A video like this seems like the most mundane thing in the world. For someone who enjoys the game of tennis and wants to learn it, its one of the most enjoyable. You realize immediately how poorly served you are by television broadcasts of tennis. These videos are on a little YouTube screen on a little computer, yet to my mind you see more clearly what’s going on with a player’s stroke than anything you see on TV. All it is is some guy holding a camera for about half the video behind Nadal, then he switches to a frontal view. You get to see all the elites practice for 10 or 15 minutes. You get to watch the best players in the world close-up. You get to memorize their stroke. Their forehand, their backhand, their serve.

[As a side note, Nadal is a large part of the reason I refuse to watch tennis anymore. If you’ve ever listened to a match he’s in, when it gets real quiet right before the serve someone yells out, “Rafa!”. I hate that. These exhibitionists act like their excitement about the match is just bursting out and they couldn’t possibly contain themselves. So why doesn’t it happen when its noisy? Only when its quiet? The other one is Victoria Azarenka. She claims her “woo!” after every shot is necessary for proper breath control. That may be, but she’s going to do it without me.]

(a great comment I saw on YouTube about another video: “3 pixels less and this would be radio“)