“You play how you train and train how you play.” This mantra is echoed across fields, on courts and in athletic training facilities around the world. When it comes to tennis, strength, power, speed and muscle endurance are all physical performance components vital to creating a high-performance athlete and a successful player. It is imperative…
In the July/August 2016 edition of New York Tennis Magazine, I defended the idea that the rules of tennis should carry into our everyday lives. I admire tennis players who understand the rules and apply them fairly … especially what I consider some of the essentials. Courtesy is expected, and players must stay scrupulously honest….
People always claim that tennis is a mental sport. This statement is true, and it’s a fact I learned early in my career, but was never more evident than during one memorable match in 1989 in Sao Paolo, Brazil. That match, a first-round qualifier of an ATP Tour event, taught me a great lesson about…
Tennis is a global sport with a long history and tradition. At its highest level, the professional level, the game is played at an extremely fast pace. When watching a professional match, it is easy to notice powerful serves, returns, forehands and backhands. Although the speed at which tennis is played is increasing from one…
Throughout my travels to junior and professional tennis events, I have seen some pretty crazy things that players have to deal with, so much so that I could write an entertaining book about it all. For example, I once saw a player who was behind 0-3 in the first set, launch all three balls into…
Wow! What a day in the world of tennis. I am a big news talk radio guy, and on my bike ride to teach my lessons for the day at Sea Island, the sports report mentioned breaking news in the world of tennis. The last time there was a tennis report on this particular station,…
Spain is known for its extremely high work ethic, both for the players and the coaches. Players work like beasts, suffering hours each day performing long sets of basket drills and high intensity shorter exercises as well. But one aspect of Spanish training that is often overlooked is injury prevention and overtraining avoidance. The legendary…
What it takes to be an elite junior player It all starts with the love and passion for the game. It is accomplished by hard work, parent/family support and great coaching. Elite junior players begin as recreational players, usually in small classes of between three and six students. At this stage, players work on coordination…
To get the best out of your students, tennis pros need to build a detailed curriculum just like school teachers. This ensures that players will more likely get the most out of their lessons. This doesn’t mean that lessons cannot change on the fly if the pro notices some glaring problem, but “winging it,” as…
Having problems with the backhand? Here some easy cures that will it improve. We’ll begin with the one-handed backhand. If you have read my column often enough, you already know that all groundstrokes should have some degree of spin on the ball for control of your shots, the spin could be either topspin or backspin….