In Living Color

By Steven Kaplan
The All England Championships at Wimbledon is usually a staid event with muted tones and hushed crowds, but the Olympic Tennis event is a raucous party ... I love it! My first thought when I tuned to the coverage on Bravo is that the vivid colors reminded me of that great scene for "The Wizard of...Read more

Feel Your Shot

By Bill Longua
Tennis is a sport that requires muscle memory, and more importantly, you need to be able to feel your strokes mentally. There is much discussion in tennis about feel or touch, knowing the amount of power (or lack of) when hitting a certain shot. The feel in brushing up the ball when hitting topspin...Read more

Winning the First Point is a Good Idea

By Joel Ross
Concentrate like anything. Relax and prepare for a long point. Keep the ball in play. Whatever you do, win the first point of every game. It makes it so much easier. Like riding a bike downhill. Once you have the first point under your belt, start concentrating on the second one. Same thing, no let...Read more

Onward to 20 Roger

By Steven Kaplan
It's now official, Pete Sampras is without doubt the second best player that East Hampton, N.Y. native Paul Annacone has coached, as Roger Federer extended his record of major titles to 17 with a brilliant 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 win over British hope Andy Murray. Federer now also ties Sampras and 1880'...Read more

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

By Steven Kaplan
The biggest news in women's tennis today, as reported by The Associated Press, is not the sublime play on the grass at Wimbledon, instead, it's the ridiculous suggestion that "Grunt-O-Meters" be used to cut down the grunting in women's tennis. In a statement, the WTA said, "The WTA, ITA and Grand...Read more

Four Hints to Better Strokes

By Bill Longua
There are many facets to hitting a solid ground stroke, but if you key in on four simple areas your shots will improve. Movement is number one; tennis is a sport that requires quick feet. The stroke is dependent on the fact that you are in the right spot to hit the ball. Moving the feet side to...Read more

Happy Birthday Title IX

By Steven Kaplan
Title IX of The Education Amendments of 1972 is celebrating its 40 anniversary. If you are a girl playing tennis, then you should be celebrating too because this legislation is having a profound and positive impact on your life. One study estimates that Title IX has increased female sports...Read more

Novak Djokovic and the Match Point Challenge

By Steven Kaplan
After watching Novak Djokovic save four match points and come back to defeat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in this year's French Open quarterfinals, two things appear to be true. First, The world's number one player is not yet the best player in the world on clay. That title still belongs to Rafael Nadal...Read more

He Called Me a Cheater (or Insinuated I Was)

By Joel Ross
It does happen once in a while. Even the best of callers, the most honest citizens, the one who gives the call to his opponent if there is ever a doubt ... will be called a cheater or insinuated to be one. Toughen up. Thicken the skin. Stay calm. If you are uncertain of your call, give your...Read more

Get Out and Play

By Steven Kaplan
Rafael Nadal won his sixth Rome Masters title against Novak Djokovic on Monday and reminded the tennis world that he is the best clay court tennis player to ever pick up a racket. SportsCenter devoted a full 30 seconds to this match, which is the same amount of coverage given to the Detroit Lions...Read more

Fear of Losing is Almost Always a Bad Thing

By Steven Kaplan
The fear of losing while playing can motivate greatly, but most often negatively because it distracts and impedes optimal performance. Fear is a terrible focal point. It causes world-class tennis players who have spent a lifetime developing and perfecting skills to choke and double-fault with...Read more

In All Fairness

By Steven Kaplan
I often hear players talk about favoritism by coaches. The frequent complaint is that "favoritism is unfair treatment," and while there may be a small absolute truth here, the larger truth is that "sameness" is not "fairness." I am sometimes described as "treating players unequally" on the tennis...Read more
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