With the speed and power game prominent in a modern tennis match, players are often caught off guard when the ball is hit short. A couple of basic ideas will help you handle this type of situation: Turn your shoulders prior to running in and remind yourself to use a short backswing on this…
Most professional matches have points that follow certain patterns. After the serve and return of serve, many players use a few cross court groundstrokes to get the opponent moving and open up the court. Very often the point ends before any other strategy is implemented. If the point lasts past the first few hits,…
The ATP tour took a trip to Washington D.C. this past week for the first major event of the US Open Series. Under the new ownership of Mark Ein, the Citi Open hosted the most successful week in tournament history, shattering every attendance record in the fifty years of tournament play. Ein attracted fans…
Many players go out on their own and practice serving. The tendency is to work on your first serve and try to make it a weapon. However, a few basic changes to your focus can make both your first and second serve better. First, try to hit an equal amount of first serves and…
There is always a lot of discussion on grips in tennis. There isn’t one grip that is perfect for everyone. Most players change their grip slightly from forehand to backhand. Most have a grip that is different for serving and when volleying. My suggestion is to go with what feels best to you. Your…
The recent Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic made me question how someone who is widely-recognized as the greatest of all time can have two championship points and not win the match. I have played plenty of matches where I was in this situation and did not win. However, most people would…
Against high level players and great movers on the tennis court, it is often better to play the ball down the middle at the beginning of the point. These players tend to cover the open court and use their speed to get the opponent to hit an extra shot and go for more. Many…
In the heat of the match it often seems like you need to come up with a great shot or a great point in order to win. We often remember that spectacular shot that the top players hit in their victories and forget all of the simple things they execute over and over again…
It would be great if each time we walk on a tennis court our level of play equaled what our expectations are. This rarely happens. One of the characteristics of the best players in the world is the ability to hang in and keep the match close, despite being disappointed with their play. I think…
Tennis is a great sport, partly because you only need one other person to go out and hit or play. In addition, you can also do a lot of things by yourself to practice and improve. The most obvious is to go out and hit serves. Since the serve is the most difficult shot…