A widely circulating news story and USTA post reveals that a teacher once told U.S. Open Women’s Singles finalist Leylah Fernandez to quit tennis and focus on school because she would never make it. Fernandez used this teacher’s skepticism as rocket- fueled inspiration to drive herself to succeed. Fernandez clearly is a winner, and…
Since the game of tennis has gotten faster and faster, it often feels like you are hitting from an off balanced position. Whenever there is time, try to synchronize your last step with the ball contacting your strings. This means getting your foot to hit the ground as close as possible to the ball…
I recently recorded a podcast for my show, Prodigy Maker, in which I discussed the topic of Moonballing, especially in junior tennis. The topic got a lot of commentary online and I wanted to share some thoughts from the show with the Long Island Tennis Magazine readership, and my experience coaching many world-class juniors….
Tennis is an extremely complex sport. It is not easy to figure out how to correct a problem or a mistake, and even tougher when you are the one out on the court playing a competitive match. Technique is very important, but often it breaks down because of a player’s strategy or noise that…
When your opponent hits a good shot and gets you in trouble, try hitting your shot at a speed that is similar to the speed your opponent used. The tendency on a more difficult shot is to either hit it back much slower (to get it in play) or much faster (to try to…
Watching the ball is a huge part of hitting it solid on the tennis court. Another part of this concept is getting your position to be consistent based on what you are seeing with your eyes. The goal should be to end up with the ball close to the same distance away from you each time. In addition,…
There are obviously many different styles of play in tennis. Most players are put in one category or the other: offensive or defensive. However, the best players tend to be the ones who can do some of both. More importantly, the player who eventually wins the match is likely to be the one who…
Below are three items that I have heard coaches differ on. While I will give my personal opinion and communicate how strongly I feel about it, I realize there are other good coaches out there who believe differently, and sometimes the same, as I do. Additionally, many, if not all, of the answers to…
In almost every match, one player is usually the favorite. Sometimes this is based on ranking and results and other times it is based on what they look like hitting the ball and the weapons that they possess. If the player who is ranked lower or is perceived as being the weaker player, wins…
Watching the Laver Cup last weekend has made it pretty obvious that tennis (at all levels) comes down to combining consistent serving with consistent returning over the course of the match. This is the case in both singles and doubles. Europe did this better than the World in this year’s event. Even though the…