As many of you know I teach tennis strokes by feel and not mechanics. Think about how a child learns to ride a bicycle or learns to walk. The child may be performing daily mechanics as he or she learns to walk, but they cannot walk or ride a bicycle until they develop a feel for walking or riding through repetition. You can walk today because you feel a sense of timing and a sense of balance from that repetition. And that sense of timing and balance allows the mechanics of walking to work. A tennis lesson should be no different. Just because you can perform a stroke mechanically does not mean you have a functional stroke. Without a feel for that stroke you may look pretty as you hit, but your results will be dismal.
 
This is where conventional tennis lessons go astray. Pros are preoccupied with the exact mechanics of the stroke, giving the impression to the student that the mechanics performed properly is the stroke. You may be thinking, "Well, isn't it?" Not even close!
 
I have seen thousands of players hit the so-called perfect stroke and send the ball sailing miles out! Meanwhile, the pros who do not have the so-called perfect stroke are hitting the balls in the court consistently. They do this by feel. Unless you have developed a feel from training the internal skills or senses you will have a superficial stroke that will inevitably break down under pressure.
 
You must learn to execute all your strokes by feel. How do you develop this feel? You develop this feel by training four internal senses by massive repetition. Those senses are:

1. Timing
2. Judgment
3. Balance
4. Muscle sense

Question: You are the best player in the world and lots of people try to imitate your style. It has been said you don't like to be imitated. Is this true?
 
Bjorn Borg - "I know lots of players try to imitate me and I'm not sure that's a good thing for them. I think it's better to find your own personal style, as Mr. Bergelin [his coach] has said, rather than imitating someone. Playing like me might go right against the personality of the player who's trying to do it.
 
I think it's difficult to play as I do. You have to be very quick if you have a two-handed backhand, because you have to be nearer the ball when you hit it, so you have to get to it sooner. I see lots of young people trying to put on top-spin like Vilas and myself. I have nothing against it. It might even be a good idea, because it's difficult to play against opponents who put a lot of top-spin on the ball. But the most important thing is to feel at home playing your strokes. Everything else, slice or top-spin will follow naturally. Find the style that suits you best."