Tennis for Beginners - Lessons to Learn the Forehand, Backhand, Serve, Volley and Overhead with Bonus Chapter to Teach Tennis to Kids - Tennis Mantra DVD

I was looking for a video to help teach fundamentals to my 6 year old who thinks he's the next Roger Federer. Books and lessons just weren't getting through his know-it-all attitude. When I saw the other reviews of this video I thought for the price, about the cost of one of his group lessons, it might be worth a gamble.The first time I played it I was a little worried that this DVD wasn't going to have the desired effect either. Some aspects of the production are not very slick, and he focused on that right away. In particular the narrator's voice has a pretty heavy Indian accent and he complained about it so much that he claimed he couldn't understand and wouldn't even listen the first time I played the DVD.But on the 2nd time I was pleased to see him picking up his racket in front of the TV and going through the drills. And it actually worked. Frankly nothing previously in his tennis instruction has had such a positive impact on improving his footwork and swing.The methods presented in the DVD are consistent with those in books and instruction I've seen. The video format is useful to reinforce those other media.I'd give it 5 stars if the production was more professional (especially the narration).

I have never played tennis before and decided as a 45 year old to give it a try. After buying new rackets and hitting the court about a dozen times with my husband I was ready for some pointers. I was hoping for an explanation of the court and scoring and basic rules of the games. The video provided none of this but did provide the basics on hitting the ball. How to hold the racket, how to swing the racket and how to tilt it this way and that way and how to step into your swing. All of this looked like good info sitting on my couch but you almost have to be on the court watching the video in order to get the full lesson. I think the information the instructor provided was good but both my husband and I had a hard time understanding his heavy accent. Knowing nothing about tennis he was using terms I was not familiar with so with the accent it was hard to understand and following.

I purchased this to go over the fundamentals of tennis with my son who has taken up an interest in the sport. I felt like a female version of Richard Williams -- telling my son, "watch your form," "Keep your eye on the ball," "Nice, nice!" Okay, maybe that's a stretch, but I knew how to spend our time more effectively on the court. Furthermore, I knew what mistakes to look out for/try to correct; I could better gauge his improvement because of this video. I did not purchase the first edition of this video, but did read the reviews. It seems as if the director took some people's advice and improved the quality of the video and audio -- I thought it was very nicely done. As most of you know, tennis is not an inexpensive sport. We should applaud people like Guru Mony for providing such a wonderful resource at such an affordable price. Before pouring tons of money into tennis camps, lessons, and academies, try the techniques/drills in this DVD first and see if tennis is your child's calling. 5 stars all the way around!

Wow! This is one of the best instructional videos I've seen! I just bought a racquet and was playing around for exercise! The tennis mantra is like having your own private instructor in your home! Highly recommend if you're just learning to play tennis and you need to learn the correct way and all the basics , he teaches you everything except how to keep score!! My game has improved a lot for someone who was just out to do it for a little exercise , I'm really able to play w/someone now! Oh ,by the way the reason I bought this video is because I was going to take a master class course but it was 90 bucks for two hrs. I'm glad I found this dvd, I can watch it over and over for as long as I need to!!

I like this DVD. It covers the basics of tennis, easy to understand. When the DVD starts it plays the kids version automatically. I thought it did not cover all topics like serve, forehand etc. but when hit menu it show other topics. It would have been better if they did not automatically play the short version. Overall I recommend this to all beginners.

I bought the video because I coach middle school tennis. Most of the video is very good. but some of the students had difficulty following the lessons. I think a slow motion or frame by frame of each lesson would help the students grasps the lesson. I will use it again next spring when I have another group of new players.

Every player on the team who took and watched the video reported that they took away at least one thing they knew they could implement to make them better from one viewing. Most indicated they watched it more than once because they were learning new things. One player commented: "I now know how to make the ball go where I want it to go and I will be working on that specific skill often."

The video quality is like old Super-8 movies. The sound track is not even close to being in synch with the visuals. The tennis instruction is at best okay. Let's just say I disagree with some of the technique they show (Straight-elbow backhand). The Author/1st demonstrator never bends his knees or swing low to high and needs to understand body rotation better as well as kinetic chain. His assistant is a much better model of strokes and should have been used throughout the video. Leave the "owner is in front of the camera" to Frank Perdue.

It was technically bad. There was interference on the screen. There were lines on the screen that were related to other lines like the stripes in the mans T shirt. Wish I hadn't bought it. I think the man giving the instruction about tennis knew what he was talking about but he needing someone experienced in filming to make it happen. I was sorry I bought it. Haven't watched it all the first 20 minutes was enough!

Good information and tips for tennis on this DVD