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…
Back in the day, we were always told to recover to the middle of the court after hitting a shot. Because the speed of the game has changed, it makes more sense these days to move towards the open court immediately after hitting your shot. In addition, try recovering to an area that leaves…
I have written about this before but after watching the 2021 U..S Open, I felt the need to repeat. Novak Djokovic was always the poster boy for my idea about following through the same way, regardless of how your opponent hits their shot. However, Danil Medvedev beat Novak at his own game in the finals….
Watching the 2021 U.S. Open, it is pretty clear that there are a lot of players who thrive on using the opponent’s pace of the ball to hit their best shots. It is also apparent that when a player is able to mix up the speed, it can help draw errors or weaker shots…
Getting your opponent on the run is one of the best ways to get them to make some errors. Usually this means hitting your shots to the opening as much as possible. If you keep hitting the ball away from your opponent, it would seem that they will be running all over the place….