Certified USTA High Performance Coach;
Certified Etcheberry Trainer;
Was a nationally ranked junior and No.1 player at Cornell University;
Competed on USTA and ITF professional circuit;
Studied under Lluis Bruguera (former Spanish Davis Cup coach), Pato Alvarez (former top 10 player and Spanish coach) and Gilad Bloom (former Israeli ATP player and elite Junior coach)In this detailed tennis instructional coaching video, Chris Lewit, the highly acclaimed USTA High-Performance Coach, unlocks the secrets to successful and consistent returns.
Coach Lewit breaks down his video into three parts for how to learn how to rip the return when playing – whether it be in getting extra practice repetitions or in a live-play competitive match.
Breaking down the video into three easily digestible parts, Coach Lewit covers: Teaching, Tactical and Exercises – including information on why the return is the least-practiced shot in all of tennis and how mastering it will provide you with a huge advantage over much of the competition your players will face!
Returns: Footwork & Technique
To begin this video, Coach Lewit discusses the importance of footwork and technique when returning a serve. He talks about different grips you can have with the racket and different stances that players can have when hitting a return. He talks about the differences in utilizing an open stance, a closed stance and a diagonal transfer when hitting the return.
Coach Lewit then emphasizes several points on the importance of not being flat-footed on a return and how to use the split step.
Mastering each of these stances and grips is critical because a player needs to have proper footwork and technique when hitting a return. Coach Lewit covers a variety of techniques that can be used, but emphasizes how each player has to find what works best for them.
Tactical Positioning & Return Drills
Next, Coach Lewit discusses the importance of tactical positioning when returning the serve. He showcases a variety of different strategies one can use depending on where you choose to return the serve from. He highlights several returning options for positioning – a neutral position, an aggressive position and a deep returning position – as well as the different types of return a player would hit from each position.
This part of the video helps your players to improve positioning when returning a serve and gets them to think about the strategy on the court for the different shots you should hit when returning.
Coach Lewit also talks about the importance of analytics and how a player can track their positioning on the court and their success rates on first and second serve returns, which helps to dictate their positioning and the return game.
Sharing some of his favorite drills and exercises to master the drop shot, Coach Lewit starts with hand feeding, which can be done as a warmup or an initial drill as one is still learning technique for how to hit the return.
The next progression he covers is called, ‘racket feeding’ where a player can focus on technique and strategy when hitting returns. Coach Lewit also covers live-ball serving drills to work the return and emphasize the safety of serving and returning and limiting a player to no more than 50 serves at a time.
Coach Lewit also shows the live-ball exercises that players can use to help their return game.
This is an excellent video for players who are learning how to ‘rip the return!’ Coach Lewit talks about the importance of technique and footwork first and then the strategy behind the different types of returns a player can hit and ends the video with some live ball exercises to help a player perfect their return game.
85 minutes. 2023.