Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

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… แน่นอนตั้งแต่เริ่ม — คุณจำเป็นต้องใช้ทั้งสองท่า! ท่าเปิด (Open Stance) และท่าปิด (Closed Stance) ต่างก็มีข้อดีและข้อเสียของตัวเอง และหากคุณต้องการเล่นเทนนิสในระดับสูง คุณต้องสามารถใช้ทั้งสองท่านี้ได้ระหว่างการแข่งขัน ต่อไปนี้คือสถานการณ์ที่เหมาะกับการใช้ท่า  Open Stance  และเหตุผลที่ควรใช้: 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 tricky. 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 ...

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...

AS A TENNIS PLAYER, your life is full of difficulties. Whether it's difficulties within your daily routines involving your practice, fitness or matches, things can occur daily that chip away at your confidence in your ability to reach your goals and expectations. To different degrees, those challenges can affect your ability to continue practicing and playing at your optimal level. They can be demotivating.  You need high levels of RESOLVE to be a successful tennis player. You need the ability to keep striving towards your goals despite those difficulties.  So how do you develop or strengthen resolve? How do you continue going forward despite the difficulties and challenges?  T he 3 most important factors for developing RESOLVE are … 1. REMOVE YOURSELF FROM NEGATIVITY Remove yourself from any negative environment you might be in at the time. Nothing you try to do to build strong resolve will work within a negative env...