Stepping out of the shadow: Why “shadow swings” are failing your tennis players

In today’s high-pressure, fast-paced tennis world, coaches are constantly seeking ways to optimize court time, increase player participation, and meet the ever-growing demand. But in this quest for efficiency, many coaches are turning to methods that, while visually impressive, have little to no real impact on actual tennis performance.

One method that seems to be on the rise is the use of “shadow swings” or “movement techniques.” Scroll through social media, and you’ll be bombarded with videos of large groups of players, all moving in unison to the coach’s explicit commands:

• Left foot in front

• Turn your hips

• Right foot out

• Racket back

It’s like watching a perfectly synchronized swim team on dry land. High participation? Absolutely. High income for the coach? Definitely. But when it comes to meaningful skill transfer into the game, the results are alarmingly low.

From a tennis development perspective, I’m sorry to say: this is just another form of snake oil. Let me explain why.

The Human Body: An Adaptive Machine, Not a Command-Driven Robot

The human body is a living, breathing organism, infinitely more complex than any machine. It reacts, responds, and adapts to its environment in real-time, processing a flood of information from multiple sources every single millisecond. Movement, therefore, is not a series of commands or pre-programmed actions—it’s a response, a solution to the environment and task at hand.

In tennis, the environment is rich with variables. There’s the ball’s trajectory, your opponent’s position, the speed and spin of the shot, your own location on the court, the score, the weather conditions, and even factors like crowd noise or pressure from the match situation. The body is constantly scanning and processing this information—visually, audibly, and even internally—to determine the most effective way to move.

What’s truly incredible is that the body often organizes itself without conscious thought. Movement is emergent, fluid, and deeply intertwined with the environment. It’s not something that can be dictated from the outside with a simple command like “left foot here, right foot there.” We don’t have AI-controlled bodies that follow prompts like a robot. We’re human beings, operating in dynamic, ever-changing contexts.

The Problem with Shadow Swings

This brings us back to shadow swings. There are two glaring flaws with this approach.

First, there is nothing for the body to interact with. Shadow swings are practiced in a vacuum, with no ball to track, no opponent to read, no relevant information for the player to process. The environment, in this case, is completely artificial. Without any real stimulus or context, the body is essentially flying blind. It’s being asked to move, but without the critical inputs that usually dictate how that movement should happen.

Second, the commands given by the coach are arbitrary. The coach says, “turn your hips” or “step forward with your left foot,” but how do they know these are the right prompts? The coach has no reference point for whether these movements are actually what the situation demands, because there is no situation. The player isn’t responding to anything—they’re simply following orders, disconnected from the reality of the game.

In tennis, every movement is a reaction to a specific, contextual challenge. When you strip away the context, you strip away the player’s ability to make sense of their movements. The result? Players get really good at moving in scripted, predictable ways that have little bearing on what they’ll face in a live match.

Movement Needs Context

The essence of tennis is found in its unpredictability. No two rallies are the same, and no two players will react the same way to a given situation. That’s why training needs to reflect the game itself—open, dynamic, and information-rich. The body needs to practice scanning the environment and self-organizing its movements in response to real, game-like scenarios. When players are exposed to these rich environments, their movement becomes more adaptable, efficient, and ultimately, more effective.

Instead of rehearsing shadow swings, which have no context, why not give your players tasks that are rooted in the reality of a match? Set up scenarios where they have to react to the ball, their opponent, or the court position. Encourage problem-solving, decision-making, and adaptability. Let them interact with their environment the way they would in a real game.

The Snake Oil of Tennis Coaching

In 1917, Clark Stanley’s snake oil was exposed as a fraudulent product. It made grand promises of miraculous cures, but in the end, it was nothing more than mineral oil. The term “snake oil salesman” has since become a metaphor for those peddling false solutions.

Unfortunately, many traditional tennis coaching methods fall into this category. Shadow swings, with their scripted, one-size-fits-all commands, offer a mirage of improvement without delivering real results. They may look good on social media, but they fail to translate to actual tennis performance.

Why Are We Still Doing This?

Next time you find yourself instructing players to perform these choreographed movements, ask yourself: Why? Are you simply filling time? Are you relying on outdated methods that look impressive but don’t deliver? If so, it might be time to step out of the shadow—literally—and focus on training that prepares your players for the unpredictable, dynamic nature of the game.

Tennis is a sport that thrives on adaptability and real-time problem-solving. Let’s coach in a way that embraces that reality. Step out of the shadow and into the light of better, more effective coaching methods.