By Rhonda Costa | Costa del Tennis
If you’ve been playing tennis for a few years, taken lessons, joined a club, played some social doubles — and you still feel like something fundamental isn’t clicking — you’re not imagining it.
You’re probably not where you should be. But here’s what almost no one will tell you: that’s not your fault.
The tennis industry has a quiet problem. And adult players are the ones paying for it.
The Label Is Wrong. The Player Isn’t.
Every season I welcome players to camp who call themselves intermediate. Some genuinely are. Others arrive hitting every single ball — forehand, backhand, volley, slice — with one grip. The forehand grip. For every stroke.
How does someone play for three, four, five years and never develop a second grip?
The answer isn’t talent. It’s coaching.
Somewhere along the way, a coach made a decision — conscious or not — that developing this adult player’s full technical game wasn’t worth the effort. Maybe they didn’t think club doubles results mattered enough. Maybe they were used to training juniors on a pathway to college tennis and couldn’t recalibrate for a 42-year-old professional who plays three times a week and genuinely wants to improve.
So the player kept showing up. Kept paying. Kept hitting. And built a game on a foundation that was never properly laid.
That player is not a 3.0 who can’t improve. They’re a player who was never truly coached.
Adults Aren’t Children. Stop Coaching Them Like They Are.
I’ve been coaching adult tennis camps since 2013. The single most consistent mistake I see from coaches — including coaches I work with and watch carefully — is treating adult players like they need to be handled.
Constant positive feedback. Gentle corrections wrapped in so much encouragement they barely land. Vague cues. No real information.
Adults don’t want to be managed on court. They want to understand what’s happening and why.
When a ball goes into the net ten times in a row, an adult player doesn’t need you to say “great effort, just try to lift it a little.” They need to understand the contact point. The swing path. What their body is actually doing versus what they think it’s doing.
Adult players are intelligent. They process information quickly when it’s delivered clearly. They have context, pattern recognition, and genuine motivation — often more than juniors who are only there because their parents signed them up.
The worst feeling for an adult on a tennis court is being the person who has no idea what’s going on. When the ball keeps landing in the net and no one explains why — that’s not a confidence problem. That’s a coaching failure.
Give adults honest, clear, respectful feedback. They don’t just tolerate it. They’re hungry for it.
Footwork Built for the Wrong Body
Here’s another thing I see constantly in intermediate players: footwork patterns designed for a 17-year-old D1 athlete applied to a 48-year-old with a desk job, mild knee issues, and 90 minutes on court twice a week.
The patterns aren’t wrong in isolation. They’re wrong for that body, that coordination level, that available time for drilling.
Adult footwork needs to be efficient, not athletic-looking. It needs to get the player to the ball early enough to make a decent contact — not replicate what they watched on the ATP Tour last Sunday.
When footwork is taught without accounting for who the player actually is, what you get is an adult who’s been told to do something they physically can’t sustain under match pressure. So they improvise. They reach. They fall back on instinct — which, without proper development, is usually late, off-balance, and rushed.
Then they’re told they need to move better.
The problem isn’t their movement. The problem is they were taught someone else’s movement.
Most Adults Play Doubles. Almost None Are Taught How.
The majority of club players play doubles. Not singles. Doubles.
And almost none of them have been taught how to actually play it.
Doubles isn’t two people sharing a singles court. It’s an entirely different game — with different court geometry, different positioning rules, different decision-making at every moment of the point. Not just for the player hitting the ball. For all four players on court, simultaneously.
Where do you stand when your partner is serving? When they’re returning? What do you do when the ball goes crosscourt versus down the middle? When do you poach? When do you hold? How do you and your partner create pressure together — and how do you finish a point instead of just keeping it going?
Most club players have no answers to these questions. Not because they aren’t paying attention — but because no one has ever taught them.
I see this at every camp. Players who are technically solid, who can rally comfortably from the baseline, who completely fall apart in a doubles point because they don’t understand the court. They watch the ball instead of reading the situation. They stand flat-footed at the net while their partner scrambles. They hit the ball back to the middle of the court and hope for the best.
This is why the final hour of every camp I run is a coached doubles match. Not a social hit. A coached match — with structure, positioning work, and real-time feedback.
Because these players are going home to compete in doubles. And compete is not a dirty word.
If you’re stepping on a court and keeping score — even casually, even among friends — you are in a competition. That doesn’t mean pressure. It means there’s something to play for, and that makes the game worth playing. When you win, it feels good. When you lose and you understand why — that’s also a win, because you know exactly what to work on.
Doubles is one of the most enjoyable experiences in tennis. When you know what you’re doing.
How Adults Actually Improve
Simply: court time. Honest coaching. Match play.
Hit balls with friends. Use a wall — it always gives the ball back and costs you nothing. Practice your service toss at home, standing in your living room. That one habit alone will do more for your serve than most people realize.
Take lessons if your budget allows — but be selective. Before you commit to a coach, watch them work. Do they explain things clearly? Do they correct calmly and honestly? Do they understand adult learning and adult tennis specifically? Do they love doubles?
Credentials matter less than those questions.
And play matches. That’s where the game lives. Drills have a purpose — they build the technical foundation — but if you don’t understand why you’re doing a drill, it’s just exercise. Expensive exercise.
The mental side of match play — the nerves, the pressure, the moments where your game tightens up when it counts — that only gets easier one way. You play more matches. You build what I call a mental callous. You develop a plan in the warm-up and you stick to it. You stop trying to play perfectly and start playing strategically.
Nerves don’t go away. But they become something you work with instead of something that works against you.
What a Tennis Camp Should Actually Do For You
If you’re considering a tennis holiday or adult tennis camp, here’s what to look for:
Playing level matching. A camp that puts all levels together isn’t developing anyone. You need to be matched with players close to your level — in drills and especially in match play.
Match play is non-negotiable. If a camp doesn’t include coached match play, it’s a drill clinic. That has value, but it’s not the full picture.
Small groups. Once a group exceeds 8–10 players, coaches become ball feeders. That’s not coaching. That’s cardio tennis with a clipboard.
A coach who communicates before you arrive. I talk to every player before camp — by phone or email. I need to know your level, your injuries, your goals. That conversation shapes how I structure the week. It also tells you something about how seriously the coach takes your development.
Honest coaching on court. If you come to camp and every shot is met with enthusiasm regardless of quality, find another camp. You deserve a coach who respects you enough to tell you what’s actually happening.
The Bigger Picture
Adult tennis players are the backbone of this sport.
They pay for memberships, lessons, gear, court fees, trips, and league registrations year after year — not because anyone is pushing them toward a scholarship or a ranking, but because they genuinely love the game. They stay in tennis longer than anyone.
When they’re developed properly, they play better, enjoy the game more, compete more confidently, and invest more deeply in everything the sport has to offer.
When they’re not — when they’re treated as an afterthought, coached down to a level below their intelligence, handed a set of grips that don’t suit their game, and sent onto a doubles court with no idea what they’re doing — the sport loses them. Slowly, then all at once. To padel. To pickleball. To the gym.
Adult players deserve real coaching. Clear, honest, respectful instruction built for how they actually learn, the bodies they actually have, and the matches they’re actually going to play.
You are not a junior. You are not a beginner who needs to be protected from real information.
You are a player. And you deserve to be treated like one.
Rhonda Costa is the founder of Costa del Tennis, running boutique adult tennis coaching camps in Mallorca, Marbella, and Andalucía since 2013. Small groups. Honest coaching. Real match play.
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