I need to tell you something that might surprise you.

After working with tennis players through my videos, podcasts, and coaching, I’ve discovered that nearly every tennis mistake you make comes down to one simple thing.

And no, it’s not your mental game. It’s not your fitness level. It’s not even that tricky opponent who keeps hitting moonballs.

It’s the fundamentals.

I know what you’re thinking. You’ve been playing tennis for years. You’ve taken lessons. You’ve moved up from 3.0 to 3.5, maybe even to 4.0. Surely by now you should be focusing on advanced techniques, right? Watching professional training sessions and copying their drills?

Wrong.

Here’s a reality check that changed how I think about tennis improvement. In the United States, 88 percent of all tennis players are 4.0 or below. Players at my level, 4.5, make up just nine percent. And 5.0 players? Less than two percent. Above 5.0, we’re talking about well below one percent of all tennis players.

What does this mean for you?

Unless you’re in that elite 0.1 percent of tennis players above 5.0, you should be focusing almost exclusively on the fundamentals. Not fancy drills. Not advanced techniques. The fundamentals.

So what exactly are the fundamentals? Let me break down the six core categories that determine your tennis level.

The first fundamental is your kinetic chain. That’s the order in which you use your body to create energy and power through your racket. No matter what level you are, to reach the next level you need to upgrade your kinetic chain on at least a couple of your shots.

The second is footwork. Everything from your split step to being in balance, moving efficiently, using different stances on your forehand and backhand, transitioning to the net, and moving back on defense. I promise you there are gaps in your footwork that would level up your game immediately if you addressed them.

Third is tracking the ball and making clean contact. The sweet spot on your racket is maybe two or three ball widths of space where it really feels pure. I’m blown away even by pretty advanced players who repeatedly don’t hit the sweet spot and wonder why they’re not getting the results they need.

The fourth fundamental is controlling the height, direction, speed, depth, and spin of all your shots. Your serves, ground strokes, forehand, backhand, slice, volleys, overhead. If you can’t consistently control all of these variables on command, then you can’t possibly use the different shot selections you need to beat higher and higher level players.

Fifth are patterns of where to stand and where to aim. Really good players are extremely precise about exactly where they recover, what they cover, what they leave open so their opponents try more difficult shots and make more errors.

The sixth area is being competent from the baseline all the way up to the net and everything in between. Being comfortable in all zones of the court would help you tremendously at any level.

Let me use myself as an example to illustrate this point.

Over the last couple years I’ve competed at the 4.5 level and won about three quarters of my matches. I’m a strong 4.5 player. But let me tell you where my fundamental gaps are.

My kinetic chain is definitely behind on my forehand where I tend to arm it a little bit, and I’m very deficient on my one handed backhand drive. On controlling direction, power, height, speed, and spin I’ve got big deficiencies. I hit the ball pretty flat on my forehand, I’ve been stuck in spin mode on my serve, and I’ve only been able to slice my backhand for the last couple years with almost no topspin ability. Behind the baseline can be a huge liability for me depending on who I’m playing.

So I’ve got significant gaps in four out of the six fundamental areas. Yet I’m still winning three quarters of my matches at 4.5.

The point is this: even as a successful 4.5 player, I have fundamental flaws that I absolutely need to address if I want to make it up to 5.0. A good 5.0 opponent would identify those fundamental flaws easily and have the tools to pick on them.

If you’re at 4.0 or below, I promise you’ve got big gaps in probably all six of those fundamental areas, or at minimum the majority of them.

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because you’ve been playing for a while and taken lessons, it’s time to crack open those advanced drills and start doing fancy high level stuff. Unless you’re a top one percent tennis player, you have fundamental flaws in your game that need to be addressed first and foremost.

Here’s why this matters so much.

How do most tennis points end? The answer is with an error. Somebody making a mistake. And where do those mistakes come from? Errors happen when somebody has a fundamental flaw in their game that causes them to hit the ball in the net or wide or long.

When I hit a ball in the net or wide or long, it’s because I didn’t use my kinetic chain the way I should have. It’s because I’m not as competent from one part of the court as another. It’s because I don’t have the ability to hit with the right type of spin or direction that I should be able to.

The same thing is happening in your game right now.

Your opponent doesn’t beat you with fancy advanced techniques. They beat you by identifying your fundamental flaws and picking on them until you make an error.

So here’s my challenge to you. Take an honest inventory of those six fundamental categories in your own game. Where are your gaps? Where are you deficient? Then focus your practice time there, not on advanced drills that look cool but won’t move the needle on your results.

The path to the next level isn’t through complexity. It’s through mastering the fundamentals that you’ve been overlooking.

Your Coach,

Ian