🏠 Home › Fundamentals › Footwork › Tennis Footwork Split Step Lesson (3-Part Series)
Ian Westermann (Essential Tennis)
This lesson is split into three parts. Watch them in order for the full technique, timing, and pivot progressions.
Video Capture: Tennis Footwork Split Step Lesson, Part 1 of 3 - Technique - Ian Westermann (Essential Tennis)
Video Capture: Tennis Footwork Split Step Lesson, Part 2 of 3 - Timing - Ian Westermann (Essential Tennis)
Video Capture: Tennis Footwork Split Step Lesson, Part 3 of 3 - Pivot and Fake - Ian Westermann (Essential Tennis)
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The transcript below is reconstructed from the original SRT subtitles for reference.
Hi this is ian Westerman from essential tennis comm welcome to video one of three in which I'm going to be focusing on something that's extremely important to your success on the tennis courts and that is the split step a lot of times I think is kind of trivialized by recreational players and that's to their own detriment it's actually extremely important there's certain things in tennis that we focus on that are kind of.
Stylistic choices or maybe certain body type will do certain technique this way another body type that way the split step is not one of those things when you look at high-level players and professional players it's universal I'm talking four or five players and above every shot with almost no exceptions and every player uses the split step and that just kind of goes to prove how extremely important it is on the other hand when you go and you watch.
Beginners or intermediate players beginners you really don't see it at all intermediate players it depends on the players will use it some players don't want you to make that mistake I want you to start using it on a regular basis and I'm going to show you exactly how so in this video I'm going to show you the technique of how to perform a split step correctly and before we do that I just want to define the purpose of a correct split.
Step the definition of the purpose of a split step is being as balanced and prepared to the ball as possible at precisely the right time again the purpose is being as balanced and prepared to the ball as possible at precisely the right time and in this video we're going to focus on the technique of the split step and we're going to be using a professional player David Ferrer to kind of be an example for us so that we can see how the pros.
Use this incredibly important tool so let's go ahead and take a look at David Ferrer and you'll see that in this rally here he is hitting back and forth with Andy Murray this is a practice session at Cincinnati at the Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati I should admit it should have been able to tell that based on the background right so they're hitting back and forth freighters hitting volleys murray is hitting groundstrokes back on the.
Baseline and Ferrer is getting ready to go into a split step here Murray is getting ready to hit we're not going to talk about timing in this video that's going to be the next video in this three-part series here I'm just going to use Ferrer as a technique example so let's watch Ferrer as he gets ready you're going to see him take a couple of little steps here this is not a split step here's this split step right here and you'll see both his feet come off.
The courts you'll see both of his feet widen and I'll touch back down again on the balls of his feet you want to say toes that's fine as well but ultimately the balance of his bodyweight goes on to the balls of his feet and there's really three things technique-wise that you need to make note of number one I want your feet to be at least shoulder width apart preferably a little bit wider if we draw vertical lines here going up from his feet you'll see that frere is a good bit.
Wider than shoulder width apart I've heard teachers say that you shouldn't go any wider than shoulder width apart because then you get too wide and it's too difficult to then move your momentum kind of shift your momentum and move towards the ball I think that's correct to a certain extent but I think a lot of teachers to be honest with you totally overstate that I would much rather you get wide than narrow if you do the splits up in your narrow it's better.
Than nothing but if you want to be in a good solid athletic stance and athletic position wider than shoulder width apart in my opinion is really important so let's go back to Ferrer so that's technique element number one is the width number two is bent knees look at as he gets down and right here he already identifies where the ball is he's getting ready to hit they look at the bend in his knees here this is really important if you want to be as prepared.
As possible and it goes back to what I said a second ago and that is just being in an athletic stance being in a prepared balanced position with your body and having your knees bent is definitely something that can help that it helps you be able to then take that stored up energy in your legs and push off towards whichever direction that the next ball is hit so it gets everything prepared to move that's the whole point of the split step right as we talked.
About in the definition as to be as possible to move towards the ball at precisely the right time so that's number two is the bent knees and then thirdly but we're going to look at here from ferrer is look at how his heels are off the court as he's preparing to move towards this shot and really his heels never touch the court they get close here he is coming down into a split step they get close but you can kind of see here that there's still.
A little bit of space on both sides he never really gets flat-footed and that is as opposed to the broad majority of recreational players that quite truthfully stay flat-footed throughout the entire period of time that their opponent is hitting the ball and then they're starting from a totally static position they're just totally stopped on the court surface and they have to regather everything and get going again please don't do that I want you to stop having.
To restart everything and go back down to zero restart again every time the ball is hit and if we go back to Ferrer here and look at a couple of shots we'll see that he repeats this process over and you will see him take a couple little kind of bounce steps back and forth in preparation as the ball is going to Murray and here's this split step right here and again shoulder-width apart heels off the courts knees bent and moving towards the ball.
Basically came to on that time so a couple little dance steps again here's the split step right here on the balls of the feet knees bent feet more than shoulder-width apart and we will see him repeat that over and over again just take a look at one more here here's the split step right here more than shoulder-width the parts Heels way off the court there and then starting to move back towards the ball again and knees bent of course here's.
The split step right here so there's our three Technic elements of the split step that's all we're going to talk about in this video I wanted to make sure that we had enough time to really cover that in detail so remember the Technic elements that you need to do our feet at least shoulder width apart really preferably wider than that number two is a bend in the knees and number three is heels off the courts and balance on the balls of your feet if you do those three things.
In terms of your technique you're doing a great job in the next video we're going to talk about timing remember there's kind of two parts to this definition or whole purpose behind the split step being is ready to move as possible at precisely the right time so in the next video we're going to talk about that second element the timing part of it until then please leave me any thoughts or comments that you have right below this video I'd love to hear.
From you let me know if you currently use this split step and be honest if you're not sure again be honest and if it's something that you're not doing now if you start working on it it's going to be a little awkward at first but I promise you as it starts to become a habit and you start getting used to it you're going to feel like you're moving so much better get into balls that you are never getting to before because you're going to be so much more prepared.
Than you ever have before so until next time thank you very much for watching and take care want to serve more like the pros find out how is I compared Federer Nadal and Djokovic during my free five video course get it now at free surf course com that's free surf course calm hi it's Ian from essential tennis comm welcome to video two in a series of three all about the split step something that's incredibly important to your success on the tennis court in.
The first video we talked all about the technique of the split step and I gave you the three most important technical elements of having a correct split step I also gave you the whole purpose behind using a split step and again the purpose of using a split step is balanced and prepared to the ball as possible at precisely the right time so in that first video we talked about how to get physically as possible as possible and.
If you haven't seen that by the way please go watch it first in this video we're going to talk about the second part of that kind of little definition I gave you the purpose of the split step and that is being balanced at exactly the right time and we're going to talk about the timing of the split step now and I'm going to give you two different pro examples we're going to take a look at david ferrer first for three shots and then we're going to go and take a.
Look at Rafael Nadal so let's take a look at David Ferrer first and we're going to see that same footage that we took a look at in the first video in this series where he's in a rally with Andy Murray and we're going to take a look at exactly when he performs his split step in the last video in the first video we talked all about technique we're not going to rehash that here we're simply going to look at when he performs his split step so we see.
Murray here preparing for a backhand ground stroke and David Ferrer is getting ready to make his split step now here he is starting to come off the court now watch as the ball hits Murray's strings and you see that Ferrer is just leaving the court with his right foot both feet are going to leave the courts and now he's on his way back down as the ball is coming towards him now previously in my teaching career when I was a full time on court instructor I.
Always told recreational players that they should time their split step so that their balls of their feet the balls of their feet should touch the court surface as the ball touched the racket of their opponent and I should try to time that touching down with the touching of the ball with the racket when you watch the pros you'll see very clearly and this is repeated as I can tell 100% of the time touchdown occurs after contact so.
They're the pros are actually coming down from the split step after contact has been made and the reason for that if we go back to the video here the reason for that I believe is that it takes a split second of time between when contact is made and when Ferrer is actually going to be able to tell exactly where the ball is going so Ferrer is timing the touch down of his feet precisely with when he can best identify where he needs to go for the next shot when the ball is physically on.
Marie's strings Ferrer doesn't know it prefers sure where the ball is going at he might be able to see the timing of Marie's rotation forwards he might be able to see even where the racket more-or-less is facing right around contact if he's paying close attention which he is but what if Marie hits off-center a little bit what if he shanks it a little bit what if rare just miss reads it a little bit it's important that you're in your most.
Balanced position right when you can tell where the ball is going you want to line those two events up so that right when you can see where the ball is going that's when you're most prepared and that would be when you're the balls of your feet are touching down in the courts you're in that wide stance with your knees bent and now your most activated to push off and bam just immediately move towards that ball so let's look at a couple more examples.
Here from Ferrer and you'll see him repeat that same timing there comes the next shot back to Murray and watch fair go up into a split step right here here's contact from her it is actually little after contact for it's just about to leave the court going wide and here he touches here as the ball is several frames off of Murray's racket and now he's ready to push off and move towards the ball one more time from for air again Murray about to make contact.
Here's contact right here for our time did a little differently this time he still hasn't touched down yet but he's on his way down this time now he's touching down the ball is off Murray's racket already coming towards him so for at this point identifies where the ball is and he's going to the side get out of the way of that ball because it would have jammed him otherwise and he was able to move out of the way now we're going to.
Take a look at a couple examples of Nadal and over on this side he's hitting with his doubles partner Lopez who's getting ready to hit a forehand here comes the dog into a split step right here Lopez has already hit if I go back a couple frames here's contact right here Nadal is just coming up into his split step now he's coming back down again as the ball comes off of Lopez's racquet here's this touchdown now by this point he identifies where the ball.
Is going he's able to move in that direction we'll take a look at a couple more examples of Nadal here so Nadal you'll see him recover to take a couple of little steps here Lopez getting ready to hit here's contact right here Nadal just coming up into a split step now coming back down and now he's touching down and that's about four or five frames past the point of contact back to Nadal one more time and then I'll wrap this up with some final thoughts so well PES.
Hitting here here's Nadal split step right here now he's touching down several frames after and now he moves into position to hit his shot so as you can see the pros are consist and this is just two examples I've got tons of pro footage that I can go through and I've seen this consistently across the board they're touching down just a couple of frames after contact and again the reason for that is they're trying to line up the.
Two events of being as possible along with that point in time where they know okay I know for sure the ball is going here in this direction and so they're timing those things together so that they're most prepared to move towards the ball which is the whole point of the split step so hopefully this makes sense to you if you're creational player and you haven't started using this footstep yet I strongly recommend that you try to time.
Contact with your opponent or with your partner with the touching down of your split step in my experience when recreational tennis players mistime their split step it's almost always late so I would prefer for you to aim for a little bit earlier than what the pros do it's not always best to copy what the pros are doing they're very precise with this I would rather you be a little bit early with your preparation and be in balance a little bit early.
Then be late and have already recognized where the ball is going but you're still up in the air making your split step so keep that in mind however you can take this information and do whatever you please with it but my personal recommendation is that you try to time contact with the touching down of your feet so there you go that's video 2 of 3 all about timing in the third video I'm going to show you some actual point play examples and I'm going to show you some.
Different elements that the pros use as lining their feet up and using the split step dynamically within an actual point situation they do some pretty cool stuff during competition so until then please leave any thoughts or comments right below this video I love to hear from you get out there start using the split step and let me know of any results that you have as well if you get a chance to go out there and give it a shot thanks for watching talk to you again.
Soon want to serve more like the pros find out how is I compare Federer Nadal and Djokovic during my free 5 video course get it now at free surf course comm that's free surf course calm hi it's Ian Western man from essential tennis com welcome to videos 3 in a series all about this split step something that many recreational players kind of poopoo and they don't really focus on it they never make it a habit they think it's something that's trivial.
But it's incredibly important in the first video we talked all about what the purposes of the split step and I also talked about the three main technical elements of the split step that are important for your success and I used David Ferrer as an example in a second video I talked all about timing and how to time your split step correctly and now in this video I want to show you how the pros actually use the split step during point play it's a.
Little bit different than just the straight up straight down split step that we're all familiar with and I think it's pretty cool to see exactly how they use their feet because it's I think it's pretty awesome how dynamic it is and there's a lot of little things going on that you might not think now if you haven't seen the first two videos please go watch them first there's really important concepts in there that you need to get but for.
Right now let's go ahead and get into the point play video and this is going to be David Ferrer versus Andy Murray now this is a practice session but they're playing all out here they're doing a practice match which by the way I have the video up on YouTube of this match so you can go check that out but I've selected a point here to really focus on their feet and we're going to be looking at how they use their feet in conjunction with the split step.
So watch Murray come up here into his split step here's contact made with the serve by Ferrer just like I talked about in video 2 Murray is coming down even off the return to serve where the ball is coming at I'm probably 120 miles an hour Murray is coming down still as contact is being made now he touches down now element number one that I want to point out that the pros do when they're playing competitively is they go up in their split step in a neutral fashion so.
They're not leaning one way or the other their momentum might be going in one way or the other but their feet are pointed forwards their hips and their show are facing forwards and they're neutral on the way down is another story let me show you what by that on the way down you'll see them and this is not the best view on the next shot you'll see exactly what I'm talking about on the way down you'll see them pivot their outside foot towards the.
Oncoming ball and here you see me right here I'm sorry it's a little bit far away will seem better on the next shot by Ferrer and watch Murray make contact here and Ferrer is just about to begin a split stop here it is now he's recovering just in case Murray hits a really good deep return which Murray is one of the best returners in the world so it's a good call by Ferrer but Ferrara's is retreating back while making his split.
Step now watch what he does here Murray is making contact right here frères executing his split step now watch for air by this point in time is identifying where the ball is going so watch what he does he's going to touch down onto his inside foot and he's going to pivot onto his outside foot so at this point in time as Murray hits Ferrer is neutral look at how his shoulders are facing forwards his feet are both pointing forwards once he identifies.
Where the ball is going here is after Murray has hit then he makes his move on his way down from the split step so here he plants with his inside foot pivots with his outside foot and now he's going to make his move over towards his backhand side and that's a pattern we're going to see repeated by both players again here's Murray in the middle of his split step mariya by the way tends to get a little bit higher and go a little wider.
Than a lot of professional players to be totally honest with you guys I think that is part of the reason why he moves so smoothly it looks like he's not trying at all I think there's a lot of it has to do with that to be totally honest so watch how Murray comes down contact was made here Murray is neutral facing forwards now watch Murray's going to identify that the ball is coming cross-court look he touches down first on his inside foot and look he pivots on.
To his outside foot pretty cool huh how it makes that train now watch Ferrer come back now look he's neutral here even though this entire side of the court is open he's neutral he knows that Murray has to change direction and hit the low percentage shot down the line in order to hit a winner here so Ferrer is going to remain neutral and this is actually his split step here his feet are pointing forwards his hips and his shoulders are facing forwards.
Here Murray is making contact right here as fros coming up now he's coming down again and once four identifies where the ball is going look he touches down first this would be his inside foot and it's confusing because he's all the way over here but his inside foot pivots out onto his outside foot and it moves out towards the ball one or two more examples now Murray starts to recover he's neutral contact is made Murray is making his split step Murray identifies.
Where it's going touches down on his inside foot pivots out to his outside foot to move out towards the ball now here's for air contact being made right here by Murray this is the split step he identifies where the ball is going touches down first on the inside foot pivots onto the outside foot contact now here good I actually forgot that I threw this in here so Ferrer is about to make contact and we'll see here that Murray is breaking the rule he's.
Crossing over at this point in time he's not neutral and here's the reason why Murray went down the line on this flash shot Ferrer has an outside ball with a cross-court open court so Ferrer to go back down the line again really wouldn't make a whole lot of sense following the directionals cross-court would be the way to go Murray receives that he understands the situation and so he's going to break away from being neutral here he's going to make an educated guess that this next.
Shot is going to the open court cross courts so he crossed over at that point and he was correct okay so I think that's fascinating seeing that pattern over again unless the pros have a really good reason why they're reading that their opponent is not going to go or rather their opponent has a big enough opportunity that they're for sure going to go in a certain direction they will stay neutral they will come down from the split step read the oncoming.
Shot on their way down and then adjust and touch down on different feet depending on which direction the ball is going this is something that to be honest I didn't realize that there was this much to what they were doing until I really started studying the high quality video that I got in Cincinnati this past summer really cool stuff now I want to show you one more situation here in which the pros would not use a split step a second ago we saw.
Murray break the rules and not be neutral and just start crossing over and immediately covering the cross-court angle from Ferrer now we're going to look at a little bit different situation and Ferrer is going to show us a situation where he would not use a split step so here we have Andy Murray getting ready to serve and Murray is going to hit a really nice wide serve that really puts Ferrer off the court and it forces Ferrer took off up a weak defensive shot.
He didn't really have a whole lot of choice here you did a nice job just getting that back now he sees that Murray is about to hit a short forehand here and obviously Murray is looking to do something offensive so you'll see frere do a couple of things here this is really cool on this is a little bit of insight into how the pros think and how they try to play one step ahead of their opponent you're going to see Ferrer cross over and make some big athletic.
Strides over to his right now you would typically only see this when a player is guessing so Ferrer is showing here hey I'm not going to worry about back here I'm just going to run this way I have a feeling that Andy Murray is going to be hitting to the wide open court with this weak sitter forehand and so I'm just going to make my move now Ferrer is hoping that Murray sees this and right before Murray makes his forward swing.
Fred gathers his balance and shifts his weight back to his left so he was hoping that Murray saw his footwork and this is a fake by Ferrer frere looks like he's totally committing to the right and then right before Murray hits he catches himself and he's hoping that Murray goes back this way hoping for an opening here to hit a passing shot so that would be an example of a situation where you would not want to use a split step if your opponent has a.
Really obvious setup if Ferrer had made a neutral split step and just gathered himself neutrally right here Murray could have gone either direction and hit a winner in either direction so Ferrer has identified that and decided to just guess so he faked here he went hard to the right caught himself and was looking for a shot to his left Murray didn't fall for it and he went to the open court so hopefully this has been illuminating to you start to see.
Some of the footwork patterns that the pros are using on a regular basis over again so in this video we've gone over exactly how they use their feet to shift their balance to identify the oncoming ball and then be able to move smoothly in whichever direction the ball is hit and I also showed you an example of breaking the rules and not using a split step when there's a certain situation when your opponent might have the upper hand and.
You need to just guess so hopefully you've really enjoyed this three-part series I've really enjoyed bringing this information to you I think this is really cool stuff and I'm going to do my best to continue kind of extrapolating some of these cool little things that the pros are doing and showing all of you at home so that you can start to implement some of these things as well so thank you so much for watching if you have any comments or questions please.
Leave those right below this video and I look forward to you again soon want to serve more like the pros find out how is I compare Federer Nadal and Djokovic during my free five video course get it now at free surf course com that's free surf course calm.
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