Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Strategy is the most neglected part of a player’s development, and yet with the correct strategy any opponent can be beaten   In my opinion, Strategy is the “next Frontier” of tennis. Most of the competitive players I see today are technically very good and are physically in great shape but few are playing their matches with any real understanding of Strategy.  Here are three super-effective ways for you to add some basic strategy to help boost your game almost immediately. 1. HIT CROSSCOURT There is a saying in boxing that “The Jab is everything, everything comes from the Jab”. Every fighter is trained to establish the Jab during the fight because once a fighter can dominate with their Jab, they dominate the fight.  Why? Because the boxing Jab establishes the distance between the two fighters allowing one fighter to dictate whether the fight is conducted at close quarters or further apart. The Jab is also the “stepping stone” for other punches. Figh...

As a tennis coach there can be few experiences that equal sitting in the court as a Davis Cup Captain. You’re an integral part of the drama and at the core of the excitement. The fact is that you are communicating directly with your player at each changeover and therefore actively participating in the match. The conditions we experienced in the different countries we visited varied greatly. We were drawn to play Kuwait in an early round of the 1990 Competition during the time of Ramadan, a month of fasting for Muslims around the world.  During the daylight hours you are expected to abstain from drinking and eating which would have been fine if we didn’t have to play the best of five sets in the hot desert sun. The tie was broadcast locally live on TV and during the changeovers the camera would discreetly pan away from the players and into the crowd, allowing players from both countries to drink water! The timing of our return home from that fixture against Kuwait w...

LET'S BE CLEAR from the start, you need both options! Open and closed stances have advantages and disadvantages, and you need to adopt both stances during a match if you want to play tennis at a high level. Here’s when it’s best to hit an open stance ground stroke and why… OPEN STANCE 1.   Better for higher balls because you can generate more power and maintain balance. With a higher ball , generating power on the shot is sometimes difficult. Adopting an Open Stance allows you to achieve back-swing and follow-through by utilising upper-body rotation.  2.   It c an help you disguise your intentions on certain balls, such as a mid-court put-away. You want to keep your opponent guessing on which corner you will target. Adopting an open stance allows you to "look" the same on every set-up, and all you need to do is adjust your contact point ( late or early ), to change direction. 3.  It's e asier to recover from wide balls and return back to the ce...

With the US Open starting this week, there is plenty to learn while watching the matches, which we can use to improve our game. One technique you will see often over the next two weeks is ' THE LONG LAST STEP .' The top players use this technique to help with coordination, timing, and balance as they move around the court to hit the ball. To understand The Long Last Step, we need to break the whole topic of movement into 3 parts. All 3 parts relate to each other, and The Long Last Step is an integral element of them. #1 MOMENTUM When you run to hit a ground stroke, momentum is created. As you reach the ball, that momentum has to be disciplined before you attempt to hit the ball; otherwise, you will lose balance during the stroke. Any balance problems during the execution of a stroke will mean a lack of consistency. To control your body's momentum, we create a last step that is longer than the other steps used to reach the ball. By stepping long in this way, we hav...

The top players have few weaknesses in their games, and as I have said many times to reach the top it's really important you work on eliminating any weaknesses you may have. Weaknesses in your game eat away at your confidence and usually are worse when you are under the most pressure and occur at the most unwelcome times. The big picture when developing players for the future should also include working on strengths.  Young players should be well rounded and be equally skilled in dealing with defensive and offensive situations. Here are my 4 top choices when developing the offensive game of a young player: #1 OWN A GREAT SERVE Owning a great serve is a huge asset in tennis. If you can hold serve or even put your opponent on the defensive at the start of each point you will win a large percentage of your service games. HERE'S WHAT TO DO... https://thetenniswhisperer.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-two-must-have-service-techniques.html #2 HAVE  A STRO...

The three most important words to a player are preparation, preparation, and preparation. Thorough preparation begins and ends on the practice court and means that you will be ready for whatever your opponent throws at you in the match. It means that you will enter each match knowing that you have prepared. But what form should your preparation take? How should you structure your practice in the days, weeks, and months before your matches? Preparation for matches begins on the practice court. The ancient Chinese warlord Sun Tzu was highly sought after by many Chinese emperors because of his incredible knowledge of warfare. Back then, having a superior army meant the difference between an entire state living or dying, and Sun Tzu was the best. Based on his theories and observations, the book "The Art of War" is still a best seller worldwide even today, and his philosophies are still being followed.  Sun Tzu said this about the topic of Offense and Defense:  " INVINCIBILIT...

There’s no doubt that we are experiencing a GENERATION WAR IN TENNIS AT THE MOMENT . The old guard of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are under threat from the new guard consisting of Thiem, Zverev, Tsitsipas, and Shapovalov.  Recent results in the lead up to the French Open have seen the new guard matching and even beating the old guard in each tournament Most surprising during this time has been the declining form of Rafael Nadal. The former 'King of Clay' has not been able to win any of the tournaments during this early part of the European clay-court season. His chances of winning the French Open this year look bleak. Federer can be excused for not winning any of the lead up tournaments but he has shown us his game is good enough to beat anyone on the day and at this stage of his career he’s probably quietly saving his best effort for the grand slam. Djokovic is the pick of the old guard to go all the way at the French. He’s a proven winner on clay and h...

Tennis players need the ability to shift their awareness around as they play. Each shot requires a slightly different focus, a different awareness to take place. No stroke you play is the same. Here are the areas you need to send your awareness during a point. Some of the areas I mention may surprise you. Tennis is not just about awareness of the ball and your opponent… there’s much more to tennis than that! 1.   COURT AWARENESS Because you are playing the ball from different areas within the court you need to be aware of where you are standing. This is even more important when you are in the less familiar areas such as very deep off the baseline or very wide on either side of the court. When you are made to play from these 'special' positions on the court, shift your awareness to where you are standing so that you can factor in things like the height of the net, and the distance to the baseline.  Awareness of your position on the court will also tell you whether yo...