Among the most important points for a tennis player are concentration, movement and preparation.   While it’s well and good to acknowledge these points, I have never seen a player admonish him or herself to “Concentrate!!!” and then seen them become more focused.

Generally what’s wrong with tennis coaching is that while the information offered is usually true, it isn’t a path to proper execution.  If someone who had never driven a car was told,  “You need to make the car go forward onto the road” they would be given the proper information, but I wouldn’t want to be in that car. 

Let’s go through the three points above and make them workable-

Concentration:  WATCH THE BALL!!!  OOOH, never heard that before.   Generally what is left out is that you aren’t such a moron that you don’t look at the ball as it approaches.  The real crux of the matter is do you see it hit your racquet?  No one can actually hit the ball well if they consistently jerk their heads upward.  Watch the ball until AFTER it hits, then keep your head down as it leaves your racquet.  Watch Federer keep his head down as he hits.  It’s perfect.

If you watch the ball hit your racquet each time, you will be achieving about 90% of the concentration you need to be great.  Don’t overthink it!

Movement: If you know what a split-step is you are halfway there.  Making a little hop just before your opponent hits the ball gets your weight in motion quicker than waiting to see where they hit it.  If you do this properly it makes you at least ½ step quicker on each shot.  In a series of shots, not splitting makes each successive shot harder and harder to reach.

Preparation: Take the racquet back before the opponent’s ball bounces, not after.  This keeps the swing from being late and also helps position your body better than waiting to take the racquet back later.

Conclusion: Keep things simple and achievable.  Making tennis too complicated is counter- productive and difficult to achieve.  Do things that are going to give you the greatest result for the effort first, then concentrate on smaller particulars.