WHY LEARNING TENNIS BY APPEARANCES FAILS MOST PLAYERS
When most players first pick up a tennis racquet, what’s the first thing they do? They start swinging Even without a coach, they imitate what they’ve seen on TV or from other players at the club — copying the appearance of a forehand, a serve, or a backhand. This appearance-first learning model has become the default approach across much of the tennis world. The majority of coaches around the world also take their lead from what they see the top players do, appearances, without understanding the fundamentals these top players have honed over years of work. And that’s a problem. The Danger of Appearance-First Learning This imitation approach might seem logical at first — after all, we learn many things by copying what we see. But in tennis, it creates a dangerous foundation. Why? Because tennis is not a closed-skill sport like golf, snooker, or diving, where the environment is predictable, stationary, and repeatable. In those sports, copying a swing or movement pattern can act...