It is nice to be back and writing about tennis again. Sorry for the break, but ready to help all of you continue to play smarter. Hitting a tennis ball over the net and in between lines is really not that difficult to do if we allow ourselves to understand what the ball is doing and where it needs to go. Ball height is very important as it relates to getting it over the net. If contact is made below the net you have to be in the careful mode. If it is make above the net we can be in the more agressive mode. If it is in between or close to net height you have to be cautious, but still execute your shots. Try your best to use those situations as set up opportunities and not go for too much. So if you find yourself in trouble do a down shift in power and an up shift in brain activity to think through what will help you get out of trouble. It is usually based on time or distance. What will give you more time or what would make them travel the greatest distance and you will be able to neutralize the situation better. Keep everything as simple as possible to keep the brain from over painicing. You may still panic, but panic softly and slowly to allow yourself more time to recover. Next time we will talk about what shots can help you through this process.
Sometimes the reality of being in a defensive situation is very obvious and you can start to see it happening and prepare in enough time to properly defend the shots hit at you. However, taking the neutral shots and creating or setting up offensive shots is not only valuable but very necessary to your success during matches. Often you can find yourself in the middle of the point and for some reason everything you try either goes out or sets up your opponent for a winning shot against you.
It is really not as difficult as you think to create pressure from a neutral situation. Varying the angle, ball height, spin, speed and depth can have a positive effect on your ability to get your opponents in trouble an win more points. It would be great to play every match with good rhythm and hit the ball for a winner whenever you want to. The reality is you have to create the pressure and situation to force opponent errors as they just don’t happen by mistake most of the time. If they like to hit and receive a hard ball, give them slower softer balls. If they like the ball deep, give them short shots that will pull them off the baseline. If they like high balls, give them lower balls. If they don’t mind moving from side to side for shots then hit to one side and then right back to the same side or right at them.
This reminds me of a player I was working with that had been playing smarter and was improving his winning percentage quite a lot until he ran into a player he thought he figured out, but not quite. He knew his opponent’s backhand was weaker, but he just assumed that any ball he hit to his backhand would create a weak shot and he would be able to win by that one strategy. The problem was he did not know which types of backhands he didn’t like. So when he hit hard to his backhand and came to the net he was being lobbed or the balls were coming to his feet. His theory was partially correct , but the one flaw was that with a hard ball coming to his opponent’s backhand the opponent could still redirect it to get him in trouble. He did not realize this opponent could not generate the pace himself to get him in trouble. A slow and low ball to his backhand would create the kind of pressure to easily win points. So often a simple idea that is not that hard to execute can help you to create enough pressure to put your opponent on the defensive. The weakness is not always a shot, but a situation they have trouble with. This is why it is important to experiment in practice or warm up what they can and can not do. It may be something they just don’t like to do as much and will not execute in those situations as well.
Next in Volume IV of Playing Smarter we will discuss how to stay on the attack or on offense and not be neutralized into a defensive position. Until then, keep playing and playing smarter for more wins.
Understanding the game of tennis is usually not the problem. The problem is that too many try to make it more complicated. It is really very simple. You either have to hit a ball while in a defensive position, an offensive position or in a neutral position. Decide quickly what situation you are in and then hit the type of shot that is of the best benefit from that position to either win the point or get back into the point.
Once you are in a defensive position you need to slow down the response to ball so that you can neutralize what your opponent has done to you. Often we refer to this as “Panicing Softly” (usually players panic when in trouble and that is okay, just accept it and move on) so that you are able to hit a controlled ball back that might put them in a similar difficult situation. This is called neutralizing. Once you relize you are going to be put in a defensive position it is very adventagious to keep your backswing very short, if you take any at all. This will allow you to have a greater amount of control and adjustment shots to combat your situation.
After you have gained a neutral ground then attempt a more forcing shot to move them to the defensive position, rather then going for an all out offensive shot. If you were to take an average rally of 10 balls, one or two might be offensive shots, two to three might be defensive shots and the rest, 5-7 shots would be neutral. So playing the neutral shots really consistently will help you win a lot more points as you can see that most of your shots are played in neutral situations. So don’t force the action too quickly, but play smart placement shots and maybe try to move in a little to gain angle advantages and this might force your opponent to go for too much or to hit up higher to you.
Next time in volume III we will talk about how to set up more opportunities to force opponents into a defensive position.
Hey everyone, good to be back again after a brief break. Hope to be posting more often now with being in town more often and less time on the road. The Florida trip and the Memphis event were good with some interesting upsets and solid play by some expected and some not.
I plan to begin a series on playing smarter so that all of you will have better matches, more success and therefore more fun. This time I want to discuss one of the very basic areas you can try to play smarter. This has to do with counting shots. In the warm-up try counting your opponent’s shots that successfully land on your side of the court. Usually it is between two and four but could go up to as many as three to five.
Once you have an average of the number of shots they hit consistently in the court you will have an idea of how many successful shots you need to hit before they either make a mistake or go for too much. This is what I call their patience ratio. After a while if you find that they start keeping more balls in the court, then you can start to apply more pressure on your shots after they reach their average number of shots to try to force them into an error. Often this means their patience ratio has increased and you need to adjust to keep their ratio down to win points easier. Try it, you will be surprised how much your patience ratio increases in addition to having extra knowledge about their tennis game. Knowledge can be very powerful and helpful to you creating more wins on court.
Thanks for reading and next time we will talk about Volume 2 of playing smarter. See you then.
Melanie Oudin has once again helped the US win in Federation Cup matches. She may not be the giant killer just yet, but does have some impressive wins. She is also very accomplished in her Federation Cup matches. Hopefully she will continue her rise on the women’s tour. What makes her so fun to watch is what makes her so good. Melanie has the passion to play her best and to win. While she does not have a tall stature or large muscular body, she can accellerate through the ball very quickly providing not only pace but disguse where the ball will be sent. The use of the wrists is very important to providing not only power, but being able to defend a shot that has put you in either an awkward position or a defensive position. More on this in the future, but congratulations to Melanie’s recent success and I am sure we will be writing about her again soon. Until then, keep swinging.
Some of the best players in the world would agree that the use of the opposite hand (left hand for a righty and right hand for a lefty) is invaluable to a tennis player in competition. There are actually four uses of the left hand: to change grips; to rest your racquet hand; to keep the racquet head up; and as a guide hand on the racquet. This allows the player to comfortably and confidently be able to accept any ball coming at you and return it back to the other side of the court while staying relaxed. Make sure that that the non-racquet hand is holding the racket at the throat with the fingertips and your index finger lightly touching the strings. This will tell you where your racquet head is at all times and allow you to prepare best for impacting the ball. So if you can implement this technique into your game you will be able to consistently play at a high level.
The doubles game can sometimes be frustrating and yet if played properly, lots of fun whether you win or lose. Understanding the doubles game more will allow you to play better and efficiently win more points. Because tennis requires you to hit the ball over a net and between some lines, where you make contact with the ball can have a significant impact on how you succeed. One of the most important tactics in doubles strategy is to hit the ball at your opponent’s feet. Contacting the ball above the net allows for more of an offensive shot and conversely contacting the ball below the net puts you in a defensive position. Knowing that, you should try to make contact a much as possible above the height of the net and keep your doubles opponents hitting balls below the net. Sometimes it will require you to use spin or slowing the pace of the ball to force your opponents to hit the ball below the net. Then if you can add variety of where you hit the ball it will allow you to move them around the court and be able to attack their defensive shots to give you more winning points.
Hey everyone, sorry it has been a while since my last posting. We have had such a busy and active tennis season here that we are so grateful for being blessed with a wonderful sport to enjoy all year round. Many of you might live in colder climates and you are not exercising when you are not on the courts. It is very important to keep stretching and do a similar amount of excercising, even if it is at home, so that when you do go out on one of the warmer days you do not injure yourself. Tennis combines the need for stamina and quickness. You sometimes have to endure long points and sometimes quick bursts are needed to run down that drop shot or the lob over your head. A proper warm up and warm down are essential to staying injury free. A quick little goal to aim for when you go out is to count your opponents mistakes in practice and two things will benefit you from this process. One, you will keep your ball in play longer and two you will know how many shots you have to return safely into their court before they will miss, on average, of course. This little mental exercise will keep you focused and keep your mind from wandering and worrying about the cold weather or other mental images that might pop into your head. Try it and see if it works for you. Until next time, keep swinging.
I am often asked questions about instructional articles that members, guests and players read in magazines, on-line and in forums as to their value, truth and even safety. That’s right, some articles you read can even be harmful to someone if it is not checked for being “healthful” to the body. It is kind of sad to say, but not everything you read about tennis, even in major publications, is not all good for you. Make sure the professional who is providing the information is experienced and has a background in the highest level of teaching and teaches concepts that are medically sound. Be especially careful about articles or comments you might read in on-line forums. They do not require any special certification to add comments and unless it is a trusted source, it can do you more harm than good. It is always best to learn from a tennis professional in person. All instruction should make sense, be simple to execute and have a natural feel to it when doing it on court. Any overexaggeration of joints, muscles, tendons or ligaments that create soreness or pain should be stopped immediately. Keep in mind you are hitting a moving object with another moving object creating force. So your hands, arms and body should be in a position to best accept this force and maintain balance at the same time for optimal results and health. If you feel your wrist, hand, arm or shoulder are in an awkward looking or feeling position, it is probably harmful to you. This is why certain shots require certain grips to help absorb impact. So next time you read a tennis tip or any sports tip, be sure to remember to check to see if it a simple idea, feels natural and can best absorb impact. Having said that, there are a lot of good tips out there, just be discriminating when you read, listen to or see them.
So we are nearing the end of the year and it has been a difficult one for many to be sure. You are thinking that maybe while prices are down you should be in the market for a new tennis racquet. You have had yours for a while and it might just give your tennis game the lift it needs. Sure, why not. Just be careful to try many frames. The latest technology may not be the best type of frame for you. Many of the new frames may have the latest technology, but it also might give you less success rather than more success. For example, if it is a powerful frame and you already like to hit it hard it is not a good match. Many of the manufacturers of tennis racquets are now making multiple frames styles that still have the new technolgy and can be matched to your style of play. The most important thing is to try many different brands and styles. It is really like test driving a car, you have to take it for a spin and try all the shots with the frame. Keep in mind most demos are strung in the middle tension range and the grip sizes are usuallly 4 3/8 so keep that in mind as well. Doing a little research a head of time will give you a head start as well. Look at old tennis magazines that had professionals that did research and tests on the newer frames. Plan on taking your time to narrow it down. A certain amount of customization can be done with the strings, grip, weight, balance etc. to tune it to your needs and wishes. Many pro shop will even match the price of a racquet on the internet plus shipping to make the sale. The good news about the pro shop is they will stand by their product and know your game better. It doesn’t hurt to ask. If you do decide to buy from a wholesale tennis goods supplier I would recommend not getting it strung from them or at least don’t expect to have those strings in a long time. A pro shop can really tailor it to fit you best. Good luck and try your best to make a wise, patient and calculated choice.
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