you. If you’ve just been watching it on the telly then you’re forgiven as TV perspective is very deceptive.

I'm an FYB Premium member and have been for a while and it's been worth every penny. In there Will explains all the theory behind this seemingly simple strategy but that takes a long time to master, this doesn't. And remember even the most simple strategy is worlds better than no strategy or some ad hoc improvised one!

Lay off the Haterade, man.

Hey -- I have to respectfully disagree with you. I'm not going cheap. Rather, I'm going simple.

You're right when you say we always have two choices: hula hoop number one OR hula hoop number two. Put another way, we always have the choice to hit cross court OR down the line.
Perhaps that's common sense to some.

What's not as obvious is deciding when to hit CC and when to hit DTL. From a theoretical standpoint, there are a number of things to consider:

- court geometry
- inside and outside groundstrokes
- lateral court positioning
- vertical court positioning
- SWOT

And the list goes on. The purpose of this video is to take all that complicated strategic stuff and boil it down into a few simple to follow rules:

- If you're behind the baseline hit at the CC hula hoop
- If you're inside the baseline but the ball is hard to handle, hit at the CC hula hoop
- If you're inside the baseline and you can control the ball, you can hit at either hula hoop

These simple rules allow players with virtually no knowledge of the above mentioned concepts to employ a winning strategy. Per your definition, we might be "cheap," but we're also easy to remember.

RE: FYB Premium, I think it's the best instructional course on the internet, hands down. Obviously I'm biased. But I've seen most of the other stuff out there and, IMO, our presentation, organization, and innovation is second to none.

wILL, RIGHT YOU ARE RIGHT ON THE MONEY. THIS IS HIGH PERCENTAGE TENNIS AND YOU ARE ALSO RIGHT ABOUT BEING ONE OF THE BEST OUT THERE AND I HAVE SEEN MOST... KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK.. I LOVE YOUR STUFF...I JUST CAN'T AFFORD $24.95 A MONTH SO I LOOK FOR THE FREE STUFF.
j.

Actually, this is a little bit more than just common sense. The net post at the ends of the court are higher (3' 6"), than in the center of the court (3').

This advice that Will, gives is useful and if you're looking to build consistency in your game then yes I'd agree with him. If you are behind the center of the baseline, then you could go for relatively easy targets, that are low risk, especially since both of those "hula hoops" are positioned over the lower parts of the net.

Well to me I didn't think of hitting to two hula-hoops. This was simply an easier way to think about where to hit the ball and make the right decision. Well yea it is common sense but I certainly didn't think of it this way. In the video he did say that the strategy may seem simplistic and it is. The explanation behind this way of thinking made perfect sense to me. I don't really understand what this video has to do with the premium service since I am a normal member of fyb and I can still see this video. Then again, I wouldn't know about the content of the premium service. This is just my opinion of the strategy posted here. I didn't mean to start an argument, if thats what you think.

WHAT IS A GOOD RACKET FOR INTERMEDIATE /ADVANCED PLAYER WITH WRIST AND ELBOW PROBLEMS? CURRENTLY USE PROKINEX K10 - LOVE THE RACKET BUT i NEED MORE POWER

I use the Pro Kenex 15G Light. I'm a 4.5 player. I've used this racquet for 10 years. Just bought another 2 from Tennis Warehouse. I tried one of the Wilson racquets (stiffer with less power), I tried the ProKennex Ki5. Not enough power. I also tried the ProKennex Ki15PSE. It had a good feel but after 3 weeks of playing I had a pain just to the left of my shoulder blade. So I went back to the Pro Kennex 15G Light. It's rated for players in the 3.5 - 5.0 range. It's got a lot of power. I too have suffered with tennis elbow over the years and so was thinking maybe a heavier racquet would be better but in the end the 9.7oz 15G has worked best for me. It's an extra 1/2 inch longer than regular racquets.

Jack

Great tip Will. Can you expand a little on how close to the net one can use this strategy because as I understand on approach shots one should always go down the line and cover that side to cut off the angles.

Down the line is generally the best option. Not always the case, though -- you need to consider things like your opponent's court positioning and strengths / weaknesses when deciding where to go w/your approach shot.

This sounds like a great strategy for level 3.5 and below (my aprox. level of play), where one struggles with consistency and quick decision-making (at least in my case). Will this work as well for higher levels? When would you not recommend playing with this strategy in mind? And how do you come up with such useful stuff? XD

I imagine that the better you are, the further back you can consider hitting cross-court. And the better you are, the smaller and closer to the lines you can make the hoops when you're inside the baseline. In fact, a better player inside the baseline might consider several little hula-hoops near the sideline at various depths for his cross-courts.

That's especially true if a better player relies more on accuracy than on power. However, a better player who's NOT more accurate -- one who merely hits much harder than you with the same level of accuracy and consistency, might use the strategy as is.

Will, shouldn't those hoops be a little more spread apart? To make Villain have to run a little more? I propose to visualize them as close to the sidelines as they are close to the baseline. What do you think?

Maybe they could be a little wider than I drew. You can vary their locations based on how accurate, or "on," you are on a particular day.

this is the strategy i use almost word for word and thats how i win most my matches least i no what i'm doing is right

I have a fried who likes to push, he uses this strategy by intuition. Bad thing is that i can read his game pretty acuretly when he does that, so i tend to move him where i want him to be and to anticipate his aproach shots/ volleys and hit winners.

Pushing + this strategy isn't particularly effective (pushing, in general, is an ineffective strategy once your opponents reach a certain skill level). If you hit your groundstrokes w/sufficient authority this strategy works great.

Will, i really want to thank you and your team. Thanks to you i improved my court movement freatly, now i can anticipate shots, make my oponent hit the kinf of shot i want and close with volleys. I feel im a close to be a 5.0+ soon enough i can work on my stamina and power. Keep the great work :D