The sun is shining and the court is calling.  Your tennis bag is already in the back of the car just begging you to come out and play.  You force your body off the couch, your knee reminding you of yesterdays three setter.  You reach for the keys and your shoulder reminds you of the three aces you hit in the second set.  Out to the car you go and as you turn the ignition your…

It is hard to discuss money in most contexts without sounding vulgar. But as soon as a coach hears the question titling this blog the translation is usually, “what is the least amount of money I can spend and get to enjoy the rallies” so the pressure is on. In all honesty, who isn’t concerned about getting quality for their “dough-re-miii”? Assuming you already have…

First and foremost I would like to apologize for the absence. A few things are happening simultaneously so much that sometimes I wish there were three more of me so I could give the world what I really want to! Between, a few disappointing tournament results, keeping a job and making preparations for graduate school one blinks and realize it is 2012 already!…

Illustration by Jon Keegan

5. Develop a backup plan:

Champions have a way of turning a losing match situation around, and one of the ways of doing that is by switching strategy. No use sticking to your most “comfortable” game plan when you are getting outplayed. While pros can…

Yup, it happened. We got 90 games in on Sunday. My legs still feel it, but I'm starting to recover rather painlessly, which is nice.

The score doesn't truly matter. I lost 77-13 this time. It's to be expected. A 4.0/4.5 player with insane touch and great angles will mop the court with me regularly(a low 3.5 learning how to construct a real game), but since I lost 78-9 last time, I gave up one less game and scored four more than last time, so I can put that in my accomplishment…

Sunday February 26th at 2 PM, I am going to set another personal record with my friend Christoph Vogt. We are going to play 90 games in one day. We do things like this to test our will, our stamina, and how crazy we are. At 33 and 45 years old, we're supposed to be over these crazy ideas. But in our case, we're just beginning.

But before I blog about that match, I'll bring up our first trip into insanity. 87 games.

Here's a little backstory. I'm pretty much a…

Day 3 Big John Isner Does it Again!!!

Do you want a forehand like Rafa, The Djoker, or Federer? Well I have some good news for you! If you truly want a strong forehand like the pros you can develop one. Of course I can't promise you that your shot will be as strong as their shot, after all they are some of the greatest players of all time.

What I can promise however, is that with hard work and a lot of…

[UPDATED Nov 2011]

tn-welcome-nov11.txt

Hi. Now that we are getting so many new members a day, I need some help. For those of you that like to make friends, this is fun. Just say hi and add the new members as a friend. This site has so many features that it is a bit overwhelming to some at first. So lets drop the following text in and add a little of…

I love tattoos (I have 5!) and I just couldn't and not to mention it here. I found several , but my favorite one is Alona Bondarenko's back tattoo. It looks really good on her!

I got a call from Alan "CleverTennis.com" Margot.   Truly a great friend that I do not see enough.   Alan was looking for a placement for a family who lives in my area, to save them a drive to where he teaches.   It was nice of him to think of me.   



One of the great things about Alan is that he hosts tennis trips to cool spots for 4.0-5.0 level players.   3 hour morning clinic workout, big lunch, 2 hours of killer doubles in the afternoon, great dinner, then some adult beverages at…

Im just wondering what people would say

what makes you choose who you take you rackets to get them done

is it price ?

convience/location?

person

workmanship

etc,

and if you were to change what would be the case ????

any input would be great to hear !

Ion Tiriac, the Romanian player of the early open era and eventual manager of Guillermo Vilas, Boris Becker and other pros, has called …

Source: This Week in Tennis

US Open prize money has reached record totals with an increase of one million dollars in 2011. The additional prize money makes the total purse, $23.7 million dollars and for the 39th straight year, the United States Tennis Association will offer equal prize money to both men and women. Additionally, the top three men and women finishers in the Olympus US Open Series could earn up to $2.6 million extra…

May it be a group lesson or a private lesson, there are several ways to make the most of you bottom penny, especially those of us who work the extra hour for it. Coaching daily, I cannot believe how many players lose out on quality gems due to stuff that that can be avoided. I made a quick list of things to help you maximize your lesson time.

10. Be…

American John Isner broke the 34 year old “Casino Curse” by winning the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Championships title at Newport, Rhode Island in a straight set victory against Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6(6). The “Casino Curse” extended back to 1976 and was a curse on all number one seeds. Vijay Amritraj was the last number one seed to win the grass court event at Newport. The big-serving John Isner now has two ATP World Tour singles titles, with his first occurring in Auckland, New Zealand…

Players in the qualifying rounds of the WTA Nürnberger Gastein Ladies 11 in Bad Gastein, Austria and the ATP Skistar Sweden Open in Bastad, Sweden had to make it through three rounds of qualifying in order to make it into the main draws. I’ve listed the main draw qualifiers (country in parenthesis) for each tournament below.

Nürnberger Gastein Ladies 11 (Bad Gastein, Austria)

• Nastja Kolar (Slovenia)
• Dia Evtimova (Bulgaria)
• Sofia…

This is something we've wanted to do for a long time. Help us grow Tennisopolis and share the site with your friends, new and old. It is the Tennisopolis Invite Challenge sponsored by The-Tennis-Store.com.

The Top 3 Members will win prizes! First place gets $65.00 in tennis gear, second place wins $35.00 in tennis gear and third place wins a Midnight Machete tennis visor.



How to win.…

After having severe tennis elbow last year, I decided to upgrade to a more arm-friendly racquet. I traded in my old Wilson [K] Factor Six.One Tour for a new Prince EXO3 Tour frame.  I do not regret buying the new frame but I did regret trading in the old racquet.  I've been playing tennis for over 24 years.  During that time, I have owned several Prince and Wilson racquets.  But the old Wilson Pro Staff Midsize 85 and [K] Factor were my favorite frames.  Although they were very heavy and…