Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

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 their c

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 Veterans Tennis is the physical limitations

At any given time, you are in one of three conditions: Defence, Neutral or Offence. You need to clearly define which condition you are in to compete successfully. If you attack the point at the wrong time or have an opportunity to attack but fail to take that opportunity, it doesn’t matter how well you stroke the ball your overall game will lack cohesion and meaning. So, how do we define when we are in a Defensive, Neutral, or Offensive situation?  What exactly are the factors which put you in a defensive mode? When can you attack the point with a high degree of confidence that you will be successful? How do you know you are in a Neutral situation? Whether you are in Defence, Neutral, or Offence depends on two criteria, and you must constantly be aware of these criteria as you play.  Those criteria are: THE POSITION OF YOUR FEET WHEN YOU HIT THE BALL If your feet are behind the baseline when you contact the ball, you are on Defence. If your feet are inside the baseline

Tami Grende, Wimbledon Junior Doubles Champion Many players and coaches try to approach tennis with the mindset that if they can create the perfect swing, their game and results will automatically improve. I call this the “cosmetic” mindset. They believe that something that looks (cosmetic) correct, translates into a perfect result.  In fact, you see golfers at golf driving ranges adopting the “cosmetic” mindset to improve their games all the time. Golfers spend a lot of time tweaking the position of their feet, where their elbows finish, correcting the angles of shoulders and arms, etc before and after every stroke. The problem with adopting a golfers' “Cosmetic” mindset for your tennis training is that golf and tennis are completely different sports requiring different training methods. In golf, the position of the ball is predictable (stationary), while in tennis the ball is unpredictable and not under our control.  In golf, you can stand over the ball and dictate exactly w

Many players reach a very high ranking with huge deficiencies in their games.  It seems that it comes down to whether you opt for doing "A few things really well" or "Many things OK". But it doesn't have to be that way. Women's tennis is full of players who have solid, dependable  groundstrokes, no serve, no net game, but have still reached the top 100 on the WTA ranking list. In the men's game its less obvious but there are still players with a limited range of strokes and who depend on a very conservative game plan to win matches. This limited range of strokes and conservative approach to points often comes from a players time in the juniors, especially if the player was successful. often players, coaches and parents are not willing to expand the game and take on new initiatives. Pete Sampras is famous for deciding to change from a two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand as a junior, only to lose early in tournaments for the next t

The serve is a unique shot in tennis because its the only " closed skill " shot we hit, meaning we control all the elements from start to finish. All other shots are " open skilled " which means we must react and adapt to what our opponent sends our way. I believe a big part of serving well is the attitude you bring to serving. If you feel the serve is merely a way to start points then your serve will never be a true weapon. I believe that the serve is your premier weapon and the best opportunity to win points quickly and consistently. You should maintain an aggressive and confident mindset regarding the serve. Having a more positive, aggressive mindset over time also creates "instinct" that helps you maintain control of your service games, maintain momentum with your service games and the ability to get yourself out of those tricky break point situations that come along sometimes.  In order to create instinctive service shot selection when a

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 players try to change their swing to alter

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 improve your “

The right foot supplies timing and energy  for this open stance forehand DESCRIPTION Good timing is essential in every sport. Timing can involve swinging an object at a ball, such as a tennis racquet or golf club, or, in football, you must achieve timing in your leg and foot to kick the ball successfully. Timing is also essential when throwing something. When throwing a basketball, you use a wrist action, and skilled players can throw half the length of the court with ease. For the ball to cover that distance, something else must assist the wrist. Wrists can't function that efficiently without the help of good timing. But what exactly is timing, and how is it achieved? If you are like most tennis players, you know when you have timed the shot well (or not) but are not sure what occurred for you to achieve it. How can you re-create perfect timing without knowing how you achieved good timing? Timing involves the successful synchronisation of Ground energy into the