Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

  You could be mistaken for thinking tennis is all about aggression. At the top level, players are pounding the ball at every opportunity. You'd be surprised then if you learned that my goal when coaching advanced players is to first have them develop a defensive mental foundation.   I'm not suggesting that I teach players to send up continuous lobs during the rally or for them to stand at the back fence to retrieve balls. My goal with advanced players is to change the internal mental dialogue all players experince before every stroke.  A PLAYERS INTERNAL DIALOG BEFORE SHOTS Every player has a continuous mental dialogue inside their head when they play a point.  "How aggressive should I be on this ball?", "Is this the ball to change direction down the line?" etc. The internal dialogue inside our heads drives our decision making There's nothing wrong with this type of internal dialogue, but there are better questions to ask yourself before each shot. So,...

I have recently joined a team of coaches at a large club. During my first week, I noticed two very different approaches to coaching beginners. The club we all work at has a thriving beginner coaching program. It's been a long time since I've worked with beginners, and it's  my first coaching experience using the "Coloured Ball" system. We use balls with varying degrees of pressure, making it a little easier for young children to control the ball.   The "Blue" balls are used for very young beginners, followed by Red, Orange, and Green, and eventually, players use the standard yellow tennis ball. Working alongside young players and many different coaches has uncovered two different teaching philosophies used worldwide, not just at our club. The first philosophy, and most common one, is; 1. Function Follows Form Coaches who adopt this philosophy believe that students should be taught the correct form of the stroke from the beginning and that function (the a...

Although the top male and female players in our game are mostly  baseliners, all of them have developed ways to conclude the point, to finish. If you haven't found ways to take opportunities during the rally and finish points on your terms, you're going to be using a lot of extra physical and mental energy to win points. Here are 4 ways to help you shorten the points and finish sooner. CREATE AN INSIDE FOREHAND An "Inside" ball is a term from Paul Wardlaw's "The Directionals" theory. It describes a ball which comes towards your body, and doesn't pass your outside shoulder. Whenever your opponent hits "Outside" your far shoulder (cross-court) you're under pressure because the ball is always moving away from you.  Inside balls however, give you options to dictate the rally by either hitting cross-court or inside-out to add pressure to your opponent. Whenever your opponent gives you an inside ball take advantage of it and start to apply p...

If you're like most players , you've probably been tweaking your ground strokes by focusing on the top half of your body. The grip, the back-swing, the follow-through, and even the angle of your shoulders are probably just a few of the things you've tried to adjust in an effort to improve your groundstroke game. However, greater gains can be made on your ground-strokes by focusing on the lower half of your body. There's a technique you can use whenever you hit your ground strokes that, if done correctly, will give you perfect timing, balance, increased power and improve your consistency.  Here's what to implement during your next practice session. THE LINE Next time you're on the court, imagine a Line running from the top of your head and continuing down through your body to the ground. If you're standing straight upright, that imaginary Line will be positioned equally between both feet, but as you sway your torso to the left or the right, forward or backwar...