I like to tell my students that if they can hit the ball over the net and on the court, they are good.

If they can hit the tennis ball over the net and on the court, and land it wherever they want, I’ll sit back and enjoy watching them play.

If they can hit the tennis ball over the net and onto the court, and land it where they want, and do it with different spin and power, I’ll buy a ticket to sit back and enjoy watching them play.

In tennis, hitting with great power is fun, but ball control is much more important. Anyone who wants to learn to play tennis should focus on mastering the 5 elements of tennis ball control. This will result in the ability to vary your shots according to any situation.

Height

The first obstacle any tennis player must face is the net. For a shot to be successful, you must first clear the net before it lands on the court. Beginning tennis players should focus on clearing the net from 5 to 8 feet on all their shots from the baseline.

Depth

In general, a ball that lands deep in the court is a better shot than a ball that lands short. However, there will be times when you will want to deliberately hit the ball. Beginning tennis players should practice placing their shots at different depths on the court. Remember, where the ball lands is directly related to the height of the ball. Height equals depth.

Address

After mastering height and depth, I recommend beginning tennis players move on to mastering steering. Don’t get too complicated here. Try to direct each ball to the left or right.

To turn

Once you’ve mastered how to hit the tennis ball at different heights, and at different depths and directions, it’s time to move on to spin. Learning how to spin the ball is definitely a more advanced concept and a clear sign that you are moving to the next level as a tennis player. You can hit a tennis ball with topspin, backspin, side spin, or relatively no spin.

Can

This is the last element of ball control in tennis. A player should move on to hitting a tennis ball with power only after they have learned the above items and how they can be combined to create a variety of shots.

Mastering the 5 elements of ball control takes a lot of practice. It is what separates the good players from the elite players. I suggest that beginning tennis players focus on the top three in order. Practice hitting the tennis ball over the net, on the court, landing wherever you want. Then you can work on hitting a tennis ball with spin and power. After that, who knows, maybe someone will buy a ticket to watch you play.