Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

WHAT MAKES THE GREAT PLAYERS DIFFERENT FROM THE REST OF US?  HERE ARE 3 REASONS THE PROS ARE DIFFERENT! #1 STRUCTURE   They live highly structured lives both on and off the court. Many of the very best players I have traveled with have lived extremely structured lives that started from when they were quite young. Often, this structure was engrained in them by parents. Martina's mother, Melanie, had only one goal throughout Martina's  Career, to make her the best. The many stories of overbearing tennis parents abound, and for every successful parent-child tennis relationship there are many more horror stories that have ended very badly. However, over the years I have seen several highly successful players come out of unhealthy parent-child relationships. In some cases, the discipline ingrained in the child stayed with them throughout their life and lead to successful lives, both within the tennis world and beyond. Discipline and a strong work ethic can take you a l

I wasn’t to realize it when, in 1990, I first arrived in India, but it was to be the start of a long love affair with the country and its people.  Years earlier as a junior player competing on the New Zealand Junior Tennis Circuit I stayed at a house in Wellington that had just installed colour TV.   Now that doesn’t mean much to younger people today but back in 1975 some lucky homes in New Zealand were just starting to replace their black and white models with new colour TV’s!   It was just fascinating to watch all your favourite programs in colour.  Oddly enough one of the best programs to view in colour at the time was Sesame Street.  “Big Bird” was yellow! During my stay in Wellington, New Zealand was also playing Davis Cup against India and the Amritraj brothers, Vijay and Anand were doing their best to beat the New Zealand team of Onny Parun and Brian Fairlie on the grass courts at Stanley Street, Auckland.   It was really special for me to watch the dark ebony

WHAT IS CONFIDENCE? Although it is difficult to accurately explain exactly what confidence is, we certainly know when we have it… and we know when we have lost it! Confidence is not an object or a piece of equipment.   You cannot put Confidence inside a box or hold it in your hand.   Confidence is a state of mind. It’s a condition  we ourselves have created inside us. We can be confident about our strokes, our ability to beat certain players, or our chances of winning on a particular surface. When we play with home town advantage and feel that support for us is greater we tend to do better. That phenomenon is even backed up statistically. Similarly, we can lack confidence in our strokes, in our ability to beat certain players, our chances of winning on a particular surface, and when we play away from home where the support for us is less we can perform worse. Confidence is also something many players and coaches strive to develop during practice because having co

If you can’t hold serve, you can’t win the match. That’s how important the serve is in tennis. Players with average ground-strokes but great serves have done well in tennis, particularly on the faster surfaces. The serve is not a complicated stroke, but it can be prone to breaking down under pressure in matches. Therefore, it’s important to understand the key elements of the serve so that, under pressure, you can focus on one or two things that will make it work for you. Here are the 2 key elements I recommend you focus on when under pressure in matches. If done correctly, each of the two elements will cover any problems you may be having with your serve. THE FRONT FOOT The front foot is the 'Bridge' for your serve. It’s the transfer point for your forward movement during the serve. Soon, the player's left foot  will begin to dominate the  service action and supply  timing and power to the wrist  If this 'Bridge' is weak or ineffective, your

My favorite player growing up was Rod Laver.  What I admired most about the "Rockhampton Rocket" was that he was just a very normal guy, humble, down-to-earth, and hard-working. He gave normal people like me the idea that it was possible to achieve great things if you could apply yourself to something 100%, like Laver did. During his career, Laver was known for his ability to play his best tennis when it mattered most. He hardly ever lost a five-set match. There was a saying amongst the other players during that era "Laver never loses in the 5th set". He was that good at closing out tough matches! Here are 3 ways you can learn from Rod "Rocket" Laver: #1 Stay focused in the present   Allowing your mind to get too far ahead in a match, or beating yourself before you get on the court can be disastrous . Avoid the internal mind games that are flowing around in your head by sticking to your match tactics and not allowing yoursel