The camera can be the best trainer

I started playing college tennis in the fall of 2013, when my buddy and I and two friends watched Shark Attack 3 on the still little-known video platform Netflix. Spotify was just coming out, Instagram was smaller than Facebook, and if someone had the idea of filming something, it was still an eye-catcher.

If you had taken a camera to the gym back then, you would have had to be careful not to get into stress with the other trainees or maybe even get sued.

I was 18, had been playing tennis for 11 years and watched a lot of tennis on Eurosport. I didn't think about such things at the time, but despite 11 years of tennis, I had only seen myself play on video once, and that was for my college tennis application video. I also filmed my serve maybe 3-4 times. In the coming college years, matches were occasionally filmed, but always only by our opponents. After college, I started qualifying for future tournaments, sometimes without referees, without rallies and definitely without cameras. In my first few years as a professional, I started watching a lot of tennis again, mainly the highlights of big tournaments and occasionally longer videos of matches on YouTube.

During the 2020 pandemic, I started recording training matches with a tripod. I also had my GoPro with me to record one or two tournament matches. However, that didn't work perfectly; once the wind came and the camera overheated. The material was then suboptimal.

It's only since I started playing on the Challenger Tour that I have access to all my matches in streaming quality, and that makes a huge difference. In many cases, game situations are completely misjudged. When coaches then ask players why certain decisions were made, arguments or differences often arise. Due to the stress of a match, you often misjudge game situations and sometimes recognize your opponent's weaknesses too late, even though they are clearly visible on video.

You misjudge court positions and choose the wrong shot. When you see these situations from a bird's eye view, you'll be amazed at yourself. Furthermore, with good cameras you can easily analyze the hitting technique and eliminate sources of error. If you want to improve your tennis and therefore your tennis IQ (tennis understanding), then I strongly recommend that you invest in a camera and spend time watching yourself play tennis. Don't worry, there will definitely be positive surprises.

With sporty regards,

Hendrik