The Tennis Serve – How To Slice It Out Wide With Ease

One of the most effective tennis serves you can hit is what is sometimes known as the “can opener”.

You see Federer and Nadal hit this serve a lot of the time.

This is when you slice the serve out wide and drag your opponent out of the tennis court.

It can often result in an ace or error but can also leave your opponent so far out of court that even if they do return the ball you have the whole court at your mercy to take advantage of.

But, so many people still struggle to hit it well.

Well, try this.

If you are a right hander hitting it from the deuce (right) court then just move your right foot to the right a touch (towards the right tramline) when you are setting up (I am obviously assuming your right foot is normally further from the right tramline than your left foot in your normal service stance).

This will line your body up more towards your target and make hitting that area by the opposite tramline sooooo much easier.

Note for all you leftys, just reverse the above instruction i.e. serve from the left etc.

For those of you worried about telegraphing the serve to the opponent – don’t worry.

If you are unable to hit the wide serve from the “normal” stance, you AND your opponent are unlikely to be at the level where reading and taking advantage of serves are a natural part of the game.

PLUS!!!

If you hit it well enough, it is still a difficult serve to deal with.

I saw Pete Sampras (who Federer copied) serve every ad serve (from the left) at the French Open, Roland Garros from wide out towards the tramline with kick.

Everybody knew where most of the serves were going but like I said earlier if you hit these wide serves well the worst that can happen is that you end up with an empty court to play into on the next shot.

He lost in the Semi-Finals!!

I also saw him serve nearly every serve in the Australian Open final against Thomas Muster (a lefty) as a can opener from the right (deuce) court.

He Won!!

Listen, it’s really important for right handers to have this serve against a lefty.

I say this because it seems that all leftys have this serve when they play us right handers……dammned leftys

Start working on it today!!

P.S. if you are a lefty and don’t have it as part of your service arsenal…………get it going

 

Secrets Of The Return Of Serve

Who has the best tennis return of serve of all time?

Agassi, Connors, Borg, Andy Murray?

Well it’s simply one of the most important shots in the game and you need to get it right.

Why is it important?

Simple, if you can’t return well then you can’t break serve.

If you can’t return serve, you can’t break serve and therefore you can’t win.

And don’t forget you don’t need to hit screaming winners to have a great return you often just need to get the ball back in play – give your opponent a chance to miss/make a mistake.

Remember to win a point in tennis you just have to be the last person to have hit the ball in the tennis court!!

If you want to learn how to hit an attacking return of serve though, just check out the video below.

Double Handed Backhand-It’s Easier Than You Think

I had a question from someone the other day asking for help with their double handed backhand.

Well without seeing them or even getting some more info as to the exact problems they are having, here is one tip that is “Guaranteed” to make this shot better.

Practise with your non-dominant hand.

Your non dominant hand should have a much larger role to play in this shot than most people think so if you practise using it more (a bit like having 2 forehands!!) you will notice a marked improvement in your double handed backhand in no time at all!

Check out this video of a player we are working with.

This was shot when he was 9 years old.

He has all the hallmarks of some of the modern great double handed backhand players such as Nadal, Djokovic, Agassi & Venus & Serena Williams.

Let me know what you think!!

Wimbledon Semi Finals Reflection

Just got back after Wimbledon today

2 great matches!!

First match – Federer looking ominously back to his best ever.  It’s funny what a difference a month can make!!

Second match – Andy Roddick plays a match like I never thought he could play!!

Great control and consistency and of course serving – dare I say, the complete package.

Andy Murray played some inspired shots at times but just couldn’t get at Roddicks serve enough.

Yet another example of winning tennis matches not just being about technique, it was the execution of a great game plan that won the day for A Rod and should make for a great final.

I still think Federer has too much “in the locker” though!!

What do you think??

How can Roddick beat Federer?

Don’t forget, if you haven’t got your hands on my Playing On Grass Court Report yet, then you can grab it…….

HERE

In Shock About Michael Jackson

Just watching Sky News.

Can’t believe the news that Michael Jackson has died of a heart attack.

If it’s true – was he a musical genius?

What are your stand out memories??

Let me know your favorite tracks and videos etc

Tennis Footwork – Another Great Drill

Check out this great tennis footwork and movement video.

This will have you gliding across the court like Federer and getting to everyball just like Nadal.

Changing Your Tennis Game To Play On Clay – pt2

The second thing to do when adjusting your grounstrokes to playing on clay courts is to hit behind your opponent more often.

Hitting behind your opponent means hitting the tennis ball back to the same place that your opponent has hit from.

It means not always going into the open court (unless you can obviously hit a winner of course) and has 3 big advantages.

1. With your opponent probably recovering towards the centre of the tennis court the “behind” ball means they have to quickly change direction to go back again.

Doing this on clay is very difficult because of the slippery nature of the surface and so will end up with them struggling to maintain balance and footing and therefore struggling to control the ball.

2. You will also find that you make less errors as this often means a cross-court shot and you are not “over hitting” in an attempt to put the ball away into the “smaller” open space.

3. You will pick up a lot of free points if you can do this well as your opponent is forced to end the point quicker than they would normally want to or they will be forced into a very defensive shot just to stay in the point while they slide around.

Use the variations of this simple tactic and you wil see your results on clay (and other surfaces as well) really pick up!!

Looking Back pt4

One characteristic of a grass court (like at Wimbledon) 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 a so called baseline topspin ninja like Nadal has developed a great slice over the last year or so!!

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??

Murray The Miami Master

Don’t let me say I told you, but………………I told you!!

Andy Murray, romps home to victory in the Masters Series event in Miami today to prove once more that he is “right up there” at the top of the tree in the World game.

You could say that he is the World No1 at the moment (sorry Nadal, Federer, Djokovic) with the other guys at the top unable to make a serious dent in armour.

Roll on the clay season!!

How To Manage Your Tennis Injuries

Now injury (if we are honest) is a normal part of the process of playing tennis & sport.

It could be something as popular as tennis elbow (lateral epicondylitis) or golfers elbow (medial epicondylitis).

There is nothing worse than when you are playing and you suddenly feel pain and discomfort.

What should you do?

Do you carry on and finish the match? Or do you instantly stop & get some attention?

Well, there is a 4 point system I have come across that you can use to help you make the best decision.

The first thing you need to do is to grade your pain on a scale of 1 to 4!

Based on that score, you can use the following guidelines -

Pain Level 1 (Play on Normally) – No impairment or likely worsening of the injury.

Pain Level 2 – (Play on Normally with Some Caution) There is some pain but playing at your normal intensity is normally ok as it isn’t forcing you to alter the way that you play.

Pain Level 3 (Consider Stopping) – The pain is altering the way you are having to play and you could be risking further injury to the injury site as well as to other parts of the body as well.

Pain Level 4 (Stop Immediately) – This is an obvious injury problem that needs attention NOW!

Talking of which, if you are suffering with or have a history of elbow problems you really should check out this great resource which I know has helped lots of people I know to get rid of some very nasty pain that has stopped them playing over the years.

You can get all the details by Clicking HERE