MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GOD BLESS!!!

Christmas Puzzle Dec 2011

To print it off simply click on it and then choose to print.

Answers in Tennis Thoughts!

The Rise and Fall of Great Sports Leagues

 

Our friends at Online Certificates Programs has written another great article about various sports franchises that came close to major success but than fell apart.  I have no idea what that feels like (ha!); however, sports like life has it's ups and  downs.  This very interesting article is called  10 Sports Dynasties That Might Have Been - read more here...

Are Tennis Racquets Different???

Okay!  A few days ago I posted a blog about how to choose string for your tennis racquet; and does it make a difference? So I thought it might be time to discuss how tennis racquets might be different - I hope you agree.   Anyway, I've played with my ts i6 Head tennis racquet for years now and love it, but I have tried other racquets for the simple fact that my frame is considered better suited for a beginner to intermediate player; and as such I'm really struggling with giving this racquet up.

"Why," you might ask "is your stick considered a beginner/intermediate racquet?"  Good question.  The frame is light making it easier for new players to control but also allows for more vibration on the arm and elbow [which can cause injury]; where thicker stiffer frames sanction more power and less vibration. Your second question might be than,"...if that's the case what's the problem - just upgrade to a more advanced racquet?"  My reply to that would be, "I have tried more advanced racquets but the one I have now gives me the speed and control I like, I just can't seem to get a feel for other racquets, and the other problem is I might like other sticks but string and string tension also play another factor in how the racquet plays.  By the time one goes through all the different possibilities of racquets, string, and string tension, along with trying to figure out what you like is kind-of-a-pain! 

So what is a person to do?  Well you can research racquets as well as borrow some of your friends racquets to see what you like.  Also, most companies will allow you to try different racquets before buying one.  So as for the research part this next article may be of some help.  Click here to read more...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND GOD BLESS!!!

How Do I Quit Choking As A Tennis Player???

Do you feel like you have a pretty decent game?  You know what I mean; in practice you're a star, but when it comes to the actual pressure of the game things tend to fall apart.  Your serve won't fall in, or you can't seem to serve with a lot of pace, overheads you normally hammer are now hammered to the bottom of the net - I think you get my meaning.  But now what can be done to remedy the problem?

That is the $10 million dollar question.  I've tried mentally seeing myself play the game in a positive way:  Focusing more on the ball, making sure I hit in-front of me, split stepping before every point.  I'm sure you know all the different things your supposed to do.  But evaluating your game off the court and actually trying to play the game on the court is all most like comparing apples to oranges, atleast it is for me.

Well like you I'm always trying to figure out what it takes to improve my game, sometimes it seems pointless but I know in my heart-of-hearts it's not.  So I did some online research and this is what I found.

The question and answer session that you are about to read came from another web-site, but I thought the question and a couple of the answers were very good.  Let me know what you all think.  I would certainly like this blog to be a place or even a forum for other tennis players to ask questions and give advice, if you want to do either please feel free to contact me or become a member of this blog.

Well enough already!  Below is the question and answer session.  The question comes from Alfred Paw:

How to stop CHOKING/ PLAYING BAD during tennis matches.?

I'm a freshmen and I am on Varsity Tennis so I would say I'm a pretty decent player. During practice hitting and warm-ups I have to admit that I'm really good (not to be cocky) and I hit some very solid strokes. But...

When it comes to playing a match, whether it be Singles OR Doubles, I play HORRIBLY. All my shots just spin into the net, my overheads/volleys hit the rim of the racket and fumble out. My serve is VERY SLOW and basically a moon serve... not to mention a weak mental game.

What can I do to solve this issue? How can I trust myself, I've been playing tennis a LONG time (well 4 years) and I've played many USTA matches and had little success. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you so much!

ANSWER from Jordan Cohen

This is a common problem among a lot of people. What you need is to not focus as much on the outer game and to focus more on the inner game. By the inner game i mean the mentality and feeling tennis in other words being "match tough" or "in the zone". There are several ways you can improve upon this and improve your game hugely trust me my game has improved ten fold from this.
1. First try to relax as much as you can before the game, listen to some music, breath deeply whatever you need to do to relax yourself before the game and get your head into it do it.
2. This goes with relax somewhat but clear your mind don't be thinking about what homework you haven't done, what to get your girlfriend whatever is on your mind don't let it preoccupy you and just focus on tennis
3. Breath deeply i said this before but seriously it works in between each point, before you serve, whenever you can breath, let your muscles relax and remain calm
once you have the pregame then you can do things when you are in the game to make sure you are consistent
1. First off do not focus on either winning or "perfect technique". Both of these lead down bad paths the alternatives are thinking of each point as it comes, thinking of the rally you have and your strategy, what you can use to beat your opponent. If you constantly think of winning or perfect technique you will just start to want the end result and you will lose focus of the game and surely do bad.
2. This adds to 1 but it is HUGE in my opinion. DO NOT MAKE YOURSELF DO THINGS, i cannot stress this enough do not tell yourself to do something and get mad at yourself when you don't. Just do it, you ask how? most good players i know just feel what they are doing. For example instead of saying "wow that was a terrible forehand my technique was garbage", instead try saying "what did i feel like during that shot, was my racket tilted to high or low is that why i hit it out? was my timing off? did i not anticipate my opponent's move? and many more factors. So look at the overall scheme of trying to fix your mistakes not small things you think will help and try to feel it Lee Travino one of the best golfers just felt it.

Once you have that down just start to have confidence in yourself, each point is a new point don't dwell on the bad look at the new that you can accomplish and believe in yourself that you can win. Once you have the inner game down the technique and the strategy can really just be utilized and practice and lessons which translate to having the muscle memory down, once you have that which it seems like you do already then don't focus on technique focus on the strategy of the game. Ask yourself what to do in each situation so as to beat your opponent, that is a true winner.

Just believe in yourself man if this doesn't help try getting the book "the inner game of tennis" i forgot the author's name but i hope you can find it, it changed my game A LOT and i mean a lot. Good luck believe in yourself and you can accomplish anything.

Another Good Answer from Andy Rodgers
 

Aside from trusting yourself, I believe it's also important work on your footwork and tennis serve. If you know that you have outstanding footwork and tennis serve, then your self confidence will eventually boost. Below article helped me improved my footwork. 

http://ezinearticles.com/?Learn-Tennis--… 

If you are interested in reading more, I found this Q & A on: 
Yahoo's Answers

November - French Open Trivia

Choosing String

Choosing String; my question is this, "how do you know what string to choose?  Is one choice of string really better than another?  Do you want more power, more control, more spin, or one that simply won't exacerbate your arm, shoulder, or elbow problem?"  I don't know about all you folks but some of the people I play tennis with really get in to all the details about what brand and model of racket they use,  what brand and material their strings are, and so on and so forth.

Now I do know what brand of racket I have and model, and I do REALLY love my racket even though most people tell me it's for a beginner player - I say, "I DON'T CARE" I have tried other rackets and I love my Head Titanium Ti.S6.  I also know what string I use because I string my own rackets and I'm cheap.  But that is all beside the point  - there have been a lot of questions I haven't been able to answer - such as whether the court plays fast or slow, or how different stringing material can affect the way you play.

Some of you may have this all figured out and that's awesome; I wish I did.  But for those you who are like me this next article may help you.  It's called, HOW TO CHOOSE A TENNIS RACQUET STRING by Salt Lake City Stringer, I got a lot out of this article I hope you will as well.   Read more here. . .

Tennis Word Search

If you want to print off:  Right Click On Puzzle Open In Separate Window and Print.

HAVE FUN!

Tom Avery - The Flat Serve

Hey Folks.  As promised I put a BUNCH of Tom Avery videos on here.  They are EXCELLENT atleast I thinks so; and that's all that matters isn't it???  I hope you all like these.  Let me know what kind of things you would like to see on here that might help you play better tennis.  Thanks a lot and enjoy the videos!

Tom Avery - The Toss Arm Moves As A Unit

Tom Avery - The Slice Serve

Tom Avery - Backhand Power

Tom Avery - Return Serve

Tom Avery - Doubles Strategy

Tom Avery - Using the Wall to Improve Your Game

Tom Avery - Two Handed Backhand

How to Deal With Slow Serves and Setters

Hit Straight To Your Opponent's Weakness

Tom Avery - Top Spin Approach Shot

Tom Avery - Top Spin Serve

Return of Serve

FEAR AT THE NET

Hey Guys and Gals!

Do you ever struggle at coming to the net?  Prefer to play the baseline just because you don't want to take the risk..."I mean it's scary up there and I'll just make a fool of myself trying"; ever feel that way?  I know I have, or I just don't feel I have the speed, or the shot [if I should happen to get to my spot in time].  How do I handle this problem?  What should I do to improve my court and net skills?  I think these are questions many of us have but don't know how to approach fixing them.

So here's an article from Tomaz Mencinger on some solutions he believes we tennis players might want to implement to improve our skills.  I hope it helps you, I know I try to keep his tips in mind when I play.  Read more here...

Playing Better Tennis

What does "Playing Better Tennis" really mean?  I'm constantly trying to improve my game but my ego and or pride gets in the way.  My game can quickly move from me trying to improve my shot making skills to trying to prove that I'm the better player.  When my mind-set changes so does my game.  Suddenly I'll find my self pushing the ball instead of following through, I'll start taking the ball late, reluctant to come to the net, and completely mentally fatigued or supper frustrated.

How does a player overcome these issues?  How do we keep our game separate from who we are?  Realizing that just because we lose a game or set in tennis doesn't mean we're losers in life.  It's strange how we (or I) can let a tennis match define me, make me fill bad or great [depending on the outcome]  about myself as a person in someway.  So what does one do about this?  How do we improve our games...fail dust ourselves off, and continue to work on our games without letting it affect who we are?

Well Tomaz Mencinger might have an answer for us.  He has written an article called, "The Secret of Playing Good Tennis" I found it very insightful I hope you do too.  Click here to read more....

Tom Avery's FREE Tennis Lessons - How To Gain Confidence In Your Overhead Smash

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen.   I've been looking for some good videos that might help your game and mine [mostly mine].  Anyway, I ran across some videos by Tom Avery, he does, I think, an excellent job of ... I'll call it "Show and Tell".  He explains the moves and then shows you how it should look on the court.  I found this one about overheads fascinating I hope you do too.  I'll probably place more on here later but for now here you go.

If you like his explanations he has more video tips for FREE and here's some information you might be interested in:  See more FREE videos at http://www.TomAvery.com and Sign Up for more FREE Tips and Tom's Weekly Newsletter. 

FRUSTRATION ON THE COURT

 

Okay!  I'm sure I'm the only one that gets frustrated during my tennis matches...talking under my breath, spewing curse words I hope nobody hears - and that's even before I walk out on the court (ha!). 

But seriously I mentally believe that I'm a better player than I appear to be while I'm actually playing the game I so love.  "What's wrong with me? . . . just get the ball deeper in the court, 'idiot' - I play better than this, ...if you're going to throw-up a lob at least get it over their head, . . . move your feet, move your STUPID feet!".   Then I congratulate them with a smile and walk off the court hating myself for being SOooooo childish;  ever happen to you? probably not I've seemed to have corned the market on self-loathing.   But fortunately for me it has happened to people who are way smarter than me and know how to write about it to help others like myself.  

I found this article on "Article Dashboard" written by Dr. Patrick J. Cohn; it helped me get a little perspective on my situation so maybe it will help you as well.  Read more here . . . 

CrossWord Puzzle for October

Click on Puzzle to make printable.

Answer in Tennis Thoughts.

U.S OPEN 2011

ALL RIGHT FOLKS IT'S U.S. OPEN TIME!!!

Who are your picks to win!?

ENJOY ANOTHER GREAT SUMMER OF TENNIS!!!!!

Serve Doctor - Teaches How to Hammer the Serve

Here are a couple of good videos about serving and improving you service motion.  Hope you enjoy!

Serve Doctor's Simplified Spring-loaded Serv Technique

Mental Tennis: Tennis Players Deadliest Enemy

Hello Everyone,

Got a little busy so I haven't posted in a while sorry!  Hope this makes
up for it.

Have you ever found yourself making excuses are even getting angry and talking to yourself [hopefully under your breath so no one else can hear], saying things like, "if it wasn't for the stupid sun, or wind I would have this" or "how in the world is this guy beating me"?  Me neither (ha!)  Anyway, Brian Hill of TennisMindCamp has an article I think you might find very helpful... atleast I did; if you are interested read more here....

Ryan Harrison - America's Promissing Male Tennis Player

If you are a huge tennis fan you know that the U.S. has been struggling with getting new, young, and talented tennis players on both the men's and women's sides.  The Williams sister are getting older and struggling with more and more injuries as well as Andy Roddick who is also getting older and is struggling with injuries, and staying in the top ten.  Currently on the Men's side we still have Mardy Fish who is working his way up but is also on the older side when it comes to pro-tennis, and we also have John Isner, and Sam Querrey; both John and Sam are working their ways up the rankings - here's to hoping they'll be in the top 10 or 20 soon!

But there's another young man that's doing well and his name is Ryan Harrison, if you care to read more about him you can do that here...