Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

                  Sir Alex Ferguson, the renowned former football manager of Manchester United, had incredible success over a 27-year career with the club.  Since he departed from the club, Manchester United has struggled to match the outstanding results Ferguson could produce during his years in charge.  Many of the Managers who have replaced Ferguson have also had big reputations and have proven track records at other big clubs. So why have these replacements not been able to match the standards set by Ferguson and demanded by the clubs' supporters? Why was Sir Alex Ferguson able to do for Manchester United what no other football manager has been able to do since?  If Manchester United were the same team, why were they unable to continue with the same results? There was a similar story in the world of boxing. When Michael Gerard Tyson, better known to the world as Mike, was 16 years old, he met a boxing trainer named Gus D'A...

Should you be practising with players who are better than you to improve? Well, yes, sometimes. One of the problems many coaches have to deal with when they train large groups of players is this myth amongst players and parents that to get better; you need to practice with players who are better than you. By practising with better players, you are automatically required to move faster on the court, make quicker decisions, and be stronger mentally.  But I've seen significant progress in players who have practiced against players who are not as good. Here's why working with weaker players can be beneficial to your game. Offense & Defense Even a dominant player like Noval Djokovic, during his best years, only won 56% of the points he played. That means he lost 44% of the points he played when he was at his best! Tennis is a game that involves three conditions when you are playing a point; you are either in an Offensive mode, a defensive mode, or you are Neutral (neither Offens...