Coaching

September is an exciting time, as the U.S. Open is in town, school is starting and it’s back to the daily grind for tennis players, parents and coaches alike. Now is the perfect time to evaluate or re-evaluate your tennis goals (maybe your other goals too). I believe that it is vital for players,...Read more

If I were advising a person who was taking a bath for the first time, I would recommend that they step into a tub of warm water, after all, if the water is ice cold, it would be very uncomfortable and if it is scalding hot, then it could be downright dangerous. If they check the water from the...Read more

One of the more curious things that tennis players tend to do is give up the lead when ahead. They could be dominating, have a set lead and are cruising along just fine, but when victory is in sight, they soften up and fold. It’s as if a switch has been flipped off and all of the energy drains from...Read more

Recently, the United States Tennis Association (USTA) held a QuickStart training for tennis professionals at Sportime Lynbrook. QuickStart Tennis is the USTA’s new play format for juniors ages 10 and under. It has been designed to make tennis learning and playing more fun, and to help juniors have...Read more

Will you know it when you see it? In fact, we have all seen it when watching tennis. To most, it is the pink elephant in the room that we do not know what to name. Last year, Karen Crouse of The New York Times began naming it when she wrote an article called “Toss the Ball, Hit the Ball, Oops, Oops...Read more

One of the greatest misunderstandings in tennis is the topic of control. All tennis players desire to have more control, more control of their emotions, more control on their shots, more control over their opponents; the truth is though that the things we think gives us more control often do not...Read more

Sports are almost entirely a visual motor game, and when the mind fills with chatter, this is when the trouble starts. Many players begin to over think when under pressure. They secretly believe that words will help them make better shots. They will say things like “don’t hit it long, do not double...Read more

The Tennis Channel has a feature in which top professionals dig into their bags to see what they have inside. I suspect that they find some long lost items when they do this bag check, and the tone of this feature is more flippant than serious. Junior tournament players, however, should recognize...Read more

I scored two goals playing tennis in one day ... how you may ask? I mishit a ball so severely on two separate occasions that it flew backwards over the fence and into two soccer goals which were adjacent to the court. It may be one of the biggest clichés in sports, but “keep your eye on the ball”...Read more

“I’m the better player, how did I lose?” Does this phrase sound familiar? Imagine this: it was the finals of the annual 16-and-Under Tournament, the weather was hot and muggy, and the sun was beaming down like a laser. The time was 3:00 p.m. and the stands were jammed with fans, coaches and the...Read more