Does one need private tennis lessons?

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Wilson Blade 9

This is a guest post by tennis coach Marcin Bieniek, our regular contributor. This month’s column explains the benefits of private tennis lessons, regardless of your level or goals.

Aryna Sabalenka with coach Dmitry Tursunov

Training sessions are crucial in development. In tennis or in life, proper repetition guarantees improvement, so it is really important to make sure that our practice time is used in the most effective way. As a tennis coach, I was able to see players who have individual practice approaches. Some players hire private coach to get the most of one-on-one coaching. Others join group sessions to get instructions and to socialize. There are also players who prefer to work on their own with other player or with ball machine. The last approach that I want to mention is related only to playing matches – players don’t like to do the drills, they want to play points all the time.

Ace queen Karolina Pliskova and coach Rennae Stubbs at the 2018 China Open in Beijing

There are pros and cons of every approach mentioned above, but in this article I would like to focus just on private training sessions. Do you need them? In my opinion you do. The only thing that you should consider is frequency. I know that one-on-one coaching is expensive and not everyone wants (or can) spend solid amount of money on tennis improvement, so that is why you should decide how often you want to work with coach.

Why you should start (or continue) your private lessons?

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE

Professional coach has broad knowledge about the game and vast experience gained during years of coaching. These factors are crucial to help you get your game to the next level. It is always great to be able to ask questions to a person who is knowledgeable and can give you the answer you need.

VISION

Our opinion about our skills and game is important, but we shouldn’t rely just on that. Especially at lower level of performance, opinion of professional coach can give you direction where you should head for. Lack of direction is responsible for slower improvement and stagnation, so private lessons are great to make sure that every hit ball pushes us forward.

Caroline Garcia practices at the 2018 China Open in Beijing

100% FOCUS ON YOUR GAME

When you are the only person on the court with coach, you can be sure that all focus is put on improvement of your game. All the drills are designed to strengthen your skills. Feedback is adjusted to let you understand and implement new information in the most effective way. No distractions. What counts is you and your game.

LESS INJURIES

As we all know, injuries are parts of the sport. The truth is that many injuries can be avoided by conscious actions performed by players. Playing with proper technique, taking care of physical preparation and implementing healthy eating habits are just some steps that players should make their habits. Professional coach will guarantee that and let you play tennis for many years without longer breaks.

I know that there are good and bad coaches, so it is your job to make research, ask friends for recommendation and pick coach who will help you reach your personal goals. When you have a person like this, you can be sure that your on-court time will lead to better game and more fun while playing. What I suggest is to start taking private lessons, because they will have big impact on your tennis development. You will see that it is much better to win matches and have more skills than your friends.

Daria Kasatkina of Russia practices at the 2018 China Open WTA Premier Mandatory tennis tournament

MORE ARTICLES BY TENNIS COACH MARCIN BIENIEK:

1 COMMENT

  1. I like how the article explains that private tennis lessons can help you to be completely focused on training. My daughter is wanting to compete in tennis and wants to train hard to become a pro. We will look into getting her private lessons so she can focus.

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