It’s often been said that to be the best at tennis you must be a great “problem-solver”, yet very little is actually written about how coaches can help students learn how to solve problems. Specifically, an often neglected yet vital topic is: how can a young tennis player reconcile differing instruction from multiple professional…
If you watch professional tennis, it seems that there are a lot of different ways to follow through. Although players tend to have different finishing spots and techniques, most have a lot of things in common on their follow through. First, and most important, the pro players tend to let the racquet continue through…
Yes. Yes you can. Think about the best that you’ve ever played. This was the time that everything seemed easy. The time you felt like you had all the time in the world to hit your shots. The time you almost wanted your opponent to play even better because you wanted to be challenged,…
One of my “go-to” singles drills is to start both players in the center of the baseline and rally several balls each back and forth to the middle of the court. Once the players are doing this successfully, I have them add trying to find a way to win the point. One of my…
The game of tennis has evolved into a power struggle, with both players often trying to hit their shots through the opponent. An underused strategy is to hit the ball up in front of your opponent so that they have to deal with a short, low ball while moving forward. This strategy is especially…
One of the most frequent requests I hear from my students is how to achieve more power. After a short discussion and acknowledgement of the first priorities of getting the ball in and getting the ball in away from the opponent, the goal of power may be addressed. The two biggest components to execute…
What qualities matter most in a tennis coach? A long, strong record of success is, of course, one trait, but how about considering how a professional coaches above whom and how many they coach? The defining positive quality of a teacher is rarely service volume, so why then do so many coaches advertise student…
Serving is all about the toss, timing and rhythm. Hitting a first serve more than 100 miles per hour and then hitting a second serve 20-30 miles per hour slower makes it very difficult to time the motion and point of contact. In addition, the variation in the speed often affects the toss because…
Watching the ball is the most important point of focus when trying to hit a tennis ball well. It is a necessity if you are striving for that consistently solid hit. Your line of vision is something that is rarely mentioned, but equally as important. If you can focus on the area to your…
The modern pro game is typified by shorter rallies and explosive, aggressive tennis. Huge serves and dominating returns are the norm. Rally length data promoted by analysts like Craig O’Shannessy have supported the concept of aggressive first-strike tennis at the top of the game. However, while the pro game is evolving its explosive style,…