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Saturday, August 28, 2010

How to beat the game: Improving your serve!

In the event you ask any tennis player which aspect of their game they require to improve, the most common answer is their serve. Here are some simple to follow tips that can make a large difference to your match.
 note, however that tennis, like any other sport, needs to be practised in order to see any improvements. So reading about these tips won't make you a better player. You'll must put them in to practice in the event you require to truly reap the benefits.
Tip 1
In order to be a lovely tennis player, you will must learn to relax. For a lovely consistent serve, your arm & wrist must be free of stress & tension. In the event you are stressed out, or you are not properly warmed up, your muscles will be tight & your strength & flexibility will be greatly decreased. Don't underestimate the power in your wrist.
Some specialists say that as much as one fifth of the power in your serve comes from the wrist. So it is vital that your wrists & arms are fully relaxed, & the muscles can retain all of their elasticity.
Tip 2
Aim for a smooth action. Perfection only comes form hard work. To have an effective serve, you body needs to flow in a liquid, simple manner. This means your arms, legs & trunk ought to all in move in harmony. Jerky movements are a sign that some aspect of your serve is out of alignment.
By continually practicing until your serving action becomes smoother, you will start to create muscle memory & it will soon become second nature.
Tip3
Jump! All professional players utilize the additional power & leverage of leaping in the coursework of a serve. This technique takes time & practice & is not recommended to beginners. This is because it is simple to fall when you;re are learning to serve & jump simultaneously. In the event you do select to take the leap, you may require to think about a pair tennis shoes with additional cushioning for the soles.
This will help to protect the knees when you land back down on the court.
Tip 4
Line up your body. It may appear obvious, but lots of players don't actually face the right way when they are serving. If your body is crooked or angled away from the service box you are aiming for, you won't get the maximum amount of power in to your serve. However, there is an element of strategy here also as you don;t require to make it obvious to your opponent as to where you are planning to play the serve.

Strong tips for the weekend Tennis players

Are you a weekend or casual tennis player? If so, you, like many others, may be frustrated with a lack of progression in your tennis skills. Tennis is a sport that has so many tools and requires many different skills and techniques that sometimes playing just once a week is not enough to get better.
But, another element of the game of tennis that is not often focused on is the mental game. And this is where the weekend player can get actually end up winning more points and matches even without a considerably improvement in the technical skills.
Here are some tips which helped me to win more and have more fun:
Tip #1: Slow Down Your Swing
So many club players think they need to murder the ball. But what happens is it goes right into the net or always goes way out. Bottom line is that a player who does this has no control over the ball. And, you cannot win tennis games if you have no control. You are relying on luck. Luck is never enough to win games consistently.
Instead, start off playing with a slower but full swing and hit through the ball. Also, when you start off, aim for the middle of the court. As your arm loosens up, you can then start choosing corners and short shots for ball placement.
If you are playing at the club or recreational league level, you will win more matches if you can just return the ball and keep it in play. A weaker player can beat a stronger and faster club player any time with consistent strokes and some focus on placement.
Tip #2: Bounce-Hit Focus
Many average players never focus on the ball enough. Your eyes should be watching the ball like a hawk and should remain on the ball as long as you can up until you hit it. So many players will let their eyes leave the ball to see where the ball is going.
By just focusing on keeping your eyes ALWAYS on the ball, your game will improve. One of the tricks that an instructor of mine taught me when I was 12 was the BOUNCE-HIT mantra.
When you are playing a point, in your head say bounce when the ball bounds and hit when the ball is hit- either by you or your opponent. This mantra not only keeps you focused on the ball but it also sets a rhythm to your hitting which in turn results in more consistent tennis playing.
Tip #3: Tie Your Shoe
Momentum plays a key role in any tennis match. Just look at the pros. You will see even the best players lose momentum and as a result lose points, games, and sets. It happens to everyone. In any tennis game with evenly matched players, you will gain momentum and lose momentum.
By understanding this, you can use do things to stop the downward spiral of bad momentum. Most players experiencing a string of lost points and errors tend to want to speed up the game. If they are serving, they will hurry up their next serve and if they are returning, they will swing at the serve wildly or half-heartedly without much thought.
If you find yourself in this stage of a match, the key is to do the opposite. Slow down the pace of play. Break the negative streak. One of the best ways to do this is to tie your shoes. By tying your shoes your mind has to focus on that task and thus it breaks its hypnotic trance of negativity.
Another thing to do before each serve or serve return is to take a long deep breath. Breathe in for 6 seconds, hold it for 2 and then breathe out for 7 seconds. This is only 15 seconds so it will not be noticed by the outside world or will not cause your opponent to get angry for delays. But, these 15 seconds will greatly improve your chances on the next point.
Focus on just these three tips the next time you get out on the courts and I promise you will see improvement in your game and in the score.

3 *Secrets* to Winning in Tennis

Playing tennis is funny, but, like every sport, the real fun begins when you start winning. Who wants to play when you lose everytime? And if you want to win there are three things you must have in mind while playing: you must send the ball cross court, you must put as many first serves in as possible and, most important, you must exploit the opponent's weaknesses. These are the most important things to have in mind when playing tennis. But what does this mean in detail? Let's have a look...
As already said, playing the ball cross court is fundamental for winning. The more tired the opponent is, the more chances you have to win the set and the play. Moreover, a good cross court ball is probably the most difficult ball to hit correctly in the whole tennis. It requires a great master skill of both the forehand and backhand, and just a simple mistake can put your adversary in advantage. Putting your adversary in a difficult position is the best way to have the game in your hands.
But playing the ball cross court is useless if you cannot hit the first serve of your opponent. A strong and fast first serve is the single most difficult thing to respond correctly in a tennis game. Especially if at an angle: try to surprise your opponent with strange angles on your first serve. Always bring your first serve to a limit, without pushing too far, because a strong first serve is useless if it makes foul.
Analyze always your opponent's play before every match. Find out his weaknesses and exploit them. Is he left handed? Then a good cross field shot is probably the best choice. Is he weak on his backhand? Then hammer him on that side until he cracks. And so no.
As you can see, the key principles here are all very simple. But be careful, because if you will adopt these methods this means that someone else may adopt them too: so be sure to be strong on cross field balls, to be able to respond well to strong serves and to have as little weaknesses to exploit as possible. This is the key to victory in tennis.

Nutrition and Game

As in any sport, we tennis players need to give some serious consideration to nutrition.
The more exact the nutrition is to your tennis needs, the greater the effect it will have on your game.
Here is some solid gold advice for you.
In case you require to be a winner on the court, then pay attention to your tennis nutrition.
In case you require to stay a winner on the tennis court, then make sure that nutrition for tennis becomes a high priority in your schedule from today.
Don't think that practising and working on your forehands, backhands, serves and your volleys will be to take your game to its highest level.
Even in case you think that adding on some fitness work will be , then you need to think again.
All the top tennis players like Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray, Djokovic, Del Potro, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin pay actual close attention to their nutrition. They know that this is the one element that could make all the difference when it comes to winning the large events like Wimbledon, the US Open & the Italian Open when you need to win so lots of matches in such a short space of time.
Don't forget, it is not the physical side of your performance that you need to affect when it comes to trying to play your best tennis, the mental side of the game is HUGE and it is directly affected by your nutrition in ways that you would not imagine.
Most tennis players don't know this, so you can take this information and use it to your advantage.....right now!!
So, don't ignore your greatest secret weapon: Tennis Nutrition.
To help you do this, here are 5 things you can start doing TODAY to improve your tennis.
1. Eat 5-7 small meals a day. You are trying to feed your body with all of the nutrients it needs on a regular basis and ensuring you are eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours is the way you can do it.
2. Include some protein at each and every meal. The portion does not need to be massive: 1 egg, 1/2 breast of chicken, 60g of ham, etc.
3. Eat vibrant vegetables at least 3 times per day. Raw and cooked, the more the better. It is the nutrients in these vegetables which will turn the starch in your diet in foods such as pasta and potatoes in to the energy to fuel your game.
4. Sip water regularly. Aim for at least a couple of sips every 15 minutes. Even the slightest level of dehydration can affect your performance, so don't wait until you are thirsty as this is the signal that you are already dehydrated.
5. About 1/2 hour before going on court, have any part of a banana or a sports bar. This will instantly get sugar in to your bloodstream, giving you some energy to kick off your session in the best way feasible.

Tennis: Impoving your Flexibility

Why is flexibility very important when you are playing tennis? There's a selection of reasons because this happens, but I can tell you it fundamentally goes down to this: being able to move quickly and to change to the opponent's play is without a doubt the best key to win in tennis. analyze how champions play on the court. No one of them has a "the stronger, the better" attitude. The always go first for flexibility and precision and only after that they go for power. As they say, power is nothing without the control. And if there is no control, there is also the risk of having a bad injury.
So flexibility is radical in tennis. But how can they improve our flexibility in tennis to become better players?
It is actually very simple, and it goes down to this: stretch often, train on a wide range of movements and seldom ever tense yourself up. This may look like a banal list but the basics for a nice tennis game are all here. Let's examine in detail how these things can improve your game tenfold.
Stretching is to flexibility like the court is to tennis: it is everything. In the event you seldom stretch, you are not only limiting yourself, but you are also putting yourself in a position that will cause you a few injuries in the event you are not cautious. Do not overdo it: a basic stretching of the legs and arms is often to prepare your body to the game. Do a short run of the court to heat yourself up a small, then stretch your legs, your arms and your back, do not forget your ankles because they are basically damaged in tennis.
Ok, now that you are all stretched up, start your training. You need, as I already said, to train for a wide range of movements. Train for the forehand on all the feasible angles, the backhand, the volèes and the serve. Every time you ought to try to do the movement a small differently. This may appear like a small thing, but this way you are training your brain to reply well in every situation. Keep in mind, flexibility is key here. You have no idea how your opponent is going to answer the next ball, so you need to be prepared for everything. Try everything, and see what works best for you. Find your weak points and train them at the best. You do not need holes that your opponent can exploit.
Let's now speak about tension. This may appear like the most dull point: do not tense yourself up. What the hell does this mean? It is actually very simple: do not block your body unnecessarily. Everyone has some tension in the body that makes movement and flexibility more difficult. When playing tennis, seldom ever tense yourself up before you are going to hit the ball. The only moment you need to tense yourself up is when you hit the ball, that is it. In the event you tense more often you are actually limiting yourself. Let your instinct work for you. In the event you relax , it is possible for you to not only to reply faster, but to reply the best way feasible. In the event you do not think me, try it.
In the event you train this way, following those simple points, you will gain a flexibility in tennis that will scare your opponents away. You will literally make your opponent wonder "How does they do that?" It is simple, but not simple: train often and results will come out sooner.