Like many developing tennis players, you are limited by poor court movement and struggle with elbows that fly across your body. Since you'd like to correct your running mechanics, you seek professional help. You first visit a poorly-trained coach who recognizes your mistake and tells you "just stop doing that with your elbows," followed by…
What is the ideal training environment for a tennis player? An obvious response would be the ideal environment is one that offers the most individual attention and one-on-one coaching. Individual training is important, but it is only a piece of the puzzle. The optimal training atmosphere should also include a variety of players to spar…
With the high school tennis season underway and having been a high school coach, I feel eminently qualified to discuss a few salient points. In 2002, I had the distinct opportunity to coach both a boy's team (Roslyn) and a girl's team (Cold Spring Harbor) to County Championships in the same year. First, let's discuss…
Professional athletes will sometimes use humor to relax themselves and to relieve stress. In this year’s President’s Cup in golf, the international team lightened up the proceedings on the first tee when Charl Schwartzel and Louis Oosthuizen showed up in wigs. Not to be outdone in the humor department, Tiger Woods decided to use the…
We’re finally at the finish of the three part series about understanding the major differences and similarities between the serve and overhead. Part I dealt with cleaning up movement, balance and preparation. Part II helped to find a great contact point for power and the ability to hit down on the ball. If you made…
Think back to the last Grand Slam final you saw … Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Andy Murray raise the microphone and always shout out to their team thanking them for their support, patience and direction. In order for any athlete to reach the highest level of performance, there are a set of underlying principles…
Each issue, Long Island Tennis Magazine has the unique opportunity to pose questions from our readers to tennis coaching legend Nick Bollettieri. Nick has coached 10 world number ones, including Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Jim Courier, Martina Hingis, Jelena Jankovic, Marcelo Rios, Monica Seles, Maria Sharapova, and Venus and Serena Williams, as well as a…
In order to get into the right mindset for a tennis match, you must ask yourself or your student/son/daughter the following questions: 1. Are you prepared? How was your practice week? Answering this question can help manage expectations. If you didn’t have a lot of time to practice, it might be a good idea to…
As the tennis year rolls on, I would like to bring up a point on the 40th anniversary of the most important and impactful tennis match in history. The year was 1973, and Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs in what was called "The Battle of the Sexes." It was a very important step in…
The Long Island tennis community has some of the sport’s best facilities, both indoor and outdoor, and best coaches in the world. With this wealth of talent available right in our own backyard, Long Island Tennis Magazine recently took the opportunity to pick the brains of some of these top coaches. What you will find…