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Archive for the 'General Tennis' Category

The Soft Serve

This is not the “soft serve” you get in the frozen yogurt shop, but INTENTIONALLY serving softer to win the point. When should you do this?

How did you play?

I may have just had a game-changing tennis epiphany.
Although I am an extremely optimistic person and always “see the glass half full,” I just reread a chapter in my favorite little tennis book, The Best Tennis of Your Life. It says “don’t fall into the negative filtering trap.” By that the [...]

Lessons From Losing

Before I played my first Cape Coral Consolation singles match this week, I had another chance to chat with Hank Irvine… a very perceptive and helpful former tour player (who “lost to Laver at Wimbledon”); and he gave me some more great Words of Tennis Wisdom.

Andre Agassi’s Book

Sorry Andre, but I enjoyed reading your book; but not for the “big disclosures” about taking drugs or hating tennis … but because it is a fascinating TENNIS book.
For me, it was really interesting to hear about “growing up” with and in the modern game of tennis and how matches can be won or lost [...]

The Net

While Tom McCune and I were practicing earlier this week (he is now ‘enjoying’ the cold in MN), Pelican Bay pro Mike Lewis was watching and commented: “You and Tom place too much of a premium on missing a shot. I was taught it was OK to miss… as long as you were going [...]

A Teachable Moment

Let’s start with the END of the story of my Longboat Key consolation singles match today… I lost. But I’m trying to learn from the loss and make this a “teachable moment.”

How to Avoid Repeating a Defeat

Every time you play him/her, you lose. Sometimes it is pure skill; but sometimes the “expectation to lose” is in your head. With permission, here is a thorough analysis of why this happens and what you can do from tennis teaching pro, Tomaz Mencinger.

The Underhand Serve

Is it ‘underhanded’ to serve underhanded? I just had that done to me in a doubles match; and also saw it at the Paris Masters on Tennis Channel. And am not sure what I think of the tactic.

How to hit a volley

If you would like to improve your volley (which is my goal for the year), take a look at some key notes and a short video of Roy Emerson.

Fantasy Tennis – Thursday, Day 5

Well, this is the last day of competition; and three months of conditioning (+ rain-shortened matches) seems to have really helped; because I am not tired and nothing hurts. But it was raining again this morning; so we went inside to play abbreviated doubles matches against Newk’s team.

Tennis Fantasy – Wednesday, Day 4

It must have rained during the night; because after my breakfast (cheese omelet + toast + cereal + bacon + juice) I see the courts are all puddled and the staff is rolling them to be playable (if the rain stays away). So they changed the schedule for our Wanker team to play doubles [...]

John Newcombe Fantasy Tennis – Tuesday, Day 3

Another beautiful day in Texas – and I feel good! Before the morning matches, Owen (Davo) Davidson talked about some key pointers to focus on:

John Newcombe Fantasy Camp Monday, Day 2

The morning started off cool; but the temperature warmed up to a perfect 80 degrees for our day of training, positioning, and drills. After breakfast, Emmo gave a short clinic on hitting the volley:

John Newcombe Fantasy Camp Sunday, Day 1

This is the start of the “best week of my tennis year;” which, after five consecutive years of attending, I had to miss last year due to a bad shoulder (Luxilon strings). The travel to Camp this year was “in style” thanks to Pelican Bay friend John Berry, who invited three of us from [...]

Play the Score?

In a great new piece on espn.com, Joel Drucker talks about Pancho Segura and his philosophy of “playing the score.” Should you?