Watching the Laver Cup last weekend has made it pretty obvious that tennis (at all levels) comes down to combining consistent serving with consistent returning over the course of the match. This is the case in both singles and doubles. Europe did this better than the World in this year’s event. Even though the…
As she approached the possibility of a fourth surgery on her ankle, Anna Tatishvili faced the tough decision that many professional athletes must face at one point in their careers: continue to work through rehab and play through pain, or hang it up. “It was towards the end of 2019, I was rehabbing and…
Losing is a major part of tennis. When a player loses a match without being mentally fit, it can set up a challenging recovery process, both for the player and for the coach. Very often tennis players, especially at the junior level, react to losses in a very negative way, which directly affects their…
Back in the day, we were always told to recover to the middle of the court after hitting a shot. Because the speed of the game has changed, it makes more sense these days to move towards the open court immediately after hitting your shot. In addition, try recovering to an area that leaves…
Over the last few decades, off-court conditioning has moved away from distance running and focused on shorter sprints, intervals, and high intensity training. On one hand, this is a very good development by tailoring the training to the demands that tennis athlete face on the court. On the other hand, the needle may have…
I have written about this before but after watching the 2021 U..S Open, I felt the need to repeat. Novak Djokovic was always the poster boy for my idea about following through the same way, regardless of how your opponent hits their shot. However, Danil Medvedev beat Novak at his own game in the finals….
Watching the 2021 U.S. Open, it is pretty clear that there are a lot of players who thrive on using the opponent’s pace of the ball to hit their best shots. It is also apparent that when a player is able to mix up the speed, it can help draw errors or weaker shots…
Getting your opponent on the run is one of the best ways to get them to make some errors. Usually this means hitting your shots to the opening as much as possible. If you keep hitting the ball away from your opponent, it would seem that they will be running all over the place….
There are different methods to estimate the intensity in sport such as using heart rate, VO2, blood lactate concentration, and Rated Perceived Exertion (RPE). Breathing techniques have an effect on the Nervous System, and the heart rate and is a good method to measure the athlete’s optimal intensity. Professional athletes try to reach the…
Over the years, I have seen many examples of players over analyzing what they need to do against a specific player. They “scout” the player, figure out the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses, and then come up with a game plan. My philosophy for most players is to focus on what you want to do…