Sunday, July 30, 2006

Learning How To Play Your Best Tennis Against Lesser Competition

Recently, I've had the experience of playing in the early rounds of a club tournament and also playing doubles against ex-Davis Cuppers in a provincial championship.

Even though I won at the club but lost to the ex-Davis Cuppers, I felt I played far better in the loss.

As I think about my mental state as I played both matches, I would summarize the difference as following:

In the club match I played safe tennis. I didn't really swing through anything aggressively. It was good enough to win and I knew I was going to win.

In the tournament I went for everything. I rotated and really followed through because I knew just getting the ball back wasn't enough.

And, I ended up playing some great tennis and was complimented a number of times by my opponents.

The lesson I draw from all of this is that I must maintain that state of really going for it every time I step on the court, regardless of the competition.

I really believe it's that attitude which is one of the differences between good players who can compete at the top levels and the top echelon players who can always play and win at the top levels.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Tennis Coaches -- Do They Improve Your Tennis Game?

The big news in the tennis world today is that Andy Roddick has hired Jimmy Connors as his new tennis coach.

Now, most club players don't have tennis coaches. Instead, they have tennis pros who give them lessons but, for the most part, these tennis pros do not scout matches and give tactical advice.

For my money, Andy is in dire need of an experienced tennis coach --especially one with an attacking mentality like Jimbo. Somehow, Roddick got it into his head that should be playing Spanish style defensive tennis. But, Andy doesn't have the quickness and sold backhand neccessary to play that style.

If I were Andy's tennis coach I would I would build his game around the following:

1. He has to hold serve everytime. This means that he must become a master of changing speeds and locations as well as just using his power. And, he must improve his volleying.

2. He must attack the returns. No point for Andy to just get the ball back. This is where I think Jimbo will help Andy the most as his tennis coach.

3. Andy must look to end groundstroke rallies early, especially the backhand exchanges. I would like to see Andy rip his backhand up the line frequently to break the crossocurt pattern.


Anyway, with Jimbo as his new tennis coach it'll be fun to see what happens.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATGIES. This Ebook has sold in more than 50 countries and is full of Tennis Tips And Tennis Tactics . It's guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Club Tennis -It's Good And Bad For Your Game

The next few postings are going to be about my experiences in the last little while. I've just finished a tournament where I faced some of the top players in the country in my age group ( ex-Davis Cuppers) and where I've played a relatively easy match against a B player at the local club.

There's no question in my mind that if you play high level competition where you're slightly outclassed ,you're going to start really going for your shots because you know you can't win any other way. In a way it's liberating. And, when you see that those shots can actually win you points against the top players it certainly makes you think.

The trick is to continue to play this way when you're playing lesser competition.

I'll write more in my next post about what typically happens when you play lesser competition.

Dr. Glenn Sheiner ( aka TennisDoc) is the author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook all about tennis tactics, tips, and strategies that is guaranteed to improve your game. Check it out now!

Monday, July 17, 2006

Federer's Strategy At Wimbledon

Well, it was a decent final. And a fair result. Federer was the better player and deserved to win. But Nadal exceeded everybody's expectations and actually almost took it to five sets.

The key to the match was that Federer came out with a strategy to neutralize Nadal's lefty slice serves. He did this by returning with a slice backhand as opposed to topspin as he tried in the French Open final. He also may have adjusted his return position slighty to stand further to the backhand side to protect against the Nadal slice.

By protecting against the slice serve Federer was betting that Nadal could not completely change his serving pattern and serve effectively to the Federer forehand.

Federer's bet payed off but it's interesting to analyze exactly what happened. In the ad court Nadal started serving very effectivley down the middle to Federer's forehand. He won 80% of the points when he served to the forehand and ended up hitting about 50% of his serves in the ad court to the forehand.

In the deuce court it was a different story, and this is what won Federer the match in my opinion. Nadal only served 10% of the time to Federer's forehand in the deuce court. When he did go there he had good success but his relucatance to serve to the forehand in the deuce court is a deficiency which Federer capitalized on.

Look for Nadal to work on his serve wide in the deuce court and , if he gets it going, I'd be worried if I was Federer.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Saturday, July 08, 2006

Nadal versus Federer -The Final Everyone Wants

Ok. It's a miracle. Nadal made the Wimbledon final. Now he has to play Fed tomorrow.
What should we look for?

In my opinion, the most critical matchup will be the Nadal lefty slice serve against the Federer backhand return. This is partly what killed Federer at Roland Garros -- he tried to come over his returns with topspin instead of just slicing them back.

On grass, the slice is a far more effective shot and I'm sure this will be Federer's plan. He should get a lot of returns back in play.

As for Nadal, the key will be what he does with these low slice returns. He needs to take control of the point right away with his forehand.

Anyways, should be a very interesting tactical match.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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