Tennis WIFI

Tennis is a game that requires a lot of certain skills. Some of these skills are ones that you may have picked up in other sports, though some skills are solely picked up through playing tennis. There are generally five skills that will help you in becoming the most successful tennis player you can be.

First and foremost, your ball judgment must be excellent. It is best to pick up this skill before you finish your teenage hood, or else it is very hard to pick up. You need to have a sense of where the ball is going to go, and where you must hit. If you can do this, tennis will be very enjoyable. If not, playing tennis can be a pain and you will find yourself wanting to quit very quickly.

Next, balance is very important for a tennis player. Most humans have a good degree of balancing skills. Think back to how many times you have lost your balance accidentally and still recovered. In tennis, you are moving quickly, coming to sudden stops, and then moving again. Balance is important or you will find yourself on the floor in no time. Nonetheless, if your balance skills are not up to par, they will improve as you play more and more tennis.

Hand-eye coordination, needless to say, is important in tennis. When the ball is coming to you, it is your hand-eye coordination that will determine how you hit the ball. Similarly to ball judgment, hand-eye coordination is a skill that children will learn much faster than adults. There are players who have natural hand-eye coordination, and then there are those who need to practice excessively to master it.

Footwork is right up there with any of the other skills mentioned. You must be able to differentiate between different stances, or else you will find your shots and returns not as you want them. Many people get on the court and just hit the ball like no tomorrow, not even considering their stance. This is a big no-no, and your stance will make all the difference in your game.

Lastly, and most obviously, is concentration. Tennis is a game of concentration. If you cannot concentrate, tennis is not the game for you. The game of tennis requires extreme concentration, or else you will find yourself losing game after game. It is a game of back and forth, and with no concentration, you will make big mistakes on the court.

Do you expect your tennis kid to always perform well or win? Do you have a hard time focusing on what your kids do well on the court instead of focusing on mistakes? I receive many questions from sports parents about their young athletes performance. One question parents ask me: Am I too hard on my young athlete? Yes, most parents are.

Just today, I received an email from a sports parent about his child. He stated, I am sometimes hard on my son and tend to see his weaknesses more then his positive qualities! As a tennis parent myself, I have to agree. I find myself focusing more on the mistakes my child makes in matches instead of the wonderful shots she makes.

I think one reason many tennis parents focus on mistakes and weaknesses is that they know what their kids are capable of in practice and matches. For example, one week your child might play flawlessly winning every match in the tournament. Naturally, our expectations as parents shoot up: My child should be able to perform like this all the time!

I call this the peak performance dilemma. Some athletes judge every performance based on their best performance! They think, If I can play great one time, I should do it all the time. I think tennis parents adopt this same attitude. When our kids dont perform up to their potential, its easier to focus on the mistakes and what they are doing wrong (compared to their best performances).

Whats the solution to this dilemma? First, you want to be careful not to compare every match your athlete plays to his best match. Second, you have force yourself to focus on what your child is doing well in each match, especially after the match on the car ride home. Dont pick apart every mistake your young athlete made in the last match. I suggest to parents that you compliment your player for one or two things she might have done well in the match, before saying anything else.

When you think your child under-performed during a match, giving complements is very hard to do (trust me I know this personally). Try to focus on your players positive qualities. Your kids know what mistakes they made and dont want to be reminded after the match!

There are probably thousands of tennis tips, but here are 10 great ones that begin at the warm up and end at the match point.

Tennis tip #1
When you start your warm up before the match you first need to get used to the conditions and your feel and form for that day. It’s not realistic to expect that you’ll be feeling superbly well every day.

So check the conditions – windy, sunny, hot or something else and adapt your shots and tactics accordingly. Then check your feel for the ball and racquet, your general mood and look to improve on them.

Tennis tip #2
When you start the match you furthermore need to get used to your opponent’s play. Most of the players don’t play the same in the warm up as they do in the match. So you are very likely to see and feel new speeds and spins of the ball.

Don’t panic if you can’t adapt in the first minute. Your brain is getting the information, unless you’re too emotional. Remember previous matches, how you found your timing on returns or volleys or whatever caused problems at first.

Just watch the ball well and notice what is happening – are you late, too far, is the ball too high and then gradually adapt. Don’t force it – it will happen if you are relaxed.

Tennis tip #3
The most important shots which define how the point will be played are the serve and the return. If you have a weak serve and return, then you’ll be on defense the whole point.

A good serving tip is to first find your serve. Don’t blast your first serves in the match at your full power. Start at 75%, then increase the speed and see where is the best feeling and percentage of shots.

The same rule applies to returns – start with medium paced returns down the middle and then add speed and placement when the match progresses. The main goal of the return on the first serve is to get it back deep down the middle and on the second serve to make your opponent run – so preferably a cross court return.

Tennis tip #4
The game is obviously based on forehands and backhands – hence “groundstrokes”. You need to find them also when you start the match. Start with long cross courts 2-5 feet over the net and aim 5 feet from both side and baseline.

When you find good length, start utilizing short cross court and down the lines shots to make your opponent run.

Tennis tip #5
The same principle applies to volleys and overheads. It may take you 10 or 20 minutes before you play your first volley or overhead, so don’t expect a perfect shot. Or maybe you can expect it but don’t get too upset if it doesn’t happen.

Actually if you often play at the net you’re maybe aware of this fact: you need to develop the feel and timing for your volleys too. You might play a couple of poor volleys or overheads first but don’t let that discourage you.

You’re showing your opponent that you are not afraid to come to the net and you are also adapting to his shots. Imagine how good it will feel when you hit excellent volleys and overheads towards the end of the set.

Tennis tip #6
This is actually a summary of the above mentioned tips: first deal with the tennis game and conditions on a given day. And when you get reasonably comfortable with the tennis game and conditions, start thinking and dealing with your opponent. This is my primary tennis playing tip whenever I start the match.

Tennis tip #7
Now you are trying to figure out how to outplay your opponent. Ask your self – where are his weaknesses and where are his strengths? Look to exploit his weaknesses with your strengths and try to avoid your weakness against his/her strength.

It sounds so logical but in my experience I don’t see many players actually thinking logically on court. They are usually too emotional. You need to learn how to get out of emotional states quickly and start thinking smartly and positively for the next point.

Tennis tip #8
When you finally see what your opponent’s weaknesses are you must first check with yourself whether your level of play realistically allows you to play certain shots. If you your opponent moves very slowly towards the net, is you drop shot reliable enough to use it?

Don’t change your game too much or into areas that you don’t master. Adapt your game so it is very difficult for your opponent, but stay in your limits.

Tennis tip #9
If you did a good job using the above mentioned tips, you are now probably ahead in the match. This is one of the biggest traps in the game. You might try to defend the lead. You’ll start thinking: “I don’t want to lose this lead now.”

And since our brain does not understand the word NO, it hears: “I want to lose this lead now.” and it will help you do it.

Does this sound familiar? You need to think what you want: “I want to finish the set.” or “I want to extend the lead.”

Tennis tip #10
You are now at match point having played masterfully through the whole match. There are many mind traps here. See if you fall into one of them:

– If I miss this opportunity, I won’t get another one
– If I win this, it won’t be fair. He/she is actually a better player.
– I don’t want to make a double fault now.
– This is it. (and you make a historic event in your mind about one point in a tennis game)

If any of these thoughts enters your consciousness, smile at them, say: “Yeah, right.” and then play your match point decisively and with courage. Then go shake the hand of your opponent. 🙂

It’s always pretty tough to play against players who have a higher ranking than you. Of course, you’ll feel the excitement and probably more tension, and it’s easy to allow fear take over. However, there are a couple of key elements that you can use in order to beat this fear, and play your best tennis. Here are those mental elements, and how to use them to play strategically against players with higher rankings.

Realize Who the Pressure Is On

Hey, when you go out there to play this great opponent, you need to realize one thing. Although you might think that all the pressure is on you, the fact is it’s not. The pressure is on your opponent because people expect him or her to beat you. Your opponent knows this as well. He understands that he’s the one who has to ‘make it happen’ and that he’s the one who’s got everything to lose. You, on the other hand, have nothing to lose and everything to gain by playing strategically and realizing who the pressure is really on.

You’re Not Playing the Player

You’re playing their reputation. In fact, you very well might be just as strong as they are in different areas of the game. However, because they have a better ranking than you, they’re favored while you are not. So, use this to your advantage. Realize that they’re simply a player just like you are. They also make mistakes just like you do. Remember that you’re not already defeated simply because they are the favorite.

Control Your Nerves

If you’re playing a higher ranked opponent, you need to realize one thing: they are accustomed to playing the less favored players. They understand that you’re going to be nervous and they have most likely learned how to take advantage of those nerves. Rather than playing as if you were the weaker player, just play like if you were playing against any other opponent. It’s easy to allow your nerves to make you feel like you have to make serious super hits every single time. Instead, play normally and only make those super hits when you are absolutely sure that they will be successful.

Don’t Show Your Fear

Because your opponent is accustomed to taking advantage of nerves, you should definitely not show the fact that you’re nervous. There are ways to do this, and one of them is to minimize the eye contact between you and your opponent. Not looking at them will reduce the realization that they are ranked higher and will help you hide the fact that you’re nervous from them. This will give you an upper hand in the game. In fact, if you appear to be as calm as you can be, your opponent might start wondering why you’re not nervous. If you’re lucky, in turn this will make your opponent get a good case of the nerves. This will also help you take control of the game.