Let me set the scene.... I was aged just 15.... Before big matches I used to use the rest room cubicle as a place to focus my mind before going into the match.  A lot of players do it and my coach could tell I was a bit tense for this match so he told me to go find somewhere quiet to collect my thoughts and get focused.

Now while sitting there running through my game plan I had discussed earlier with my coach, I overheard 2 players talking in the gents.... about me!

The conversation went something like this....

Player A – “Who are you playing next?”

Player B – “John Littleford”

Player A – “Oh that’s good I will watch that... it should be a good match.”

Player B – “Yes, I like playing John - he hits a nice ball!”

Obviously player B was my next opponent and can you imagine what I felt when I heard what he had just said?

I was devastated that someone would like to play me because I hit them nice balls!!

For me this was the day I grew up as a tennis player!

I had been obsessed in my training with hitting perfect technical shots deep to the base line at a certain height over the net, over and over again. My shots looked good aesthetically but you don’t win points for a nice swing shape - it’s what you do with the ball that counts.

Suffice to say I changed my game plan totally that day and endeavoured to give my opponent some ugly awkward tactics that I was sure he wouldn’t like.

I hit high balls to his forehand, short low cross court slices to his backhand and then vice versa, I also hit dropshots and lobs and many other scenarios I worked out he wouldn’t like.

All in all I probably over did the variation that day, but wow what fun I had. When I shook hands with the guy after beating him, (fairly comfortably I might add) he had a puzzled look on his face.

He didn’t know it but he had given me the most effective lesson of my early career.

I had in essence learnt to play at the other end of the court. Concentrating my efforts on where I put the ball, not how I hit it or if it felt a clean and perfect hit. I practiced varying the, speed, height and spin of the ball and not hitting the same predictable tempo.

I tried to make my serve more difficult to read by variation of aim off the same toss.

I learned when I practiced to always build points and the winners happened on their own when I hit quality to the space.

For me...tennis all of sudden became more interesting... it became an art!

Learn from today’s top players..

So if you look at the modern game and at the top players, they all have these awkward game styles that the majority do not like to play against.

This is what gets them to the top?

Andy Murray has probably one of the least liked games to play against in Men’s tennis.

He takes the pace off the ball, spoils your rhythm, hit drops shots and is exceptionally quick around the court making every point a real chore for his opponents.

You can do the same. Find out what players hate to play against, or at first try playing the game you hate to play against.

Experiment and see if you can find an edge that suits your playing style.

Become UGLY to play against! But most of all play your tennis at your opponent’s end of the court.

If you want to develop this side of your game as a player or as a coach our Module 3 Course would be ideal.

It shows you how to plan practices, lessons and tactical scenarios for all levels of play.

Good luck in your next match!

In the last couple of years, we have been spreading the gospel that is Modern Tennis and we have been lucky enough to meet over 500 talented and passionate coaches who care a lot about what they are doing in their profession.

They all want to do the right thing for their pupils and for their own welfare and income.

Let no one say that tennis is a dying sport so long as you guys are driving it forwards!

As time went on, we realised that many felt isolated and alone about how they ran their lessons.

Many asked ‘were they doing the right thing?’ even when results gave them the answer.

We started our MTI business promoting a methodology, but have now found ourselves offering advice when asked for, on so many other subjects.

MTI has always strived to find answers to the many questions we get on a daily basis.

True, it is only our opinion that we can offer, but we always base that on logical common sense plus most importantly - our years of combined coaching and playing experience.

Some of the most common questions raised are; physical conditioning and tennis programmes.

A few days ago, we attended the TCUK conference as I’m sure many of you did. I think that I speak for many when I say just how eye opening, inspirational and thorough Jez Green was.

Although he works with elite players, his point is that there is no reason why club players should not experience the same.

Steve Green who trained Tim Henman said exactly the same thing a few years back.

We know that this is important work that should be done from day one, and should be relevant to their age.

But how do we do this during an hour lesson when coaches have said to us that they are worried by what the parents will say when they see little Joe without a racquet and not hitting balls?

For those who know me (Andy) well, I must have told you a thousand times that I have a multi sport background.

I was a County swimmer, I am a first dan in karate, my mum was a professional dancer and is now a dance teacher, my brother trained at Crystal Palace with the National high jump squad.

So what’s my point?

My point is this.

At all these sports, we never trained for just a one hour long session at one session a week. Nor did these sessions cause massive expense to our parents.

I’ll come to that later.

Plus all these sports required a huge amount of conditioning which no one questioned at the start of each session for at least 20 to 30 mins before we launched into any technical work.

How?

Simple, we trained for at least 90 mins as standard. This leaves plenty of time for all the work to be done for that lesson.

Before you start questioning this period of time when it comes to under 10s, my three daughters have been dancing with my Mum since they were 4 years old. Every session has always been 90 minutes.

She said to me ‘It has to be this amount of time. You have to condition the pupil by limbering and enhancing their core strength now otherwise how can they be strong or flexible enough to perform the exercises?

Plus they will prone to injury. Yes the limbering differs age group to age group, but everyone does it before any technical work is done. This is the foundation all athletes must have."

She was right and it's also what Jez was saying.

So the conclusion is?

It’s time has come to follow other sports and to expand those 60 minute tennis sessions to 90 minute sessions.

Let’s offer the total professional service by fully educating the parents so they are totally on side.

They are for these other sports, so why not tennis?

Whether you want to charge extra money is entirely up to you.

This brings me on to the lessons that you may offer your pupils.

Most programmes offer the following. Is this familiar to you at all?

Most pupils start in a group session which costs around £5.

They do this once a week.

Some parents then decide that they want to take tennis a bit more seriously so they opt for private lessons.

Suddenly that £5 price tag then jumps to anywhere between £20 to £50 per hour!!

Whooaa!

This is a huge hike for a lot of parents plus it takes a coach’s prime time and giving attention to just one maybe two players.

Is this a good ratio?

So how can we ensure the coach earns good money and prevent them losing out due to cancellations?

Increase the number of players getting more attention?

Ease the financial burden on parents?

Help players bond with other players?

Answer?

To offer Academy Lessons.

The coach offers a 90 minute session for 4 players maximum, of the same standard as each other, and charge £12 per session per child, payable in blocks of say 5 sessions.

The coach will earn £48 for 90 minutes work, the parents will find it financially easier, more players are being engaged, it’s more fun for juniors plus they have practice and doubles partners to play in tournaments.

If one player can’t make the session the coach can still earn without cancelling.

I currently do this at my club and it works very well indeed. I can earn good money whilst delivering a physical programme without rushing the session.

Everybody’s happy!

Gerry’s ‘Ghost’ of a chance wins the day!

Ghosting - This is a tactic which most have heard of but perhaps under practiced.

Anyway I just wanted to share my recent lesson experience with you.

I just started coaching this guy who said; ‘Andy, I always seem to suffer against faster baseline players who just seem to be steadier than me. My regular practice partner is just one of those guys who are just content to sit and wait for me to make the mistake. Can you help me at all?’

Well the first thing I did was to evaluate his game by playing a few points. I discovered that he hit the ball quite well especially volleys.

So I said to him; ‘Gerry what’s your game plan against this guy? How do you think you’re going to beat him?

He looked at me as if I’d just spoken Japanese.

‘Well… I just try and be more consistent than him’ he said.

‘Of course you can still do that’ I said, ‘but how about inflicting some tactical approach that really will hurt him?’

So we discussed his strengths and he liked the net.

We discussed his friend’s game style which was not a particularly powerful baseline game but very accurate nonetheless. Some may say a ‘hacker’ or ‘counter puncher’.

We both agreed that Gerry needed to rush this guy and take charge of the net wherever possible, especially as it transpired that his opponent used a slice backhand as the norm. However this guy rarely hit short balls.

It became clear we had to force the issue and shape the points on Gerry’s terms.

I asked him about serve and volley and he never had the confidence to do it in singles only doubles, so there was a valid practice point there in itself.

I then asked him about ghosting which as we know is attacking the net behind a shot that is not necessarily off a short ball but it could be off a slow ball.

For example, you may have just struck an aggressive inside out forehand to your opponent’s backhand before racing in and opting to play a drop volley.

I told him this is/was the tactic that made Sampras and Federer the players they are. They would steal into the net when playing a forehand from just inside the baseline when their opponent’s would least expect it!

Gerry was quite enthralled by the idea so we set to work.

I set up the 3 cross court target areas as per our DVD examples, and a volley target area.

We then played loads of part points with me feeding balls for him to clobber inside out forehands to my backhand only for me to slice back as his mate would do.

What a great fun drill! Gerry was inspired, playing drop volleys after closing the net after hitting very aggressive forehands!

When we brought the serve into play, Gerry realized that he could do this off the return of serve which to him was ideal as his mate didn’t have a massive second serve.

It so happened that Gerry was due to play this guy the following day and I asked him to keep me informed of how the game plan went.

Well, I got a text from a very jubilant Gerry the following evening! His mate didn’t know what had hit him!

‘I did what we practiced, I hit ball after ball to his backhand and I got in (ghosted) quite a few times which threw his timing out as he started to worry whether I was going to come in or stay back.

He made so many errors on a shot which is normally so reliable!!

He wasn’t a happy bunny! LOL!’

Gerry won 6-1, 6-3 I think it was.

I asked Gerry to pass on my number to his mate.

What do you think the answer was?

Have a look at this clip of Roger Federer and in particular his ghosting tactic after his topspin backhand here on YouTube. Enjoy!

This is a very simple drill to make the player feel as if they are taking charge of the rally and therefore the point.

After hitting a big first serve, stand slightly inside the baseline to anticipate a weak return that you can exploit by taking the ball on the rise.

After this second shot, you can either advance to the net or stay back but if you do the latter then keep that aggressive trend going throughout the remainder of the rally.

You can even set the drill up starting with an aggressive forehand instead of the serve if you wanted.

Psychologically, it really does make the player feel aggressive because the baseline can act as a sub conscious ‘wall’ and many players even at the top level sometimes spend far too much time behind it.

Just watch the way Federer does this. He won’t always retreat behind the baseline after his serve, he stands inside sometimes waiting for that weaker shot that allows him to take the ball early and normally end up winning the point through sheer domination.

This is a good fun drill that really makes players more attack minded by bearing down on their hapless opponents and challenges their opponents/practice partner to hit more effective returns

Several months ago we discussed the advantages of taking the ball on the rise or ‘early’ which is always a good idea when facing a kick serve.

This tactic doesn’t allow the ball to spin away from you and gives your opponent less time to recover.

How about this tactic on a hard court.

We all know that the ball bounces higher on a hard surface, so why not stand back and wait for the ball and track in the normal fashion.

Because the ball bounces higher and slower, you will have plenty of time.

You only have to look at Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray to see how far back they stand for the second serve, especially on a clay court.

Get your buddy to serve plenty of kick serves to you on a hard court.

By standing back, tracking and waiting for the ball you will be surprised how easily the ball will sit up for you.

By all means experiment with taking the return early as well. a good player can mix up both returns.

Firstly, I want to relate a fable I heard many years ago.

The difference between heaven and hell

or

One night a tennis player was awoken by an Angel. The Angel asked would you like to be shown the difference between Heaven and hell. Intrigued the tennis player accepted the Angel’s offer.

The Angel took the player first to hell. They went to a most beautiful grand house that had a huge hall where there was the most luxurious banquet of the most sumptuous food imaginable.

At first the tennis player thought this looks alright but then noticed how sad and distressed all the people were around the room. These people were manacled so that their arms were straight and they could not bend their arms to eat the food. It was a very sad scene!

The Angel then took the tennis player to Heaven and to his surprise he was taken to an identical place to hell. It was the same grand house with the huge hall and sumptuous banquet.

The biggest difference was the people, they were manacled the same but they were all happy and content!

They were happy and enjoying the banquet because they were feeding each other with the glorious food on offer.

I think the meaning here is very clear. The idea of players ‘coaching’ each other has to be one of the most effective tools of teaching. This applies to all sports.

If you are an expert in your field and are in some form of teaching profession, take our advice, choose and learn another skill from scratch.

I realize that people’s time is at a premium but believe me, by putting yourself in the position of a student will help your own profession no end.

In particular, try and learn in a group and through the coach’s direction or your own initiative, put into practice the ‘buddy’ system with a partner.

Suddenly the lesson becomes not only so much more interactive and fun, but also more effective. The reason being that by teaching others, you also engage your own learning receptors.  By teaching others and being their mirror so to speak, you are essentially teaching yourself.

The Voyage of Discovery!

Too many coaches and teachers enjoy the sound of their own voice and become this dictatorial presence in the learning environment.

They are in a sense force feeding their students.

They should back off and let the students embark on the voyage of discovery through working with each other.

All they have to do is set the scene by certain tasks and let the student take command and ask them what their five senses are experiencing.

This should be married with the topic of ‘problem solving’ issues that happen to arise in the particular subject.

All Modern Tennis Coaches are taught to be the ‘Guide on the side, not the sage on the stage!’

As a result, the coach’s job becomes twice as easy and twice as effective for the pupil.

That’s what I call a ‘Win, Win’!

“The key to being a truly effective Modern Tennis Coach is not what your pupils do when you are on court with them but what happens when you are not there.”

 

How many times during a tennis lesson or even during a match have you hit a shot and the coach or opponent has yelled; “good shot!” This shot might have been a winning shot or a shot that just landed on the line.

My question is; how many times have you thought ‘phew! That was lucky! I wasn’t aiming for that corner!’

Or you may have been aiming for that particular target area but your shot went far deeper than you ever imagined.

My tip is this….

If you are a coach taking a lesson, you may have explained in infinite detail to your student what the aim of the drill is going to be, or you may be just having a rally. In either case the student may be still unsure as to what the aim of the drill is or what a good shot actually means. Therefore you just retorting ‘good shot’ could be meaningless because the student just doesn’t know why.

So how can you be sure if the student understands?

I think we are all in agreement when I say that the purpose of any lesson on any subject is to first make the student self aware, then to make them sub consciously aware so that they are eventually able to perform the task without thinking about it too much.

So let’s first make them self aware. I do this in three stages;

1) First I get the student to visualise the shot they are working on as they are tracking the ball. I get them to visualise the spin they are going to impart, the pace they are going to generate, the height over the net and lastly the placement. This sounds like an awful lot, so it is when you have to write it, but when you talk to your student about it, believe me, it’s ten times more effective. You essentially create the picture in the student’s mind’s eye.

2) When you think they can really see the shot, get your student to say out loud ‘good shot’ or just ‘shot’ whenever they think they have performed the shot or tactic correctly as they intended. So rather than you dictating what’s good and what’s not so good, your student is leading the way and therefore learning very quickly.

What actually happens is that the student learns self satisfaction. As soon as they experience this, their brains will quickly seek to recreate that scenario again, because it’ felt good’ last time and they naturally want to do it again. This is how they develop consistency.

3) Now instead of crying out ‘good shot’ every time, get them to count each successful shot in their heads. You can do this in both the rally stage and the part point stage.

If a parent is watching then get them to participate by counting as well. The difference of opinion as to what was a good shot is white remarkable sometimes!

That’s why you must educate parents as well as their juniors!

The other essential point here is that you are also training them to take the positives out of the rally whether they have won the point or not.

How many times have we seen our players play a superb rally, they get themselves set up but miss the final shot.

What do they always then focus on? Their good shots during the last rally?

NO they focus on that one shot they missed.

They start to focus on the negative rather than the positive.

As a result they attract more negative vibes. They must focus on the positives no matter what!!

When you try this for the first time, you will be amazed at the results. Your students will really feel the difference as mine do.

I wish I had a pound (or maybe a dollar or euro in this climate) every time I heard this remark from a coach feeding to their pupil; “You are too close to the ball!”

It’s a fair comment and we offer superb ways of tracking the ball in order to hit the ball efficiently BUT it’s time for a reality check.

Let’s face it; even with all the best coaching in the world, it’s going to happen at some time, especially to the amateur player.

So the question posed by the coach should be: “Ok you know it’s not ideal to be too close to the ball when you want to play it, so what do you do when it does happen?

Do you simply throw in the towel for that point?”

Tactical Scenario Poser:

What happens when you are facing an opponent with a 100 mph serve aimed straight at their body?

Answer: You are more than likely going to be very close to the ball when you return the ball.

So what can you do?

Well you should do one of the following;

1) body shift to one side in order to expose your forehand if you had time or

2) play either topspin or slice backhand from in directly in front of your body.

All of these shots would require very little backswing.

Drill:

Stand in a return serve position.

Get your partner or coach to feed medium over arm serves from the service line right at your body and hence to return the ball from in front of your body with no backswing but ensure that you finish properly.

You can use either topspin and/or slice. You can also utilise a body shift so that you make slightly more room for yourself.

Progression 1: Speed your feed up as appropriate and play points. You score if you make the return to required target area and so on.

Progression 2: Then play the point out. Then take turns.

The objective of the session is to understand that even though being too close to the ball is not an ideal position to be in, you will both gain the confidence and knowledge of how to get out of trouble rather than just panic and slap across the ball, after which you just shout; “I was too close!!”

POOR SHOT SELECTION?

You have to agree the phrase ‘poor shot selection!’ is used by many spectating coaches and commentators alike at pro level and if it used at this level, then at club level it must be in abundance!

Selecting the right shot at the right time can be tricky, especially for amateur players. They then blame poor technique when they make an error trying to hit a down the line backhand when playing five feet behind the baseline and outside the singles line.

A defensive shot is not necessarily a shot without pace. It has more to do with the placement.

So a defensive shot is normally a shot that is placed cross court centre or cross court corner. This will drastically improve consistency.

When first learning martial arts, you are first taught how to defend yourself via blocking techniques with only a small amount of counter attacking, this philosophy should be extended to tennis.

Once you as a player can deal with any amount of aggression being thrown at you then you can work on your counter attacks.

The big hitters at club level are normally the most erratic, so if you don your running shoes and get everything back, you can wait for your moment to strike when your opponent presents you with an opportunity.

If you really study the likes of Sampras and Federer in particular, that is what they are so good at. When playing from the back of the court they play simple shots all day long until they are able to strike.

Remember; a simple shot can always be a shot with plenty of acceleration and spin but it is placed with a high margin for error including six feet clearance over the net as Nadal does.

So next time you play, if you are making errors, don’t always blame poor technique.

Have a look at your choice of shot during certain scenarios.

Play the shots you know that you do well on.

This is playing to your strengths. 

Your coach should be able to help.

For example; is your lob better than your pass?

Should you chip the return more? and so on.

The stats say that more points at amateur level if not pro level are won via the opponent’s errors rather than a player’s clean winning shots.

As a player in the modern game you may have been swamped by loads of technical jargon like swing shapes, footwork patterns, grips and so on.

Spin is King!

But if you are an emerging player just starting out, or even a recreational player looking for inspiration, just remember that spin is everything in tennis. Without it you will not be able to control the ball no matter how quick you are!

If you have lessons with an MTI qualified coach, they will teach you all about timing and the feel for the ball.

They will also teach you about the different spins used in tennis. They will teach you this from day one.

Once you have mastered and totally understood what a controlled shot looks like, then you will progress to power production. Don’t run before you can walk!

You must be able to control the ball first and gain total feel for the ball.

Once you have become a spin doctor, you need to develop a natural technique that gives you the optimum power output, whilst still maintaining your spin control.

A good MTI coach will show you simple progressions to develop this too.

You will develop your natural ‘shape’ through your own acceleration and above all visualization.

You must always visualize the shot you are going to play no matter where you are on court. This will include the direction, spin, angle, height over the net and the depth.

When addressing a free kick, David Beckham visualises the ball in that top corner of the net and the shape on the ball required.

As does Tiger Woods when negotiating a tricky ‘dog leg’ at Augusta.

However, even when developing your technique, do this slowly initially.

Your power will come naturally and you will be able to repeat this again and again.

Why?

Because it works and it has been developed totally naturally.

As a result you will feel great!

This is how you develop ‘good technique’ on all your shots

Taking the ball on the rise drill

This is also known as ‘taking the ball early’ BUT please be careful with your terminology! Saying the word ‘early’ can lead to players taking premature backswings!

You want the player to hit the ball as it rises off the floor because of the amount of kinetic energy still contained within the ball which the player can redirect against their opponent, plus hitting the ball early gives their opponent less time to recover and therefore react.

One of my favourite drills is this ...

As part of your warm up stand inside the baseline and rally normally but the rules state here that you are not allowed to stand outside the baseline at all!

If you do then it is a point against you.

By standing inside the court you will hit almost every ball on the rise.

Suggested progression: Perform the same drill but start with a serve. Play the first to 10 points on each other’s serve.

Try it, it’s great fun for both coach and pupil and makes you a more aggressive player!

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This set will not only have a huge impact with coaches’ lesson and development plans, but also will help players and parents understand more about just how simple tennis really is!

The people who have attended our module 1 course will understand that this first DVD is essentially the complete course material shown in its entirety. The second of the two DVDs further enhances our module 2 course - Vertical Power and will take your game to the next level.

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Warm Ups

I think we all know that tennis is notoriously guilty of neglecting suitable warm ups, especially at club level. I think performance squads are getting better, but I have witnessed so called full time squads and their efforts at a warm up and it has been horrific! Five minutes of token gesture stretches then a full baseline rally for the next twenty minutes simply is NOT GOOD, NOT INTERESTING OR INSTRUCTIVE ENOUGH!

However, I am not going to delve into the regions of pulse raisers and ply metric stretching during this article.  Suffice to say that student(s) should spend at least 15 to 20 minutes indulging in this area. Of course the imagination of the coach should be called upon with the employment of medicine balls, skipping ropes and so on. Nowadays good warm ups actually contribute to the performance conditioning of the players.

Ok, I will move away from that area of warm ups and just focus on two, three or four individuals on court taking a lesson.

So let’s move away from the usual 20 minute rally up and down the middle of the court at the start of the tennis lesson. As I mentioned before, modern warm ups are becoming more conditioning exercises, designed to help not only physical prowess but also technical, tactical and mental enhancement at the same time. This is proving far more specific to the game and above all, FUN!

For example; throwing and catching rugby balls to aid upper body rotation, American footballs for the serve and so on.

Another example would be a simple game of throw and catch which progresses to a more competitive stage. For beginners this game is crucial because they not only develop coordination but also learn about scoring and tactical awareness.

Let’s get back to the ‘rally’ stage, where the coach is now barking seemingly endless instructions at their pupil who is probably nodding out of politeness at the other end.

Two queries here. What are the teaching point(s)? And is hitting up and down the middle condusive to a tennis match?

Whilst there is nothing wrong with hitting up and down the middle in itself; it is indeed a good way of warming up before a match as we know.

BUT….

During a lesson, 20 minutes of barking generic instructions of ‘do this’ and ‘do that ‘will not generate a feeling of self assurance from the student, as they will always be waiting for the coach’s next ‘pick up’ point. Neither does hitting up and down portray realism.

My lesson warm ups are as follows:

• Have a good 5 minutes rallying in the service box
• Move slowly back to the baseline
• Now instead of hitting up and down, the coach should stand on the deuce court side and tell the student to hit everything to that side no matter what shot they are hitting. The coach can start the rally with a serve to the deuce court. Both players can move up the court and volley, the play is completely open. Start with medium pace and gradually build up the pace
• After 5 minutes, repeat to the advantage court
• Now play the ‘cross court and down the line drill.’ One player elects to hit all shots cross court and the other down the line. The players serve 5 points each; first to 15 points wins. Now swap shots and play again
• Note any work that you wish to do. This should be a follow up from the lesson plan!

So what are the advantages of these progressions?

• Fun, competitive and game specific
• Allows the coach to quickly assess the player, which is crucial especially if the student is new to the coach
• This can be adapted for any level of player. For example, a beginner may play from either three quarter court or the service line.
• The player starts to self identify their own strengths and thus produce favourite shots at certain situations
• The player develops good tactical placement skills, without being dictated to.
• Great source of anaerobic exercise.
• Allows all shots into the warm up at the same time.
• The player can focus on strengths as well as weaknesses.

The coach should concentrate on strengths and not just weaknesses. They should build the players game style. Use what is good.

This sounds obvious but I was at a local junior tournament recently, and by ear wigging a conversation between coach and parent talking about this boy who was suffering in a match, I could tell negativity was rife. Comments like “He’ll never have a good backhand.” “He is not aggressive” and my favourite of all time, “He doesn’t move his feet!”

Negative, negative, NEGATIVE! No wonder that poor lad lost!

We can therefore deduce that the tennis lesson is not a warm up followed by a hit followed by the rudimentary work done with the player. Indeed not, the lesson starts when the player enters the court and in most cases before.

What I mean is the coach should take some time off the court in order to speak with their player. This can involve not only tennis issues such as matches but also the player’s life outside of the game. By taking an interest here, the coach can ascertain outside influences that may hinder/help their student. More importantly, this is a good source of the ‘bonding’ element between player and coach.

Basically, be a ‘mate’.

Now before most of you jump out of your trees at me! Let me explain. I am not saying it is wrong to hit a winning shot. In my experience when coaching club players however, they are for the most part looking to do precisely that during every rally.

Andy Magrath

So why is this mindset not healthy?

Well for two reasons.

Firstly, the players normally rush their shots in an attempt to hit that ‘golden’ shot. This leads to many unforced errors through mistiming.

Secondly, when that magic moment arrives, they may well hit a fantastic shot right into the corner and not expect it to come back. When it does the player may well just be admiring their shot, believing they had done enough (ball watching) and not be ready for the reply.

Also the player can get despondent, when the shot of their dreams is returned and end up throwing the rally away with an error on the very next ball. Their mind set being “well, if the opponent gets my best shots back, what chance have I got to win?”

Ok so why do players behave like this?

Players do this for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, some players believe that this is how you are meant to play the game. To be winning shot oriented. They see the Pros on TV and only notice the glory shots.

Secondly, they may well be up against a ‘consistent’ opponent who ‘gets everything back’ (how many times have I heard that!!!!) and therefore be looking for quick ways to end the rally.

So what are the solutions?

• Remember why you love playing tennis! Most people love to rally in a practice rally. They sub consciously say “give me another ball, I want to hit it!” However, during a point that mentality is completely reversed. They say “No don’t hit the ball back! I want to win so much!” You must love to rally!
• Be aggressive as far as power and direction but don’t say “this going to be a winner!” Just concentrate on placement
• You must be calm and patient during a rally, even against so called consistent players. Let them call you the consistent one for a change. Remember to wait for the ball.
• There is nothing wrong with hitting down the middle of the court. Some players hate this as this does not always present them with a natural angle to hit into the corner.
• Next time you watch a Pro match on TV, really study the rally from start to finish. You can do this by taping a match. Do the Pros hit winning shots all the time? No they do not. They hit powerfully but they are patient. They are waiting for a chance to put the ball into the corners and pressurise their opponent.
• Concentrate on hitting to an opponent’s weakness to force them into an error
• You must understand that tennis is a game of mostly errors not winners. These errors are categorised into both forced and unforced. Forced is when a player makes an error via a forcing shot from an opponent and unforced is when the player makes an error when under no real pressure from the opponent.

The strengths of a Double Handed Backhand

Andy Roddick

The three major assets of a double handed backhand are:

• Strength
• Control
• Disguise

How can we consider these assets tactically?

Hitting on the Rise (Taking the ball early)

By using both hands, great strength can be imparted which allows a player to hit this shot both consistently and effectively.

The advantages are numerous:

• Hitting on the rise gives the opponent less time to recover
• Hitting further up the court creates more angles i.e. widens out the opponent’s court
• Easier to generate pace – the longer the wait the slower the pace of the incoming ball
• Sends a message of aggressive intent to the opponent

This aggressive tactic is applied in particular to the second serve return. You only have to watch Nadal, Sharapova or either Williams’s sister to notice this. They move towards the ball in order to cut off the angle.

First Serve Returns

The use of both hands helps the player absorb fast incoming serves and then able to discharge ample amounts of force in deflection.

This does not take anything away from single handed backhands, where you will see Roger Federer topspin a backhand where most players will slice, but most club players who use single handed backhands tend to block fast returns and create a more neutral return where a double handed shot can impart a more aggressive response with topspin.

This is especially true when dealing with a ‘body’ serve.

High and Wide Balls

Many single backhand players may struggle with these types of balls, especially young juniors. I maybe should not be saying this because as you know I teach Charisma who as petite seven year old hits a one handed backhand and we have been working on this very issue.

Yes she can hit a very useful two hander but it is entirely her choice to play one handed. Who am I to argue? She will find her way, at least she can do both and therefore has options.

Though it is possible to counter a high ball with one hand the two handed shot has the strength to hit up and across this ball at shoulder height especially for junior players

Summary

No I do not necessarily favour a two handed backhand over a one handed backhand! My philosophy is like buying a pair of shoes. Try lots of pairs on.

They all have their good points but eventually you will find the pair that is right for you, even though your partner may say “well I thought the other ones suited you better!”

Another Andy taking the ball early

The One Thing You Must Be Able To Do If You Want To Improve Your Tennis Serve

By Paul Gold

Is there a way to the perfect tennis serve?

Is there a way to get a faster tennis serve?

Well for the people still struggling with their delivery there is one main word that they should be looking to improve - THROW!

Yes that's it, there is a direct relationship between someone's throwing ability and their serving ability and that's a fact - do not forget that.

The fact remains that far too many people miss this point and do all the wrong things when trying to improve and even learn the serve and that includes many coaches who do all the wrong things when it comes to tennis serve coaching.

It has nothing to do with strength, gender and/or muscle size as tennis serve biomechanics are all about throwing technique to such an extent that I regularly have my under 9 squad out-throw many of my adult squads just to illustrate the point. It causes a few red faces but everybody leaves with a better understanding.

Also high standard female players can out-serve male amateurs most of whom are bigger so that just proves the tennis serve technique over muscle or even gender issue. This is not some revelation in tennis training as people were throwing rackets across the net many years ago when most courts were grass and the chances of breaking your racket was minimal and even now the Williams sisters throw their old rackets about to practise their serves and they are 2 of the biggest servers in the Women's game!

So how good is your throwing?Can you throw a tennis ball from one baseline to the other or even better into the back fence opposite (with no run up)?

If you can't then you need to be working on it because I have 8 year olds that can so it is possible!

Biggest mistakes/things to get right! The main error I see is where people try to throw a ball with their body facing the target, rather than sideways on and rotating their hips, trunk and shoulders in order to accelerate the ball.

The second BIG mistake is when the elbow is lower than the shoulder as you bring the arm forward. You must get the elbow higher just like you were carrying a javelin NOT a shot putt! The third BIG mistake is when the wrist is behind the elbow at the release point.

Look at any slow-mo of great servers or even pitchers (same basic action) and you will see that when they release the ball, their throwing arm is fully extended and straight from the shoulder to the wrist. If you don't have these three "factors" in place you will end up with a pushing action rather than a chucking/throwing action and a very ineffective serve. So get those old tennis balls and get to work - remember you don't have to be a girl to throw like a girl!

Paul Gold is a Performance Enhancement Specialist and Speed Agility Quickness trainer. For info about products and services contact via www.tennis-training-central.com He has just released a special report on strength training for tennis, go to www.tennis-strength.com for details. He also has a tennis footwork special report, go to www.footwork4tennis.com for more details.

If you are reading this you may well think you are a beginner player or maybe you are a beginners coach.

Roland Moodie a complete beginner and learned to serve in just 10 minutes (Click on the picture to see Roland's You Tube testimonial)

So what is a beginner player?

A beginner is anyone who is yet to, or coming to terms with the concept, rules and etiquette of the game.

Also they are developing the three ‘F’s which are ‘FIND’ the ball, ‘FEEL’ the ball and ‘FINISH’ on most of, if not all of their shots and developing their rallying confidence.

Equipment to get started

Tennis Racquet: There are some very good makes of racquet out there. The question I get asked a lot is which one is the best? Answer is to visit a reputable supplier and try out some demo racquets to see which one feels best. A good supplier/coach will also offer advice on the size of grip and the string quality and tension.

With juniors, racquets come in different lengths that suit the height and age of the player. Racquet bags are always useful as you can carry just about everything in them rather than having lots of bits to carry to the court. Image is everything. Remember; you don’t have to break the bank, to get a decent racquet that’s right for you.

Shoes and clothing

It is crucial that you have the right shoes for tennis! Too many times I have seen injuries because of this fatal error. Take some time to find out what surface you are likely to be playing on every time you play so you can get the right shoes for the right job; for example you can get indoor carpet shoes with no grip which are no good for outdoor play but great for indoor carpet. You must make sure they have ideal support and cushioning for you. Again make sure you ask a good supplier for advice.

With clothing, try to make sure you are wearing ideal sports clothing that allows you to move freely i.e not jeans! You will definitely need a track suit or sweat top for those cold days to warm up in.

There are some fantastic ranges from various manufacturers such as Adidas, Nike, TTK and Head. If you are about to join a club make sure that you check on their clothing etiquette some have strict rules! Make sure that you shop around to get a good deal.

Beginner’s Modern Tennis Coaching tip

Stand opposite sides of the net with your coach or practice partner and play throw and catch (one handed) over the net. You hopefully will find this very easy because your teaching pro will then introduce the scoring rules and point mechanism to you.

During this fun exercise (which can always be used in a warm up for any level player), you will learn about moving on the court and the importance of out manoeuvring your opponent, plus other tactics.

Your pro will introduce the overarm throw into the correct service box, to start the point. This mimics an overarm service action.

Points can be scored by dropped balls, balls thrown out and in the net etc.

I have used this exercise many times and never were the basic rules and tactics, so easily taught!