Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, where each episode provides insights and conversations that begin with tennis and progress to the global scope of the sport. In this episode, we have an interesting conversation with Justin Yeo, a world-renowned tennis pro. Together, we'll look at how important your hands are in tennis, from grip tension to shot direction. Whether you're just starting out or an experienced player, you'll see how mastering your hand movements may dramatically improve your game.
Todayβs Guest:
Justin Yeo - world-renowned tennis pro who was born in Australia and raised in Puerto Rico. In this episode, Justin Yeo discusses the importance of hand technique in tennis. He argues that, while many players concentrate on footwork and body posture, the hands play an important role in directing the ball and reducing errors. Justin utilizes the examples of renowned players, including Roger Federer and John McEnroe, to show how exceptional hand skills may improve a player's game.
Justin emphasizes the importance of grip tension, control, and the ability to modify the ball's direction. He proposes that players think of their racket as an extension of their hand, focusing on prolonging rather than shortening their swings. He also advises against the common practice of short-court warm-ups, instead pushing players to begin at the back of the court to improve hand control.
To enhance hand technique, Justin suggests training against a hitting wall to extend the swing and send the ball straight ahead. He emphasizes the significance of remaining relaxed and springy when playing.
What They Talked About:
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YouTube Replay: https://youtube.com/live/WypPaxk81nE
Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com
https://tennisforchildren.com/
Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/
Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net
https://windermerecommunity.net/
Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com
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[Music]
Speaker:Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.
Speaker:Every episode is titled "It Starts with Tennis" and goes from there.
Speaker:We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business professionals,
Speaker:technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.
Speaker:We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,
Speaker:powered by GoTennis. While you're here, please hit that follow button.
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Speaker:With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:Justin Yeo, world renowned tennis pro in Puerto Rico, who is also an Aussie.
Speaker:And we are going to talk today about your hands.
Speaker:Why are your hands everything? The title today.
Speaker:Your hands are everything. As I use my hands to talk, right?
Speaker:Hands are everything. We talk racket sports. You've heard all the
Speaker:benjourneys and keep your eye on the ball and keep your hands in front and
Speaker:good hands. Oh, somebody hits a nice, oh, good hands at the net.
Speaker:Is that what we're talking about? Are we talking a little more technical?
Speaker:Where are we going with this, Justin?
Speaker:Well, yeah, I mean, it's more than technical. You know, as a player gets better and better
Speaker:in the top. One thing that mostly shows is their hands.
Speaker:And if you, I don't know, from people that have played this
Speaker:port enough, if you actually watch the players, if you watch how they hit
Speaker:ball, you just try to amaze by how good their hands are.
Speaker:And the, you know, majority of areas come from the hands,
Speaker:you know, because the tension for the mind was saying something,
Speaker:but the hands, there's got to be an automatic feeling with their hands that
Speaker:can make you, you know, win or lose or play well or play poorly.
Speaker:But the hands come down to, I guess what we call grip tension,
Speaker:understanding, you know, palm of the hands, to give yourself more chances of
Speaker:feeling or controlling the ball.
Speaker:But yeah, I guess what the whole point is, there are a lot of, a lot of
Speaker:players, a lot of, I guess people that hit a lot of balls every day
Speaker:and they tell, well, I'm turning the shoulders, my feet are in position,
Speaker:I've made a good decision. Why kind of get that ball there every single time?
Speaker:Why kind of just, a lot of that comes into when the players hit a not
Speaker:ball, it's their hands and connection is direct to ball,
Speaker:to change direction or target.
Speaker:We'll just do things that they didn't think they could do
Speaker:because that ends are the ones that mean the difference.
Speaker:And a crazy example, but think about Gullwig and
Speaker:Curios and some of these guys with only different trick shots.
Speaker:That's not something you technically, you know, you go out and say,
Speaker:well, I'm going to do that. It's just they have really good hands.
Speaker:And one of the other big ones for a long time, which we all don't talk about
Speaker:enough anymore, which I'm very sad about, I brought you better.
Speaker:I mean, better at reason why he wasn't so injured, he didn't have to rely so much
Speaker:on the body and technique. They all look and I'm saying,
Speaker:here for technique, what are you having? Incredible, huh?
Speaker:I mean, talk about talent on the hands. Like what he accomplished,
Speaker:that no one else could do, a hot, hot bowling back in and, you know,
Speaker:rippling forehands and hitting shots that up up the tones or off the
Speaker:ball on the rise, you're talking about hands.
Speaker:So that's what I'm talking about, that hands. Okay, so that makes me think of,
Speaker:that makes when you say Roger, that makes me think of why he's such a great
Speaker:server with with a toss that isn't as obviously different. You got an
Speaker:antibiotic, maybe not the guy with great hands, but so his served toss is
Speaker:completely different on the second serve where Roger seemed to be able to do more
Speaker:with a similar toss. I think of Pete Samperous being able to do the same thing,
Speaker:but that just makes me wonder are the servant valliers potentially going to
Speaker:have better hands? Go back to a John McEnroe, you look at him and he almost looks
Speaker:awkward every other time he hits the ball because it's just all about his hands.
Speaker:He didn't care how it looked on the court.
Speaker:John McEnroe is a great example of hands of in for real.
Speaker:You know, we had that odd forehand grip that just he still,
Speaker:to this very day in his age, can still hit with some of the best
Speaker:because of his hands. So hands are, I mean, I guess the emphasis
Speaker:is what I'm pointing out is that when I see teachers,
Speaker:a coach and teaching of this sport, we don't spend enough emphasis on your
Speaker:hands have to direct the ball with your palm and you have you want to hear you want to hear
Speaker:if you want to deep your hands been directed deep. You want to short it can
Speaker:it's not just about technique or rolling the elbow or finishing your follow through
Speaker:here. A lot of it has to do with what the hands are doing to the ball.
Speaker:And that takes me back to the to the beginner almost. Okay, we are example is
Speaker:a John McEnroe and Roger Federer. But when I'm working with the seven-year-old
Speaker:and I say I need that racket face going forward, I'm talking about the palm of the
Speaker:hand. I'm talking about directing the ball left or right or up or down.
Speaker:And if they can picture the racket as an extension of the hand,
Speaker:that sounds again like another bumper sticker for tennis coaches, right?
Speaker:Very direct. It is the bumper sticker for not the bumper sticker. The racket is the extension
Speaker:of your hands. Sorry. So that concept even from a beginner to understand the
Speaker:racket face similar to the palm of the hand. 100%. I guess what I'm saying,
Speaker:a lot of coaches talk about it but eventually it loses sort of traction
Speaker:because we're getting technical footwork ride or whatever. But you can't let go.
Speaker:Like okay, all my lessons, my first five minutes, I say to people, we don't do
Speaker:that half foot stuff. Half foot to me, you're blocking and you're short gripping
Speaker:and you're rolling your hands off the bracket, right? So we always start
Speaker:reading that isn't that a good thing? Sorry to interrupt.
Speaker:Isn't that a good thing? Because that's all I use in the short court when I hit
Speaker:as a warm up for myself is just feeling the ball on the hand.
Speaker:Because I don't have a full swing. The racket's just in front.
Speaker:No, because what do you want to do with your hand? You want to lengthen your hands?
Speaker:I want to lengthen the swing but not my hand, right?
Speaker:But when you lengthen the swing, what are you doing with your hands?
Speaker:The same thing I'm doing at the net, which is a nice easy
Speaker:up the back of the ball stroke or underneath the ball.
Speaker:Wow, well, we're moving on for the next 10 minutes. It's been like, thank you.
Speaker:With a play, it's the ball, he's not doing that. He's doing that.
Speaker:Is that why I'm bad at tennis? Is that what you're pointing out?
Speaker:I did not say that on my TV, in his podcast. He did not say it.
Speaker:I know you didn't say it, but it's what I heard.
Speaker:Well, you know, your hands are so important that you can't let go of that.
Speaker:I spend the first five minutes of most lessons making people understand
Speaker:the first thing you want to do is get those hands hitting up and through the ball
Speaker:and lengthening the swing, not shortening the swing, and trying to be elastic and loose.
Speaker:Because that's it, if you watch the plays in their first five minutes of their match,
Speaker:then they've already warmed up before they've hit the court.
Speaker:But as they get to the court, they're learning to see the ball, get the preparation,
Speaker:get everything right for the section wise and reading.
Speaker:They're equated up the other end by getting their hands and the eyes and the
Speaker:hips, like getting it all set. Then the legs get involved. Then the weight trend, then everything
Speaker:builds up from there. But their hands are just so critical.
Speaker:So aside from the fact that we figured out, I'm bad at tennis today, how are you going to advise me?
Speaker:Or why I'm bad at tennis? Well, there's it. So here you go. Justin, yo, fix me.
Speaker:So let's say I'm doing this wrong. I'm doing that short court. You're going to suggest not to.
Speaker:Let's say it's my pre-warm-up routine. Maybe I don't have a coach right now.
Speaker:Or even if I go to my coach and they're doing this, don't pick a fight with your coach, of course.
Speaker:But ask the question, say Justin, what are you going to tell me to think about,
Speaker:even if I'm not doing that from my coach personally? What's the one thing you're going to tell me
Speaker:about my hands that I can practice to get back? Well, one way is to practice against a hitting wall.
Speaker:Because that's lengthening and hitting you straight forward. I want a hitting wall in my back yard.
Speaker:I want a hitting wall in my front yard. I want a hitting wall everywhere in the world. I think they're
Speaker:fantastic. So that's one way to help it. And then the other way is just warm up from the back of the court
Speaker:first thing. Because if you're backing off the ball, the ball's going to go short and you can't
Speaker:rally with your opponent. You can warm up properly. So, you know, your first instance,
Speaker:to be able to get that length, is you're going to have to eventually get your hands
Speaker:directly pulled all the way. It just won't happen. It'll be fun to knock it.
Speaker:Hear that Atlanta. Get rid of the short court warm-up. Go back to the baseline. Tell everybody,
Speaker:you know what Justin Yo says? There's a better way to do this. We're doing it this way from now on.
Speaker:Everybody, we just changed the tennis warm-up for 100,000 people right here. I like it.
Speaker:Yeah. Justin Yeo, 10 minutes of tennis. Thank you so much. We'll see you next week. I appreciate it,
Speaker:buddy. 10. You have to stay elastic. You have to stay moving.
Speaker:Well, there you have it. We want to thank reGeovinate.com for use to the studio.
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