This one is entirely visual. Draw a full circle with your racquet, visualizing the face of a clock. At 3 and 9 o’clock, your arm is horizontal, the racquet head is well away from your body. Down at 5 and 7 o’clock your arm points down, the racquet head falls below your hand, and your ...…
As Blackie Jones (my first coach) would ask of a student,”If there are two parts to the serve, being the toss and the swing, do you think it is better to swing at the toss, or toss into the swing?” And as his lessons and demonstrations proceeded, we were schooled in the tempo, the technique, ...…
Whether pitching, throwing footballs, unleashing your forehand, or unwinding on the overhead or the serve – your non dominant arm plays a very, very important role. I have a daughter, and have never liked the term, “throwing like a girl.” That said, inexperienced as well as inexpert throwers let their non dominant arm hang at ...…
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 ...…
“You are only as good as your second serve.” I know, I do write about this quite a lot, but I believe it – and in nearly every instance the statistics of the professional matches support the idea. The match winner always wins more points on their second serve, and the match loser will always ...…
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 ...…
Tennis is a game of “UP.” Suzanne Lenglen, French world champion in the 1920′s, was trained by her father. And the story goes that they would have a tennis outing to a park in Paris, but, and this is an important but – they would play as long as she did not hit a single ...…
Holding your finish for just a moment clarifies your balance as well as the quality of your stroke and follow thru. Further, this method has been used by so many famous coaches – Tom Stow, Robert Lansdorp and more. It will help you as well. Stow remarked that if the stroke started correctly (balanced on ...…
And more than any other aspect, the control of your head, “poise if you will” defines your grace, your economy of effort, as well as how clearly you see the ball. Many years ago, in my training with Tom Stow (I was in my early 20′s and had already played 4 years of college tennis) ...…
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