All posts in Tennis

Top Tips To Buy The Tennis Racquets & Tennis Shoes

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Buying tennis racquets or tennis shoes can prove a daunting task, with several offline and online stores offering lucrative discounts. If you want to opt for the best equipment, then follow the below mentioned tips:-

1. Equipment stores Some online stores will offer wide range of Babolat racquets and squash shoes at affordable rates, while others may offer products within a particular price brand. Whichever equipment you buy, ensure that you purchase from a reputed store. To buy the best equipment, it is very necessary to have good knowledge of the sports equipment, which you are thinking to purchase of.
2. Quality Even though, several stores offer you lucrative discounts or second hand sports equipment, you should not end up buying such equipment. As, it may happen that equipment sold at such discounts is not of good quality and is poor in terms of durability and workmanship.
3. Warranty period You should be aware of product, which has a short warranty. Buyers should make sure that they get real value for their invested money. Even though, the price may seem inviting, you should not get lured by it and should think wisely. It is advisable not to buy any product from sources, which offers return to base warranty on equipment.
4. Compare prices It is very important to compare price of your desired equipment among various websites to get the best deal. Dont rush to buy the first one, you see on the website. Conduct an online research and see what other stores have to offer.
5. Search online and offline classified ads With the introduction of online services, online classified ads have expanded possibilities, where you can search for desired sports equipment. Instead of referring to local periodicals, you can access several local and nationwide classified ads online.
6. Shop around No matter, whether you are buying squash shoes or Babolat racquets, shopping around will help you to get the best equipment, you are thinking to purchase. By conducting an online and offline search, you can shop for the best one at the best price.

By following the above mentioned tips, you can make the right purchase and get value for your invested money.
To read more information on sports equipment like tennis racquets, Babolat racquets, tennis shoes, squash shoes, etc. you can surf related websites and online portals on the Internet. In this way, you will gain the required knowledge to buy the best one for your choice of sport.

Avocado Oil – How It Can Help You With Your Cure For Tennis Elbow

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Not only is this yummy to eat but avoados can help you as you begin your tennis elbow cure.
Avocados are highly nutritious an also are very therapeutic and can be used for many conditions. The avocado originates from the tropics and subtropics of the Americas an was discovered by th Spaniards in th 15th century. It is now grown in Spain, other European countries and Israel.
Avocado oil is mde from dried bruised avocados that are crushed and pressed and comes in two ways:

unrefined oil – (virgin oil) – the main one for therapeutic purposes – is dark green and sometimes cloudy

refined oil – which has less therapeutic value, due to the refining process – pale yellow and is used extensively by the cosmetics industry.

The properties of avocados in the unrefined oil are

vitamins A, B1, B2 and D

mineral content – potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, sulphur, calcium, sodium & copper

It is an easily digested food and great when you are unwell. It is partucularly good with helping gastric problems, constipation and other digestive conditions. Its therapeutic properties for topical application include: skin healing properties, excellent skin softener, great for many types of skin conditions and it is a SKIN ANTI-INFLAMMATORY. So when you are trying to ease the inflammation, caused by your tennis elbow, massage some avocado oil into the area to help reduce inflammation. You can always mix it with anti-inflammatory and analgesic essential oils but make sure that you watch my video on how to perform a skin patch test by signing up to my free video tip series before you start your tennis elbow treatment program.

Tennis Instruction – Fundamentals Of Split Step

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The key to hitting a great shot in tennis is preparation. If a player is unprepared for a shot, the ball will not go where they expect. In fact, the result may be an out of control shot. This article addresses preparation and the importance of a split step. For those players that are unfamiliar with the split step, I will give an in-depth explanation and talk about when it should be used.

What is a split step?

It is a footwork type move that transitions a player from one shot into another. A split step is a neutral position (“ready position”) used right before the player decides to hit on the backhand or forehand side.

Note: It is used moments before making the decision of which side of the body to hit on

How do you hit a Split Step?

It is fairly easy but takes much practice to completely understand its advantages. For a player just starting out, it may seem useless but advanced players depend on a split step many times PER GAME in tennis. It is a pre-shot ritual that will become muscle memory and help you every point of the way.

1. First, get in the “ready position”. (Feet shoulder-width apart, weight on the balls of your feet, and racket out in front of the middle of your body. This is what your split step will look like if you were to take a picture of it in action! Don’t forget this position.

2. Run forward, JUMP into the ready position, and freeze. you should be back in your ready position like in step one, but this time you arrived at this position from running (this is more like how it will happen in a match or during play).

3. Note: The jump should be a subtle and you really should NOT be in the air, but the word jump this is the best way to describe getting from the run to the ready position. Make sure you weight is not too far forward or you may fall over!

4. Make contact with the ball. You have just run from the service line to the net, jumped into the ready position. At this time you are ready to determine which side of your body the ball will be hit from. If your opponent hits to the backhand you should be ready to turn to your backhand side because you were in your “ready” position! (If the ball is hit to your forehand side you should be equally ready)

5. Put it all together. Great work on completing your split step, but the hardest part is yet to come. All though we have divided the split step into several easy to follow steps, it is extremely important to remember that it is supposed to be hit in one fluid motion. There are not supposed to be breaks or waiting period. Your goal in the split step it to time the process so that your make your decision a second before your opponent makes contact with the ball.

When To Use :

It is used in many situations. It is important that you use it the correctly in the right situations. Here is a list of several situations where the split step is used. You will notice it is used very often in a match (the most important are in bold).

1. Return of Serve. Serves come at you fast. Every player uses a split step to prepare for the coming serve.

2. Serve and Volley. With the server rushing in to take the net, it is of most importance that the server uses a split step to set up the next volley.

3. Regular Volleys.

4. Rallies.

Training Tips For Tennis Players

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Tennis is a lovely game and most of us love playing it. We all know winning is fun and for sure we all hate to lose. However, winning is not easy and it demands a lot of practice. Modern day tennis demands, speed , skill, strength and stamina and fortunately all of these four can be developed through proper training.

Demands of the game: Unlike a race, where you have a fixed goal to achieve, tennis is very much unpredictable. If you are Steffi Graf, you can mop up an opponent in less than an hour, whereas a men’s five setter can go on for four hours or more. This means you must be prepared for the worst eventuality, up to three hours for women and five for men. Endurance in such matches is a key factor, since when you get tired mistakes creep in and your attention starts to wander.

The surface you play on is important too because it can dictate the length of the rallies. On fast grass they tend to be shorter and more explosive, while on a slower clay surface they can last for 20 strokes or more, depending on your skill and your opponent’s. Once again, endurance counts.

Playing tennis for fitness, even on clay, is not the answer to aerobic conditioning. Strong and powerful legs, which can be developed through strength training both on and off the court and strong upper body is very important, particularly in the playing arm, back and shoulder region. Mobility and agility are the other key areas that you need to consider when analyzing a tennis player.

Phases of training: Peaking is not an important factor in tennis, at least not for professionals. If your goal is to win a club or county tournament, then the opportunity for peaking is far more possible. You may perform more endurance and basic strength development exercises during the off season, then concentrate more on agility and sharpness in the months approaching the event.

The training week: The structure of a tennis player’s training week differs from that of most other sports, partly because of the unpredictability factor already discussed. One may be relying on a week’s hard slog in a particular tournament and then get knocked out in the first round itself. In addition, much of the training week will be spent in hours of court practice, grooming the serves and drilling ground strokes down the line. Physical conditioning must be built carefully into this schedule so as not to interfere with the racket practice. Strength training should be aimed not only at toning the muscles involved but also at redressing the inevitable imbalances that can occur because of using one side of the upper body much more than the other, so as to help prevent injury.

In the weights room one should choose exercises to train muscles in the upper and lower body, particularly the legs, lower and upper back, shoulders and arms. Body weight exercises may also help these areas and the abdominals. Drills on and off court helps in improve the ability to move your feet quickly into the correct position, while short, intense shuttle exercises to increase speed, followed by adequate recovery to maintain quality, helps in covering the court quickly and effectively.

On court one can perform shuttles forwards and backwards, from baseline to service line and back, touching the ground with your hand at each turn. Moving from the centre of the court to the left hand tram lines, back and to the right hand tramlines quickly, always facing the net is another way of practicing fast, fluent court movement. Alternatively, a coach or friend can randomly call the direction for you to move, forwards, backwards, left, right, so that you practice changing direction quickly in response to the unexpected. There are also various types of tennis equipment that helps in such training.

Running is useful because you spend your time on court on your feet and exercises like, cycling and swimming helps in conditioning the heart and lungs without the wear and tear from pounding out the miles, and may be enjoyed as an active recovery.

Tennis Ball Machine

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Are you a beginner trying to learn the ropes of tennis, or a tennis veteran trying to improve your game? If so, then maybe you could improve with the aid of a tennis ball machine. A tennis ball machine is a device is set up on the opposing court and acts as a server, serving tennis balls for you to return. Tennis ball machines can vary price based on a number of different factors such as size, speeds, ball capacity, oscillation and many other features.
When looking at a tennis ball machine, the first thing that comes to mind is, Wow, those things look way to expensive for me. The truth is that a lot of tennis ball machines can be purchased on a budget of less that $500.00. If you have a budget significantly higher than $500.00, then there are more advanced machines that can be purchased, some running between $10,000 and $20,000. However, some of the more expensive machines are entirely unnecessary for individual use; depending on your budget, you should look for a tennis ball machine that fits your needs but does not exceed them with all sorts of unnecessary features.
There are so many different features that are associated with tennis ball machines, varying depending on how nice the tennis ball machine is. One feature is adjustable speed settings, typically meaning that you can adjust the tennis ball machine to serve as slow as 15 miles per hour to as high as 95 miles per hour. Some tennis ball machines boast an oscillation feature which means that you can set the machine to serve each ball at a different location each time. Some machines also allow you to set different heights and change the serving intervals, while some have long lasting battery life and can even are remote controlled depending on what you get.
If you are a beginner at tennis, then you should set the machine up to serve the ball in one location because you may not be apt to handle running around and returning the ball. You may also want to set the machine to serve the balls at a slow to moderate speed, because if you are not ready for a 95 mile per hour serve then the machine could become dangerous, so try slower speeds before you advance to higher speeds. If you are already pretty good at tennis, then having the ball served in different locations and at different angles may prove to be an advantage; you may also be able to handle a faster serve. It all really just depends on you and what you can handle; you just need to know what your limits are.
A tennis ball machine can help you learn the game of tennis or help you improve your game, regardless of the reason; a tennis ball machine is always a great investment if you can afford it. Some tennis ball machines can hold a large amount of tennis balls, which can prove rather expensive when you have to buy the tennis balls; so try and see of you can make a deal with the person selling you the tennis ball machine to see if he or she will throw in the tennis balls. Now get out on the court and play a round.