Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Everyone wants a better serve because a better serve almost certainly means that your game will rise to a higher level. The serve is the single most important shot in the game. E The serve can only improve in 4 ways Accuracy   Power Consistency Variety Luckily there are two easy to learn techniques that if mastered, will give you all four of these desired outcomes. 1. The front foot The front foot for a right-handed player is the left foot, and it's the right foot for a left-handed player.  The function of the front foot is to become the "bridge" for weight transfer from the back to the front. Think of the weight transfer during the serve as an action involving three points. (1) Weight on the back leg/foot (2) weight  transitioning to the front foot, and (3) the finish position after contact, which is forward and inside the court. The important middle phase, phase 2, between the back leg/f...

There are a lot of tennis myths out there that have been circulating for years. The longer they circulate the more credibility they gather. Many of them can actually hurt your game, particularly if you are trying to play at an advanced level. Here is my list of the 5 most damaging tennis myths... Bend your Knees If you are trying to bend your knees on groundstrokes you could be making a big mistake. Without understanding the reason why we bend our knees the danger is that the important 2nd step will be missing. What is the important 2nd step? It's straightening the legs again after that initial bend. This straightening action transfers the ground forces that the bent knees have prepared. Therefore in reality bending  knees is only the preparation phase, while straightening the legs creates the all important interaction with the ground which sends a chain reaction through the body to assist your swing with timing and power.       ...

The best players use rituals to help them perform Everyone responds to events in different ways. Dropping a glass of water can make us angry, shocked, and frustrated or could even become a catalyst for laughter. It all depends on the person and how dropping that glass of water makes them feel.   Like thousands of other events throughout your day, dropping that glass of water is a CUE that creates an action.  In his bestselling book “The Power of Habit” author Charles Duhigg calls the action that follows a Cue  a Routine . He states that while the Cue is the same for everyone, it’s in the routine that you see the differences in people. Watch a game of tennis and you will see all the same cues. You will observe a player who is fatigued, some matches are more important than others, poor line calls occur, a player will go down a break of serve and another will go up a break of serve. These are all cues that evoke a routine. Many of these routines are destructive...

RE-DIRECTING THE BALL DOWN THE LINE IS DIFFICULT BUT CAN HAVE HUGE REWARDS  DESCRIPTION One of the scariest things you do in tennis is to change the direction of the ball and hit down the line off a ball coming from cross-court. You are attempting to re-direct the ball to another angle which requires considerable skill. It’s much easier going back cross-court because you are hitting through the same line. If you can execute the down the line shot well during the rally it’s a big plus to your game because it stops your opponent getting too comfortable with your shot selection, they will now have to worry about the unexpected change of direction – something few players can do that well. Here are the key things to focus on when going down the line (backhand and forehand). 1.       The position of your feet: o   The best way to change direction, either down the line or cross-court, is to change your contact point. Many...

DICTATE WHERE THE FIRST 3 STROKES SHOULD BE PLAYED AND HELP THE PLAYER GROOVE THEIR RESPONSES DESCRIPTION: The most important two shots in tennis are the serve and the return of serve. While many “modern players” today are extremely competent hitting ground-strokes, the very best players have also developed their serve and return games to a high level. Unfortunately it’s normal that little more than 10-15% of practice sessions involve these two shots. Serving practice involving a basket of balls is helpful to develop technique but it lacks those elements that would make it realistic. What you really need to help your serve and your return and make practice more realistic is to include the mental pressure, variable outcomes and spontaneous decision making of a real point.     We also need the serve and the return to be repeated many times so that they both become instinctive. The Combination Drill does all these things. The Combination Drill will ...