The old good tennis

Yes Wimbledon is a few months away but preparations have to be made to help transition tennis players from the clay to the grass.

I was looking back at some notes I had made a year or so ago just before Wimbledon.

I had made these notes for some of the players I was working with who had Wimbledon qualifying coming up and I suddenly thought, “this stuff is not only good for the grass court season and Wimbledon, but it’s perfect for advancing your tennis game the rest of the tennis year”.

As I looked over the stuff I had written down, I pin-pointed 4 or 5 areas which were crucial to success on grass but also crucial to playing tennis just about anywhere else especially at club level.

So here they are.

1. Serve & Return

You should know by now that the 2 most important shots in tennis are the tennis serve and the tennis return.

When you play tennis on grass these shots become ultra important in terms of your control of the point, if you do neither well then you are unlikely to win very much.

But stop for a second and think about your own game, hitting the spots wth your serve and making good sharp returns can only be good even if the only time you ever get to “play on grass” is when you walk the dog!!

Let these shots become the cornerstone of your game regardless of what surface you play on and you can’t go wrong.

2. Footwork

One of the other things about playing on a grass court like they have at Wimbledon is that the footing can be uncertain, especially early in the tournament.

If you are not careful, the amount of sprinting and changes of direction you have to make could see you ending up being up ended!

To help my players stay on their feet I have them working on their tennis footwork focusing on getting themselves into a slightly lower and wider stance than they feel is normal (which also helped their balance and helps them cope with the low bounces that occur sometimes).

Again, you should take a moment to reflect how having better footwork and balance would improve your tennis game regardless of what level you are and where you play your tennis.

Work from today on getting a bit more flex in your knees and a shoulder wide stance and see how that not only improves your balance and agility but also your POWER!

You can check out my Fantastic Footwork For Fantasy Tennis Special Report @ www.footwork4tennis.com

3. Play Naturally

Because grass court tennis by nature is fairly fast it does take away or at least reduce your thinking time.

Most people are scared of this or see it as a bad thing but you need to see this as a good thing.

The fact is that most players actually play worse when they think too much and try too hard.

You need to set targets for yourself in terms of how you want to play and then – go for it!

It doesn’t matter if you are playing on a hard court – natural free flowing tennis should always be your goal.

4. Develop a Wicked Slice

One characteristic of a grass court is that is “takes” slice meaning that the shot is a good one to use on that surface.

It stays low and skids through making it difficult for your opponent.

You will therefore find players who don’t normally slice on other surfaces being forced to slice heaps more when they come to play on grass.

Again, just because you don’t play on grass it doesn’t mean you should never slice the ball (and I don’t just mean when you are in trouble and pushed out wide).

You only need to look at two of the greatest players in modern times who won on all surfaces and who were virtually unbeatable on hard courts.

Federer and Henin both had really good slices that they used for great variation as well as to set up their topspin and to attack the net.

Even Nadal is adding the slice into his game more and more.

So there you have it, 4 great reasons to take some great tactics that most people leave on the grass courts and add them to your game to make it heaps better.

Who said grass was only for cows??

www.fuzzyyellowballs.com The second step of the tennis serve deals with the upper body. Specifically, the toss and the backswing. Tossing the tennis ball is extremely important when trying to hit a tennis serve. If you can’t place the toss consistently, your serve won’t be consistent. The backswing gets your tennis racket and hitting arm to the “L” position, which allows your arm to swing correctly later in your tennis serve. You want to time the toss and backswing so that they complete at …

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www.fuzzyyellowballs.com The first step of the serve focuses on how you position your body at the start of your motion. The stance is how you stand when you hit a serve. The stance is important because positioning yourself properly allows you to move correctly throughout your entire motion. For more FREE video-based tennis lessons on how to serve… and other tennis instruction … visit http

Think this is cool? Check out www.bidray.com ———————————– Roddick gets angry at a bad line call and seeks revenge on the tennis ball

In order for a game of tennis to commence, a tennis player will be required to serve the ball over the net to their opponent. The tennis serve is one of the hardest movements to perfect in a professional sport that is played by people all over the world. There are many players in the professional world of tennis and many have perfected a tennis serve that is considered lethal or most certainly life threatening by many of their opponents.

It will take a lot of training and practice to develop such an outstanding serve, but professional tennis players are willing to devote all of their time to this endeavor. The time spent learning to serve the ball will be time well spent because the serve will one day be the one thing that could mean the difference between winning a championship or having to wait another year before they will get another opportunity to own a championship trophy.

The tennis serve is a relatively smooth and silent delivery of the tennis ball over the net. When it reaches the other side, there is an area that it must land in for the serve to be considered valid. Some professional tennis players have perfected their serve so that it will land in a precise location every time they serve it. The challenge that the opponent must face is when the serving technique is changed up. The serve is one of the elements of surprise that every tennis player brings to a match.

There are certain additions to a serve that will give tennis players a certain amount of leverage. The brand of tennis racquet that they choose to use might be better than the one used by the other player. Some tennis players use tennis shoes with special surfaces placed on the soles. These coatings will grip the tennis court better when a tennis player is performing a serve. Some tennis players feel that they play better tennis if they are wearing sweat bands on their wrists while serving the ball.

Another technique that has been used a lot while tennis players are serving the ball can have profound effects on the way the other player performs on the court on any particular day. Some tennis players emit loud grunts while serving a tennis ball and that sound is enough for the opponent to lose concentration on the ball that is coming right at them. Some tennis players justify the grunts they emit by saying that the expulsion of sound helps them deliver a more powerful serve to their opponent.

Certain tennis players have lost jewelry items while swinging at a serve. This loss inspired a whole new trend in wearing jewelry while playing tennis and not many people were sure of its origin. Now, tennis bracelets are the chosen fashion accessory worn by many professional tennis athletes both on and off the tennis court. The tennis serve has inspired many women to purchase tennis bracelets with special clasps on them that ensure they will remain in place during a tennis serve.

www.fuzzyyellowballs.com Pronation is one of the most important parts of the tennis serve. Every high-level tennis player pronates when he or she hits the tennis ball. This video covers how, when and why you pronate when you hit a tennis serve. If you haven’t already added pronation to your serve, now is the time! For more FREE video-based tennis lessons on pronation and how to hit a tennis serve… and other tennis instruction … visit http…

www.fuzzyyellowballs.com The sixth step of the tennis serve is the racket drop. It’s the first part of your forward swing up to the tennis ball. This video only focuses on what the upper body is doing. From the trophy pose, the tennis racket drops straight down behind your back like it is pointed at the tennis court. Also, the tossing arm drops down (just let gravity do the work). The racket drop is sometimes called “the scratch-back position” because it looks very similar to trying to …

Imagine the following situation. Every time you step onto the tennis court whether it’s to play a regular tennis game, a practise match or a competitive match – you WIN!

No, this is not a tennis how to serve lesson because that alone will not win you matches.

No, this not some kind of tennis act where I tell you to watch the tennis ball better and you learn absolutely nothing.

No, you can’t get this advice from your local tennis shop, and there are no special tennis terms for what you are about to learn.

No, you can’t just pop a tennis video on and learn it either.

BUT…

Yes, it is possible and I am going to show you how to do it!

So here goes – The tennis information on how to win every time you play guide.

First things first, a true story (yes it really is true!)

The whole “tennis how to win every time you play” thing started a long time ago when I learnt how to do it and finished most recently with one of the ladies I have started to coach!

Now previously, like most people I coach and see, Karen mainly judged her weeks’ tennis on how many games and matches she had won. It also revolved around how she was still unable to beat this player or that player even though she was convinced she was the “better” tennis player with the “better” tennis shots (and the better tennis kit).

Everything was brought into sharp focus one day when I decided we would play doubles against one of the other local coaches and their pupil. We played and lost! But it was Karen’s inability to reproduce the form she had been showing just 10 minutes earlier in the warm up lesson (and she was playing well).

We talked about things and I outlined some of the strategies I have in my Tennis Matchplay System Report at www.beatallthetennisplayersyouwant.com which is written for and works for players of all tennis levels and after a bit of head shaking she began to see that winning tennis matches was not all about just hitting tennis balls.

The following week we played the same pair and drew, with Karen playing much better, saying she just tried to play and place her shots better. Even though we had drawn the match, in her eyes she had made serious progress and in some way even had the feelings of having won (I think you might be seeing where I am going with this).

This was bought up another level the week after when she told me she had played some mixed doubles with a guy during the week and had lost. But she said for the first time since she started playing she realised that although they had lost the doubles as a pair, she was really happy with how she had played.

“Even though WE lost” she told me, “I, felt like I had won!”

And that is exactly the right way to approach things!

And that is exactly the right way for YOU to approach things!

So, from TODAY stop focusing on the OUTCOME when you play i.e. Win or Lose and start focusing on the PROCESS when you play i.e. raising your 1st serve percentage, cutting down on unforced errors etc.

If you think about it, just improving on a couple of things like your 1st serve percentage and unforced errors will help you WIN more matches anyway.

But, if you improve on the 1 or 2 factors that you choose to focus on (and I recommend you only choose 1 or 2), and lose the match then your opponent was probably too good BUT you can look back at the match with a really positive outlook in the knowledge that if you continue to focus on and improve on separate facets of your game you will be improving your tennis rankings and improving your tennis game out of sight…….and THAT is the way to WIN every time you play!

Remember & start it today.