Make life easy for yourself and hit the ball on the rise. One of the challenges with tennis is that every ball we hit will come to us differently. Different height, speed, spin, distance from our body etc. Our challenge it to try and move ourselves into position to execute as close to the same shat as possible each time.
Let me give you a tip that will make a massive difference to your groundstrokes. Hit every ball on the rise OR at the top of the bounce.

As soon as that ball starts to drop your whole stroke needs to change to get the ball up and over the net. The stroke becomes much more difficult and you will hit the frame of your racquet more especially if you are trying to apply topspin.

The first picture shows how closed the racquet face can be if you hit the ball on the rise. The key is that you can hit the ball very hard and it will stay in the court. You are changing the direction of the ball. In the picture the ball changes direction by about 90 degrees. Lets see what happens with a dropping ball.

With a dropping ball you need to open the face of the racquet, and hit up to get exactly same ball direction. However in this case the harder you hit the ball the further over the fence the ball will go. In which case most people then back off the power and they let gravity bring the ball down onto the court.

Now you can picture in your minds 2 different pictures. High level players strike across a rising ball and other players tap a dropping ball back up and over the net.

High level players use mainly the wind resistance of a heavily spinning ball to make it land in the court, while other players rely on gravity for it to land in the court.

To see another compact explanation of this look at or think of people playing ping pong. The ball is hit with a closed bat, as the ball is coming off the table. They can generate massive power and still keep it in that little area.

Anyway I hope that has got you thinking. Move those feet, move forward, hit the ball on the rise and WATCH YOUR GAME IMPROVE !!.

Enjoy your tennis !

Ok, firstly anxiety and nerves are slightly different things.
Anxiety is where you are looking forward to achieving a particular outcome in the future. The frustrating part about anxiety is that you are basically waiting for a ‘time’ to achieve it. For example a match on the weekend, in a few hours etc. Usually anxiety goes away once the match has started and you are able to do something about the outcome.
During a match or just before anxiety is usually replaced by nerves. So, what are these nerves? A definition of nerves is: ‘the gap between what needs to be done and what you believe you can do’.

Nerves are good - it mean that you care about the outcome !
Again, ‘what needs to be done’ - beat this opponent, play strong, volley well, work out how to beat someone.
The next part - ‘what you believe you can do’ - can you beat this opponent, play well etc. The closer your ‘belief’ on your ability to ‘achieve’ what needs to be done the less nerves you should have…. Never thought about it that way? The nerves are proportional to the size of the gap! Examples
If you are confident you can beat someone you might be slightly anxious to do it - but not nervous.

If you think you are going to loose, and are sure you can achieve loosing well you wont be nervous. (being negative - but proving a point)

If you are playing a good player of similar standard however you are feeling a little rusty, well you might feel nervous about how you will perform on the day.
How do you reduce nervousness?? Increase confidence. How do you increase confidence? Be confident in your preparation leading into the match. Your fitness, technique, routines etc.

If you are well prepared, confident with what you have done before the match you should be less nervous.
Preparation is something you can work on to reduce anxiety ! It makes you already in control of the outcome - preparing yourself. Now do you see how they fit together?? Interesting…

There also other tips for confidence like strategy and mental rehersal - that is going to be in another article!!

Have a great day !! Michael

As Early As Possible. Yes, go out after your volley. Do not wait for it to come to you.

This does a few things.

Firstly it gets you moving forward to the volley. With your body momentum going forward you will use your body weight as the main power in the volley. Most people who stand very flat footed tens to swip and slap at their volleys in an attempt to generate power.

Secondly, it forces you to take an attacking approach to the volley which really threatens the opponent.

Thirdly, the earlier you hit the ball the higher over the net the ball is at contact. The longer you let the ball come to you, the lower your volley will be hit. So, with a lower volley you will then need to hit up on the ball to clear the net and are forced to play a softer shot.

Forth, with your momentum going forward you will continue to get closer to the net on the next volley - therefore closing out the point at the net.

Fifth, you will naturally hit the ball out in front of your body which is essential for good volleys.

Wow - all these results just by thinking about hitting it as early as possible !

Volley positive, go forward and close the point out.

Michael

One of the most challenging parts of tennis is that nearly every ball is going to come to you differently. In most other sports there are not as many variables. This is one of the great parts about tennis, the challenge!

Ok having said that, the shot with the LEAST number of variables is our serve. We can PLACE that ball anywhere in the air, we can decide WHEN to toss the ball up. Two big variables !!

So why do people server inconsistently, or continually chasing their ball toss? The answer, an incosistent ball toss ! Sure a bit of wind might alter it slightly but really not that much.

What can you do? Practice your ball toss. Practice placing the ball in the air in the same spot over and over. Dont hit the ball practice the toss only.

Your ball toss - if you dont hit it - should land in the same place on the court. When I was young we used to place the racquet flat on the ground. Racquet handle butt against our front toe, strings toward the net. When we tossed the ball up it should land on the strings. We would practice landing our ball toss over and over, landing it on the same spot on the ground.

Only with a consistent ball toss, can build a consistent serve. Many people grip the ball too hard on the ball toss, ‘chuck’ it up then worry about it afterwards.

The ball toss should be a very gentle, gracefull placement. Start by holding the ball gently with your fingers. Nearly with your finger tips. Turn your hand so your palm faces your body. Gently release the ball with the tips of your finger, place it up there. Are you thinking about your ball toss differently now?

Work out where your toss should be for your different servers and practice placing them up there. Get the height right and how far forward or behind your head etc.

Enjoy ! Michael

Wristbands, they sometimes are a little forgotten. Well here is an insight, they are not a fashion accessory - they are a performance enhancing tool !! Ok, why?

They are used to do a few things. Firstly, to wipe your forehead to stop sweat dripping into your eyes and secondly to stop sweat running down your arm, hand and onto your grip.

Remember in a previous article I talked about keeping a loose grip for more power?. I also talked about keeping your grips fresh and moisture free to keep the grip sticky.

Getting the picture? Yep, wristbands increase the life of your grips, keep moisture away from your hand and grip, therefore allowing you to continue to grip the racquet lightly!

Most people would never think of wristbands having an effect on their strokes - but indirectly they do !!

Having said all that - some top players dont wear them. See the articles pictures. You can now make up your own mind if they will help you!!

Exciting news readers !! All I will say is check out The Tennis Times. http://thetennistimes.com

More on that tomorrow !!!

Michael

It is important to get off to a quick start in a match. Why not start with the warm up! The best part is you make the rules and start controlling what is happening on the court.

I am not talking about hitting winners or junk in the warm up. It is unsportsmanlike and you should always respect your opponents needs to warm up. Tennis is one of the few sports where you actually warm up the person you are about to try and beat.

Focus on making no unforced errors. In the warmup you should be looking for your opponents weaknesses and not letting them see any of yours. Focus on not having any balls sitting on your side of the net.

After warming up your ground strokes be the first to come into the net to warm up your volleys. This shows that you are happy with your ground strokes and are moving on. You are already starting to control the match.

After you have practiced your serves to first court be the first to change sides and serve to second court.

Finally, when you are practicing your serves to second court offer to start the match before the opponent. “Are you Ready?”

This is what I call win the warm up. You are already focusing your attention to the job at hand AND you are already appearing like a solid opponent who is already in control and knows what they want.

Keep that momentum going and win the first game, serving or receiving, it sets a nice tone for the match !!

Enjoy and keep improving. Dont forget to Sign Up to ensure you do not miss a Tip!

You never know, the next tip could be the difference between winning and loosing your next match!