Your forehand is a neurological pattern: a mental function that receives sensory input, and outputs a set of movements which will, hopefully, lead to an effective strike on the ball.
My job is to help you improve that pattern.
Below is how we’ll work together. Once you’re ready to dive in, introduce yourself here. Also feel free to email us coaches@faulttoleranttennis.com with any questions.
1. Diagnosis
I watch your match or practice footage and identify:
- What’s already working well
- What’s holding you back
- Which changes would give you the biggest improvement first
This gives us a ranked list of priorities to work through, so we don’t waste time stressing the small stuff, or straying into little details that may resolve themselves as fundamental areas improve.
2. Prescription
Many other analysis services fail here, because they confuse the diagnosis with the prescription, treating them as one and the same. For example, consider a student who needs to internally rotate faster on the serve.
Diagnosis: Insufficient internal shoulder rotation.
Do we tell the student, “rotate your shoulder more,” and call it a day? No, that rarely works! The diagnosis is not the prescription. There’s a reason the shoulder isn’t internally rotating – some glitch in the neurological pattern, a missing sensation or cross-wired belief. As a coach, it’s my job to help you find and repair it.
Prescription: (Varies)
To help you fix it, we provide a digital library of kinesthetically stimulating exercises and drills. The nature of these drills might be different than you’re used to. You don’t just perform the drill. You explore it. You try different styles, focus on different parts of the body as you move. You notice what works, what doesn’t. What feels good, what feels awkward.
I will recommend versions of these drills, or similar, with the goal of unlocking whatever sensation can improve the priority we’re working on from diagnosis, along with an explanation of exactly what we’re trying to feel, and why.
3. Collaboration: Narrated Exploration
You explore the drills, sensations, and ideas from prescription. Sometimes, you’ll unlock new “aha” moments right away, and we can discuss how to best cement and further habituate them. Often, we’ll want to see video of your exercise. I want to see you figuring it out.
That means:
- Talk to the camera.
- Tell me what you’re thinking, how things feel.
Don’t worry about what’s “right” and “wrong” here. Each exercise is an exploration of movement. Of your body, forces, power, pain. You can certainly ask me direct questions while recording, but really what we want is a self-driven exploration that you’re orating simply to grant me insider access into your sensory experience.
4. Timeline Expectations
We will increase your rate of improvement. Your forehand won’t get better overnight, but it will be improving faster than it ever has before. Despite the wealth of resources online, it’s easy to get stuck in plateaus for months, years, even decades on your own. With us, reasonable expectations are that new “aha” moments will take days, occasionally weeks to feel, and 1-3 months to really stick.
Which means that, now that you’re here, you’re mere months away from the best forehands of your life, and we will help you get there.
Pricing
We charge $100 for the digital library, and $100/month for ongoing video review and guidance. Think of it as a $100 tennis lesson, but spread out asynchronously across the month, instead of all at once during a single hour.
You may need another ~$50 for various simple pieces of equipment (like a medicine ball, resistance bands, stuff like that). We’ll give you recommendations if you don’t know what to buy.
When you initially sign up, you’ll pay $200.
- $100 for the library
- $100 for your first month
After that, you keep the library forever, and we’ll happily continue asynchronous guidance across as many months as you’d like.
Logistics
After signing up, you’ll immediately get access to:
- A direct chat with Alexa and Johnny
- Our member community
- The entire forehand digital library
We’ll start by answering any immediate, broad questions you have, and then by reviewing one of your recent matches or hitting sessions, to help you decide which drills, workouts, and exercises to begin your training with, to make the biggest right away.
The App
We host our program on a service that is separate from faulttoleranttennis.com – the screenshot you see above is what you’ll see when you sign up. It can be accessed easily via desktop, iOS, or Android.
Within this app is where you’ll access the program, and where you’ll communicate with Alexa and Johnny. There’s also the community page, where you can chat with other members if you’d like, and where we’ll post updates about ongoing program improvements.
Sending Us Video
YouTube’s slow motion and frame-by-frame features are ideal for watching your video. If possible, you’ll upload videos you’d like us to review to YouTube, and then paste the link in our chat. Upload unlisted if you’d like no one else to see it.
Email Us
We’d love to hear from you. Write us coaches@faulttoleranttennis.com, even if you just want to tell us about your tennis, vent about a frustration, celebrate a win.
And if you’re ready to get started now, introduce yourself here. The sign-up link will be auto-sent after you fill out the form.
Below is an email I received from MJ, a 56-year-old photographer in New York, who worked with us after going 2-6 during his 2023 4.0 USTA season. Fast forward to 2024, and he’s been computer bumped to 4.5, with a record of 15-3, including a massive win at 4.0 sectionals.
Hi Coach,
I wanted to share some really exciting news with you, since you and your book had such a profound impact on my forehand for the past month. I just played 10 hours of tennis in the Men’s 4.0 USTA Eastern championships. I WON my final match!!!! 6-7 (9-11) 6-1, 1-0 (10-6) Most intense match ever. I hit the most insane drop shot and then won the match with a volley winner! I am SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WON all MY EASTERN CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES!!!!!!
BUT the real winner was my forehand and what YOU were able to do from your book and YouTube videos (and the weighted shadow swings). My forehand was on feugo! Ripping cross-courts with such FAULT-TOLERANCE – I just waited until I got my short ball.
MJ
Your own forehand transformation is right around the corner.
Email us coaches@faulttoleranttennis.com, and we’ll get you set up.
We can’t wait to work with you.
January 13, 2025
What racket do you use? Wha rackets do you recommend? Anything better for one handers?
January 21, 2025
Personally, I find I play well with a pretty wide variety of rackets. I prefer 95-98 head size, head light, and between 11-12 ounces. The most important thing is that the frame fits your game – what you like to do on court.
On the one-hander, it’s critical you use a racket light enough that, when you’re a little bit late, you can still whip it through contact. Imo this is more important than having slightly more power when you’re on time.
If Roger Federer’s backhand transformation is any indication, a 98 sq inch head size is also useful, as opposed to smaller. On the one-hander specifically, you want to take the ball early, in order to keep it in the strike zone. This makes clean contact more difficult, so the larger sweet-spot of the 98 becomes very relevant.