Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Of all the tennis topics, the topic of tennis fitness has changed the most. Alternative fades come in, and are soon replaced by another different fitness idea that comes along. It's enormously confusing for us coaches and players to get a solid idea of what exactly we should be doing with regard to tennis fitness. What does seem to have gotten better however is that we now realize that tennis fitness should be related closely to what happens on the court in matches.  Often in the past, any tennis fitness done on-court was almost completely different from what was needed on-court in real matches.  PERIODIZATION Don't be scared by the long serious term Periodization. Here is what it means to us as tennis Coaches and Players. Periodization is a term to describe what we should do several weeks (sometimes months) out from an important tennis event that we want to peak for. By using periodization a player can build their game and their fitness so that on the day of the event they ar...

It's no secret that if you're looking for ways to improve your results, any improvement in your game will start on the practice court. Any positive change in your game will have to be practiced and worked on for at least several weeks.  But there are some changes you can make that will take less time, and that you will see immediate improvements to the way you are competing in competition. 1.  EAT BETWEEN CHANGEOVERS  This first tip may surprise you a bit but it has had a huge effect on many of the players I have trained. I encourage many of my trainees to take snacks during the changeovers.   Use the changeover to take in some food so that your blood sugar levels remain stable I'm not just referring to snacking at change-overs during matches either, I want players to snack during breaks in practice sessions also. I want them to operate at 100% during practice because I need them focused. There's a little bit of history to this particular tip which I think is importa...

BECOME AN OUTLIER... I'm not a big fan of attending ITF coaches workshops anymore and here's why. Much of what is presented at these Workshops is standard stuff, and listening repeatedly to similar topics and similar points of view will, unfortunately, stifle your creativity.    Here's what I would suggest. Once you have attended several Workshops already, you should take yourself out of the workshop scene and begin to integrate your new ideas and methodologies from the workshops onto the court, with the long-term goal of developing some of your own philosophies for later. It's important to understand that workshops in themselves are a tool, and that to get the full value from them, the ideas you pick-up at workshops need to be implemented and tested on-court over time.  At the beginning of my coaching career, I joined a tennis company that staffed resorts, hotels, and tennis clubs all around the world. After training with that company for a short time I was dispatche...

In 1988 I landed the job of Chinese National Junior Coach.  A total of 4 boys and 4 girls were selected from players from throughout the country and these players were trained for two months inside mainland China, at a small city called Chungshan.   This was the beginning of China’s emergence back into the international tennis mainstream after decades of isolation.  We later played junior ITF tournaments in Jakarta, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Also at those same ITF tournaments was a junior Thai team under the management of a local ex-pat named Gordon U.E Martin.  I already knew Gordon from my time in Bangkok and also knew that he was a true tennis fanatic.  Gordon helped put Thai tennis on the map in those early days by bringing professional men's tennis to Thailand and by starting ITF junior events in Bangkok for the first time. Those early ITF Junior events started by Gordon are still held annually each year until this day.  Gordon was particularly interested ...

Before being escorted onto Wimbledon's famous Centre Court, Baron Gottfried von Cramm was told that he needed to take an urgent phone call. After the call, von Cramm again joined his opponent, Donald Budge of the US, and quietly informed him, "It was Hitler; he wanted to wish me well." Only moments after his phone call with Adolf Hitler,  Gottfried von Cramm (left)  and Donald Budge enter  the Centre Court at Wimbledon for  what was  to be "...the most beautiful match." Cramm started well in the match, leading Budge by 2 sets to love. But Budge managed to work his way back into the game by returning serve well to take the 3rd set and won a tight 4th set that could have gone to either man.  Now it was all tied up at 2 sets all, and they were into a deciding 5th set. The German shrugged off the loss of the previous 2 sets and again started to dominate in the 5th set, breaking Budge's serve and taking a 4-1 lead. Many watching thought the match was virtually o...