Tennis lessons with
Coach Dylan Law-Smith
From$85.05 per lesson
•
Tennis lessons with
Coach Dylan Law-Smith
From$85.05 per lesson
•✨
Dylan is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don't yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.
We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.
Coach Rating
5.0•5 reviews
✨
Dylan is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don't yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.
We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.
Coach Rating
5.0•5 reviews
About your tennis coach
I am an internationally trained tennis coach and former elite junior who grew up in Tokyo and trained at Keio Tennis Academy, earning national-level results in Japan before continuing high-performance development at Weil Tennis Academy in California. I now attend the University of California, Berkeley, and bring a global, disciplined, and resilient approach to coaching focused on strong fundamentals and mental toughness.
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Teaches: Kids, Teenagers, Adults
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Levels: Beginners, Intermediates, Experts
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Lives in: Berkeley, California
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Years Playing: 13 years
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Given: 5 lessons
Dylan's availability
Find a location and time that works for you
Dylan's availability
Find a location and time that works for you
Availability on all locations
Near Berkeley, California
No availability for this date
Didn't find a time or location that works with Dylan?
We can suggest similar coaches or arrange a different spot (even at home)
We can suggest similar coaches or arrange a different spot (even at home)
Accomplishments
🎾10 UTR
🏅Experienced Player
Reputation
✨
Dylan is getting started on TeachMe.To. We don't yet have enough data to assign this coach a Happy Student Score, but you can read reviews left by their students.
We strictly vet every instructor so you can book with confidence. Satisfaction is guaranteed.
Average rating
5.0
5 ratings•5 reviews
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Kenji M (Parent of Competitive Junior)
"Dylan coached my son for several months while we were living in Tokyo and the experience was exceptional. Coming from an elite Japanese training background himself, he understood the discipline and precision we valued, while also bringing a warmth and encouragement that kept my son motivated. His technical knowledge is serious, this is not a casual coach. My son is now competing at the prefectural level. We are deeply grateful."
Craig B
"My daughter plays USTA tournaments and we were looking for someone who could take her to the next level technically without rebuilding her from scratch. Dylan assessed her in one session and identified two things previous coaches had missed entirely. He's clearly trained at a high level himself and that shows. He doesn't guess, he knows. In just a few months she's already winning matches she would have lost before.”
Sarah C
"I played in high school and picked tennis back up in my 30s. I wasn't a beginner but I had a lot of bad habits. Dylan identified exactly what was holding me back in the first session. My contact point on the forehand and my footwork recovery — and we spent the following weeks systematically fixing both. He's incredibly precise in his feedback and doesn't just throw drills at you randomly. There's a clear plan and you can feel yourself improving week to week."
Derek L
"I'll keep this short because I'm not a review-writing guy. Dylan is the best coach I've worked with in 15 years of playing. He gets what you're trying to do as a player and builds around it instead of trying to turn you into someone else. Even in the sessions we had together the tactical drilling genuinely changed how I think on the court. I'm a better competitor because of him, not just a better hitter."
Margaret T (Parent of Junior beginner)
"We signed our daughter up with Dylan not really knowing what to expect. She'd tried a group clinic before and hated it. Within three lessons she was asking to practice in the driveway. Dylan has this way of making everything feel like a game without the kids even realizing they're learning. He's patient but he doesn't baby them either. Worth every penny."
Beginner training plan
Your first lessonMy first lesson with a beginner is entirely about building trust, assessing natural athleticism, and instilling correct habits from day one, because bad habits formed early are the hardest to fix. I start with a brief conversation to understand the student's athletic background, goals, and any prior exposure to racket sports. From there, we move into footwork and body awareness before we even start hitting any balls. I use the "shadow swing" drill, mimicking a forehand and backhand without a ball so the student can feel the kinetic chain from the ground up. We then progress to hand-eye coordination work using self-feeding bounce-and-hit, where the student drops the ball and contacts it off the bounce. I focus heavily on the continental grip for volleys and eastern grip for groundstrokes from the very first session, because grip is the foundation of everything. By the end of lesson one, every student leaves knowing how to hold the racket correctly, how to split-step, and how to track the ball with their eyes, and not the racket.
Lesson 11+From lesson 11 onward, we enter what I call the "system phase" where the student begins developing their own game identity. Inspired by Karue Sell's coaching philosophy around building confidence through repetition of strength shots, I work with each student to identify their "go-to" ball, the shot they trust most under pressure, and we build patterns around it. We introduce live point play with constraints: for example, points where the student can only win by getting to the net, or where they must start every point with a crosscourt rally. This develops tactical IQ without overwhelming a beginner with too many decisions. Physically, we introduce on-court agility and split-step timing drills that mirror match movement. Mental toughness becomes a deliberate focus, I use a "reset routine" between points (a technique reinforced by my own junior competitive experience in Japan), where students practice walking to the baseline with intention and breathing before each serve. The goal by this stage is a student who can not only play tennis, but who thinks like a tennis player.
Lesson 4-10This is the phase where real tennis begins to take shape. I shift from isolated drilling to pattern-based play, introducing the student to the concept of shot construction. We use the "inside-out forehand pattern" starting with a wide ball to the backhand, recovering, then attacking the next ball to the open court forehand. I also introduce "two-ball consistency challenges": the student must hit 10 forehands in a row crosscourt before we progress, building pressure tolerance and focus. Footwork becomes more structured, I run lateral cone agility sequences before every session, a habit drilled into me at Keio Tennis Academy where physical preparation before ball work was non-negotiable. Serving progresses to full motion with toss consistency as the primary focus. By lesson 10, the student should be able to sustain a 5–8 ball rally, serve into the box with reasonable consistency, and understand the concept of court positioning after a shot.
Lesson 2-3Lessons two and three are about reinforcing the foundation and introducing real rally mechanics. I introduce the "mini-tennis" progression, a method used in Japanese systematic coaching and the high-performance environment at Weil Tennis Academy. Students begin rallying from the service line using half-court, keeping the ball low and controlled. This forces short swings, proper contact points, and active footwork in a low-pressure environment. I then introduce the "feeding triangle" drill. I hand-feed balls to the forehand, then backhand, then center. The student must recover to a cone after every shot, building the habit of never being caught flat-footed. We also begin serving in lesson three using the trophy position method, breaking the serve into three checkpoints: the trophy pose, the drop, and the finish. I use video feedback when possible, which I absorbed from coaches like Patrick Mouratoglou, who emphasizes visual self-awareness as a key accelerator for beginners.
Advanced training plan
Your first lessonThe first session with an advanced player is a full diagnostic. I watch them warm up without instruction, observing their natural patterns, dominant shot tendencies, footwork habits, and how they handle pace and spin. I then run a structured "pressure point" feeding session, fast feeds to all four corners at match pace, to expose how their technique holds under stress. I assess serve mechanics using the checkpoint method I developed working across Japanese and American high-performance systems: toss consistency, trophy position, pronation, and landing balance. By the end of the session, I have a clear picture of their strengths, limiting factors, and competitive identity. I share this assessment with the player directly, advanced athletes deserve transparency and a training plan that respects their intelligence and experience.
Lesson 11+At this stage, training becomes almost entirely match-simulation. I run "king of the court" formats, tiebreak sets with constraints, and full practice matches with post-point analysis. Drawing from my own competitive experience representing Japan at the national junior level, where mental management in high-stakes moments was the difference between winning and losing, I work with advanced players on pre-point routine, energy management between games, and how to compete in the third set when the body is tired and the mind wants to quit. I use a "five-point rule": after any loss of three or more points in a row during a practice match, we pause, reset, and the player must verbalize what adjustment they're making before the next point. This builds the habit of tactical self-correction mid-match, something that separates good players from great competitors. Physical conditioning is integrated, on-court sprint and recovery sequences mirror real match movement, and I finish every session with a high-intensity point-play set so players learn to compete when fatigued.
Lesson 4-10This is where I build the player's tactical identity, the system of patterns they will execute under pressure in matches. Inspired by Karue Sell's emphasis on building a "primary pattern" that a player owns completely, I work with each advanced student to define their A-game: the 2–3 ball combination they want to construct every point around. For example: serve wide to the deuce side → forehand inside-out to the open court → approach and volley. We drill this pattern hundreds of times until it becomes instinct. I also introduce "situation drilling" a method I absorbed from both Weil Tennis Academy and online high-performance coaching content: the coach calls out a score (e.g., "30-40, second serve") before feeding the ball, so the player practices making tactical decisions with score context, replicating match pressure. Defensive patterns are equally emphasized: the "lob and reset" drill and "emergency ball" training ensure the player has answers when their primary pattern is disrupted.
Lesson 2-3These sessions address the one or two technical limiters identified in the assessment. Mouratoglou's coaching philosophy, which emphasizes that even top professionals have one or two correctable flaws that unlock major improvement, guides my approach here. Common areas of focus include contact point consistency on the forehand (using the "wall shadow swing" drill to groove correct spacing), backhand slice mechanics (critical for defensive play and net approaches), and serve toss repeatability using a toss-only drill where the student catches the ball at the peak of the toss rather than hitting it, ingraining the correct release point. I film every key drill and review it with the player. Sessions are high-volume and high-repetition, but very purposeful, every ball has a target, a pattern, and a consequence.
Youth players
Working with kidsWorking with kids requires a complete shift in coaching language, energy, and structure, and it's something I genuinely love. Children learn through play and repetition, not lecture, so I design every drill to feel like a game. I use the "target zone challenge" placing cones or poly spots in the court and giving kids points for hitting them, which builds precision while keeping energy high. Rally counting is gamified: "Can we beat our record of 7 in a row?" I keep instruction segments under 60 seconds and let movement do the teaching. Drawing from the structured but encouraging environment at Keio Tennis Academy, where junior development was taken seriously from a young age, I focus on athletic foundations first, such as balance, coordination, and tracking, before worrying about technique. Every kid leaves a session feeling successful, because confidence at a young age is the most important thing I can build.
Working with teenagersTeenagers respond to respect, challenge, and relevance, so I coach them almost like young adults while maintaining clear structure. I explain the why behind every drill, because teenagers disengage when they feel like they're just following orders. I use competitive drilling formats heavily: timed challenges, head-to-head consistency battles, and points-based sessions, because teenagers are naturally motivated by competition. I also incorporate video analysis, a tool I find very valuable for teenagers who are visual learners and often respond better to seeing themselves than hearing a correction. Mental resilience is a major focus: I draw directly from my own experience competing at national level in Japan as a junior, where the pressure to perform was immense, to help teenagers understand how to compete with composure. I hold them to high standards while making sure they know I believe in their ability to meet them.
What you need to bringTennis racket and a good attitude
What I can bringBasket of balls, cones, other warm up equipment
Frequently asked questions
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If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
If you need to cancel your lesson, no worries! You can get a full refund if you cancel within 24 hours of making your booking. We want to make the process as hassle-free as possible for you.
And if you simply want to reschedule your lesson, change the date and time, or adjust the number of students joining, we've got you covered there too. You can easily make these changes within 24 hours of booking, and up to 72 hours before your lesson starts.
Our goal is to make your experience smooth, enjoyable, and worry-free. So go ahead and book with confidence, knowing that we're here to accommodate your needs every step of the way!
DL
Tennis with Dylan L.New to TeachMe.To