Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Today's greatest myth in tennis is that a perfect swing ( form) equals  a perfect game.  Players and coaches everywhere focus on training form, hoping it will translate into better results. Players and Coaches everywhere are teaching form over function That's simply not true. Golfers can work on their swing at the driving range for hours, perfecting the smallest details and seeing great results later.  Golf, however, is a "Closed" skill sport. Picture a golfer standing over the ball, having already decided what club to use and with the luxury of calmly deciding the specific flight they want the ball to travel. With Closed skill sports, you have time. Closed Skill: "A skill performed in a stable or largely predictable environmental setting. The movement patterns for closed skills can be planned in advance"     - Oxford Dictionary Closed-skill sports also often rely on a similar, repetitive movement each time.  High board diving, snooker, and archery ar...

When you hit a ball with late or early contact, that can be a positive thing or a negative thing. You either did it on purpose or by mistake,  Let's look at late and early contact in the positive sense first. To master the tennis rally you need to be able to direct the ball both down the line and cross court at will. This is where the ability to hit late and early on purpose is crucial. INTENTIONAL LATE AND EARLY CONTACT: If you contact the ball early with in the contact zone the ball will go cross court.   If you contact the ball late within the contact zone the ball will travel down the line or inside out ( depending on how late you hit the ball) This is the positive aspect of late and early contact. UNINTENTIONAL LATE AND EARLY CONTACT: However, most players think of late and early contact in the negative sense. This is when they can get fixated with only one contact point and start to struggle with timing the ball in the one spot within th...

F FUN WITH THE LANGUAGE The huge billboard on the expressway to Bangkok’s old Don Muang airport always made me chuckle.  I could picture the Thai workers diligently putting it up in the hot sun, but not really knowing too much about its message.  The billboard graphic was of a muscular guy standing proudly in his underwear, six pack tensed and with the caption below reading “ MEN   SUNDERWEAR”.   For several years I entered my apartment block where a sign on the front door asked those who entered to be “QUITE PLEASE”.  This was a sign brought from a business supply store and I can only imagine that several thousand of these erroneous signs were sold around Thailand.   I often wonder why many of these businesses didn’t have the English checked before putting signs up in public, like the restaurant near my home with the street sign out front saying “BOND STEET STAEK HOUSE” and the donation box for stray street dogs announcing “MEN’S BEST FRIEN...

Whenever the Thai National tennis teams trained for an important event such as Asian Games or SEA Games, we often travelled to the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai.   Training up in Chiang Mai helped the players by getting them away from the distractions of Bangkok. It was also ideal because of the opportunity it gave us to run up Doi Suthep, the mountain that overlooks Chiang Mai.  It’s a daunting run but it always meant that my players were in the best possible shape when competition time came around. Doi Suthep was our endurance building block and I would see the benefits of all the hard work done in Chiang Mai come out in the important matches later. We had two alternative morning runs in Chiang Mai , Either a lap of the city or partway up Doi Suthep. These morning runs were always competitive and although I would be first on the runs at the beginning of our sessions in Chiang Mai, after a week of training the players would be running past me duri...

In 2005 Martina Hingis decided to make a come-back to professional tennis.  Martina had walked away from tennis in 2002 after a career that saw her rise to number 1 in the rankings and stayed there for a total of 206 weeks. She captured 15 Grand Slam titles which included 5 singles, 9 women’s doubles, and 1 mixed doubles title. Martina Hingis burst on the tennis scene in 1993  she became the youngest  player to win a  Grand Slam  ( The French Junior Singles) at only 13 years old Martina’s first match back was going to be the Pattaya Women’s Open, held annually in the seaside resort town of Pattaya, Thailand.  The tournament is owned and run by an old friend of mine Geoffrey Rowe.  Geoffrey has been running women’s events in Thailand for many years and Thai tennis owes him a huge debt of thanks.  It was his wild card into the Pattaya Women’s Open that gave Tamarine Tanasugarn her big opportunity to break into the WTA Tour.  Ironica...

It's a thrill for me to coach veteran players. Veteran players are all so open  and receptive to the lesson. Perfect students! Because tennis singles is such a physical game, doubles is the most popular form of tennis for veteran players.  Here are 7 doubles tips for veteran players that will help boost your game immediately. 1.    Serve Wide When you start the point serving wide you are positioning your opponent off-court from the first ball.  The Returner now has 3 options, a more difficult cross-court return, a risky attempt at a down-the-line passing shot or a lob.  All 3 of these options put you the server at an advantage! 2.    Keep the Ball Low This will help in two important ways… it limits your opponents' ability to attack the ball and will also provide you with many more opportunities to attack the resulting high balls (high volleys & overheads) 3.    Get Fitter One of the biggest factors in Vet...

It's really important to have a sharp competitive mindset if you want to be successful in matches. In my practice sessions I encourage players to compete strongly in everything they do.  In my sessions, most drills have a "Finish", meaning the players are required to play the point out at the end of every drill. By practicing this way I am attempting to change the mindset of players who are otherwise having trouble competing successfully in tournaments. By practicing within this highly competitive atmosphere everyday the players become comfortable competing. It becomes natural for them. But there is always another ingredient I must insist on during these practice sessions, and it's just as important. I need to tell players to be PLAYERS FIRST, UMPIRES SECOND! You see it often... players who are returning serve more concerned with calling the serve in or out. It's their first priority! They are literally putting their return of serve "On ...