Long Island and New York Tennis Magazine does so much to promote and grow local tennis that when David Sickmen asked if my club would participate in The New York Tennis Expo, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse. My motives were not purely philanthropic, however. The first few New York Tennis Expo’s were…
Although the majority of players these days hit many shots with an open stance, tennis is still a sideways sport. The best players have their shoulders sideways (or even past sideways) to the net just prior to starting the forward part of the swing. This applies to all shots, even the serve. The best…
A good player tends to react to the shot that was just hit by moving their feet prior to the next shot. If the shot that they (or their partner) has hit is offensive, and/or hit well, movement forward happens prior to the opponent’s response. If the shot is more defensive or not hit…
Let’s face it—almost every tennis match you play will be a roller coaster ride. There will be lots of highs and lows. The longer you are on the court, the more likely this will be the case. If you look at both the Men’s and Women’s 2018 Australian Open singles finals, all four players had…
The modern game tends to emphasize power and pace on your shots. This is very evident on the serve where even the good club player can now hit a serve with enough speed to give the opponent trouble-if it goes in! Being able to place your serve is a very underrated skill and can…
In both singles and doubles, your ability to volley well can be the deciding factor in the match. Most players these days can hit their groundstrokes well. If you can use your offensive shots from the baseline to work your way into the net and finish by hitting a winning volley, this could be…
In today’s tennis world it is easy to fall in love with the ability to hit the ball hard. The racquets, strings, and modern techniques have given almost all players the ability to use pace to win the point. It is a very good idea to change things up during a match so that…
A great strategy at all levels is to hit most of your shots to specific targets on the court. If you are playing singles, pick two targets halfway between the middle of the court and the singles sideline, as well as halfway between the service line and baseline. This gives you a good…
Many times during a match, players have a tendency to get caught up in the competition making it difficult to focus on things they can do to improve their chance for success. One of the most underrated aspects of this plan for success in a match is the ability to think the correct way…
An excellent way to naturally move the racquet in a low to high direction on your forward groundstroke swing begins with the racquet head coming back high. Although this sounds like it goes against the low to high idea, the high racquet head helps create a “loop” which is what many pros consider to…