Bigger Better Tennis - Paul Dale

Deep balls are unavoidable so better to learn how to handle them when they come DESCRIPTION: For some, perhaps one of the most difficult ground-strokes is the deep ball that lands on or near the baseline. Martina Hingis was very good at taking the ball off the bounce, often choosing to stand her ground on deep balls and return the ball with excellent timing.  I asked her once how she learnt to hit this type of ball so well.  She told me that as a youngster her mother would sprinkle objects just behind the baseline, making it almost impossible to step back for deep balls.  This had developed her ability to coordinate this very difficult ball.  THE DRILL If you are having trouble with balls that land deep and that give you little time to move back, try a similar drill to the one that helped Martina Hingis. I’m sure you spend a lot of time hitting from the baseline during practice.  Next time you practice, spend some of your baseline practice keeping your feet

ON-COURT MOVEMENT HAS BECOME ONE OF THE MAJOR ASSETS A PLAYER MUST DEVELOP If you are trying to improve your on-court reaction time during points, you’re wasting your time. Improved reaction skills may even hinder your ability to reach balls quicker.   Webster’s says that the definition of reaction is, “a response to something that involves taking action.” In other words the horse bolts first and then we try to catch the horse! In tennis terms we wait to return serve and plan to react when we know if the ball will go to the forehand or backhand side. Or, we watch our opponent getting under the ball and plan to react to his overhead once he completes his shot. Chances are that you are not going to get too many of those serves and overheads back into play. You’re going to be too late! You’re asking yourself the wrong question “where will the ball go?” I believe that reaction is merely the 3 rd step in returning that first serve and defending that overhead. In to

The art of playing at the net has almost disappeared.   This is due to a variety of reasons.   Players are hitting much better ground-strokes today, with more power, spin and greater accuracy. This has put a lot more pressure on any player who comes into net. Courts today have also become more similar, the faster courts are being slowed down, while the traditional slower courts such as clay are playing faster because of the type of tennis balls being used. This is illustrated best when we look at Wimbledon and the French Open. The grass surface at Wimbledon has been changed to make it slower and to encourage longer rallies. The authorities have done the opposite at the French Open.   To eliminate long boring rallies they have introduced tennis balls that reward players who like to attack the point. Modern doubles exponents have also departed from traditional volley technique. When you get a chance to poach the ball at the net in doubles you have the luxury of taking a fu