What Is Tennis Elbow And How Do You Treat It

Millions of people each and every year are diagnosed with tennis elbow.
The best way to deal with tennis elbow is to learn as much as you can about this stubborn injury. Tennis elbow is not an injury that you should take lightly. Because in most cases, it gets worse before it gets better.

So what exactly is tennis elbow?

Tennis elbow is commonly described as pain, inflammation and tenderness on the outside of your elbow. It is your extensor tendon that becomes torn and damaged.

Here are some other important notes about tennis elbow:

Due to the fact that the pain associated with tennis elbow is usually localized on the lateral side of the elbow, it is given the medical term, lateral epicondylitis. The exact location is at the lateral epicondyle of your elbow is where you will feel the most pain. Your pain usually increases when you extend your wrist or perform movements that require a tight grip on an object: such as a screwdriver, shovel, rake, tennis racquet, paint brush, etc

The common cause of tennis elbow is the repetitive and overuse of your arm. This causes your extensor tendon to tear due to the wear and strain. If treatment is not sought, you can expect your tear to get larger and your pain to increase significantly.

Tennis elbow symptoms: Pain is the most common symptom. People dealing with tennis elbow will feel pain most especially when they use their arm for lifting, gripping and twisting actions or movements. Even the simple act of gripping a coffee mug, shaking someone’s hand, or taking on the trash can be unbearable.

So what is the best way to treat tennis elbow?

The best way to deal with the injury is to let the elbow rest and avoid the activities that cause your elbow to swell or increases your pain. Try icing your injured elbow for 10-15 minutes twice a day. Never put ice directly on your skin as this can cause severe and irreversible skin damage. Try and elevate your elbow above heart level. This helps prevent blood pooling and will decrease any inflammation that you have.

But the cheapest and fastest way to treat tennis elbow is to do it at home. You don’t need to spend your hard earned cash on Doctors, Physical Therapy, pain medication, medical gadgets and devices, or elbow braces.

It takes just 5 steps that you can do from the comfort and convenience of your own home using items already found in your home or garage.

Here is more tennis elbow treatment advice plus a video that explains this fail-proof tennis elbow treatment method.

Tips To Buy The Best Suited Tennis Racquet

Tennis is a terrific game and at the same time, a dominant form of exercise, but to play it in the right way choosing the right racquet according to your skill level is necessary. When it comes to the tennis racquets there are a number of specifications that are relevant to take a look at before you spend for it; the head size, grip size, length of the racquet, beam width, string tension, weight of the racket are the key specifications that need to be considered well before taking the final decision. Here are a few tips on choosing the right racquet for your purpose.
Choosing the right grip size: To choose the right grip size of the racket hold it in a hand and try to put the index finger of the other hand within the grip while holding the racket. If there is not enough room for the index finger, it is too small; if there is more than enough room, it is too large. Always choose the smaller one when it comes between two sizes as you can always add something to increase the circumference of the racquet for better grip.
Choosing the right head size: Depending on the level of your skills, the head size should be wider or narrower. If you are a beginner, it is best, to start with a wider racket with a surface area of around 105 to 130 square inches, which will give you ease, of play and better chances to hit the ball. The ones with a smaller head size are more suitable for advanced players and offers better stability and manoeuvrability.
The right length: The next variable about tennis racquets is the length; traditionally the racquets have a length of 27 to 28 inches, but there are also the ones with 29 inches length. The longer ones give more power and better control.
The weight of the racket: The weight of the racket plays a pivotal role in the game. Racquets are typically made up of lightweight materials such as graphite, aluminium, titanium. The ones made with Boron or Kevlar are the lightest in the range but are best suited only for the advanced players as these racquets are quite stiff. The head heavy rackets are generally used by the beginners or the baseline players, whereas the handle heavy ones are preferred by the advanced players.
Before you buy a tennis racquet, it is necessary to judge the right one according to your requirements. You can get a large stock of tennis racquets in the online stores and also avail fabulous discounts.

Nasty – Steffi – Maggie – Who Is The Best Tennis Player Of All Time

The first question that comes to mind may be; man or woman? In my view it could be either gender, because this is about tennis the sport as an all inclusive theme:

-Race
-Sex
-Charisma
-Personality
-Popularity
-Shot-making
-Grace
-Toughness
-Grit
-Guts
-Coolness
-Charm
-Image
-Power
-Athleticism
-Spirit of sacrifice
-Fairness
-Bully-ness
-Competitiveness
-Respect
-Record
-and more.

If one was to limit this analysis to plain cold numbers and to one gender or the other it would be simple, Bjorn Borg or Rod Laver – men, Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graff – women.

Tennis is a lot more than that, take for example charisma and popularity:

– For example, in 1974 Illie Nastase was playing on court Nr. 6 in Barcelona against Roger Taylor and Manolo Orantes (the super popular local matador) was playing Jos Moreno on central court at the same time. Which court do you think was full and which was empty?
Illie Nastases court was full! The Spanish, are great lovers of great tennis and showmanship – Nasty gave it all to them. I would say he had to be the most charismatic tennis player of all time!

About race and respect:

– Take Arthur Ashe an African-American man living in the USA in an era where he, a world class tennis player, was not even allowed into the changing rooms of certain tennis clubs in his own country. This man overcame all sporting challenges, all racial abuse, all social inequalities and became a beloved son of his country and the world! The all-time most respected gentleman tennis player in tennis history.

Tennis and shot-making:

– We all know Rod Laver because he is the only player to ever win 4 Grand Slam singles titles in the same calendar year twice – in 1962 as an amateur and 1969 as a professional and he is the only male player during the open era to have won a calendar year Grand Slam (Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, US Open).
His opponents knew something that the regular public could hardly come to grasp. They all came out of the court baffled with his shot-making under pressure. Rod Laver, time and time again, got out of the most daring situations many of them at match points, by producing the most incredible and least expected shots his opponents could ever imagine he would go for! Indeed the best shot-maker ever!

The Guts and Athleticism:

– Two women come clearly to mind Margret Court and Martina Navratilova, to appreciate these two incredible women athletes, you have to look at todays mens tennis and see how the great majority of the ATP professionals cower behind the baseline. These two women embarrass those men players with their courageous, relentless, top level athleticism by having served and volleyed and attacked the net with giant hearts and incredible guts! No question the very best ever and I must have Billy Jean King join them.

And how about Grace:

– You can go around the tennis court and beat the hell out of your opponents and nobody will ever give a hoot about you. That was not the case of Maria Ester Bueno from Brasil, she charmed the public with the beauty of her movement, fluidness of her game and some very sharp volleying. The most graceful of all time and I must add two others in this department Evonne Goolagong and Roger Federer.

The power juggernaut:

– You may start to think about a,b or c player from today, but you have to go back many decades to a man called Lew Hoad. If there is any one player that could obliterate unceremoniously any player of any given era with a very short score, Lew Hoad is such player. Hands down, the hardest hitter of all time!

The heart of tennis – competitiveness and bully-ness:

– There is no player in the history of tennis that is regarded by his peers with so much respect as fear and loath. Pancho Gonzales was a natural born winner with a big W. If he lost (which he seldom did), his hand shake at the net often came with a warning: I will beat you the next time! The most competitive bully of all time. Here I must join two lesser heavy weights in this department, nevertheless ferocious competitors, Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe. Between meeting any one of these three on a tennis court and sitting in a tub full of rattle snakes, I would choose the latter.

The fairness in professional sport:

– Defeat for a champion is the most difficult part to accept and giving credit to your opponent is even more challenging. Steffi Graf was the exception, even when injured and debilitated, she never mentioned it as an excuse for defeat and she would rather compliment her opponents. Indeed a great championess and the fairest player of all time. No wonder she married Andre Agassi he was special in that department too.

There is plenty more but, I hope I gave you a sense of how great the game of tennis is with all of these facets that so much form a mosaic of where winning is important, but the record alone cannot cover the whole sport.

How to Practice Doubles Tennis Drills

Doubles tennis drills are underappreciated these days. Tennis doubles is when you play two against two. Its an entirely different set up from singles tennis. Thats why you also need different drills and tactics.

Many people dont realize this. Practicing tennis one to one is not going to help you improve your doubles game. Thats why this article is going specifically into them.

Drill #1

In doubles, the person standing at the net has to be totally on top of things. He or she should use a tactic called poaching: to get every ball to finish the point off. This puts great pressure on your opponents, and thats where they start making errors. The first volley is particularly important, because if you dont make the first volley, youll have no chance of winning the point.

To start, you need four people: two at the net and two at the baseline. Then, instead of serving, feed the ball in cross-court. On the other side of the net, the player at the baseline will come forward, split step and play the volley cross court back.

Next, your partner at the net is the crucial factor. Immediately after the opponent plays the first volley, he moves forward to close the gap and then explodes crosscourt to intercept that first volley. The opponent who hits the first volley has to predict if your partner is crossing or not. If he thinks he is crossing, he can volley down the line. But be careful, your partner may have bluffed his poach!

Drill #2

Four persons are need for this drill, which puts an entirely new spin on your double tennis game.

At the same time, you and your partner feed in the ball diagonally, and hit cross court towards your adversaries. At this moment, two balls should be in play simultaneously. If your opponent misses, you should point!

Only one ball is in play at that moment, and the point is now open. Employ your best tactics to win that crucial point, for example because one of you moves to the net.

You and your partner get one point if you win the “open” point. But neither team wins anything if you loose the “open” point. This can go on for quite some time. You may start to feel really pressured to win or save the “open” points. Its a great way to practice.

Drill #3

In this drill, two persons stand at the baseline and the other two at the net. The person standing at the baseline feeds the point as he or she thinks is right, if only the feed isnt too easy. Play best out of three points. Go to the net if you win. Score only the “best out of threes” that you win at the net.

As the two persons standing at the net are not allowed to move before the ball is fed into play, they are required to start behind the service line.

Drill #4

The last of doubles tennis drills is often called the Bryan brother drill. It can be done with two people and concentrates on your volley control. You and your partner should both be on your forehand service lines, meaning you are diagonally opposite to one another.

Next, you volley diagonally. Take a step left after each volley you hit, until you are hitting backhand to backhand volleys. Then, return by taking steps to the right. Watch how long you can continue this without missing any balls.

Collecting Tennis Autographs By Mail

Whether you are a fan of tennis or you simply enjoy collecting sports autographs, sending your requests through the mail will save you both time and money. Because the majority of sports also have a Hall of Fame that recognizes its most outstanding players, many fans have found great success in requesting autographs in their care. Tennis, like most other popular sports, has a Hall of Fame that features inductees from past to present.

If you would like to send an autograph request, be sure to include your return address in the upper left hand corner of the envelope and also include a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) with enough postage for your signed item to be returned. Below is a list of all living inductees of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, along with the mailing address in which to send your requests.

Mailing Address:
International Tennis Hall of Fame
194 Bellevue Ave.
Newport, RI 02840

Inductees:
Anderson, Malcolm
Austin, Tracy
Becker, Boris
Behr, Karl
Betz (Addie), Pauline
Borg, Bjorn
Brough (Clapp), Louise
Buchholz, Earl
Bueno, Maria
Cahil, Mabel
Casals, Rosie (Rosemary)
Chatrier, Philippe
Cheney, Dorothy
Clerici, Gianni
Collins, Arthur
Connors, James
Cooper, Ashley
Courier, Jim
Court Smith, Margaret
Cullman, Joseph
Douglass Lambert Chambers, Dorothea
duPont, Margaret
Durr, Francoise
Edberg, Stefan
Emerson, Roy
Evert, Christine
Falkenburg, Robert
Fraser, Neale
Fry-Irvin, Shirley
Goolagong Cawley, Evonne
Graf, Steffi
Hard, Darlene
Hart, Doris
Haydon Jones, Adrianne
Hewitt, Robert
Hunt, Lamar
Jacobs, Helen
Kelleher, Robert
King, Billie Jean
Kodes, Jan
Kramer, Jack
Larsen, Arthur
Laver, Rod
Lendl, Ivan
Mako, Constantine
Mandlikova, Hana
Martin, Alastair
McEnroe, John
McGregor, Ken
McMillian, Frew
McNeill, William
Mortimer Barett, Florence
Mulloy, Gardnar
Nastase, Ilie
Navratilova, Martina
Newcombe, John
Noah, Yannick
Novotna, Jana
Olmedo, Alejandro
Patty, John
Pietrangeli, Nicola
Rafter, Patrick
Ralston, Richard
Richards, Vincent
Richey, Nancy
Riggs, Robert
Roche, Anthony
Rose, Mervyn
Rosewall, Kenneth
Sabatini, Gabriela
Santana, Manuel
Savitt, Richard
Sedgnam, Frank
Segura Caano, Francisco
Seixas, Elias
Shriver, Pam
Smith, Stanley
Stolle, Fredrick
Tingay, Lance
Tinling, Cuthbert
Tobin, Brian
Trabert, Tony
Turner Bowrey, Lesley
Van Ryn, John
Vilas, Guillermo
Von Cramm, Gottfried
Wade, Sarah
Wilander, Mats
Wood, Sidney
Wrenn, Robert

Now that you know who to write to and where to send the letter, its time to consider what type of autograph you want to request. Many fans simply ask their favorite tennis player to send a signed photo, but others get more creative with sending their own tennis memorabilia to be signed. One popular example is a tennis ball, which can be shipped inexpensively and will make for a terrific addition to any autograph collection. Some fans also prefer to send blank index cards, t-shirts, trading cards, amateur photos that they have taken of their favorite tennis star or other sports-related memorabilia.

Its important to note that many tennis players are more than willing to accommodate their fans with autograph requests. It is equally important that, due to time and scheduling, tennis fans be patient with their favorite athlete(s) who are always on the go and receive a lot of fan mail. There is no way to guarantee who will or will not sign autographs, but a kindly worded letter, a SASE and sending one or two items to be signed will greatly increase the chances of success. Its a good idea to never send more than two items to be autographed and always be polite in your request. Happy collecting!