Getting in the Swing of Things

Most of us really want to hit the ball hard. I mean, one reason we admire the pros is because they can hit the ball with so much pace and still control it. But when we try to hit the ball like the pros, it seems like it always goes long.

The majority of the tennis players I have seen suffer from two weaknesses when they try to hit the ball with power. Either they are afraid to hit the ball hard at all because they are afraid of missing the shot, or they swing so hard (almost popping the ball) that the ball flies over the fence. Both of these descriptions will negatively affect your tennis game. I have noticed that most players have these problems because they just don't feel comfortable swinging hard.

There is one simple drill you can practice to overcome both of these dilemmas. All you need is yourself, a basket of lots of tennis balls, and a designated thrower. The hitter stands on the baseline, and the thrower tosses tennis ball after tennis ball to the hitter. The hitter concentrates on hitting the ball hard and with good form, not even caring where the ball goes.

This benefits the hitter a lot because they start to feel comfortable with a powerful hit. After the hitter has hit as many shots as they want just swinging for the fences, they then try to control their shots while maintaining perfect form and trying to maintain pace on the ball.

Similarly, in life, we all need safe environments where we can just practice pushing ourselves and making mistakes while trying to figure out how to keep the balls in play. If we don't have these environments, we become like the tennis player--either scared to take risk, or taking unnecessary and random risk.

So grab a friend and a bucket of balls, and start to get in the swing of things.

Placement over Power

There are certain phrases that I still hear my coach teaching me every time I walk out on the court. Probably a tennis match doesn't go by where I don't think about my coach's favorite tagline--"placement over power."

Let me tell a little story that I think will help you understand the point my coach was trying to get me to see. It was this match that taught me the truth of his words.

I taught summer tennis lessons for many years when I was in high school. These lessons were through a city program, and I would use some community park's courts to teach. I went down to the park a little early one morning before my lessons and saw a group of three men playing tennis.

They were older, distinguished gentlemen all dressed in white. Each was no younger than seventy years old. As I pulled up and started walking to the court, they asked me if I would like to play with them because they were short a player. I quickly accepted, thinking that this would be a fun leisurely game of tennis.

Although they didn't hit fast, I don't think I touched one of their shots. They were the most consistent players I have ever played, and they could place the ball anywhere they wanted. In addition to being humiliated (and they were joking around with me a lot about how I was the most in shape but couldn't play tennis), I understood what my coach had been trying to teach me all along.

A lot of times a player will think if they hit fast, they will win. Although a nice fast shot is a great addition to anyone's game, placement and consistency are the more valuable tools. So next time you wind up to kill a shot, trying to overpower your opponent, realize you could probably safely angle the shot to one side or the other and win the point. Try the placement shot.

One qualification: The advice in this blog is not an excuse to sacrifice all speed for placement. If you don't put any pace on the ball, oftentimes it won't matter how well placed your hit is because your opponent will have plenty of time to get to it.

Life lesson--consistently and steadily work towards a clear destination. Avoid quick bursts of energy on goals when you don't know where you are going.

Three Best Racquets on the Market

As promised, I said I would blog about the three best tennis racquets on the market today. I have to make some disclaimers though. It was really hard to narrow the search down to three. I decided that I would choose one racquet in three different categories--power, control, all court--instead of just trying to pick at random. Although I have picked three racquets that are good for different reasons, please realize that there are lots of good racquets out there.

Babolat Pure Drive--The Power Racquet

Babolat's Pure Drive racquet is a great power racquet. It can be seen in the hands of Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal. If you feel like you can control the ball well, but you want to add a little power in your shot, this is a great potential racquet for you.

A player who is thinking about using this racquet should remember that it will be harder to keep the ball in play with the added power. Most of the reviews I read say it has a very soft feel. This is a typical feel of most power racquets.

It is a great racquet for volleying and groundstroking. It also is great at adding spins and kicks on serves, but it is a little lacking in trying to produce a flat serve.

Here is a link to one set of player reviews about the racquet--they give a nice overview. The racquet usually costs about $185. Here are two different sites where you can buy the racquet if you are interested. I'm honestly not sure if they are the absoulute cheapest, but they are competitive in their pricing. Site 1 Site 2

Wilson K Factor K Six--The Control Racquet

Wilson used to make an excellent control racquet called the ProStaff. It started to become outdated, and the K Six is the new-age version of the classic Wilson ProStaff racquet. It is great for players who are looking for added control. Don't get me wrong, you will still notice a great pop on your hits, but if this is the racquet you choose, you will sacrifice some power for added control.

This racquet has an excellent sweet spot, giving it a nice all-around feel. The sweet spot on this racquet is bigger than on the Babolat mentioned above, but it all depends on what you want. The K Six is a little lighter than its ProStaff predecessors, and so it can help you play a faster game at the net.

This racquet is the most expesive of the three, ringing in at about $200 dollars. Check them out on site 1 and site 2. The man who really has brought a lot of interest in this racquet is Roger Federer. It is the raquet he plays with. Follow this link for a review.


Prince Graphite Classic OS--The All Court Racquet

My all court racquet of choice may be a little surprising since it has been in production for over twenty years. But when it comes down to it, there just isn't a better racquet for the all-around player. You would think with the advancment in racquet tecnology that this racquet would have been surpassed long ago. But Prince made a great racquet that still has one of the best feels of any out there.

Although this racquet tends to have a little more power than control, the balance of the two is great for an all-around tennis player looking for a perfect racquet. It was the racquet of choice for Chang, Agassi, and Seles when they first entered the circuit.

Here is a link to some player reviews. It runs at about $119 and can be purchased at site 1 or site 2

The Inner Game of Tennis

Believe it or not, before I was a tennis player, I was a piano player. I would be the first to admit that I don't like playing the piano nearly as much as I like playing tennis. But I started to learn my first tennis lessons in the piano studio.

You might be asking yourself, "How can anything about the piano teach you about tennis?" Actually, tennis and piano are very similar mentally. Learning how to prepare for recitals also taught me a lot about preparing for matches. I would use the same techniques I used to sit down in a piano recital, knowing I could play the piece perfectly, as I would on the tennis court, knowing I could step out on a court and win.

To gear us up mentally for piano recitals, my piano teacher would often quote from W. Timothy Gallwey's book The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance. This book is a must read for any tennis player, and to be honest, is a great read for anyone interested in improving mental performance. Here is a link to Amazon or Barnes and Noble where you can purchase the book if interested.

So what makes this book so good? The premise of the book is that the mind is often the biggest obstacle we have to overcome when playing tennis (or doing a lot of things in life). Gallwey's first goal is to convince the reader that the mind often limits us from reaching our full potential.

After we understand that fact, as players we know what aspects of our game we need to work on. Gallwey then breaks down the many ways that we can work on using the mind as a tool for success rather than a having it be limiting. For example, he identifies that "the first skill to learn is the art of letting go the human inclination to judge ourselves and our performance as either good or bad. . . .When we unlearn how to be judgmental, it is possible to achieve spontaneous, focused play." He explains that not being judgmental doesn't mean "ignoring errors." He just teaches that observing our performance without getting caught up in positive or negative judgments can help us improve skills.

As I have coached tennis, I have noticed that the mental side of tennis is often the most debilitating and the hardest to overcome. This book is phenominal at helping players understand what is really going on in the mind, and the tactics for overcoming these mind games work.

Whether you feel like you are in control mentally on the court, or you feel like it is your biggest challenge to overcome, your time will not be wasted if you decide to pick up this book. In addition, you will find yourself pondering the principles in other aspects of your life. You stick your foot in your mouth, and all you can do is replay the incident in your mind, telling yourself how stupid you were. Gallwey would tell you that when you just keep judging the situation, you may paralyze yourself for the next conversation you have. He would advise just observing in your mind what happened and planning a different approach for the next conversation.

Gallwey says, "Take off our judgmental glasses, whether they're dark or rose-tinted." That's good advice on the court, in the office, at school, or at home.

Five Down the Line

The average tennis point lasts for three shots. Think of what that means. If I serve to you, you return it, and I hit one more shot, that is the length of the average point. This means that if you can consistently hit four shots, you will win most of the points you play.

A lot times you will hear tennis pros focus on increasing their consistency. Because of the length of the average point, you may now understand why. I want to share with you today a drill that is great for increasing consistency and placement simultaneously. It is a drill I call 5 down the line.

Players begin the drill by standing cross court from each other. See the picture below if you are unsure about what this means. One player stands where the letter "A" is, and the other where the letter "B" is.



They begin the drill by hitting back and forth to each other crosscourt. In other words, the ball would follow the path of the arrows. They hit four shots this way. On the fifth shot, instead of hitting the ball crosscourt, the player hits the ball down the line. See the picture below.

Player B must then run to the opposite side of the court, hit the ball cross court, and they begin hitting to each other cross court until the fifth shot again. I will explain this a bit further.

Look at the first picture again, and let's say that player A begins by hitting the first shot, player B hits the second, player A the third, player B the fourth. Player A then hits a shot down the line as demonstrated in the second picture. Player B runs to the opposite side of the court, hits it back cross court, and they begin again.

Don't be frustrated if you can't complete this drill the first few times. If it weren't challenging, it wouldn't be worth doing. Stick with it, and your consistency will improve, and you will win more tennis points.

This drill also teaches players to hit high percentage tennis shots. Most tennis shots a player should make on a court are either crosscourt or down the line.

This tennis drill is great for all tennis levels but is the best for intermediate players. I've included the link to the website where I found these pictures. It has many other drills that are worth looking at.

Be Quick, But Don't Be in a Hurry

Although tennis is my favorite sport, I have played a lot of other sports too. When I was in junior high, I used to go to a lot of basketball camps during the summer.

As I got older and started playing a lot more tennis, I was amazed at how many of the lessons I learned at those summer basketball camps really stuck with me and improved my tennis game.

One line that always stuck with me from a camp was "Be quick, but don't be in a hurry." This is great advice for anyone in almost any aspect of life. And I have noticed that this tip is crucial to success on the tennis court too.

I have played a lot of tennis players who are very fast and athletic players. They seem to be moving at 100 mph on the court, but they never seem to get in the "swing" of things. They are hurried players, and because they are going so fast, they make poor decisions.

There is a big difference between "quick" and "hurried." As a tennis player, you have to be quick. You have to see the ball coming, adjust, move, and hit great shots. But you should never feel panicked or hurried on the court. When you are quick, you are calm, patient, and take advantage of the right moments at the right time. When you are hurried, you are impatient, frantic, and make hasty shot selections.

When you walk out on the court, think about calming yourself down, getting in a rhythm, and reacting quickly to your opponent's game. You can try this by simply asking yourself the question, "Am I being quick today or hurried?" As you feel hurried, think about making every move you make on the tennis court as efficient as possible. This will help you feel more in control and will help you enjoy your tennis matches more.

This concept carries over into all aspects of life. In most anything you do, avoid feeling frantic, panicked, or rushed. A lot of times you will need to get many things done in a short amount of time. So act quickly and manage your time well. But don't let all of those tasks make you run so fast from point A to point B that you feel like all you are doing is playing catch-up all day. Be quick, but don't be in a hurry.

Easier said than done, but just try to make changes like you do on the tennis court. Make sure all of your moves are efficient and helping you win points. In all your activities, be efficient and make sure they are leading you to a desired end goal.

Just for fun, when I got done writing this post, I googled "Be quick, but don't be in a hurry." Surprisingly, there is a book with the title Be Quick--But Don't Hurry. I haven't read it, but it did get a 5-star rating on Amazon. If anyone reads it, let me know what you think.

Wimbledon--Final of all Finals

Incredible! What more can anyone say about the finals at Wimbledon this year? Roger gets his 15th Grand Slam title, surpassing Pete Sampras as the all-time winning player in history, and he does it in a 5th set with a final score of 16-14.

That's not all though. The scores of each set were 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 3-6, 16-14. There were only three breaks in this whole set. It had to look grim for Federer going into the 5th set, knowing he hadn't broken Roddick's serve the whole match, and there would be no tie breaker in the 5th.

But Federer's persistence paid off. Eventually Roddick faltered in just one game, giving Federer the only window he needed, a break, and a 15th career Grand Slam title.

Here is a great article by the BBC that has a lot of commentary about the match from Federer himself. And if you want to truly be a Federer fan, here is a link to Federer's hompage and another link to a fan site with lots of articles and pictures all about #1 ranked Roger Federer.

I found this YouTube video that is a Wimbledon 2009 preview ad that I think shows the build-up and triumph extremely well. Congratulations, Roger. You're the best of all time.