All Articles Tagged 'lessons' (51)

Do you ever wonder what to do with those high floaters in the middle of the court? I mean should you volley it in to be safe or whale away? Today I am going to show you what Rafa Nadal would do and how you can use this shot in your game.

So choice A is to volley it with a punch. Do you think Rafa would choose choice A? Maybe sometimes but most of the time he would…

     I remember hitting a lot as a junior. The majority of the time was dedicated to reinforcing things I learnt in lessons during hitting, being inspired by older players in camp and mimicking them. We could not hit enough!

One particular Saturday afternoon, around age 13-14 if I recall correctly,  I remember we hit…

Tennis seems to be a very fast sport, but I have a surprise for you:

IT IS NOT!

Let me explain.

From baseline to baseline, a groundstroke loses more than half its speed.  A forehand hit at 100 MPH at one baseline gets to the other baseline at around 40 MPH. One hit at 50 MPH gets to you at 20 MPH.

A serve hit at 100 MPH gets…

A player needs to commit to a strategy. Obviously, you would keep a winning tactic, and you would change a losing one. 

If you are losing, and you see your opponent is better than you on groundstrokes, there is something you can try. Volley aggressively, do it constantly, and commit to it.…

In older times the ball was addressed squarely with the strings.

In modern tennis you approach the ball with the racquet’s frame, the upper edge, starting from below the ball for topspin, the lower edge, starting…

I have tested, for decades, an interesting experiment that has proven helpful to a lot of players, from amateurs to pros.  Rather than trying to position your body at a certain distance from the ball, track the ball with your playing hand or hands as if you were trying to catch…

The Forehand can seem like a very complicated stroke to master as there are several steps that need to happen in a particular order with great fluidity and smoothness. To start without feeling overwhelmed here are the steps that need to be understood and perfected:

• The side on position

• The take back

• The drop of the racquet

To learn more about how mastering these three steps can help you hit a world class forehand check out my blog:…

The more I teach tennis the more I realize how important it is to be patient and flexible with your students. Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to observe thousand of different tennis players and focus on how they learn tennis and try to understand why they behave and choose to do what they do on the Tennis court…

It still amazes me how variably different the…

The notion that we should hit “through” the ball has been around for decades, but what does it really mean? Can we really hit through the ball? How long is contact? With lighter racquets and faster racquet head speeds, is this instruction still relevant? If you’re curious to see if this instruction should be sent to your recycle bin, read on.

 …

TennisOne's Joe Dinoffer says that the one-time joke on tennis pros used to be, “Racquet back, bend your knees, that’ll be twenty dollars please.” And I'm inclined to agree. At least in the old days, this was more or less the standard of teaching tennis. After all, it worked quite well for millions of players in the 1960s and '70s, didn't it?…

WAS A NIGHTMARE!

ok my day started off late and in immense Stress....that starts about 6am......

Went to another Doctors appointment prior.... that made me late for the MRI, then MY Google Navigator could not understand my NYC accent and brought me to resurgence bank or a Company Resurgence in Dunwoody GA that had the Same number address of Resurgens on a similar name which made me about 20minutes late.....

so i'm highly stressed.....the parking lot cost money…

Hey guys,

Many of you know that I am good friends with Will Hamilton that runs Fuzzy Yellow Balls (he actually has a profile here on 'opolis.)  Will just had the pleasure of meeting the Bryans and working with them on the court.  They put together 4 videos that outline 4 keys of their doubles game - they focus on things that you and I can ACTUALLY DO on the court to take our game to the next…

Every up-and-coming tennis player, I’m sure, knows those frustrating periods when his or her game simply stagnates or falls flat. That seems to be because tennis is a sport with various plateaus of learning. After playing a year or two, your game appears to be stuck on pause. No matter how hard you try, the same players keep on beating you and you never seem to get beyond the early rounds of a tournament. That happens to professional players too.…

As your level of play increases, simply keeping the ball in play may not be enough to win matches. The amount of control you have over the ball then becomes an important factor. Your shot placements can make all the difference. Maybe your opponent has good ground strokes and is able to effectively stay in every rally with you. If you have the ability to hit the ball short to…

Some players like to camp out on the baseline and send back a steady stream of deep crosscourt shots. When you are facing such an opponent, never let him get in a groove – he’s just waiting for you to make the error that’s going to give him the point. Remember that most tennis matches are decided by who makes the least errors, not the most winners. So, instead of trying to…

Raw, young, talented players can often hit a variety of shots but have little sense when it comes to shot selection. This underestimated and under-practiced skill is so important that it alone can separate the levels in tennis.

Your mind will begin to operate much like a computer. For it to be able to work to your benefit, it must first be turned on, and then,…

This takes some practice, and you want to start gently, because sliding the wrong way can easily turn an ankle. One important tip is to keep your front foot pointed somewhat into the direction of your slide. It's the one that's likely to catch in the clay and suffer a turned ankle. The back foot can afford to be sideways, because it will skip over any catches in the clay instead of getting jammed into them. Here’s a good illustration of how to slide into a forehand on clay. Note how the…

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…

Hi,I have just started playing tennis for a few months and of course was not that great.

 I started looking for tennis instructors or lessons but most of them are high priced.

Just a month ago i was looking thru a magazine and found  a deal, four, once a week classes for 100$.

These classes are two hours each lesson, and there are two instructors that are real polite and have a lot of experience.

I learned alot already, and started playing more frequently since i…