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Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Explode to the net

To get to the net successfully you have to use footwork that’s different from what you use when shuffling side to side at the baseline. In the backcourt, your most explosive steps take place once you see where you opponent has hit the ball and where you need to run. But the tempo of your footwork coming in isn’t like that. Instead, try to slow down as you hit the approach shot and then explode with your first couple of steps after you strike the ball so that you can get as close in as you can.
But don’t just keep barreling toward the net.
After those first few strong strides, slow down, get balanced as you perform your split step, and then get ready to explode again in the direction of the oncoming ball.

Saturday, February 17, 2007

A big forehand

A big forehand can help you climb to the top of the club ladder.

To hit the runaround forehand, remember to backpedal quickly and keep your racquet up high as you move into position. Once there, be sure to swing out and give the ball a ride.

Adding a weapon, no matter what the stroke, can significantly elevate your game. When you have a shot that you can use to dictate points and that your opponent is afraid of, you’re going to win a lot of matches. One of the best shots to develop, and possibly the easiest, is a dominating forehand.

The first step in this development is to learn to hit the runaround forehand. That’s where you move into position to crack a forehand from your backhand side. So if you’re right-handed, you’re hitting your forehand while standing in the ad court. The one thing you must do when hitting a runaround forehand is give it a ride. You’re leaving a lot of room open on your forehand side, so you can’t be passive with this ball. Too many players push this shot and get burned. I know from experience because I used to do that myself.

Here’s one good drill : Have someone feed you a series of four to six floating balls that land several feet from the singles sideline on your backhand side. Run around your backhand, smack the forehand hard, and move back to the center. Make sure that as soon as you’ve hit the forehand you slam on the brakes and work your way back to the middle. Remember to move your feet quickly and keep your racquet up as you get into position.

Players tend to go inside-out with the runaround forehand because the net is lower going crosscourt, there’s a bigger target area to hit into, and it’s generally to an opponent’s backhand. But don’t neglect the down-the-line forehand from this position. Practice both shots so you don’t get predictable.

Stand in the CenterOnce you can rip five to six penetrating runaround forehands in a row, then you can progress to the next step. When you’re successful with the runaround forehand, you can catch your opponent by surprise and get a short ball out of it, so you must learn how to move up and take advantage of this by hitting the next forehand with direction and purpose. Have your coach or partner feed dozens of short balls that you can drive from inside the court. If you want to feel confident about finishing points with your forehand, that’s what you have to do.

You won’t turn your forehand into a hammer overnight. I’m still working on it. But if you’re patient and dedicated, it’s one of those shots that, with some simple practice, can eventually bring you huge dividends.

The best way to practice your runaround forehand is to stand in the center of the court and have a practice partner feed a series of soft floating balls to your backhand side. Move into position and rip the ball inside-out or down the line.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Don’t hog the alley

    

One of the most commonly made mistakes in recreational doubles is for the partner of the server to stand close the singles sideline—some even go so far as to stand in the alley—to prevent the receiver from burning them down the line with the return of serve. While this position certainly reduces the likelihood of that happening, it’s an unwise play for several reasons.

Here’s why:

– It takes you out of the point: The most likely place for the receiver to aim his returns in doubles is crosscourt or down the middle because they have more court to hit into and the net is lower. Therefore, standing close to the alley means you’re positioning yourself to best cover the least probable return. What’s more, since the receiver doesn’t have to worry about you picking off his returns, you make it easier for him to make what’s already a percentage play while at the same time making it that much more difficult for you to intercept your opponents’ odds-on shot.

– The server has to cover too much court: By standing near the alley you leave your serving partner to cover the equivalent of an entire singles court—by himself. Whether he stays back or comes in your position puts him in a tough spot from the beginning and prevents you from being much help at all.

So where should you stand? Whenever your partner is serving place yourself smack in the middle of the service box opposite the receiver. This position places you in the best spot to take advantage of your proximity to the net and pick off your opponents’ returns.


Sunday, February 11, 2007

Handling a Grudge Match

Grudge MatchYou're enmeshed in a tight match with the hotshot at your club. As the contest progresses your opponent begins to irritate you. Perhaps the way he swaggers after making a good shot grates on your nerves. Or his calls are a little too quick and there's a smug, pleased tone to his voice as he yells, "Out!" In your mind, you have to win because you can't imagine having to smile and shake his hand if he beats you. In short, it's personal now. The problem is, when this happens you usually stop playing well. Here's how you can avoid this trap.

Forewarned is forearmed

The best time to focus on keeping personal feelings out of a match is before it starts. Recognize that it's counterproductive to let a match become personal, and resolve in advance to prevent this from happening. Tennis is, by its one-on-one nature, an antagonistic sport. If unchecked, competition calls forth our natural aggressive responses. Unlike boxing or football, where anger can be rewarded, tennis requires fine motor control, which is compromised when a player begins to focus on his opponent rather than the game.

Assume that your opponent has personal idiosyncrasies

This will make you less likely to take umbrage at any of his actions on court. Realize that your opponents, like you, have their own ways of walking, making calls, and hitting good shots. They may make careless remarks in the heat of battle, and they have plenty of insecurities that have nothing to do with you. Keep this in mind so your own anxieties don't turn your opponent's actions into personal issues. That's right--it's your insecurities that make you overly sensitive to your opponent's mannerisms.

Winning or losing this match won't change your life

If you sense yourself yielding to temptation and becoming more tense and antagonistic than usual, picture yourself walking up to the net after having lost the match, shaking your opponent's hand, and congratulating him--with no tragedy ensuing. Here you accept the possibility of loss and recognize that no hugely negative consequence will result. Of course you'll be happier if you win, and you should continue to make your most strenuous efforts toward victory, but realizing that losing won't kill you--that the worst outcome is still bearable--is practical and emotionally balancing.

Approach this tennis match like it's a day at the office

Keep your focus on your side of the net. Try to look at the match as a set of physical and mental problems that you need to solve. And, as in the office, problems are best worked out objectively and rationally. Your opponent is like the net on the court, just another element of the game that makes the whole process possible. Making it an emotional struggle will cloud your judgment. You'll render yourself blind to subtle weaknesses (or maybe even glaring ones) in your opponent's game, your hands will stiffen, and your concentration will scatter.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Go Time


Is Your Body Ready?Is your body ready for the rigors of a tournament? Our three-week survival guide will have you primed to compete.

Summer is tournament time. So whether it’s your club’s memberguest or the USTA regionals, you’re going to be playing more tennis than you’re used to—hopefully, anyway—in a short amount of time. How can you make sure your body is up to the challenge? We asked Bill Mountford, tennis director at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York, to give us a three-week prep plan.

Three Weeks Before

Incorporate intervals. Tennis is played in bursts, yet most of us get on the treadmill or bike and work at a steady pace. A better bet: intervals, three times a week. Start with a five-minute warm-up and do 20 to 30 minutes’ worth of intervals. Work hard for 30 seconds and recover by moving more slowly for 60 seconds.

Identify your strengths and weaknesses. “Skip match play for now and focus on maximizing your strengths and minimizing your weaknesses,” Mountford says. If you have a fail-safe forehand, for example, do drills where you use it aggressively. Move around your backhand to attack as many forehands as possible, and when you’re forced to play a backhand, work on developing a sound rally pace with it, where you seldom miss.

Watch the scale. “Don’t go on a crash diet,” Mountford says, “but if you’re a little overweight, eat healthfully so that a few weeks down the road you have less weight to carry around the court.”

One Week Before

Play out points. You’ve spent two weeks honing your skills; now you’re ready to put them into play. “You can play practice sets to put yourself in a live match situation,” Mountford says. “This is a good test of how you’ve progressed.”

Stretch. Give yourself 10 minutes a day for a full-body stretch, even on days when you’re not playing.

Eat well. Continue to eat nutritiously and drink at least two liters of water each day. Adequate hydration enables your muscles to function properly and helps you recover from hard exercise.

Get enough sleep. Two nights before your first match, get a full night’s sleep. Some people need seven hours, some need nine. “The night before you play, nerves might keep you up, so put some ‘sleep hours’ in the bank,” Mountford says.

The Day Before

Pack your bag. Courtside essentials include a spare racquet (or two), overgrips, towel, sunscreen, wrist bands, an extra shirt, a hat, an extra pair of socks per match, water, and some snacks like dried fruit or an energy bar (make sure you bring something you’ve tolerated before to avoid an upset stomach).

Early to bed, early to rise. Hit the sack early enough that you can wake up at least three hours before your first match. “Otherwise you’ll sleepwalk onto the court,” Mountford says.

The Day Of

Drink more. Three hours before a match, drink a little more water than usual— especially in warm weather—up until one hour before you play. And eat what works for you. “Some people load up on carbs, some prefer protein,” Mountford says. “Now isn’t the time to alter your regular eating habits.”

Arrive early. You need some time to settle your nerves and soak in the environment. You want to avoid feeling rushed walking onto the court.

Get the blood flowing. Do some dynamic stretching—jog in place and do lunges, torso twists, and arm rotations. Then try to hit for 15 minutes. “Some warmup hitting will let you find your rhythm before the match starts,” Mountford says. If you can’t hit, jump rope for a few minutes. As you start to perspire a little, your nerves should begin to dissipate.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

Raedy ,Set, Goal

-from the tennis magazine issue

To raise your game in 2007, start with our four-step battle plan.

Ready, Set, Goal
By John F. Murray

Imagine you wanted to construct a house. Would you succeed if you began driving nails into stacks of two-by-fours without a blueprint? Not likely. But that’s how many of us go about our tennis. We want to build better strokes, but when we get on the court we hit balls with little or no purpose. Then we wonder why our games stay the same year after year.

Just as a builder must have a plan before undertaking a construction project, you need one to take your tennis game to the next level. The surest way, as many of the best players know, is to use the power of goal-setting. Goal setting helps you break big goals into smaller, easier-to-reach targets while keeping the larger aim in focus. It’s an effective tool for improving, and I’ve employed it successfully with players of all levels. Here’s how, in four easy steps, you can use goal setting to jump-start your game this year.

1. LAY THE GROUNDWORK

Before we get into the nuts and bolts of goal-setting, let’s talk about the mind-set that I think makes achievement more likely. First, ask yourself two questions:

Do you play tennis primarily to achieve success or to avoid failure?
If you play mainly to avoid losing, you’ll be more anxious and less confident in your practices and matches, which will interfere with even your best-laid plans. It’s more helpful to take a positive view of achievement and pursue success by focusing on what you want to accomplish, while de-emphasizing thoughts of failure.

Do you play tennis to show superiority over your opponent or to improve your skills and get to the next level?
If you take the second approach, you’re “task-involved.” Task-involved athletes are motivated by internal reasons such as fun or pride rather than by external rewards such as recognition. They tend to be more persistent than others in performance situations. They set goals to master skills.

Those who adopt the first approach are “ego-involved.” These players define their performance in comparison with others. This appears to work best only when you’re completely confi dent of your abilities and not threatened by the possibility of losing. Unfortunately, many ego-involved athletes also avoid challenging situations that might otherwise take them to a higher level. Try to adopt a positive approach toward achievement that allows you to pursue success without thinking about failure, and a task-based rather than ego-based mind-set that emphasizes skill improvement.

Goal-Setting Chart2. ADOPT SOME BASIC PRINCIPLES

Place performance above winning.
Everybody wants to win, but, ironically, thinking about winning during a match makes it less likely to happen. Winning or losing is only decided after the fi nal point, so concentrating on this in advance distracts you from what you want—performance in the present. Another problem with outcome-based thinking is that it raises anxiety, either when things don’t go well or when you’re close to victory and hoping not to let your lead slip. It’s wiser to keep your focus on the raw ingredients of performance that lead to long-term success and improvement, such as good footwork, relaxed play, strong ground strokes, and first-serve accuracy.

Choose excellence over perfection.
High achievers often fall into the trap of thinking they must be perfect. This is counterproductive. Those rigidly committed to perfection almost always find themselves disappointed and discouraged. While perfection is impossible, excellence is attainable.

Embrace competition.
I admired Jimmy Connors in my youth as perhaps the best example of positive fighting spirit. Learn to look forward to the joy and thrill of competition, and learn to love the chance to play in front of others. Find opponents who are near your ability level or slightly better and never walk away from a challenge.

3. PLAN IT OUT

Now it’s time to start making your tennis goals for 2007. So get out a notepad and a pen or fi re up your computer and open your word-processing program. The first thing you want to do is take a look at your game and analyze how well you play, mentally as well as physically. (You might ask your local pro, or someone who knows your game well, for an objective viewpoint.)

As you do this, consider the different kinds of goals you can set for yourself:

Process goals are specific things you’d like to do during matches or training, such as hitting against a backboard three times a week.

Performance goals have some measurable standard associated with them, like reducing your number of unforced errors by 10 each match.

Outcome goals focus on a competitive result such as winning a match or a tournament.

Place most of your emphasis on process and performance goals, and only a small portion of your focus on outcome goals. Once you’ve created an inventory, list your top fi ve goals for the next 12 months. Evaluate the fi ve you’ve listed. Are they realistic? Aiming for a spot on the pro tour is probably not the wisest choice. But going from 3.0 to 3.5 on the NTRP scale or improving your league record are very possible. From this list, select one or two that can be achieved over the next 12 months. These are your long-term goals.

Next, list fi ve supporting goals that will help you accomplish each long-term goal. For example, to jump up to the 3.5 level two of your supporting goals might be to reduce your unforced errors and beef up your backhand. Next, break the year into three-month periods and decide what needs to be done in each period to reach each of your supporting goals; record these steps on goal-setting sheets. For example, you might try to reduce your unforced errors by five per match, with the target of lowering your unforced errors by 20 per match over the year. And to shore up your backhand, a quarterly goal might be to commit to taking six lessons for your backhand and do backhand-specific drills in practice 12 times. Having a specific goal and striving to attain it will help you focus on your bigger objectives. Break things down further by laying out monthly goals that will get you to your quarterly goals. For example, your monthly performance goal might be to strive for one or two fewer unforced errors each match. With that in mind, your monthly process goal might be to arrange for two lessons and set up four practice sessions. If you want, you can keep going and make weekly and daily goals so you’ve broken everything down into small steps.

Once you’ve gone through the entire process you’ll have a blueprint for success for your year and all you’ll have to do is concentrate on the little things and watch them add up.

But it’s important to review your goals frequently and be flexible with them. Many people get discouraged and quit striving for their goals after the fi rst setback. Reevaluate your goals every two weeks and adjust them as needed to maintain the challenge. If you reach all of your goals too early, you’ll need to set higher ones.

But if you’re constantly disappointed in your attempts, you need to set more realistic goals. There’s no shame in decreasing the difficulty level of your objectives.

4. FORM A TEAM

The most common reason that people fail to reach their tennis goals is that they get discouraged early on and quit. This happens to everybody, and it’s especially true if you try to do it all by yourself. Build a support team that will help you stick with it. Tell your local teaching pro and your practice partners what you want to achieve and enlist their help and encouragement.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Don't Hit the Wall

Perhaps the most frustrating error tennis players make is dumping the ball into the net. Though often caused by ambitious shot selection and balls struck with little margin for error, the transparency of the net is a problem as well. Because you can see through the net to the other side, we often fail to grasp how much of a barrier the net really is.

To prevent this visual trickery, imagine that the net is a solid wall. (Some instructors even go so far as to drape fabric over the net to better get the point across.) This will give you a more realistic view of the obstacle in the middle of the court and encourage you to aim your shots higher. That, in turn, will mean more consistency and greater depth.