Well, the Australian Open is over and , man, there was some spectacular tennis. Now we can all go about working on our games while we wait for the French Open.
Played in a provincial(state) tournament on the weekend . Top players -great competition!
In the first round I played an aggressive lefty. I noticed in the warmup that his slice backhand was hit with too much slice so that it floated in the air and that he was inconsistent with his topspin backhand. Also noticed that his backhand volley was weaker than his forehand volley.
So before the match had even started I had a good idea of what I intended to do. I served topspin slice high into his backhand and followed up by coming to net. Didn't go for big flat serves because I wanted him to have to contact the ball high .
Worked like a charm and I had very little trouble holding.
He had a good serve and volley game himself so I'll talk about my approach to breaking him next time.
Until Then,
Glenn -- Author Of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the tennis Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter player and take your game to the next level.
Monday, January 31, 2005
Sunday, January 23, 2005
Agassi vs Johannson -- Agassi's Superior Mind
What a match last night! Agassi could do nothing but stand and watch ace after ace whiz by. By the end of the night the tall Swede Johannson had aced the world's greatest returner 51 times -- a new record!
But, if you watched the match you might have observed a few interesting things.
First, Agassi never panicked .
Agassi knew that he was holding serve as easily as Johannson was , just in less spectacular fashion. And, as long as he was holding, he knew he just needed a couple of returns or mistakes by Johansson to win the set.
Secondly, as commented on by Patrick McEnroe, Agassi varied his return position. His regular inside the baseline position for returning serve just wasn't working so he moved way back to see if his percentages would improve.
Agassi did what all smart players do --he changed a losing pattern . After all , if the new pattern doesn't work you're no worse off but at least there's a chance the new pattern will be far more productive.
Can't wait to see Agassi vs. Federer.
Until then,
Glenn --- author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook on tennis tactics and strategies that is guaranteed to take your game to the next level.
But, if you watched the match you might have observed a few interesting things.
First, Agassi never panicked .
Agassi knew that he was holding serve as easily as Johannson was , just in less spectacular fashion. And, as long as he was holding, he knew he just needed a couple of returns or mistakes by Johansson to win the set.
Secondly, as commented on by Patrick McEnroe, Agassi varied his return position. His regular inside the baseline position for returning serve just wasn't working so he moved way back to see if his percentages would improve.
Agassi did what all smart players do --he changed a losing pattern . After all , if the new pattern doesn't work you're no worse off but at least there's a chance the new pattern will be far more productive.
Can't wait to see Agassi vs. Federer.
Until then,
Glenn --- author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook on tennis tactics and strategies that is guaranteed to take your game to the next level.
Wednesday, January 19, 2005
WATCHING THE AUSSIE OPEN ON TV
You got to love Brad Gilbert.
In addition to writing Winning Ugly , and coaching Andre and Andy to the top, he's now providing commentary on tv for the Australian Open.
Listen to ever word he says. He can't help analyzing, evaluating, looking for holes in player's games as he forecasts for ESPN.
The guy is a tennis mental giant.
If you can begin to understand how he's aproaching his evaluations and apply it to your game you'll be on your way to taking your game up a notch for sure.
Until next time,
Glenn --author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES
the Ebook guaranteed to make you a a better and smarter tennis player fast.
In addition to writing Winning Ugly , and coaching Andre and Andy to the top, he's now providing commentary on tv for the Australian Open.
Listen to ever word he says. He can't help analyzing, evaluating, looking for holes in player's games as he forecasts for ESPN.
The guy is a tennis mental giant.
If you can begin to understand how he's aproaching his evaluations and apply it to your game you'll be on your way to taking your game up a notch for sure.
Until next time,
Glenn --author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES
the Ebook guaranteed to make you a a better and smarter tennis player fast.
Monday, January 10, 2005
Getting Nervous Against Better Players
We've all been there.
You get a chance to play someone who's a level or two above you. You're excited to show everybody how much you've improved and how you're going to provide tough competition.
What happens? You're so tight that you don't play as well as you can and it turns into a disaster.
What can you do?
Well I think the first thing is to expect it to happen. It usually happens in the beginning of the match and often the first set goes by very quickly.
Don't panic. Instead tell yourself after the first set that you've got nothing to lose now so just get loose and go for your shots.
Remember , you're not going to win this match anyway. What you want is to get a feel for how your best shots will hold up at this new level. So, if nerves cost you the first set , just tell yourself that there's nothing left to lose and really let go in the second set.
Until next time,
Glenn --author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook that is guaranteed to make you a better and smarter tennis player fast.
You get a chance to play someone who's a level or two above you. You're excited to show everybody how much you've improved and how you're going to provide tough competition.
What happens? You're so tight that you don't play as well as you can and it turns into a disaster.
What can you do?
Well I think the first thing is to expect it to happen. It usually happens in the beginning of the match and often the first set goes by very quickly.
Don't panic. Instead tell yourself after the first set that you've got nothing to lose now so just get loose and go for your shots.
Remember , you're not going to win this match anyway. What you want is to get a feel for how your best shots will hold up at this new level. So, if nerves cost you the first set , just tell yourself that there's nothing left to lose and really let go in the second set.
Until next time,
Glenn --author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook that is guaranteed to make you a better and smarter tennis player fast.
Saturday, January 08, 2005
Why The Top Players Are The Top Players
Why?
One reason is that they have no huge weaknesses. Nothing that's so vulnerable that they can be eaten alive.
A lot of decent club players have some good weapons but also have pretty big holes. Now , up to a certain level you can hide your holes or at least minimize them.
That's the beauty of playing in tournaments even if you're outclassed by the top seeds. If you get a chance to play the top seeds you might lose badly but you'll learn 2 critical things:
1. What parts of your game work at that higher level;
2. What parts of your game don't stand up .
If you're smart you'll realize this is one of the best free lessons you can ever get.
More later,
Until Then,
Glenn - the author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the ebook on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a smarter player fast.
One reason is that they have no huge weaknesses. Nothing that's so vulnerable that they can be eaten alive.
A lot of decent club players have some good weapons but also have pretty big holes. Now , up to a certain level you can hide your holes or at least minimize them.
That's the beauty of playing in tournaments even if you're outclassed by the top seeds. If you get a chance to play the top seeds you might lose badly but you'll learn 2 critical things:
1. What parts of your game work at that higher level;
2. What parts of your game don't stand up .
If you're smart you'll realize this is one of the best free lessons you can ever get.
More later,
Until Then,
Glenn - the author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the ebook on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a smarter player fast.
Tuesday, January 04, 2005
More Tennis Tactics Talk
Just to continue on from my last blog.
To recap, I was playing a top player. I was hitting inside-out forehands into his backhand and he was responding by hitting perfectly placed slice backhands up the line.
Now, if you recall, Pete Sampras used to set up in the backhand corner on groundstroke rallies, hit inside-out forehands and almost lure his opponent into hitting up the line backhands. Pete would then run over and absolutely crack a crosscourt forehand, often for an outright winner.
Now , I can't do this as well as Pete obviously and I was getting hurt by my opponent's up the line backhands slices. So, as the match went on I tried to make 2 adjustments.
The first was that I tried to hit more balls to his forehand to change the patterns . And secondly, I tried to position myself more towards the center of the court and less in the backhand corner so that I wouldn't have to run as far to cover his down the line backhand.
So, as I always say, think, think, think when you're on the court and always try to change a losing pattern.
Until next time,
Glenn
The author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES-the Ebook
on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a
smarter player fast..
To recap, I was playing a top player. I was hitting inside-out forehands into his backhand and he was responding by hitting perfectly placed slice backhands up the line.
Now, if you recall, Pete Sampras used to set up in the backhand corner on groundstroke rallies, hit inside-out forehands and almost lure his opponent into hitting up the line backhands. Pete would then run over and absolutely crack a crosscourt forehand, often for an outright winner.
Now , I can't do this as well as Pete obviously and I was getting hurt by my opponent's up the line backhands slices. So, as the match went on I tried to make 2 adjustments.
The first was that I tried to hit more balls to his forehand to change the patterns . And secondly, I tried to position myself more towards the center of the court and less in the backhand corner so that I wouldn't have to run as far to cover his down the line backhand.
So, as I always say, think, think, think when you're on the court and always try to change a losing pattern.
Until next time,
Glenn
The author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES-the Ebook
on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a
smarter player fast..
Monday, January 03, 2005
More On Playing Against A Super-Quick Tennis Player
I want to continue to talk about some of the tactical considerations in my match against a top-ranked super-quick player.
I think it's important when you play somemone to try and figure out if opening the court up will be to your advantage or not.
What do I mean by opening the court up?
I mean hitting angled shots that will pull an opponent wide. This is great if your opponent is slow or doesn't hit well on the run. But if your opponent actually is quicker than you and hits well on the run then by opening up the court you are allowing your opponent to turn the match into a quickness game.
If you're the slower one then you should think about hitting a lot of balls down the center to cut down the angles.
So, quick opponent consider rallying down the center. Slow opponent consider opening up the court with angles.
Until next time,
Glenn
The author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES --the Ebook
on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a
smarter player fast.
I think it's important when you play somemone to try and figure out if opening the court up will be to your advantage or not.
What do I mean by opening the court up?
I mean hitting angled shots that will pull an opponent wide. This is great if your opponent is slow or doesn't hit well on the run. But if your opponent actually is quicker than you and hits well on the run then by opening up the court you are allowing your opponent to turn the match into a quickness game.
If you're the slower one then you should think about hitting a lot of balls down the center to cut down the angles.
So, quick opponent consider rallying down the center. Slow opponent consider opening up the court with angles.
Until next time,
Glenn
The author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES --the Ebook
on tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a
smarter player fast.
Sunday, January 02, 2005
Playing A Super-Quick Ranked Player
Played a practice match with a friend of mine today who is ranked in the top 6 in the province of Ontario in our age category in the vets.
I lost a tight one ( 7-5 ,6-4) but there were so many interesting tactical considerations that I'm going to examine them over the next week.
The first thing was that this guy was one of the quickest guys that I've played in a long time. Also very steady and very smart, so you can imagine that it was a tough match.
My favourite baseline pattern is to hit inside-out forehands to my opponent's backhand. Then I'll either come in on a short ball or hit an inside -in forehand and attack on that.
This guy defended brilliantly by slicing his backhand up the line with tremendous accuracy. This not only made me run way over to my forehand side but it opened up the court and allowed him to use his quickness as he returned my next shot.
Moral of the story -- If you're being attacked by a player with a big inside -out forehand develop an up- the- line backhand to add to your arsenal and don't automatically go crosscourt.
Until next time,
Glenn
Author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES -- the Ebook on
tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a smarter player fast.
I lost a tight one ( 7-5 ,6-4) but there were so many interesting tactical considerations that I'm going to examine them over the next week.
The first thing was that this guy was one of the quickest guys that I've played in a long time. Also very steady and very smart, so you can imagine that it was a tough match.
My favourite baseline pattern is to hit inside-out forehands to my opponent's backhand. Then I'll either come in on a short ball or hit an inside -in forehand and attack on that.
This guy defended brilliantly by slicing his backhand up the line with tremendous accuracy. This not only made me run way over to my forehand side but it opened up the court and allowed him to use his quickness as he returned my next shot.
Moral of the story -- If you're being attacked by a player with a big inside -out forehand develop an up- the- line backhand to add to your arsenal and don't automatically go crosscourt.
Until next time,
Glenn
Author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES -- the Ebook on
tennis strategies and tactics that will help you become a smarter player fast.
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