Tips for the over 60 crowd by the over 60 crowd!
If you want to improve your game, you MUST practice. Playing matches and even playing tournaments will help; but if you want to change or improve a stroke, you just cannot do it when the score counts.
Last Saturday, we had some great doubles! With all the holiday travels going on, I put together four of us who were about equal; but had never played together. And the results were very surprising.
Warming up for a singles match at the Longboat Key USTA tournament, I stopped over at Sarasota’s Payne Park to hit on their wall before my first match; and was pleasantly surprised.
Today was the start of the 2011-12 USTA south Florida “tournament season” and I am signed up for singles and doubles (with Tom McCune). So, how do you get mentally set to play your first tournament match – especially against an unknown opponent? Here are three tips …
You are losing a tennis match. It makes no difference what the situation is … your opponent in singles or the other team in doubles is better than you … you are missing shots … or “something” is just not working. There are two critical questions you need to ask yourself.
You get hooked on a bad line call at a critical point in the match and you get angry. Then what happens … does it fester in your mind and make you lose focus (and the match)? It doesn’t have to; because you can use your anger to your benefit.
A sunny and nice Texas day for our second round of team play against the Davo/Case Musclemen; while yesterday’s other winning team, Newk’s (Willy Hoffmann) Kangaroos played the Stockton/Woodforde Dunnies. The morning clinic (which I have on video) was an excellent one of Mark Woodforde and Ross Case on doubles positioning and movement:
I feel good on this third day; but the weather forecast was ‘spot on’… chilly, with a huge north wind. Before the morning matches, Emmo and Marty gave the clinic on the return of serve:
The morning started off cool; but the temperature warmed up to near 90 for our day of training, positioning, and drills. After breakfast, Dick Stockton and Davo Davidson gave a short clinic on hitting the volley:
Thanks to Ian Westermann, EssentialTennis.com for this tip on tennis toss consistency. He suggests that the key to a good serve starts with the toss; and the key to a good toss starts with the correct “hinge.”
Recently, I played a singles match just after the rain stopped and the HarTru court was playable, but still damp; so the balls really picked up a lot of moisture and changed the game. What should you do?
Whether it is due to injury, work, or travel, we all have come back on the courts after not playing for a period of time. What are some tips to bring with you as you venture back?
What’s the correct balance between the first and second serves … In other words, how hard should the first one be and how soft should the second one be?
Many tennis coaches/gurus preach that “one point is just like another” and that a match does not swing on just one stroke; but I believe it frequently DOES.
On a big point, is it better to put something more on your second serve and double fault … or have your opponent hit a winning Agassi-like return?