Tossing Tempo Many years ago (50 to be exact) I sat in the shade and watched Blackie Jones give lessons at Acalanes High School. The lessons were punctuated with difficult questions. At times, when the student was stumped, he tossed the question to me (as I stole his lessons from off court) and as I ...…
Tennis ju-jitsu. Blocking, borrowing, deflecting the ball, playing with angles and change of pace. The game is not always about power and winners. Just as easily the game can become one of rebounding the ball, using the opponent’s force and incoming shot to create our own. This style, ju-jitsu if you will, comes from shorter ...…
Time and Angle. Tactics - plain and simple. If you move the opponent well behind the baseline - you will have more time to respond, and their angle of play becomes smaller. If that opponent is as deep but in one corner or the other, their angle remains the same but their cross court shot will cross the sideline at a steeper angle. The famous Jack Kramer was known to play the ball deep and up the middle, whenever he had not gained control of the point with his serve or volley. The same will work for you.…
Start a rally; deliver a ball to the adjacent court when responding to “ball please.” In nearly every instance the swing is a drop hit forehand. Sometimes those forehands are deliberate and practiced (that is good). Other times those forehands are wristy, in poor form, somehow not acknowledged as genuine practice opportunities. Truly – practice ...…
I had the opportunity to present this seminar in September at the 2012 USPTA World Conference in Monterey California. Forgive the following “tooting of my own horn” but the response was incredible, including standing room only in the double seminar room. That said, the nut of the presentation concerned the mechanics of an overhand throwing ...…
Many elements are combined to produce the serve – and one of the secrets is to have all the elements firing in the appropriate sequence. Timing – we have all felt the effortless hits and unfortunately we all have at one time or another, felt the effortful hits. One of the most important sequence during ...…
One of the most common phrases in tennis today is 'hit a heavy ball'. So what is a heavy ball? The incoming shot "feels heavy" when that shot has a lot of momentum. Generally heavy shots are produced with a combination of racquet speed as well as body weight "against the ball."…
Learn the secret that unlocks the power of the Pete Sampras serve – call it forearm rotation But first experiment at the net before putting it into your own service delivery. At the net put your forearm at net level and parallel to the net strap, with the racquet head at right angles to your ...…
If you want to hit the ball with less effort and more power, take a page from the baseball batter or the boxer – both wait with their body weight on the back foot before swinging the bat or delivering a punch. Too often players pay too much attention to grips, swings, and spin without ...…
Top of the Bounce – Playing from above the net. Watch the professional players who are adept at moving inside the baseline to finish the point. They will invariably make contact when the ball is well above the net, if not the absolute apex of the bounce. And at this height (which is nearly always ...…
Connect with us on the following social networks.
