Does faster mean better in Tennis? (Part I)

The impression I have from many TV commentators and almost every tennis expert that I have read or listened to, is that they all seem to be in awe on how fast the game of tennis today is. Everyone seems convinced that players of the past played slower games and therefore could not cope with today's fast game. Is it true that power and power alone and faster means better in Tennis? I dare challenge everyone to think twice.Remember Mike Tyson in boxing? Who drove him to the border of insanity? A boxer that had mastered an "old" punch, the jab, Evander Hollyfield.In tennis the two most dominant male players of the last few years Pete Sampras and Roger Federer mastered the "tennis jab" the "old" backhand slice from "eons" past. When you have understood the importance of such a shot and the advantages it brings to your game you will understand why sometimes slower is better.Like in boxing the jab is designed to open up the opponents defense to allow a KO, in other words a powerful straight right (or left if you are a left-hander). In tennis the slice backhand is to allow you the put away forehand. In many cases if you do have an excellent slice, many opponents get so frustrated that they end up making unforced errors before you even need to put the ball away! That is a bonus!What happens when the slice is well executed? That changes dimensions in the whole game, from fast to slow, from waist or higer level shots, to low skidding balls, from not bending to getting down on your knees, from being comfortable with your racket grip to having to change gripping slightly to get under a lower ball, from using the opponents pace to having to generate it yourself and so on.So what does a good slice backhand do for you?- If you are in trouble it can give you more time to get back into position by floating it deep.- It can force the opponent into giving you a slower high shot that you can put away.- If you play it short with an angle it can bring any opponent into no man's land and allow you to hit behind them into the open court.- Again, if you play it short with an angle it can force your opponent to have no other choice but to come to the net (where he may not want to be) from an uncomfortable position. Roger Federer has mastered it.- Once you have displaced your opponent out of the court with a punishing stroke, you can easily surprise him with a sliced drop shot (if you disguise it well) instead of a deep ball.- You can use it as an attack on second serves from your opponent (the so called chip and charge) and go to the net. Pete did it both with the forehand & backhand and Tim Henman executes it classically.- Then again, from an attacking position inside the court, if you play it deep with good pace and keep it low, you can approach the net with a much higher likelyhood of winning the point with your next volley.In almost all point situations, time and variation are crucial factors. By playing the backhand slice judiciously, you will be putting both elements in your favor.Copyright © 1999-2005 Tenniscruz.com®. All rights reserved.
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Sérgio Cruz is an ex # 1 National Champion, Davis Cup Player from Portugal and former Coach Jim Courier ATP World Ranking # 1 cruz@tenniscruz.com www.tenniscruz.com

Does faster mean better in Tennis? (Part II)

In part one I explained how the backhand slice can be a great neutralizer of power and an opener for point winning opportunities. Now I am going to show you the ever so important relationship, among time, speed and spin of the ball.For example, a majority of professional players today attack with incredibly fast cross-court strokes, usually top spin and get passed systematically or do not even make it to a confortable position at the net and therefore volley poorly. While few other professional players hit the ball a lot slower but mostly down the line (or up the line if you will) deep with slice, thus getting alot closer to the net and being able to put the volley away. The main factor in both cases is time and its relationship with ball speed, ball spin and the players movement.Players in the first situation besides hitting a non percentage attack shot by going cross court, when striking the ball hard, fast and with topspin they are trying to take reaction time away from their opponents. Nevertheless, in most cases opponents are quick and the higher bouncing topspin ball full of pace allows them to hit the passing shot before the attacker even has reached a comfortable volleying position at the net. Additionaly the court gap the attacker leaves at the opponents discretion by going cross court with the approach means, getting passed, hitting a volley on your shoe strings or hitting a generally poor volley to get passed in the next shot.Much in the style of play of the 50's, 60's and 70's, in the second case because the slice ball is substantially slower it may seem to advantage your opponents time to get earlier to it but, in reality it is in your advantage; you will have more time to run up to the net, while the slower ball is in flight and your opponent can not do anything about it but, wait for the ball to bounce! This will allow you to get in closer to the net and in most cases to hit your opponents passing shot attempt with a winning volley of your own while the ball is in a position higher then the net. Further more, your adversary will have to deal with a deep low skidding ball and a possible need for a slight change of grip to attempt to get under the ball, which will make it much harder to hit an effective passing shot.Here I do not pretend to have given you all the ideas and solutions for the use of the slice backhand, but I am sure that it is a good start for you to build a better game.Remember never underestimate the "oldies" there are many good things to learn from players from all eras in tennis. For example; millions of us tennis lovers would give anything to hit a ball as well as these 3 "Great Oldies":Donald Budge, Lew Hoad or Ken Rosewall. (There are some very interesting video clips from these players on my website.)The important thing is to play the most effective game with the least effort possible, when you have achieved that you have mastered the game. Young Roger Federer is an excellent example.Copyright © 1999-2005 Tenniscruz.com®. All rights reserved.
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Sérgio Cruz is an ex # 1 National Champion, Davis Cup Player from Portugal and former Coach Jim Courier ATP World Ranking # 1 cruz@tenniscruz.com www.tenniscruz.com

Tennis Relaxation

RELAXATION Everyday that I teach, it becomes more and more apparent to me how important relaxation is to tennis. Relaxation of the muscles during a stroke are vital to releasing the potential of each shot. When hitting groundstrokes, the bending of the legs creates tension because the muscles are contracting. During the actual swing the legs release that tension and the muscles are lengthening which places the muscle in a relaxed state. The arms similarly are contracting and releasing during all tennis strokes. The finish of a swing might create muscles that are contracted but this is a result of the force of a swing. How to use this information to improve your tennis is what I'll explain next. Try to implement a pattern of bending the legs slightly and then straightening the legs during a forehand, backhand and serve. Most players will naturally bend their legs and use them so you should have someone watch you hit to see if you really are using the legs. Secondly, try to exhale during the execution of the stroke. Many pros and other players even grunt loudly as a result of their voracious swings. This is a sign of exhaling the air from the lungs. You don't have to grunt as you hit but you should breathe out. One method I like to use is to say words out loud as you swing. Saying "yesssss" during the contact insures that air is being released. Holding one's breath during a tennis stroke makes the muscles tight and is sometimes referred to as "choking". Another method I use to help with relaxation during a swing is to feel loose with my arms during the back swing and forward swing but to squeeze my grip right at impact with the ball. After squeezing the grip on contact I will release that tension again on the finish. In this method the body is relaxed except for the wrist on that's only for a short time during impact. The last thing to watch to see if you are relaxed when hitting is to check out your follow through. You'll see the pros forehands and backhands will wrap their arms over and around their shoulders. This long finish is a result of relaxing the arms after the contact, and allowing the arms to slow and stop their movement by themselves. Try touching your racquet head to your back on your groundstrokes. I might take some doing but it will show you how to lengthen your swings to relax your arms. To make this long tip short, try to be more relaxed and tension free as you hit tennis balls. You could end up with more topspin, more depth, and more power.

A little bit of tennis History any tennis beginners should k

For any future athlete that intends to start a new activity, knowing a little bit of history about the sport is always a good idea.Ball games can be traced back for hundreds and thousands of years. Usually played for entertainment or during religious ceremonies, ball games became highly popular in countless civilizations worldwide. European monks probably created the game of tennis. The players quickly found out that instead of hitting the ball off walls they had better control using their hand. A leather glove was soon created, and not long after, an adapted handle completed the first racquet. As the racquets evolved, so did the balls that were used. A bouncier type stuffed with bran material soon replaced the first primitive wooden balls. The game became highly popular amongst monasteries all around Europe during the 14th century. At one time, the church considered forbidding the game.In 1874, Major Walter C. Wingfield patented in London the equipment and rules for a game fairly similar to modern tennis. In the same year, the first courts appeared in the United States. By the following year, equipment sets had been sold for use in Russia, India, Canada, and China.Croquet was highly popular at this time, and the smooth croquet courts proved readily adaptable for tennis. Wingfield's original court had the shape of an hourglass, narrowest at the net, and it was shorter than the modern court. His rules were subjected to considerable criticism, and he revised them in 1875, but he soon left the further development of the game to others.In 1877, the All England Club held the first Wimbledon tournament, and its tournament committee came up with a rectangular court and a set of rules that are essentially the game we know today. The net was still five feet high at the sides, a carryover from the game's indoor ancestor, and the service boxes were 26 feet deep, but by 1882, the specifications had evolved to their current form.The growth of tennis continued and the 1927 Championship saw the first ever radio broadcast of a tennis event. This increased its popularity further and in the 1930s the game became highly fashionable, led by British stars such as Fred Perry and Don Budge and International Champions such as Henri Lacoste. You'll notice from the photographs that tennis fashions were somewhat different in those days! Long trousers were the order of the day for men, and for women it was long dresses and stockings.Fashion trends became a development in their own right and Bunny Austin from the USA shocked the crowds in 1933 when he became the first player to step out on to centre court wearing shorts! The 1930's became Wimbledon's boom time and in 1937, the championship was broadcast on the radio for the first time. This was a significant event, truly introducing tennis to the world.Throughout the 1970s and 1980s the game became dominated by the new legion of international players and crowds became captivated by the likes of Bjorn Borg, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. In the ladies game stars such as Sue Barker, Chris Evert Lloyd and Martina Navratilova filled the courts with fans. Britain's foremost ladies player was Virginia Wade, the last Brit to win the Championships in 1977. The prize money went up, as did the hemlines of players clothing! In 1986 the Championships adopted yellow tennis balls for the first time - partly to make the speeding balls more visible for television camerasAbout the author:Gavin Dye Webmaster & Author at http://www.tennis-supply.com

Tennis Champions: Are They Born? Or Made?

John Newcombe, former world tennis No 1 and former Australian Davis Cup captain, once said that the top Australian players of his era believed that it was their destiny to become tennis champions.Boris Becker told me that two weeks before achieving his first Wimbledon title (in 1985 when seventeen years old), he felt as if it were predetermined.As a seventeen year old, Ivan Lendl, who, prior to Pete Sampras, held the No 1 spot longer than any other player in history, was convinced that he would turn himself into the best player in the world. He would even tell you so.When asked by the media about his chances of winning his first US Open title (in 1975), Jimmy Connors' response was: "There are 127 losers in the draw -- and me!"Jimmy won.What these former greats had in common was an unshakeable certainty that they would win. It is a trait that is shared by all top sports people.But a question that has always fascinated me is: Are such champions born, or are they made?Were Newccombe, Becker, Lendl and Connors born to rule the tennis world? Or did they become champions because of the choices they made? Was their success predetermined, as suggested by Newcombe and Becker? Or was it a result of a single-minded dedication to making themselves the very best, as implied by Lendl and Connors?Are champions a product of nature? Or of nurture?To be a true champion at tennis or any other sport requires very special qualities. These qualities or attributes can be divided into two categories -- the physical and the mental. It is my contention that physical attributes are predominantly a product of chance. They are determined genetically.For instance, some people are born with a body structure conducive to speed, others to strength, and so on. In this sense, a very large proportion of the population are excluded, from birth, from ever winning an Olympic gold medal as a sprinter or a weightlifter. It is the same with tennis. The physical attributes that are required to become a champion player are such things as good hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, and leg-speed. Without question, these attributes can be developed to their fullest potential with hard work and effective training methods.But most people are excluded from becoming the best tennis player in the world, no matter how much time they spend attempting to reach their physical ceiling of potential.Does this mean, then, that champions are born? Were Newcombe, Becker, Lendl and Connors so physically superior to everyone else that becoming the best was just a mere formality?Certainly not. All four were exceptionally gifted physically, but in my view, there were other players of the same eras who were more gifted than they were. What separated them from everyone else were their mental attributes: their will to win, their determination, their perseverance, their ability to remain calm under presuure, their ability to bounce back from disappointments, and the belief that they deserved to win -- all attributes that not one of us is born with, but that each one of us has the power to develop. The only choice is whether we want to or not. It is in this sense that, given the necessary or essential physical attributes as a starting point, all champions are not only made -- they are self-made.
Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com
Copyright 2006 -- Chris Lewis is a former No 1 ranked junior tennis player in the world and Wimbledon finalist in 1983. During his playing career, his coaches were Harry Hopman and Tony Roche. To read more of Chris's tennis articles and tennis tips, please visit his website at Expert Tennis Tips.

Improve Your Tennis in One-Fifth of A Second!

How would you like to start playing vastly better tennis ... today?
There's a particular "magic" moment in tennis?one that lasts a mere fifth of a second. If you have (or can develop) the discipline to fully exploit that moment, you may astonish yourself and your opponents with your new-found scoring ability.
The moment I'm talking about is the last 1/5th of a second before your racquet strikes the ball. The discipline I'm referring to is that of keeping your eye entirely on the ball for that super-critical moment.
We've all been told many times that we should keep our eye on the ball in tennis. But how many of us really know what that means? How many of us really practice it?
Keeping your eye on the ball doesn't mean watching it until it is a split second from hitting your racket, and then glancing away to look at your opponent. It means watching it until it has hit your strings and begun its rebound.
This is not a new secret. Bill Tilden, perhaps the greatest player who ever lived, wrote about it more than 80 years ago and tried to drive its importance into the heads of his readers. Early on in his classic book, "The Art of Lawn Tennis," he cited statistics "to show you how vital it is that the eye must be kept on the ball UNTIL THE MOMENT OF STRIKING IT" (his emphasis).
"About 85 per cent of points in tennis are errors, and the remainder earned points. As the standard of play rises the percentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament match, 60 per cent are errors and 40 per cent aces. ... Fully 80 percent of all errors are caused by taking the eye from the ball in the last one-fifth of a second of its flight."
Wow. Sobering statistics, to be sure. But exciting ones, too, because what Tilden is telling us is that it's within our power, right now, to eliminate the majority of our errors! And reducing the errors we make is the surest way to starve our opponent of points and extend his opportunity to give up points to us.
Tilden was a great tennis observer as well as a player. He studied and wrote about all of the top players of his day, and observed and advised many a tennis beginner. We can trust him when he says that the greatest fault commited by novices (and by many more experienced players) is trying to watch too much besides the ball.
Tilden compared the human eye to a camera, noting that neither is capable of clearly focusing on a moving object and its background at the same time. "Now the tennis ball is your moving object while the court, gallery, net, and your opponent constitute your background." Therefore, ignore the background and rather "concentrate solely on focusing the eye firmly on the ball, and watching it until the moment of impact with your racquet face."
Shouldn't you at least take a peek at your opponent, maybe out of the corner of your eye? No: "You are not trying to hit him. You strive to miss him. Therefore, since you must watch what you strive to hit and not follow what you only wish to miss, keep your eye on the ball, and let your opponent take care of himself."
Tilden provided a chart in "The Art of Lawn Tennis," a very simple one, but one that I hope you will commit to memory. It looked something like this:
A?1?2?3?4?B
Imagine a ball passing from point A to point B, with you as the receiving player at B. According to Tilden, it can be taken as a scientific fact that if you keep your eye on the ball throughout its flight, your chance of making a good return is five times as great as it would be if you took your eye off the ball at point 4 (4/5ths of a second of its flight). Furthermore, your chance is ten times as great as it would be if your removed your eye from the ball at point 3 (3/5ths of a second of its flight).
Tilden wrote: "The average player follows the ball to 4, and then he takes a last look at his opponent to see where he is, and by so doing increases his chance of error five times. ... Remembering the 85 percent errors in tennis, I again ask you if it is worth while to take the risk?"
Keeping your eye on the ball is a good practice not just because you make fewer errors, but also because it strengthens the other parts of your game through developing the habit of concentration. As Tilden humorously explained, "It tends to hold [your] attention so outside occurrences will not distract. Movements in the gallery are not seen, and stray dogs, that seem to particularly enjoy sleeping in the middle of a tennis court during a hard match, are not seen on their way to their sleeping quarters."
So there you have it ? one-fifth of a second that can make all the difference in your tennis game. It can truly be the magic moment for you, IF you cultivate the discipline to keep your eye on the ball not just occasionally or even most of the time, but during every single shot.
P.S: Bill Tilden's "The Art of Lawn Tennis" is in the public domain, which means you can find it and read it online for free. I highly recommend that you do so. Although his references to events and personalities are of course dated, his playing advice is timeless.
About The Author
© Copyright 2004 by Steve Smith. Steve Smith is a writer who lives near Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His Web site, Tops 4 Tennis (http://www.tops4tennis.com), includes the complete text of "The Art of Lawn Tennis" by Bill Tilden, plus other articles and links for tennis players and fans.
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