Warming up for tennis is a no-brainer. Yet, too often players use the first few minutes of their court time to warm up their bodies and wake up their feet. Wrong! Instead, you want to make sure your off-court warm up wakes up your feet. You want your feet at a “level 3” prior to stepping on the court.
What’s a level “3?”
Master professional Mary Hill teaches the concept of intensity in terms of levels 1, 2 and 3. These intensity levels apply to your footwork and your attitude. Coach Hill feels it’s crucial to take the proper “go out to play the ball” attitude with you every time you step onto the court. While the speed of the ball may vary, you need to come onto the court with the foot speed intensity of #3 or even what Mary calls “foot-fire” in the warm up.
I think of Level 1 as your “walking onto the court” speed, or “talking at the net” speed. You never want to hit the ball with your foot speed at Level 1.
Level 2 speed is the minimum acceptable level for your feet and attitude during warm up. Yet when you check out today’s video featuring Mary and a couple of her top students (one is yours truly), you will see we favor “foot fire” and level 3 intensity in attitude as well. We practice like we want to play and Level 3 is the level of intensity needed in competition.
Level Up Ladies!
