Have You Ever Wondered How Good The World's Number One 60 Year Old Is?

Ok, this post may not be for any younger players who still want to play every shot like Federer and be known as Rog the Second at the club.

But, if you've ever watched high level competition in the 55's and over, the game shifts from being a primarily physical battle to one of tactics, placement, endurance, and smarts.

The game is still physical, but you see less jumping on the groundstrokes ( if you see any), and less running around the backhand for example.

So, to get the conversation started, here is a link to the beginning of the 2011 US hardcourt finals in the men's 60 year old division.




The clip was posted on Youtube by Brent Abel, an ex-national champion, excellent instructor, and tennis entrepreneur.

Brent has posted tons of great free stuff on youtube.

This clip is the first of 3 of the men's 60 final. One of three interesting things is that the man who won, Larry Turville,was also the world's champion in the 60's in 2010. So, if you ever wanted to know what type of player can be a world champion in the super seniors, then study this tape.

There's so much to learn here and I'm going to use this match as the focus of my next few blog posts.

First of all, Larry Turville is 6 foot 8 inches tall!  I don't know about your experiences, but at our club there is an elite player who is also 6 foot 8. Like Larry, he sort of moves in a way that looks slow, but covers the court in one step most of the time.

And, like Larry, his serve comes in from a different angle so seems to bounce higher than a serve from a shorter guy.

And, like Larry, you think there openings on the court, but then with one large step, the openings are covered.

But, I'm going to start with Larry's bread and butter shot -- the slice backhand. As Brent points out in the commentary, Larry's backhand is consistently extremely deep, landing within 12-18 inches of the baseline with regularity.

Most of the time he seems to go crosscourt and, it must be pointed out, that Larry is right handed and he was playing a righthander in the finals, so a crosscourt backhand would go to his opponent's backhand.

But, watch enough of the match and you'll see how Larry will hit a down the line slice that tails away from the court. So, after forcing his opponent into the backhand corner, Larry will then hit this up the line slice with sidespin that tails away. Even if his opponent can get to it, the odds are that he won't be able to do much with the ball, and Larry will really be set up to do some damage with the next ball.

It's a devastating pattern but one that must be executed with precision. If the down the slice veers to much to the center, then you would be giving your opponent an easy forehand --a cardinal mistake at almost any level.

That's lesson one --try and see if you can incorporate that pattern into your play.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Champion Seniors Tennis Players guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Rediscovering The Slice Serve

A big win for me last week at my club!

I played the number one player on the club's ladder, someone who I haven't beaten in a few years.

As usual, I'm giving up about 20 years and these younger bucks tend to have two handed backhands and good returns off the backhand side.

Of course, this is a problem for me as my favorite weapon is the big serve to the backhand side, hoping for a winner or at least a weak return.

What's been happening the last few years is that guys have been standing way back to return my serve similar to the way clay courters like Nadal return. And, unless you can hit the perfect spot, everything is coming back.

I recognized this a few years ago, and started working on my slice serve in both the deuce and ad court.
It's not as easy as it looks if you want to hit it with good direction and good disguise. Experience has taught me that if you make a mistake and hit a mediocre slice serve, you might get a blistering forehand return back at your feet.

You can play with your toss by moving it a little to the right and see if you're opponent is observant enough to notice this. If he isn't then you can just hit more slice by tossing further to the right, but ultimately you'll want to hit the slice off the same toss that you hit your flat serve with.

And, now back to the match.

As I went up to serve, I noticed as usual that my opponent was standing way back to help him return off the backhand side. But, as he positioned himself, I could see that he wouldn't be able to cover a good slice serve especially in the deuce court.

So, I began hitting every first serve to his forehand in both the deuce and ad court. I moved my toss a little to the right and was very conscious of hitting the right side of the ball without opening up too early.

I also served and volleyed behind it to take away any floating returns.

I probably won about 80% of the points in the deuce court which made it pretty easy to hold. That put a lot of pressure on his serve and , even good players get tight, when they feel like to have to hold because they're not going to break.

As I've said the trick is to try and hit the slice with the same toss and same motion as the down the middle serve in the deuce court and the wide serve in the ad court.

Here is an incredible video of Pete Sampras hitting a slice serve ace in the deuce court. Notice where the ball crosses the net ( about halfway between the center and the sideline) and where the ball hits the court ( a couple of feet up from the interestion of service line and sideline)

Sampras Slice Serve

Staying Observant During A Match

Sometimes, you just have to be observant during a match.

Usually, when I play someone with a big forehand and a less powerful backhand, I'll tend to serve to the backhand and avoid the forehand.

But, I would say that there are many players, especially those with two handed backhands, who have more technically efficient returns on the backhand side.

So, although they may generate more power on the forehand side with a much bigger loop, they actually may make more errors.

In a recent match, I was playing one of those tall, young guys with a big semiwestern forehand and a two handed backhand --the norm for young guys these days.

Early in the match, I hit a second serve kick to the forehand and I paid the price as a winner whizzed past me.

A little later, I made another mistake serving to the deuce court, and hit a slice kick to the forehand. This serve made my opponent move to his right and he hit it way wide.

This miss made me wonder if I had found a little treasure to mine for the rest of the match.

So, I went back there with similar good results. And, I kept going back, even on first serves. Turns out that, on this day at least, my opponent didn't have good footwork when forced to move to his right on the return. He became off balance and netted a lot of returns, even though he hit them hard.

So, always keep your brain working during a match. even your mistakes may bring you dividends.


Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Serving To The Forehand guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Playing Like an Ex-Davis Cupper

It gets harder and harder to be an attack player as one gets older, in my opinion. Of course, it's also harder to be a baseline retriever as one gets older.

In general, it's gets harder to win matches when you play younger and faster opponents, especially on clay.

Of course, you could choose younger opponents who are hopelessly slow and out of shape, but I don't come across too many of those at my club and in tournaments.

What to do when you aren't the younger and faster player?

I've been able to observe some of the tricks of high level super senior players ( ex- davis cup level) and I've also been experimenting with some tactical changes in my game. Here are some of the tactics to consider.

1. In general, wily veteran tennis players position themselves on the baseline or preferably inside the baseline. This reduces the amount of court they need to cover and can compensate for being the slower opponent.

2. Of course, being on or inside the baseline, means that you have to take balls early -- either off the bounce in half volley fashion, or at a height somewhere below the shoulders.

3. If the ball is hit very deep and is going to land near the baseline, these wily vets don't move back and hit the ball as it falls. Instead, they often just volley the ball out of the air.

The net effect of playing someone with this style is that many balls come back to you much earlier than you expect, often flatter, and with less pace. It can create awkwardness and throw off your timimg. And, if you're not careful, you could find yourself at the bar trying to explain how you just lost to a 70 year old!

Now, let me tell you how this all relates to my game.

My fundamental style in my youth could be described as an attack player who could get to the net quickly, and had a good overhead. So, if I could hit a good approach shot, I could usually get good net position, and be in good position to win the point.

As I've gotten older, I've lost a step or two in approaching the net which means that it's now a lot easier for my opponents to get the passing shot at my feet, and the odds now favor them.

So, I'm in the process of adjusting some of my tactics against certain opponents.

Many of the guys I play are younger, faster guys who like to play the modern, heavy topspin, defensive game. Which means that if I hit a deep ball, they like to maove way back behind the baseline, and then hit a heavy topspin back to me.

What I've begun to do is to come in the moment that I read that they are moving way back behind the baseline. And, if they hit the high topspin ball, I either hit a swinging volley or hit a drop volley. If I execute correctly, they will have great difficulty covering my shot. I don't have to be right on top of the net to hit these shots which compensates for my lack of closing speed.

Playing this way, means that I can be patient and then punish them for not being willing or able to hit balls early.

It gives an older, slower guy a chance!

Oh, and just in case you think it only applies to older guys, check out Jeff Salzenstein's video tip on the same topic

Swinging volleys

Until next time,


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Swinging volleys guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

Spanish Tennis Drills

If The United States and Spain were both tennis stocks, then for the last 10 years, the Spanish stock has been in a bull market, while the United States stock is bearish all the way.

The most obvious sign of this would be the number of Spanish players who have been populating the men's top ten, as compared to the shrinking number of Americans.

Add to that, the fact that even the USTA hired a Spaniard Jose Higueros as the Director of Coaching in 2008.

Not to mention that even without Rafa, the Spanish Davis cup team just took out the Americans in Austin, on Andy Roddick's home court.

Ok, but is there a difference between the coaching that one receives in Spain versus the US?

And, I won't be a smart ass and suggest that the difference is that the lessons in Spain are given in Spanish. If that's all that was required, the the USTA could send its pros to Berlitz language training and everything would be AOK.

I won't pretend that I have trained at a Spanish tennis academy or that I know the inside scoop about what they talk about at the USTA. I will say though that I have read quite a bit about the differences from people who have trained in both places.

A great example would be the pro Chris Lewitt who has written articles on John Yandell's excellent site Tennisplayer.net and who has his own site at chrislewit.com . It seems that the difference is that the Spanish system is fanatical about movement, defense, and racket head speed to generate heavy topsin.

Growing up in North America, every tennis lesson that I have ever seen or taken involved a pro on the other side of the court hitting balls to me(except for the serve). But, it seems that having the pro on the same side of the court and feeding balls by hand is a big part of the Spanish training. And, there are designed movement drills that incorporate both offense and defense.

What's nice as well about these drills, is that it looks like it would be quite easy to have a friend feed balls and for you to get a high level workout.

Here are a few links to a few spanish type drills. Enjoy and maybe you can incorporate them into your training.



Spanish Hand Fed Drill

Spanish Tennis Drill

Spain Tennis Academy


Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Spanish Tennis Drills guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Serving On Slow Clay

We all know that clay is a slower surface then hard court. But, throw in some heavy rain the day before, and clay courts can become incredibly slow.

Depending on your style of play, this may or may not be an advantage. But, in my last ladder match at the club, it hurt both myself and my opponent.

Both of us have pretty big serves and are used to getting a lot of free points. But, the courts were so slow that returning his big first serve was pretty easy. On the other hand, I couldn't get many free points either so it was a match with lots of breaks.

Because I wasn't having much success serving I probably tried to do too much and I lost my rhythm. And, while my rhythm was disappearing like Kim Clisters in the third set at the French, my lead evaporated and I found myself in a tiebreak.

At the start of the tiebreak, I decided to just hit hard second serves as my first serve and give up all thoughts of aces or winners. Knowing that you're going to hit the same serve on both the first and second serve tends to relax me, since I don't have to worry about changing my toss or swing plane under pressure.

And, wouldn't you know that my opponent missed a big forehand when he tried to rip a high second serve. No doubles and I won the breaker 7-1.

The lesson here is to get a sense of what is happening when you hit your second serve. If you're winning a majority of the points on your second but are struggling with a low first serve percentage or the courts are too slow, then consider just hitting seconds.

Until next time,


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Serving on slow clay guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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The Best Backhand Volley In Modern Times

For me, the modern era began with the Jimmy Connors dismantling of Ken Rosewall at Wimbledon in the early 70's.

All the great names like Gonzalez, Laver, Newcombe, Hoad, Budge, and Roche are all before my time.

It's not like I don't know who they were. I even have 2 of Pancho's instructional books, and I saw Gonzalez and Laver play in their 60's at exhibition events.

Plus, I have the incredible privilege of hitting with and talking tennis with a great Canadian player, now in his 70's, who played against Don Budge and Maureen Connolly.

When it comes to backhand volleys, you really only hear 2 names -- Tony Roche and Stefan Edberg. McCenroe, Sampras, and Rafter were good volleyers but perhaps a notch down on the backhand side from Roche and Edberg.

What makes a great volley?

Everyone will begin with consistency and placement. But, if there's one word which describes a great volley, to me it's the word stick. To stick a volley is to hit a volley with a sound that can be described as a thud. The ball takes off low, like a rocket, hits the ground, and then scoots unhittably away.

Edberg is the best volleyer I've ever seen. Not only did he gain incredible position on his serve and volley, but he stuck his volleys. Watch this clip a thousand times if you want to learn how to hit a world-class backhand volley


Edberg Backhand Volley

Until next time,


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Best Backhand Volley guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Doing Less Can Be More On The Return

Everybody always talks about how the serve and the return are the two most important shots in tennis. You occasionally see someone at the club practicing serves, but almost never do you see a club player practicing returns.

When you play a lot of matches against good players, you begin to realize that a return that lands somewhere in the mid-court area is often just an invitation for a good player to crack a big forehand and take control of the point. A losing strategy for the returner.

Often, the response of the returner is to try and hit harder, but this is often counterproductive as it increases the errors and is much harder.

So, here's a strategy I recently used with great success.

I was playing a young guy with a big serve and a big forehand. Although I was returning all of his serves, he was able, with his quickness, to run around and hit dominating forehands on almost all my returns.

So, I tried something completely different.

I started semi-lobbing his returns deep crosscourt and watched with amazement as to how this changed the patterns. First of all, I had a lot of time to recover into good defensive position. This alone is very valuable.

But, I also noticed how many errors my opponent started to make. It's a much harder shot to hit a big forehand off a ball that is coming almost straight down like a semi-lob. The timing is different and the contact point is higher.

Of course, smart players might try and come in and take the ball out of the air but so many young players are poor volleyers and just don't want to do this.

Many years ago I played a Canadian legend. This man had been number one in Canada for many years in his prime and had played all the greats like Laver.

When I played him, he was in his early sixties, although he was the best-conditioned sixty year old I've ever seen. And, he beat me badly but not with power. He beat me with his head.

He took my big first serve to his backhand and took it early, hitting a floating return that landed inches from the baseline. I had never played anyone who played with this strategy and I found it very difficult to deal with. He took it so early that serve and volleying was difficult. And, if I let the ball land, it landed so deep and with such little pace that I couldn't do much with it.

So, if you're not beeaking serve, try floating semi-lob returns deep and see what happens.

Until next time,


Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Return Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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