Tennis-tips-tactics

Consistency And Depth Of Groundstrokes

2012-01-21T16:29:00.000-08:00

This is the second post commenting on the 2011 US Hardcourt National Championship that was won by Larry Turville in the 60 year old category.

And, as I mentioned in the previous post, Larry was also the 2010 world champion in the 60's.

If you haven't read the previous post here are the links to the finals:
2011 US Hard Court Tennis Championships Part 1

2011 US Hard Court Tennis Championships part 2

These clips were put up on Youtube by Brent Abel atwebtennis.net

What you'll notice is how little Larry has to move to cover most of the court. But, watch very closely at the little steps he takes after hitting the ball. These little steps enable him to get into an excellent location on the court as he anticipates his opponent's next shot.

The key here is that Larry calculates his best optimal position just after he hits the ball and BEFORE ( caps intentional --its that important) his opponent actually hits the ball.

Most club players watch their shots and then react. Better players automatically adjust their position as part of the recovery footwork.

Watch here how the great Ilie Nastase moves after hitting the ball. In this video, he's playing Arthur Ashe who possessed a wicked serve. Ashe would often serve wide in the ad court to Nastase's backhand and serve and volley behind the serve.

Ilie Nastase versus Arthur Ashe US Open Finals 1972

You don't have to watch the whole 7 minute clip, although it may be one 7 fabulous minutes if you really enjoy the mastery of old time greats. And, as an aside, can you name 5 other players who played with the brilliant athleticism of Nastase?

Anyway, if you watch the 2 points starting at 39 seconds, you'll see what I'm talking about. Ashe is serving in the deuce court first and serves to the Nastase forehand. Nastase blocks back a forehand return and then immediately bolts to the center of the court.

The next point, Ashe serves to the Nastase backhand in the ad court and Nastase blocks a backhand return and then again bolts to the center of the court to anticipate Ashe's next shot.

Even though Nastase didn't win either of these points, he put extra pressure on Ashe and often made him hit another ball.

So, train yourself to recover to the optimal spot as soon as you've completed your stroke. Don't wait for your opponent to hit the ball before you move.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Champion Seniors Tennis Players guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Have You Ever Wondered How Good The World's Number One 60 Year Old Is?

2011-12-27T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ok, this post may not be for any younger players who still want to play every shot like Federer and be known as Rog the Second at the club.

But, if you've ever watched high level competition in the 55's and over, the game shifts from being a primarily physical battle to one of tactics, placement, endurance, and smarts.

The game is still physical, but you see less jumping on the groundstrokes ( if you see any), and less running around the backhand for example.

So, to get the conversation started, here is a link to the beginning of the 2011 US hardcourt finals in the men's 60 year old division.

The clip was posted on Youtube by Brent Abel, an ex-national champion, excellent instructor, and tennis entrepreneur.

Brent has posted tons of great free stuff on youtube.

This clip is the first of 3 of the men's 60 final. One of three interesting things is that the man who won, Larry Turville,was also the world's champion in the 60's in 2010. So, if you ever wanted to know what type of player can be a world champion in the super seniors, then study this tape.

There's so much to learn here and I'm going to use this match as the focus of my next few blog posts.

First of all, Larry Turville is 6 foot 8 inches tall! I don't know about your experiences, but at our club there is an elite player who is also 6 foot 8. Like Larry, he sort of moves in a way that looks slow, but covers the court in one step most of the time.

And, like Larry, his serve comes in from a different angle so seems to bounce higher than a serve from a shorter guy.

And, like Larry, you think there openings on the court, but then with one large step, the openings are covered.

But, I'm going to start with Larry's bread and butter shot -- the slice backhand. As Brent points out in the commentary, Larry's backhand is consistently extremely deep, landing within 12-18 inches of the baseline with regularity.

Most of the time he seems to go crosscourt and, it must be pointed out, that Larry is right handed and he was playing a righthander in the finals, so a crosscourt backhand would go to his opponent's backhand.

But, watch enough of the match and you'll see how Larry will hit a down the line slice that tails away from the court. So, after forcing his opponent into the backhand corner, Larry will then hit this up the line slice with sidespin that tails away. Even if his opponent can get to it, the odds are that he won't be able to do much with the ball, and Larry will really be set up to do some damage with the next ball.

It's a devastating pattern but one that must be executed with precision. If the down the slice veers to much to the center, then you would be giving your opponent an easy forehand --a cardinal mistake at almost any level.

That's lesson one --try and see if you can incorporate that pattern into your play.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Champion Seniors Tennis Players guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Rediscovering The Slice Serve

2011-11-27T13:45:00.000-08:00

A big win for me last week at my club!

I played the number one player on the club's ladder, someone who I haven't beaten in a few years.

As usual, I'm giving up about 20 years and these younger bucks tend to have two handed backhands and good returns off the backhand side.

Of course, this is a problem for me as my favorite weapon is the big serve to the backhand side, hoping for a winner or at least a weak return.

What's been happening the last few years is that guys have been standing way back to return my serve similar to the way clay courters like Nadal return. And, unless you can hit the perfect spot, everything is coming back.

I recognized this a few years ago, and started working on my slice serve in both the deuce and ad court.
It's not as easy as it looks if you want to hit it with good direction and good disguise. Experience has taught me that if you make a mistake and hit a mediocre slice serve, you might get a blistering forehand return back at your feet.

You can play with your toss by moving it a little to the right and see if you're opponent is observant enough to notice this. If he isn't then you can just hit more slice by tossing further to the right, but ultimately you'll want to hit the slice off the same toss that you hit your flat serve with.

And, now back to the match.

As I went up to serve, I noticed as usual that my opponent was standing way back to help him return off the backhand side. But, as he positioned himself, I could see that he wouldn't be able to cover a good slice serve especially in the deuce court.

So, I began hitting every first serve to his forehand in both the deuce and ad court. I moved my toss a little to the right and was very conscious of hitting the right side of the ball without opening up too early.

I also served and volleyed behind it to take away any floating returns.

I probably won about 80% of the points in the deuce court which made it pretty easy to hold. That put a lot of pressure on his serve and , even good players get tight, when they feel like to have to hold because they're not going to break.

As I've said the trick is to try and hit the slice with the same toss and same motion as the down the middle serve in the deuce court and the wide serve in the ad court.

Here is an incredible video of Pete Sampras hitting a slice serve ace in the deuce court. Notice where the ball crosses the net ( about halfway between the center and the sideline) and where the ball hits the court ( a couple of feet up from the interestion of service line and sideline)

Sampras Slice Serve

Staying Observant During A Match

2011-10-12T17:59:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, you just have to be observant during a match.

Usually, when I play someone with a big forehand and a less powerful backhand, I'll tend to serve to the backhand and avoid the forehand.

But, I would say that there are many players, especially those with two handed backhands, who have more technically efficient returns on the backhand side.

So, although they may generate more power on the forehand side with a much bigger loop, they actually may make more errors.

In a recent match, I was playing one of those tall, young guys with a big semiwestern forehand and a two handed backhand --the norm for young guys these days.

Early in the match, I hit a second serve kick to the forehand and I paid the price as a winner whizzed past me.

A little later, I made another mistake serving to the deuce court, and hit a slice kick to the forehand. This serve made my opponent move to his right and he hit it way wide.

This miss made me wonder if I had found a little treasure to mine for the rest of the match.

So, I went back there with similar good results. And, I kept going back, even on first serves. Turns out that, on this day at least, my opponent didn't have good footwork when forced to move to his right on the return. He became off balance and netted a lot of returns, even though he hit them hard.

So, always keep your brain working during a match. even your mistakes may bring you dividends.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Serving To The Forehand guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Playing Like an Ex-Davis Cupper

2011-07-31T07:40:00.001-07:00

It gets harder and harder to be an attack player as one gets older, in my opinion. Of course, it's also harder to be a baseline retriever as one gets older.

In general, it's gets harder to win matches when you play younger and faster opponents, especially on clay.

Of course, you could choose younger opponents who are hopelessly slow and out of shape, but I don't come across too many of those at my club and in tournaments.

What to do when you aren't the younger and faster player?

I've been able to observe some of the tricks of high level super senior players ( ex- davis cup level) and I've also been experimenting with some tactical changes in my game. Here are some of the tactics to consider.

1. In general, wily veteran tennis players position themselves on the baseline or preferably inside the baseline. This reduces the amount of court they need to cover and can compensate for being the slower opponent.

2. Of course, being on or inside the baseline, means that you have to take balls early -- either off the bounce in half volley fashion, or at a height somewhere below the shoulders.

3. If the ball is hit very deep and is going to land near the baseline, these wily vets don't move back and hit the ball as it falls. Instead, they often just volley the ball out of the air.

The net effect of playing someone with this style is that many balls come back to you much earlier than you expect, often flatter, and with less pace. It can create awkwardness and throw off your timimg. And, if you're not careful, you could find yourself at the bar trying to explain how you just lost to a 70 year old!

Now, let me tell you how this all relates to my game.

My fundamental style in my youth could be described as an attack player who could get to the net quickly, and had a good overhead. So, if I could hit a good approach shot, I could usually get good net position, and be in good position to win the point.

As I've gotten older, I've lost a step or two in approaching the net which means that it's now a lot easier for my opponents to get the passing shot at my feet, and the odds now favor them.

So, I'm in the process of adjusting some of my tactics against certain opponents.

Many of the guys I play are younger, faster guys who like to play the modern, heavy topspin, defensive game. Which means that if I hit a deep ball, they like to maove way back behind the baseline, and then hit a heavy topspin back to me.

What I've begun to do is to come in the moment that I read that they are moving way back behind the baseline. And, if they hit the high topspin ball, I either hit a swinging volley or hit a drop volley. If I execute correctly, they will have great difficulty covering my shot. I don't have to be right on top of the net to hit these shots which compensates for my lack of closing speed.

Playing this way, means that I can be patient and then punish them for not being willing or able to hit balls early.

It gives an older, slower guy a chance!

Oh, and just in case you think it only applies to older guys, check out Jeff Salzenstein's video tip on the same topic

Swinging volleys

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Swinging volleys guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Spanish Tennis Drills

2011-07-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

If The United States and Spain were both tennis stocks, then for the last 10 years, the Spanish stock has been in a bull market, while the United States stock is bearish all the way.

The most obvious sign of this would be the number of Spanish players who have been populating the men's top ten, as compared to the shrinking number of Americans.

Add to that, the fact that even the USTA hired a Spaniard Jose Higueros as the Director of Coaching in 2008.

Not to mention that even without Rafa, the Spanish Davis cup team just took out the Americans in Austin, on Andy Roddick's home court.

Ok, but is there a difference between the coaching that one receives in Spain versus the US?

And, I won't be a smart ass and suggest that the difference is that the lessons in Spain are given in Spanish. If that's all that was required, the the USTA could send its pros to Berlitz language training and everything would be AOK.

I won't pretend that I have trained at a Spanish tennis academy or that I know the inside scoop about what they talk about at the USTA. I will say though that I have read quite a bit about the differences from people who have trained in both places.

A great example would be the pro Chris Lewitt who has written articles on John Yandell's excellent site Tennisplayer.net and who has his own site at chrislewit.com . It seems that the difference is that the Spanish system is fanatical about movement, defense, and racket head speed to generate heavy topsin.

Growing up in North America, every tennis lesson that I have ever seen or taken involved a pro on the other side of the court hitting balls to me(except for the serve). But, it seems that having the pro on the same side of the court and feeding balls by hand is a big part of the Spanish training. And, there are designed movement drills that incorporate both offense and defense.

What's nice as well about these drills, is that it looks like it would be quite easy to have a friend feed balls and for you to get a high level workout.

Here are a few links to a few spanish type drills. Enjoy and maybe you can incorporate them into your training.

Spanish Hand Fed Drill

Spanish Tennis Drill

Spain Tennis Academy

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Spanish Tennis Drills guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Serving On Slow Clay

2011-06-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

We all know that clay is a slower surface then hard court. But, throw in some heavy rain the day before, and clay courts can become incredibly slow.

Depending on your style of play, this may or may not be an advantage. But, in my last ladder match at the club, it hurt both myself and my opponent.

Both of us have pretty big serves and are used to getting a lot of free points. But, the courts were so slow that returning his big first serve was pretty easy. On the other hand, I couldn't get many free points either so it was a match with lots of breaks.

Because I wasn't having much success serving I probably tried to do too much and I lost my rhythm. And, while my rhythm was disappearing like Kim Clisters in the third set at the French, my lead evaporated and I found myself in a tiebreak.

At the start of the tiebreak, I decided to just hit hard second serves as my first serve and give up all thoughts of aces or winners. Knowing that you're going to hit the same serve on both the first and second serve tends to relax me, since I don't have to worry about changing my toss or swing plane under pressure.

And, wouldn't you know that my opponent missed a big forehand when he tried to rip a high second serve. No doubles and I won the breaker 7-1.

The lesson here is to get a sense of what is happening when you hit your second serve. If you're winning a majority of the points on your second but are struggling with a low first serve percentage or the courts are too slow, then consider just hitting seconds.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Serving on slow clay guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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The Best Backhand Volley In Modern Times

2011-03-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

For me, the modern era began with the Jimmy Connors dismantling of Ken Rosewall at Wimbledon in the early 70's.

All the great names like Gonzalez, Laver, Newcombe, Hoad, Budge, and Roche are all before my time.

It's not like I don't know who they were. I even have 2 of Pancho's instructional books, and I saw Gonzalez and Laver play in their 60's at exhibition events.

Plus, I have the incredible privilege of hitting with and talking tennis with a great Canadian player, now in his 70's, who played against Don Budge and Maureen Connolly.

When it comes to backhand volleys, you really only hear 2 names -- Tony Roche and Stefan Edberg. McCenroe, Sampras, and Rafter were good volleyers but perhaps a notch down on the backhand side from Roche and Edberg.

What makes a great volley?

Everyone will begin with consistency and placement. But, if there's one word which describes a great volley, to me it's the word stick. To stick a volley is to hit a volley with a sound that can be described as a thud. The ball takes off low, like a rocket, hits the ground, and then scoots unhittably away.

Edberg is the best volleyer I've ever seen. Not only did he gain incredible position on his serve and volley, but he stuck his volleys. Watch this clip a thousand times if you want to learn how to hit a world-class backhand volley

Edberg Backhand Volley

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Best Backhand Volley guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Doing Less Can Be More On The Return

2011-01-16T14:35:00.000-08:00

Everybody always talks about how the serve and the return are the two most important shots in tennis. You occasionally see someone at the club practicing serves, but almost never do you see a club player practicing returns.

When you play a lot of matches against good players, you begin to realize that a return that lands somewhere in the mid-court area is often just an invitation for a good player to crack a big forehand and take control of the point. A losing strategy for the returner.

Often, the response of the returner is to try and hit harder, but this is often counterproductive as it increases the errors and is much harder.

So, here's a strategy I recently used with great success.

I was playing a young guy with a big serve and a big forehand. Although I was returning all of his serves, he was able, with his quickness, to run around and hit dominating forehands on almost all my returns.

So, I tried something completely different.

I started semi-lobbing his returns deep crosscourt and watched with amazement as to how this changed the patterns. First of all, I had a lot of time to recover into good defensive position. This alone is very valuable.

But, I also noticed how many errors my opponent started to make. It's a much harder shot to hit a big forehand off a ball that is coming almost straight down like a semi-lob. The timing is different and the contact point is higher.

Of course, smart players might try and come in and take the ball out of the air but so many young players are poor volleyers and just don't want to do this.

Many years ago I played a Canadian legend. This man had been number one in Canada for many years in his prime and had played all the greats like Laver.

When I played him, he was in his early sixties, although he was the best-conditioned sixty year old I've ever seen. And, he beat me badly but not with power. He beat me with his head.

He took my big first serve to his backhand and took it early, hitting a floating return that landed inches from the baseline. I had never played anyone who played with this strategy and I found it very difficult to deal with. He took it so early that serve and volleying was difficult. And, if I let the ball land, it landed so deep and with such little pace that I couldn't do much with it.

So, if you're not beeaking serve, try floating semi-lob returns deep and see what happens.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Return Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What I Learned From A Great Doubles Player

2010-10-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

The club that I play at in Toronto has a lot of top players. There are a lot of players who play competitive seniors tennis and who rank at or near the top in the country. ( There's a 73 year old legend who can play with all but the best younger guys -- he takes everything incredibly early)

Last week in the club doubles championship, I had the pleasure of watching the club's best doubles player. He's also one of the top doubles players in the country.

What did I learn you ask?

An incredible amount and I'll try and pass on some of the lessons I picked up by watching.

1. An incredibly compact return of serve. Essentially, a quick unit turn with almost no independent arm motion. Almost impossible to make an error and able to take the ball early and put it right back at the server's feet.

2. Incredibly compact volleys. Same story -- shoulder turn with very little independent arm action.

3. A fantastic overhead -- able to hit with angle, power , and able to bounce the overhead over the head of the other team. Try hitting a typical overhead that bounces over the heads of your opponents. Not easy! But very valuable.

4. Fantastic balance. Never out of balance when the other team was preparing to hit. Very quiet body.

5. Drilled a lot of volleys at the net man. When he had a volley that he could generate pace on, he drilled it at the net man -- remember this is top level men's doubles.

6. Precision serving. Not big but well placed.

Try watching the best doubles players at your club --especially youngish seniors ( 35's and 40's) and see what you can pick up. Then go out and incorporate those changes into your game.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Doubles Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What The Average Guy Or Gal Can Learn From Rafa

2010-09-14T10:25:00.000-07:00

Wow.

That's all I can say about Rafael Nadal's performance last night in the US Open final.

Especially, the third and fourth set. No errors, unbelievable defense, crisp volleying when needed, and accurate,powerful serving.

We are watching one of the great players of all time.

But, are there are any lessons that Bob or Mary, who play at the club, and right now are preparing for their summer club championships, can use?

Because, as great as Rafa is, he plays tennis with the logical abilities of one of those IBM supercomputers. Let's have a look at some of the tactics Rafa used last night to dismantle a very game Novak Djokovic.

RETURN OF SERVE

Forget about taking a swing, even if shortened on the first serve. Rafa was slicing back all first serves on both the forehand and backhand side. And, he was slicing high and with great depth so that when the ball landed almost all advantage for Djokovic was gone.

This is very similar to the way Roger Federer plays Andy Roddick --neutralize the big serve by just blocking it, and then seeing if your opponent has the goods to win the point after the bounce.

Of course, the flaw in the strategy would be a susceptibility to guys who follow in their serves and volley but, since serve and volleyers are a dying breed, Rafa doesn't usually have to worry .

Djokovic did serve and volley a few times, and actually did well, but it's not his game.

HIT SLICE BACKHANDS HIGH AND UP THE LINE

Another Nadal pattern, when in trouble on his backhand, is to hit a slice up the line. Often, he hits it with lots of height so that it gives him plenty of time to recover to good court position.

This one is a little tricky to volley since it's usually over the backhand shoulder.If Nadal makes a mistake and floats the ball over the forehand shoulder --- it's good night.

Learn To Hit Sharply Sliced First Serves

Nadal makes a living hitting his slice serve in the ad court. It goes to the backhand of the righthanders and is a devastating shot. But, notice how much trouble Nadal has when righties slice wide to his backhand in the deuce court.

In general, a good slice serve is pretty rare at the club. It takes a lot of practice to be able to get enough action and movement so that the serve doesn't sit up in the strike zone.

A good slice serve will force your opponent to stand further to the side to cover it, and open up a lot of court for the serve in the other direction.

So, you'll have guys guessing or cheating -- a big advantage.

A lot of the stuff that Rafa does is unteachable so don't even humor yourself and try those insanely whippy forehands, but these three things above can win you a whole bunch of matches.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Win The US Open Like Rafa guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Imagine A Lesson From Robert Lansdorp

2010-07-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are aware of who Robert Lansdorp is ,the excitement of having a private lesson from this famed coach would be intoxicating.

For those of you who aren't aware of Robert Lansdorp, here are a few words of introduction.

Mr. Lansdorp is the legendary Southern California coach who coached Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, Lindsey Davenport, Elliot Teltsher, and Maria Sharapova.

Philosophically , he is as old school as they come, a tough disciplinarian. From a tennis pooint of view he is a believer in classic grips and penetrating ground strokes rather than loopy topspin shots which he calls academy balls, with more than a touch of disdain.

I go back and forth all the time as to what is the best method for a club player -- the aggressive flat game as espoused by Lansdorp or the modern heavy topspin game.
I've discussed that topic in this blog and, I can say that I am now attempting in my own game to flatten out mid court balls and hit more winners or shots that force errors from my opponents.

Here is a link to a private lesson that Lansdorp is giving to a very talented 8 year old. Watch the whole clip, I picked up a number of technical tips, especially at the 2 minute and 40 second point Lansdorp Private Lesson

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Amazing Forehand Tennis Lesson guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Drop Volleys On Clay

2010-05-13T04:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a thought for everyone who plays on clay or Har-Tru -- Should all volleys (or at least the great preponderance) be drop volleys? You know those feathered touch shots hit with soft hands that drop just over the net? The type that John McEnroe made famous?

After growing up playing predominantly hard court tennis, I now play on clay. And, since I'm an attack player, coming to net and volleying away my opponents' passing shots is a big part of my game.

The classical approach to volleying is probably to volley deep and into the open court. Of course, sometimes you need to volley behind an opponent but, on hard court, if you volley with some sting to the open court, you can probably hit a winner.

Attacking on clay is a whole different animal.That's why, when you watch the upcoming French Open, you may not see too many points ending with volleys.

On clay, volleys sit up and give quick opponents enough time to hit either good passing shots or devastating lobs. Many quick players on clay play a defensive style of game, they stand quite far behind the baseline and just keep returning the ball until they can for get an error.

So, I've discovered, the hard way I might add, that deep volleys don't work that well on clay. Recently, I've begun hitting a lot of drop volleys and angled volleys,using soft hands, and my appreciation for using all the inches of the tennis court has greatly increased.

If your opponent is deep behind the baseline and you hit a drop volley, it's almost physically impossible for your opponent to run up and get to the ball. The short angled volley works the same way.

The other factor to consider is that most clay courters want nothing to do with approaching the net. Hittng drop volleys draws your opponents in, so that even if they get to the ball, they'll be at the net which is a place they usually don't want to be.

Watch the great clay courter Rafael Nadal play these next few weeks. When he hits a deep penetrating groundstroke which pulls his opponent very deep or wide, Nadal sneaks in and hits a winner drop volley. He's learned that when your opponent is deep and wide, that the play to make is to hit the drop volley.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Tactics Like Hitting Drop Volleys On Clay guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Playing Women

2010-05-01T14:03:00.000-07:00

In today's world, there are a lot of excellent female players at clubs all over the world.

And, if you're club is like mine, there are a lot of men who really don't want to lose to a woman.

The problem for a lot of the guys is that the women might actually be better players technically.

My observation is that women in general have better backhands than guys, and guys tend to rely much more on power, speed, and a big serve and forehand. Very few women seem to have one-handed backhands, they tend to have very solid two-handers, whereas a lot of guys still have slice backhands and rely on running around to hit forehands.

I fall into the latter category although I also have a two-hander. However, I've observed that it's very difficult to win baseline rallies consistently if you're constantly are at a disadvantage with one pattern -- especially backhand to backhand.

So, here a few generic thoughts about how to beat women.

First of all, if you have a good serve, you must capitalize on it. And, this might involve serving and volleying which is something most women aren't familair with playing against.

Secondly, I've observed that getting balls high can bother wome more than pace. So, if you're able to hit a very high, bouncing, topspin stroke this could be very effective.

Third, try to stretch the court wide and make it a speed game . Do this only if you're the faster player, as otherwise it might work against you.

Fourth, hit a lot of short slice and drop shots to turn it into a short ball/ volley game instead of a groundstroker game.

Lastly, get your ego out of the way. If you're playing not to lose, you're probably going to lose.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule, but I haven't seen too many serve and volleying women at my club.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Tactics To Help You Beat The Women At Your Club guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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The No Split Step Serve And Volleyer

2010-02-24T07:15:00.000-08:00

First of all, greetings to all and my apologies for having gone AWOL for awhile.

Just general life business. I, of course, did manage to continue studying this exceptional game of tennis which keeps us all enthralled. Frankly, my interests have veered toward the technical, and I'll be sharing some of my thoughts with you on these subjects, as well as my traditional thoughts on competitive play at the club level and on the pro tour.

There are very few serve and volleyers at the club level but, occasionally, you come across one. Sometimes, the serves aren't even particularly good but the players just come charging in so fast that they are on top of the net to volley away winners.

Sometimes, these players seem so tough, regardless of how hard you hit the return, that you wonder how they lose to anyone.

The secret for most of these players is that they don't split step. They just keep charging in full bore to get the net. As long as they don't have to change direction too much, or god forbid, go backwards, they're fine.

Two quick examples of guys I've played.

One is a good senior player in the 50's with a slow kick serve to the backhand, very good foot speed, with average volleying skills. He recently started to serve and volley on his slow serve. He's fast enough and his serve is slow enough that he gets great position for his first volley.

Seems like an unbeatable strategy, right?

Well, if you play guy like this and can't win by using the traditional counters such as returning low or wide, try the lob on the return.

Think about it, the player is charging forward without splitting. Just let him keep charging and then lob over his head. When I tried this, it worked like a charm since he could never get on balance to hit a powerful overhead and actually missed many.

Now, you won't see this on the pro tour because there are very few serve and volleyers, and the ones that there are have great footwork and would destroy a lob return.

The second situation involved a big strong 25 year old with a huge serve. Because of his height and serve, I teased him that he was the Ivo Karlovic of the club.

He hit his huge serve and also came in without splitting, getting incredible net position. And, in this case, a practice match, I resisted trying the lob and kept trying to beat him with great returns.

But his serve was big enough that I couldn't direct the ball as well as I would like so I couldn't break him. Walked of the court after the loss, and thought about the match and playing the guy again.

I vowed that If I had to play him again, I would lob.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Countering The Club Serve And Volleyer guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Do You Need Modern Technique In the Seniors?

2009-07-22T19:45:00.000-07:00

Should all players adopt the modern forehand style of Federer or Nadal or is the classic forehand that Pete Sampras hit better?

And, really the question has to do with senior tennis since there are very few kids who are learning the classic Landsorp forehand with conservative grips.

My view is that the modern rotational strokes with wiper finishes are great especially when you're playing against someone who gives you pace and a high bouncing ball that you can hit at waist height or even higher.

But, enter a top seniors tournament and you find yourself hitting well-placed low balls with little pace. And, it's not easy to rip these balls since you have to generate all the pace yourself.

I'm coming to the conclusion that having the ability to really hit through these balls with heavy, fairly flat strokes is a skill that good players need. Hitting too much spin on these balls often gives your opponent more time to chase the ball down and hit a reply that you may not like.

Even Federer and Agassi vary their forehand finishes to get the effect that they desire. So, if you're a heavy topspin player who has trouble putting the ball away and attacking, then try to flatten out your strokes when you're attacking. Study the Sampras forehand finish and try it out.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics Like The Sampras Forehand guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Roddick's Match Of His Life

2009-07-05T17:01:00.000-07:00

Take away the horrible backhand volley at set point in the second set breaker and you'd have to admit that Andy Roddick played the match of his life.

And, yet he still lost, which tells you how hard it is to beat Roger Federer.

What struck me about the match was the obvious improvement in Roddick's game. I believe a lot of the credit has to go to Larry Stefanki, Roddick's coach.

A-Rod has always been able to blast his serve but, in the past, he was not a top ten player in baseline rallies, especially on the backhand side.

Federer went hard at the Roddick backhand as usual but today Andy's backhand held up extremely well. A-Rod seems to have much better movement and balance when running to the backhand side and this now allows him to pass well up the line when attacked.

As a matter of fact, it was a couple of shanked forehands that cost A-rod the last game and the match.

I think players at all levels underestimate the importance of movement and balance.
They try and hit with huge power and spin.

But, I can tell you from personal experience that if you don't move well and maintain good balance, then good players will eat you up. And, if you're not set well, you won't have a chance to hit those big shots.

So, think of yourself as Fred Astaire and glide around the court.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Tactics That Almost Helped Roddick Win Wimbledon guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer's New Drop Shot

2009-06-15T06:17:00.000-07:00

Stubborn Roger Federer they all said.

For the last three years every tennis fan/critic in the world has had words of advice for Roger Federer especially on how to play Rafael Nadal.

Coaches came and went and always the refrain was --that Rog fellow is too stubborn.

We all talked about the backhand return and what he should do. We talked about not rallying with Nadal but attacking persistently.

Irony of irony -- Federer adds to his game, gets a glimpse of the success of his new tactics in the altitude of the Madrid, and then watches his rival crash out in the middle rounds of the French Open.

So, what did Federer do differently?

To this observer, Federer obviously served far better than in recent memory. And, when you have a serve that is as precisely placed as Fed's, it's money in the bank when its on.

But, the biggest change I noted in the groundstroke tactics was the increased use of the drop shot.

We've all known what a great slice backhand Federer has always possessed. However, against Nadal, the slice backhand often allowed Nadal to hit topspin forehands even inches off the ground and regain control of the point.

The classic Federer slice backhand didn't hurt Nadal positionally. What I mean by this is that Nadal wasn't forced to move to a part of the court where he was in danger by virtue of a bad position on the court.

The Fed drop shot forces opponents to charge in just to actually get it. If they do reach it, they have to do something good with it or else they find themselves a sitting duck at the net.

And remember two things. Almost all of Fed's opponents including Rafa are clay courters who like to camp out way behind the baseline on clay. This is great for defending against heavy groundstrokes but makes one vulnerable against a well-placed and disguised drop shot.

And secondly, Federer is a far better volleyer than almost all of his opponents. So, when he pulls people into the net he is luring them into his territory -- a tennis mousetrap so to speak.

So, how can the average club player learn from this?

Well, consider the drop shot if you're opponent exhibits any of the following:

1. Likes to play way behind the baseline;
2. Doesn't like to come to net and volleys poorly;
3. Isn't that quick;
4. Has a poor overhead.

Next time we'll talk about where to hit the drop shot and how to move after hitting it.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics Like The Federer Drop Shot guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Should You Return Like Nadal?

2009-05-10T15:43:00.000-07:00

Watch Rafael Nadal as he returns serve, especially on clay.

What you'll see is that Nadal stands way back to return and then hits a high, looping, heavy topspin, return off both the forehand and backhand.

Nadal is basically saying that he is so confident in his ability to chase down a second shot, that he is choosing to give himself as much time as possible to rip a heavy return.

Many other players stand in tighter and return with an abbreviated stroke, using the pace of the serve.

On clay, I think it's definitely worthwhile to try Nadal's strategy aspecially if you have heavy groundstrokes which can do some damage if you take a full swing.

Nadal also returns very high over the net which dramatically increases his percentage of returns in play. Again, this makes him theoretically vulnerable to serve and volleyers, but considering that there are no good serve and volleyers on tour, it's seems to be a pretty fair bet.

We'll analyze further aspects of Nadal's game in the next few posts but, as you watch him play his matches, start to watch his shot selection and how he almost always goes for high percentage shots.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies How To Return Smart Like Rafael Nadal guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Those Savvy Defensive Players

2009-03-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while, you come across an opponent whose winning record seems in sharp contradiction to the way he looks while playing.

Sometimes, these guys look slow, hit with no power, and yet they beat almost everybody except for the the top players.

I had the opportunity to play such a player this past weekend.

Now, this fellow comes with quite a tennis pedigree having been on touring junior teams for a South American country and having played the Orange Bowl tennis tournament.

The obvious way to play these type of players is to try and hit through them. But, this fellow's defense was superb. And, I'm not talking about Nadal type passing shots.

This fellow, let's call him Eduardo, has the ability to hit low, slow, slice balls down the line with extraordinary precision. This particular position on the court is a very difficulot position for most attacking players and especially for most club players who don't practice what to do with this ball.

The obvious response is back down the line but Eduardo knows this too and covers this shot.In hindsight, I think the shot to hit might be a short angled topspin crosscourt. However, this isn't a shot that most club players practice very often and isn't something that one might go to naturally in the heat of battle.

So, the lesson is to never to judge how good someone is until you've been on the court with them and see for yourself.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies How To Play Pushers And Win Big Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What The Club Player Can Learn From Nadal And Murray

2009-03-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

Rafa Nadal and Andy Murray are two of the best players in the world. They both play a primarily defensive game although Nadal can convert to offense in an instant which I think makes him so incredible.

But, as I watching the most recent match between the two (the final at Indian Wells),I was struck by the intelligence of the types of shots they were both playing as they played defense in points.

When in a little bit of trouble, perhaps pulled out wide, watch how Nadal and Murray often hit loopy, deep shots with less pace than their normal groundstrokes.

They don't panic at all. They hit these higher, slower shots because they want a little extra time to recover their court position. You might also see slice backhands especially from Nadal.

So, as you're playing your matches at your club, remember this principal. Next time, you're in a bad position in a point, try to hit the ball to a safe place using a little more height over the net and maybe with less pace.

But, always remember that after hitting your shot, bust your gut getting back into good position so that, in essence, you can restart the point.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tips AND Coaching Advice guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Old School Forehand Versus Modern Forehand

2009-03-15T14:33:00.000-07:00

If you're of a certain vintage, then you learned to play tennis with the classic linear forehand. You took the racket back early, played mostly neutral or closed stance, and followed through toward the target.

The modern forehand clearly looks different. It involves different grips and the use of more rotational force. The effect is far more spin, control, and angles.

There are really 2 issues to discuss here.

The first is the advantage of the modern forehand versus the classical for the club player. The second is how to hit the modern forehand and retrain yourself.

Let's start off with the first issue. As I see it, the classical forehand can be very effective at the club level if hit well. It is especially effective if your opponents are hitting a ball that doesn't bounce too high as the classic forehand is hit with a conservative grip ( eastern or continental).

However, if you're a bit of a old-timer and you're playing younger players who have grown up being taught the modern forehand, you may find that it becomes very difficult to handle the high bouncing balls produced by the modern forehand.

And, you may marvel at the ease of which the modern forehand players can destroy high balls.

So, the classical forehand may or may not be an advantage depending on whom you're playing.

The second issue is the technical differences between the two and how you can retrain yourself to hit the modern forehand.

The modern forehand is what is referred to as a multi-segment forehand as opposed to the single segment classical forehand. What this means is that in the classical forehand the entire arm from the shoulder down moves as a single block.

On the other hand, in the modern forehand, there is a movement of multiple segments including the shoulder. elbow, and wrist.

There's also far more rotation involved in the modern forehand.

Here are 2 resources to get you started in exploring the differences:

A short video illustrating the differences

A second video illustrating the differences

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics For Playing All Different Types guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Volleying Tips From The Old School

2009-03-03T08:16:00.000-08:00

Recently, I've had the pleasure of hitting with a 73 year old man at our club.

Not just any 73 year old man, mind you, but a former Davis Cupper and someone can regale you with stories about greats like Don Budge, Pancho Gonzalez, and the Aussies.

A fine gentleman as well.

But, let's get to the tennis part of things.

Obviously, he's from the old school with conservative grips and the traditional linear groundstrokes of that era. But, what an eye for correct technique on the volley and backhand approach shot.

All great volleyers contact the ball in front of them. Most club players contact the ball further back and then wonder why they don't get the stick and angle they desire.

The problem is that most club players may think they're contacting out in front but, in fact, actually aren't.

So, when I'm on the court with this senior with the wisdom of the ages, he continually reminds me to contact out front. When you start to get it, the ball has far more zip.

I noticed the difference in one of our weekly doubles matches. One of the foursome is a fine player with soft hands who can volley well but tends to catch the ball late and let it bounce off the racket instead of sticking it.

When, I got into exhanges at the net I was almost guaranteed to win since his volley had no stick and therefore gave me time to react, whereas my volleys had more zip and ultimately forced the error and won me the point.

So, even if you don't have an ex-pro drilling you on an in-front contact point, remind yourself and practice until you get the feel.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics For Beating The Next Guy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Playing A Talented Pusher

2009-01-25T17:32:00.000-08:00

Here's a tennis tip -- consider changing your patterns when playing tall guys.Probably, the most frustrating thing for the typical player is playing what we call a pusher.

That's unless you're the pusher who drives everyone else crazy.

Let's first define what we mean by a pusher.

A pusher is a player who tends to get a lot of balls back with little pace, forcing his or her opponent to create all the pace and actively win the points.

Most people think pushers are inferior players because of their lack of pace and get easily frustrated when they start losing.

And, of course, not all pushers are at the same level. The really high level ones are quick as cats and put the ball in very awkward positions in the court.

So, what are some of the approaches to playing the pusher?

The first is mental. Instead of getting ticked off at the lack of classic tennis that the pusher is playing, start off by admiring their unique brand of artistry. Accept playing them as a real challenge.

If you start to lose, then try to stay calm and figure out what patterns the pusher is using to defeat you.

Often, the pusher's opponent will try to attack very early in points because the slow balls of the pusher look very inviting. Instead, be patient and vary your attacks. If attacking early isn't working then move the pusher around and then try and attack later in the point. Try to vary your pattern so that the pusher doesn't know when you're going to attack.

Avoid overhitting and try to focus on a good follow through to create depth. Wait patiently until you have a very solid attack opportunity.

Next time, we'll talk about positions on the court that the pusher hits to and what possible responses there are.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics For Playing The Tennis Pusher guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Tennis Tips When Playing Tall Guys

2009-01-07T13:34:00.000-08:00

Here's a tennis tip -- consider changing your patterns when playing tall guys.

Every few months I play a friend of mine who's a rangy 6 feet 4 inches. He's an old school attacking player with flat strokes, takes everything early, and comes to the net where he's very effective and difficult to pass or lob.

Normally, I can control baseline rallies with my groundies and be safe from attack unless I hit a short ball. However, this guy's length enables him to cut off a ton of well-hit crosscourt groundstrokes and push the ball up the line while coming in. It's very disconcerting to say the least.

I've already changed my serving pattern when playing him and tend to serve at his body instead of going for the corners. I find that it's easier to jam him than to beat him wide or down the middle.

So, the next time I play him, I'm going to hit deep down the middle and try not to give him good attacking angles.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tips To Win Big Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Training With The Number One Guy In Canada

2008-12-28T08:05:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the recent gap in posting. Sometimes, life just gets so busy that something has to give.

In the fall, I had the opportunity to train with the number one player in Canada in the 45's. The whole experience was very educational.

As always, there are technical as well as tactical issues. Since this blog focuses on tactical aspects, the only thing I will say about technique is that this guy has simplified takebacks as compared to most well-known pros, and uses less wrist action on his groundies.

The main difference I noticed was the consistent depth of shot. While at a certain level, most shots have reasonable depth, there is usually quite a bit of variation in the depth. So, a top player can just be patient when playing a lower player because he knows that sooner or later, he will get a short ball or an error.

The next thing I noticed was much better footwork when moving. Many players are strong hitting their strokes when stationary, but their strokes break down when they are forced to move. Again, better players can win relatively easily by hitting safe shots that require their opponents to move.

The surprising thing was that power wasn't really an issue.

So, when you're practicing focus on consistent depth, especially when you're forced to move.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies How Top Tennis Players Win Big Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Lessons From The Canadian Nationals

2008-10-10T04:12:00.000-07:00

At the end of the summer, I watched some of the Canadian Seniors Tennis Mens Championships.

These are the annual summer championships in age groups 35-75.

And, although Canada isn't known as the strongest tennis country in the world, the Canadian champion has also been the world champion in a number of age categories in the past few years.

The final in the 35's was a brilliant example of strategic tennis.

The match pitted a very talented, old school, continental grip player against a modern, fit, semi-western grip, heavy baseliner. To make it even more interesting, the old school player is left-handed, a former satellite pro, and somewhat out of shape. To get a sense of his game think McEnroe or Laver.

The first set was fairly standard tennis with each player trying to see if their basic game was going to be enough to win. And, as the set went on, it became apparent that the more fit, topspinning, modern player was controlling baseline rallies.

The match was on clay, so it was quite difficult for the lefty to attack the net successfully. The first set went by pretty quickly, 6-2 to the baseliner.

Many observers, including an- ex Davis Cupper, left thinking the match was over.
Some of us hung in there to see what new tactics the talented lefty would try in the second set.

Lefty started to hit heavy, short slice landing somewhere around the service line.
This forced the modern player to move and to have to hit up from the service line with his semi-western grip.

Immediately, it became apparent that the modern player didn't know what to do with this ball. He certainly couldn't dominate rallies from here, didn't want to attack himself, and actually missed many shots into the net.

The savvy lefty smelled blood. He kept at it and added in some incredible drop shot returns off of first serves.

The rest of the match went smoothly with a 6-2 win in the third for the old school lefty.

For those of us watching, it was a brilliant example of changing tactics in the middle of a match to turn a losing situation into a winning one.

The key is to realize what grip you're opponent is using and what advantages and disadvantages that grip leads to. Semi-western or western forehand grips are excellent on high balls but weak on low balls.

So, try slicing to the forehand of your next opponent who's killing you with his semi-western forehand.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies How Top Tennis Players Win Big Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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A Clever Tactical Pattern

2008-08-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

As you improve your tennis game, the tactics that you use in your matches will probably change.

I write a lot about patterns in my book INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES but here is a general observation from playing club players up to national level players and ex-Davis Cup players.

I would say that the basis of 3.5 -4.5 club tennis is attacking your opponent's backhand. I think it is relatively rare that a player at this level has a better backhand than forehand. So, often the play is to serve to the backhand, approach to the backhand even if it's a crosscourt approach, etc.

But, my observation has been that at the higher levels, the backhands of many players are more consistent than the forehands. Many top players in the over 45 categories play with a one-handed backhand. Although they probably won't return with a topspin backhand, they often have a very compact slice return which is very reliable.

On the other hand, most players return with a full swing on the forehand. This requires more time and timing, often leading to more errors.

The other thing to notice is that most top players position themselves to hit inside-out forehands. They stand towards the backhand corner, enabling themselves to run around many backhands to hit forehands.

They leave the forehand corner exposed because most players can't hit down-the-line backhands well.

As a result many top players have poor footwork going to their forehand corner. Believe it or not, I even think Federer has a problem with his balance going to the forehand corner. Remember, if you can get your opponent of balance, you may not beat him or her with the first shot, but may win the point with the next shot.

So, work on your crosscourt forehand and your down-the-line backhand and don't be afraid to use them if you run into a player with a good backhand who is beating you.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What's Wrong With Federer

2008-07-28T09:50:00.000-07:00

What's wrong with Roger Federer? This is the question bouncing around the tennis world these days with just as many theories being put forward to answer that $64,000 question.

I think everyone would agree that Federer's confidence is shot. But, how exactly does that effect his play?

I had the opportunity to watch Federer on the practice courts the day after his loss last week to Gilles Simon in the Rogers Cup in Toronto. He was hitting with a hitting partner who was just there to keep the ball in play.

What struck me was how erratic Federer was, especially off the forehand.

It made me think about the construction of Federer's tactical game.

Roger has never been a player who is content to hit 15-20 balls every point and outwork his opponent. At his essence, he's a shotmaker, unlike his main adversary Rafael Nadal, who is essentially a defensive player content to outwork his opponents and tire them physically.

And, when your confidence goes it is hard to attack well.

So Federer really has 2 choices as far as I can see. He can reaffirm that he's an attack player and improve his approach shots and his volleys. Or, he can say that he needs more tactical margin and gets into the mindset of grinding out some points at certain important times in matches.

Personally, I think Federer is better off attacking because there are too many young, quick guys with 2 handed backhands who can rally and run all day long.

Plus, Federer is not getting any younger and the grinding style is very hard on the body.

So, I say let Fed attack and let the chips fall where they may.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Comparing Nadal Versus Djokovic On Hard Courts

2008-07-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

The professional tennis tour , at least the men's side of things, has landed in Toronto, Canada for the upcoming Rogers Cup scheduled to begin tomorrow.

As is my tradition, I like to go up the weekend before the tournament starts to catch some of the practice court action.

Yesterday, I saw a little of Andy Murray, Feliciano Lopez, and Radek Stepanek but the highlights of the day included the hour long session between Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo and the session pitting Novak Djokovic versus Thomas Berdych.

Obviously, the crowd was bonkers for both Nadal and Djokovic as they are huge crowd favourites.

I was out there looking for general impressions of their form.

My overall impression is that Djokvic looks more solid than Nadal on the hard court.

Djokovic takes almost every ball on the rise or at the peak of the bounce. This gives his game a metronomic feel and minimizes his need to cover court.

Rafa, on the other hand, relies on his brute power and great speed. He seems to take balls at different heights at times and is much more of a shot maker than the Djokester.

I think the regularity of the bounce on hard court will really play into the strength
of Djokovic and would not be surprised to see him have another great hard court season like last year.

The one obvious improvement that I saw in Nadal's game compared to 2 years ago is his serve. It is much bigger and better placed. This is the one unknown for Nadal going into the hard court season.

We all saw how effective his serve was at Wimbledon. If he can hold easily on hard court as well, then he becomes a lethal opponent on this surface as well.

Now, I didn't get a chance to see Federer so I can't comment on his form.

Let the games begin.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Clay Then Grass Now Back To Clay

2008-07-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

The French Open is a distant memory while the Wimbledon Final still creates a warm glow.

For tennis fans, the big questions are how will Nadal's knees hold up on the hard courts this summer and who will win the US Open later this summer.

So, what does the tour do post Wimbledon?

Well, they've scheduled a couple of clay court events including one in Stuttgart and the Swedish Open.

For players this has to be a bit of yo-yo feeling. First clay for a few months, then grass for 3 weeks, then back to clay for a week, then onto hard courts in North America.

Can't wait to see Nadal on hard courts.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Top Tennis Tactics AND Coaching Lessons guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What Can We Take Away From Wimbledon 2008

2008-07-09T08:04:00.001-07:00

What a glorious Sunday this was for tennis fans.

The final of Wimbledon 2008 is already being talked about in reverential tones. Phrases like " the greatest tennis match of all-time" are being tossed around with the frequency of rain delays at Wimbledon.

It's obvious to anyone who has watched tennis closely the past 3 years, that Rafael Nadal has improved his game to an extent that is almost never seen on the pro tour. Players may work on some parts of their game and show improvement but Nadal has turbo-charged his game.

His backhand which was a liability everywhere but on clay 3 years ago is now a lethal weapon.
He can hit heavy topspin to neutralize his opponents, he can drive flat balls with rocket speed, and he can hit both a vicious slice or a floating slice to change the pace of the point.

Not to mention that he has added speed and variety to his serve and gained considerable expertise in volleying.

Who could have imagined that Nadal would serve and volley down love 15 in the biggest game of his life?

All credit has to go to Nadal and his coaches.

Now, notice that Nadal is not a product of a high-level tennis academy with a pedigreed coach who has directed other players to the pinnacle of the game.

So, Uncle Toni as he's known must know a hell of a lot about tennis. It's also been said that Carlos Moya, the fellow Majorcan, has been a major influence on the younger Rafa.

Nadal started with a warrior's heart, a sprinter's speed, and a boxer's knockout topspin forehand. But, now he is becoming a complete player.

I can't wait to see him play at the next 2 hard court slams.

Don't be surprised if you see him holding up a trophy either in New York or Melbourne or both.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND coaching Lessons guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Wimbledon 2008 --Almost Sad To See Roddick Lose

2008-06-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

I have mixed emotions about Andy Roddick.

On the one hand, as a tennis purist, I find his game unidimensional. He has the big serve, which probably isn't as big as it used to be, but the rest of his game is disappointing. The forehand is good, the backhand horrific, return of serve poor, and volleys almost non-existant.

On the other hand, I admire his competitive grit and his desire to try and improve by doing things like hiring Jimmy Connors to coach him and help his backhand.

But, in the final analysis, he has a poorly designed game given his skills.

It's a pity that none of his coaches recognized that his foot speed would not allow him to be a successful baseliner at the pro level and that he would need a great volley to finish points.

Think Max Mirnyi instead of Rafael Nadal.

I was cringing watching the final set tiebreak today against Tipsarevic. Roddick could do nothing but push his backhand and you don't win in the pros by pushing. His unforced backhand error at 4-5 in the tiebreak was just so sad and reflective of where he's at as a player now.

Maybe Andy should play doubles to work on his return and volleys?

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Guarantee You Improve Your Tennis Ranking. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Wimbledon 2008 Heats Up

2008-06-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Wimbledon Tennis Championship are underway.

Day 3 and a huge dose of shock in the 2008 Wimbledon Championships.

Marat Safin has just taken out the number 3 seed Novak Djokovic. Roger Federer, in my opinion, is breathing a little bit easier.

Although Djokovic played poorly today, he still is third best player in the world and capable of insanely good tennis.

Are the Wimbledon gods taking care of Rog?

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND Lessons To Win More Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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2008 Wimbledon Draw Could Be Critical

2008-06-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Wimbledon Tennis Championship is just around the corner.

And, in the past year a new, critical pre-tournament variable has popped up --Who has to play Djokovic in the semifinals?

On clay, it was an issue but not that much of one. Nadal has never lost to the djoker on clay.

On grass, it's potentially a whole different story.

Nadal beat Djokovic last weekend for his first grass court title but it was an extremely close match that could have gone either way.

On the other hand, Djokovic beat Federer in the Australian final and also last summer in Montreal. Granted, these victories were on hard court but, if I'm Federer, I don't want to risk playing Djokovic in the semis.

The luck of the draw recently has favored Federer. I think it's about time Nadal got a little lucky draw of his own.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Ideas To Help You Improve Your Game guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Nadal Totally Dominated Federer In The 2008 French Final

2008-06-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

It wasn't even close!

Actually, it was beautiful to watch if you're a Nadal supporter and probably very painful to sit through if you consider yourself a Fed fan.

But, for all tennis fans it may have been the most impressive performance we've ever seen on clay from the world's greatest all-time clay court player.

Yes, I'm coming to that conclusion. I think that Nadal is the greatest clay-courter of all time!

Only Borg enters into the discussion for me. I think that Borg had the speed, mental toughness, and stamina to hang with Nadal. I wonder though if Borg's two handed backhand could have stood up the the relentless assault of the Nadal forehand.

Of course, we'll never know. And, until Nadal wins 6 French Open titles, there will always be those who say he can't be as good because he hasn't won as many titles.

So, let's wait two more years before we crown Nadal as the greatest on clay.

Now, Let's see what Rafa can do this year on grass.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tips AND Lessons To Win More Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic are Cruising

2008-06-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

I can't recall a recent grand slam tournament with such a lack of excitement in the first week and a half. Granted, I'm only talking about the men's side and I apologize to all fans of the women's tour.

Nadal has absolutely dominated on the way to the semis. Federer hasn't been challenged, and Djokovic has cruised as well although his sets have been a little bit tighter than the others. I didn't see his match with Gulbis this morning but the scores were close.

Whoever the fourth player to reach the semis ( probably David Ferrer) will be a long, long shot to reach the finals.

So, now it's time for the real tournament to begin.

Bring on Djokovic and Nadal.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Does Nadal Worry About The French Open Draw?

2008-05-28T07:15:00.000-07:00

As I write this, Rafael Nadal is about to close out his first round match in the 2008 French Open.

The real drama of the tournament so far was the release of the draw late last week.
Everybody wanted to know what half of the draw Novak Djokovic was going to be in.

And, as anybody who has looked at the draw knows, Roger Federer is smiling. The question is does Nadal even care?

Federer is smiling because he should cruise into the semifinals where he should meet either Nikolay Davydenko or David Ferrer.

Federer's record against Davydenko is a pristine 12-0 including 3 wins on clay.

Against Ferrer, Federer is 8-0 with 3 wins on clay.

I would say not much to worry about if I'm Federer.

Nadal on the other hand should have to play David Nalbandian in the quarters and Djokovic in the semis.

Nadal is 0-2 against Nalbandian --both on hard courts. And, Nalbandian has crushed him, not having lost a single set!

Against Djokovic, Nadal is 7-3 and 4-0 on clay.

Of course, this begs the question-- does Nadal worry about anybody on clay?

I suspect he would have preferred it Djokovic had ended up in the Federer half of the draw. Whoever plays Djokovic is going to have to expend tremendous energy and this could affect what's left for the final.

Let the games begin.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer's New Coach - Will It Make A Difference?

2008-05-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

After 4 years of failing to come up with a way to beat Rafael Nadal consistently on clay (we all know about Hamburg last year), Roger Federer recently hired Jose Higueras as his new coach.

The real question is what can Higueras, or any coach really, bring to the Federer game?

I don't think that there's much technically that Higueras can change in the Federer game. Federer has a fairly conservative grip for his backhand topspin which tends to be his main liability against Nadal. Fed doesn't have the more extreme backhand grip of a Gustavo Kuerton or a Richard Gasquet -- grips that would probably make it a little easier to handle Nadal's high topspin shots.

So, we're left with tactical changes.

Tennis students were watching Federer's matches in Barcelona very carefully to see what changes if any they could pick up.

I myself watched the final in which Federer blew a 4-0 lead in the second set.

Here's what I saw.

I think Higueras is trying to get Federer to open up the court more against Nadal so as to create better opportunities to attack.

Higueras correctly recognizes that Federer cannot rally with Nadal and expect to win a long match.

The first thing I noticed was a greater tendency on Federer's part to run around the Nadal second serve and rip a forehand. We saw some of this at Wimbledon and I think it's a very effective technique.

The next thing I saw was that it looked like that Federer was trying to hit his crosscourt forehand shorter and wider. Instead of playing power tennis and ripping crosscourt forehands deep into the corner, it looked like Federer was taking some pace off and trying to hit a sharper angle so that the ball would land a few feet up the sideline and pull Nadal further wide.

And, one more thing I noticed, was a tactic of hitting a drop shot off of a backhand.

Let's look at this last pattern in more detail.

Over the past few years, Federer has tried various patterns to counter the Nadal forehand to the Federer backhand. He has tried ripping crosscourt topspin back -- to no avail --, he has tried slicing crosscourt --to no avail, he has tried hitting up the line --with limited success.

So, in an effort to try a new pattern, Fed looks like he's trying to hit the drop shot up the line. Since Nadal is cheating to his (Nadal's) forehand corner, Nadal has a long way to go to get the Federer drop shot. And, Federer has a chance to attack the net behind the drop shot.

So, as always, tennis remains a beautiful chess match.

Can't wait for the French Open.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Strategies To Win More Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer Versus Sampras --What The Club Player Can Learn

2008-03-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

Roger Federer took on Pete Sampras at Madison Square Garden this past Monday night.

The score was 7-6 for Federer in the third set -- by all measures a very, very close match.

But, for many tennis observers, the match wasn't quite as close as the score.

Roger severely outclassed Pete in the first set and was up a break early in the second.

Pete looked a step or two slow compared to Roger. But, Pete came on after being down a break in the second. But, to my eyes, Roger kept Pete in the match by hitting back to Pete when Roger had open courts.

John McCEnroe was doing the color commentary on Tv. Each time Roger would subtly hit back to Pete instead of hitting a winner to the open court, Mac would say that Pete guessed right. I don't think so!

Still, it was a fascinating match to me. If you've ever doubted the value of a great serve, just watch this match over and over again.

Pete may have lost a great deal of foot speed and some of his reflexes, but his serve remains world class. And, on the speedy court that was specially installed at the Garden, Sampras' huge serve was a weapon.

So, lesson 1 for the club player ---keep working and working on your serve. Work on hitting both corners of the service boxes while using the same toss. This is what makes Pete's serve so great -- he has incredible disguise.

Lesson #2 -- if you have a speed advantage it's a lethal advantage. Get into shape and know when you walk on the court that you're the better mover. It's subtle but huge.

Lesson #3 -- learn how to attack and close. When Pete got hot with his serve he was able to follow it to the net and hit first volleys ( when he didn't have an outright winner on the serve). So, in your practice matches, get to the net at times and work on your closing game.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Great Tennis Tactics To Win Tennis Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Winning The Club Doubles Championship

2008-03-10T20:36:00.000-07:00

My partner and I won a club championship in doubles last week. It was a terrific win, an upset according to most.

But I knew that we had a good chance going in. I had played the other 2 players before and had a read on some of the tendencies and weaknesses of my opponents.

As I write about in my book on tennis tactics, tennis is a game of patterns. If you can get the game to winning patterns, then you should win.

In this case, our opponent in the deuce court had a strong forehand return but a much weaker backhand return. Paying extra attention to the placement of the serve in the deuce court, and making sure it got to the backhand, payed huge dividends.

And even though both our opponents had big first serves, each tended to serve fairly predictably which took away some of the effectiveness. In addition, both hit slow slice/kick as second serves to our forehands, allowing us to rip forehands and charge the net.

We won 6-1 in the third.

A lot of times you really can't tell what's going on in match unless you're really paying attention to the match within a match.

Good luck in your club tournaments.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win Your Club Championship guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer's Serve - Difficult To Read

2008-01-23T19:48:00.000-08:00

Listen to what Janko Tipsarevic said after losing a classic tennis match to Roger Federer the other night -- "I couldn't read his serve".

In all of tennis instruction, shot disguise is the least discussed part of tennis technique.

What is disguise as it applies to tennis shots?

Basically, a shot is well disguised if the receiver doesn't pick up any cues early on that will tip the receiver as to where the ball is going.

Cues that tip off the direction of the shot include the setup of the feet, the position of the shoulders, the timing of the rotation, and different locations for the service toss.

The great servers toss the ball in the same location for all the different serves. Less skillful servers tip off what type of serve is going to be hit by the toss. The toss may be to the left and over the head for a kick serve, to the right for a slice serve, and in betweeen for a flat serve.

There's a story floating around as to how Pete Sampras used to practice as he was developing his serve.

Pete would toss the ball to the same location each time without knowing where he was going to hit the ball. At the last second, his coach would yell out where the serve was supposed to go and Pete would make a last millisecond adjustment of his hand to change the direction of the ball.

From a returner's point of view, it is very frustrating to play a player with great disguise on the serve. You have to wait until after the ball is hit to know where it's going and that's usually too late if the serve is well placed.

That's probably why Andy Rodick's serve at 140 mph seems to be less effective than Federer's serve at 120. Roddick probably cues the direction where Federer doesn't.

As you try to work on your game try to swing the same way for different shots and change the direction of the ball by slighty varying the contact point.

Ask your practice partners if they can tell where your shots are going and when they can tell. If your partners can read where your shots are going before the ball is actually hit, then you are probably giving something away.

So, the moral of the story is to keep working on that disguise.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Insider Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Tennis -- Australian Open Time

2008-01-13T17:48:00.000-08:00

It's time for the 2008 Australian Open Tennis Championships.

What this means is that serious tennis is about to start for 2008. After all, if Roger Federer can continue to play otherwordly tennis at the Australian Open, he can climb a little closer to the all-time record of 14 slams held by Pete Sampras.

This year's tourney will feature a new court surface. For the past 20 years the tennis at the Aussie Open has been played on a surface called Rebound Ace.

Rebound Ace has not been a popular surface for a number of reasons. First of all, players have complained that the surface gets sticky when it gets hot (and it gets very hot at the Australian Tennis Open Championships) and players say that there is a real risk of suffering ankle sprains on the synthetic surface.

Secondly, the top Australian Tennis player Lleyton Hewitt has complained bitterly over the years that Rebound Ace is too slow and doesn't give him a good chance to compete for the championship. Note that the concept of a national tennis organization trying to use a surface to favor homegrown players isn't so foreign. It's commonly believed that the US Open surface is kept very fast to favor hard-hitting Americans who grew up on the fast hard courts of California and Florida.

So, this year a faster synthetic surface called Plexicushion is being rolled out.
If you're watching the tennis at the Australian Open on TV this year, the most obvious change that you'll notice is the color of the new Plexicushion surface.

So, the let the games begin and let's see what the tennis looks like.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Tennis Footwork, Speed and Movement

2008-01-08T08:03:00.000-08:00

Speed, quickness, and overall movement skills on the tennis court are killer weapons.

Everybody knows that being in good shape is important in tennis but great tennis movement and overall tennis court quickness changes the game in other subtle ways.

I just played a sanctioned tournament in my age group. Won my first round 6-0, 6-3 against a good player. Then had to go against the #1 seed in the next round.

I asked around and found out that he was a very solid player in superb condition. What they didn't say was that he moved like a cat on the tennis court. He had great tennis quickness, movement, footwork, and balance. He utilized the split step technique well but had sprinter's speed when he was pulled wide or short.

I can't tell you how this changed the game.

I probably had about 10 -15 points in the match where I played a great point and hit the ball into a position that most players wouldn't reach, let alone return with a good defensive shot.

It became almost impossible for me to finish this guy off in a point. Eventually , I subconsciously starting going for too much which is rarely a good strategy.

At the end of the match we had a chance to chat. I asked him what he thought of my game and where he would tell me to improve.

He told me my serve was excellent and my strokes were fine. But, then he said I should work on quickness. He told me about his tennis quickness and movement training routine.

At the top levels of tennis you have to deal with two great skill sets --three actually.

The top players usually are great technically with their strokes, great athletes with great court coverage, quickness, speed, and balance on the tennis court, and strong tactically.

If you're only strong in 1 or 2 of these areas you may struggle when you play the #1 guy or gal in the country.

Next time we'll talk about training routines.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Disbelief When Federer Loses A Match?

2007-12-02T15:48:00.000-08:00

All I heard at the tennis club at the beginning of the week of the recent Masters Event in Shanghai was "Did you see that Gonzalez beat Fed?"

I had to contain my disappointment in their tennis acumen as I responded that it was totally meaningless. When Federer needs to beat Gonzalez, such as the Australian Open final, he can destroy him.

So what happens in these non-slam events when Federer has recently started losing a little bit more than we're used to?

Let me play amateur tennis psychologist here.

If I'm Rog and I've just won the US Open, my goal for the rest of the year is to keep my rhythm and not get hurt. I know that if I play well I win almost all the time.

What I don't want is to get hurt or have to work too hard physically to win matches.

So, I play to keep my rhythm.

Let me give you an example of what I mean.

Watch Federer's tactics very carefully from now on. When he's relaxed or just playing rhythm tenis, he won't run around his backhand aggressively. He's content to hit his backhand and rally. This minimizes the running he has to do, keeps his backhand sharper, and doesn't give his opponents the vacated forehand corner to attack.

Now watch Fed in a tight match. He starts to run around as many backhands as possible and to attack with his forehand. This is his attack game. It's lethal but it's more physically demanding for him, and as I said above, it exposes his forehand corner.

In the Gonzalez match, Federer was playing his rhythm tennis. Gonzalez was swinging from his heels, hit lines on almost every shot, and still barely won.

If Federer had wanted, he could have started to run around his backhand and speed up the game but, it was early in the week, and he was just trying to get his rhythm.

So don't get too excited when Fed loses a match early in a tournament. Put yourself in his shoes and ask yourself what the objective is

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Nalbandian's Hot When Pressure Is Off

2007-11-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

I like David Nalbandian's tennis game. Always have. He plays with a fluidity and ease that is so enjoyable to watch.

Compare Nalbandian's game to that of Rafael Nadal. Nalbandian exerts far less energy as he moves the tennis ball around form side to side beautifully.

And, yet I can't get too excited about Nalbandian's great play at the Madrid tournament and at the Banque Paribas Tournament in paris the last 2 weeks.

I've always maintained that the tennis season, after the US Open Final and until the new year, is the time of the year when a lot of tenis pros make a lot of money. But, there's no history on the line.

For example, I feel that Federer is just trying to stay sharp and keep his timimg and hitting rhythm these next few months. I really don't think he cares that much if he wins or loses.

As for our Argentinian tennis friend, I've been so disappointed in his play in the tennis slams the last few years, that I can't get too excited because he put it together for 2 weeks.

For me to get back on the Nalbandian bandwagon he's going to have to do something in a slam soon. Like getting to the semis at least. Let's see him take Nadal in a 5 set, 4 hour match in the gruelling heat of Australia. Not exactly the same as 2 out of 3 sets indoors.

And, let's see him take out Fed in a semi or final.

Remember when Federer lost twice in a row on hardcourt to Guillermo Canas last spring? All the Federer haters started to gloat. But Rog was just trying to get sharp in the spring. When the important events rolled around, Rog was locked and loaded and took home both the Wimbledon trophy and the US Open title.

Enjoy the tennis this fall but don't take it too seriously.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Final Comments On The US Open

2007-10-16T19:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I have to admit that I've been a little remiss lately. But, I hope that you all have been busy with your lives as I have been with mine.

But, let's talk some tennis now!

Looking back on the US Open here are some of my impressions.

Watching Federer play, all dressed in black tennis clothes, in some of the mid-tournament matches was like watching a great musician practicing! Fed was flawless at times and the more you watch Fed, the more you have to be aware of his brilliant movement. He is the most musical player out there. He moves with a dancer's grace and a musician's sense of rhythm.

On the other hand, this was the first tournament where I said to myself how much better Rafael Nadal would be if he had received classical coaching growing up. His movement relies too much on bursts of speed as opposed to great footwork. As I've discussed before, his serve has flaws --mainly his lack of a good serve wide in the deuce court --, and I think he often takes the ball too late on his forehand and hooks it too much at times.

So, I wasn't surprised at the play of Novak Djokovic. His game reminds me more of Federer than Nadal. He has a very good serve which wins him a lot of free points. He moves well and is very solid off both sides.

For me the rest of the year is exhibition tennis. I focus on my own game until the Australian Open in January.

So the next few months of posts will deal with our tennis --the club and state level variety.

By the way I hope you all have seen Djokovic do his tennis impersonations. They're hilarious!

I've added a page on my web site which provides links to youtube videos if you haven't yet seen the Djokester's tennis comedy act. Just click here Tennis Humor and then click on the link for Djokovic's Impersonations

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Help You Improve Your Game guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Some US OPEN Thoughts

2007-09-04T07:17:00.000-07:00

Here are some of my random thoughts after having watched parts of the US Open so far.

1. Federer is playing brilliant tennis. He is serving and hitting his backhand as well as I've ever seen. His backhand passing shots were phenomenal last night against Lopez. It seems to take Fed about a set to get a read on big servers but when he zones in, it's over.

2. Nadal looked horrible in the first round and quite good in the second and third. If he is healthy, he should make it through to face Djokovic in the semis.

3. James Blake chokes a lot. He got lucky against Santoro to win his first 5 setter, but he was back to his old ways yesterday against Haas. He played an atrocious tiebreak full of really bad unforced errors. I thought I saw a smile on his face after Haas hit the topspin lob winner at 3-3 in the 5th set breaker. Real competitors would have been pained or angry beyond belief. This was not the time to think " Good Shot Mate."

4. Djokovic is so solid it's scary. It's going to be exciting to see what happens as the tournament progresses. And, if someone does beat him, I want to see what his deficiency is. The only thing I can see is that Nadal and Federer might be a touch quicker than he is. Can't wait.

5. The Williams sisters are still great. And, to their credit, they play exciting, attacking tennis. In general, women's tennis is so cookie cutter it's pathetic, but the Williams sisters and Justine Henin are the players to enjoy watching.

6. Andy Roddick has his chance tomorrow night against Federer. He's lucky to be playing at night, as Bjorn Borg used to hate playing at night saying he couldn't see as well under the lights, which could be a big advantage to Roddick if Fed has a little trouble picking up the ball.

7. Thank god -- No Rain.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Tips To Help You Improve Your Game guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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It's US OPEN TIME

2007-08-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

It seems like an eon ago since Wimbledon.

I personally find the hard court summer season fairly boring. I view it as exhibiton type tennis gearing up for the US open.

And, I don't put a lot of importance on the results. You've got tournaments in back to back weeks so there's no way that a Fed or a Nadal will compete hard each week.

This means that there will be breakthrough winners and unusual guys reaching semis and finals. Look at Frank Dancevic in Indianopolis. Djokovic wins in Montreal and then checks out early the following week. He's too smart to kill himself 2 weeks in a row with matches almost every day in these non-slam events.

But the Open is interesting. And here are some of my thoughts having watched one of the semis and the finals of the Masters event live in Montreal.

Fed is Fed and, unless someone really steps up, he will be there again. The guy I think who can give Fed trouble on hard courts is Djokovic not Nadal. Djokovic's game is better suited to hard courts than Nadal's. He serves better ,and his two handed backhand is so solid that he dominated crosscourt backhand rallies against Federer in the final in Montreal.

Nadal is struggling and I don't see him having a great tournament. Part of Nadal's game is to break you down physically. New York can be steaming hot during the day but can cool down at night and I don't think cool conditions are to Nadal's advantage.

Roddick has to play Fed in the quarters. Goodnight Andy. Blake is on a roll but his game style is so risky that I don't think he can pull it off for 7 matches.

So I'm picking Federer and Djokovic in the final.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Ideas To Help You Improve Your Game guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Wimbledon Final 2007 - Part 2 -Should Nadal Serve Wide More In The Deuce Court?

2007-07-14T06:52:00.000-07:00

If you closely watch Rafael Nadal's serving patterns, you'll notice that he rarely goes wide in the deuce court.

I've charted Nadal's serving patterns for most of the last 2 French finals and the last 2 Wimbledon finals.

As I've noted before Nadal often basically lets you know where's he's going to serve. His reasoning must be that his slice serve is good enough to get a relatively weak return that will allow him to begin to dominate the point with his forehand.

You can't really argue with his results. You could possibly say that this serving strategy is less suited for tiebreaks where free points on the serve are much more important than in regular games. Ergo, he lost both tiebreaks to Fed and his tiebreak record is not all that hot.

Nadal is quite capable and fairly confident, in my opinion, in serving down the middle in the ad court. If you cheat too much to take away the wide serve, he can burn you with smoke down the middle. He did this repeatedly in the latter stages of last year's Wimbledon finals.

As you recall Nadal got smoked at the beginning of the first set of last year's Wimbledon and was down 5-0. I charted his serving pattern and he had served 11 out of the first 13 first serves to the backhand.

I believe that last year Federer received so much grief in the tennis world stemming from his inablity to return the Nadal serve at the French Open. People like Wilander were basically saying why not just stand further to the left to cover the slice and make him beat you by going the other way if he can. Federer may have used this strategy to return at Wimbledon and was giving Nadal trouble.

Near the end of the first set in the Wimbledon final last year, Nadal started serving down the middle in the ad court and he continued this for the rest of the match. He served almost 50 % of his ad points last year in the second set down the middle and he won 80% of the points.

So, I believe that Nadal is quite capable of mixing it up in the ad court.

Where I think Nadal has trouble is in the deuce court. He rarely serves the wide serve in the deuce court. This of course the serve that Fed, Sampras, and McEnroe all had mastered. ( I'm talking about the Fed and Sampras wide serve in the ad court and the Mac serve in the deuce court since Mac was a lefty like Nadal). These great servers serve wide and get the ball a few feet up the line making the serve almost unreturnable.

And, by being able to serve this wide, they force the opponent to alter the return position, making the serve down the middle more effective.

Look at Nadal's starting position in the deuce court and then compare it with the starting position in the deuce court of other lefties like Mac, Rusedski, Leconte, Gomez, Martina.

All these other lefties stand a few feet away from the center line. Nadal hugs the center line when he serves in the deuce court. I believe this gives him an even better angle for the serve down the middle but hurts his angle for going wide in the deuce court.

You can't argue with Nadal's results but I'd like to see what would happen if Nadal moved a few feet further away from the center line in the deuce court like the others and improved the wide serve.

If I were his coach and he struggled this year again on the hard courts, I'd experiment with this idea to see what happens.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Tactics And Ideas To Help You Improve Your Game guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Wimbledon Final 2007 ---Part 1

2007-07-10T11:07:00.000-07:00

What a final it was. A classic!The Wimbledon final of 2007 will go down in history as one of the all-time bests.

Compare it to the Wimbledon Final of 2006 and you can see that Nadal has closed the gap with Federer on grass. This was an even match.

Both guys have played each other enough and adjusted enough that the matches between them are no longer about patterns. No one is clamoring that Federer should slice more or hit down the line backhands.

It came down to pure tennis execution.

The one area where Federer is clearly superior to Nadal is in hitting aces and unreturnable first serves. Notice that I didn't say his serve is better.
Look at how often Nadal holds serve and you can begin to appreciate his serving strategy. He hits his lefty slice most of the time and makes righthanders block back a weak return into midcourt.

From there, Nadal dominates points with his forehand.

The problem with this strategy is that it's not that effective in tiebreaks where getting free points on your serve is key.

And, if Nadal had been able to split the 2 tiebreaks with Fed, we'd be looking at a new Wimbledon champion.

Let's hope the Wimbledon Final of 2008 is just as good.

Next time I'll talk about Nadal's serve from a technical point of view.
Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Tennis Strategy Ideas To Help You Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Rafa The Warrior And Is Federer Even In The Tournament?

2007-07-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

The legend of Rafa the Tennis Warrior continues to grow. And is Fed even in the draw?

The Soderling match, the comeback against Yhouzny. Who wouldn't love the competitiveness of the young Spaniard?

And as for Roger Federer, he's only played a partial set in the last week.

Wimbledon is becoming a bit of a joke with all the rain delays. It changes the dynamics of all the matches.

First of all, rain delays can remove fitness as an issue. Players like Nadal and Agassi work players over physically so that as the match goes on, their opponents start to get beat up physically.

But, with all the rain delays, a player like Soderling never had to worry about fatigue.

Secondly, the courts play so differently depending on whether the grass is dry or wet. No other slam has this discrepancy to such a degree except maybe the French where the clay can play much more slowly if there's been rain.

Thirdly, all the postponements completely destroy the rhythm of a fan. Imagine Federer has only played a partial set all week. Unbelievable!

So, bring on that roof so that we can enjoy a proper Wimbledon tournament.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Strategy To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Listen Carefully To What Darren Cahill Says

2007-06-29T04:31:00.000-07:00

This year's coverage of Wimbledon includes Darren Cahill in the commentator's booth.

Cahill is one of the top coaches on the tour and has worked with players such as Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi in the past.

His observations are those of a professional coach and not just a fan like a lot of the others in the booth.

He'll remark on what grip a player is returning with and how this should affect where a server goes. He'll lay out tactical plans for players to follow.

In other words, you get a glimpse of the way a top tactical tennis mind works.

How many of you out there notice what grips your opponents are playing with and adjust your strategy accordingly.

So, keep listening to Darren Cahill and learning.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Change Your Tennis Tactics To Win More Matches guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Nadal Looks Good So Far On the Grass

2007-06-27T08:11:00.000-07:00

Not every tennis expert on TV thinks that Rafael Nadal can repeat his success this year at Wimbledon.

Remember, Nadal shocked the tennis world by reaching the final last year and giving Roger Federer a tough match in the final.

Nadal started this year's tournament by having to face Mardy Fish,a hard-serving American who should give Nadal trouble on grass.

I have to admit I only saw the first set but I was impressed at some of the changes Nadal has made to his game to improve on grass.

Nadal's backhand is a much better shot than it was in years past. He can now really drive it and take control of points with it. He knows that all the other guys are going to try to make him play backhands so he's really worked on improving it.

His return of serve is also much more agressive. He seems to be standing in closer and taking the ball earlier. I don't think you'll see Nadal standing way back to return like he does on clay.

Nadal is also serving with different patterns on grass. As I noted last year, Nadal will vary his serve placement much more on grass. Specifically, in the ad court, he will go down the the T on grass whetreas on clay he almost always just sticks with the slice serve wide.

In the deuce court, he still likes to go mainly down the T on both grass and clay. In fact, I think this is an area for him to work on. If he could hit a consistent serve wide in the deuce court, I think he would be almost unbeatable on hard court and maybe even grass.

Until next time,

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Different Tennis Tactics For Different Opponents guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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How Bjorn Borg Got So Good On Grass

2007-06-25T08:03:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of Wimbledon.

For 2 weeks the tennis world gets to watch the game of tennis played on a unique tennis surface. And, as we all know, the transformation from the clay courts of Paris to the grass at Wimbledon is no walk in the park.

I've just finished reading a book called Borg Versus McEnroe. This book is a delightful recollection of the world of tennis circa 1979-1981.

The author describes how Borg prepared for Wimbledon after his customary win at the French Open.

Instead of playing warmup tournaments like many players do, Borg worked out at a private club in London called The Cumberland Club. Apparently, Borg was so bad the first few days, that many members joked that they thought they could beat him!

It was here on the private courts that Borg got his grass court timing down and beefed up his serve to the point that it was considered quite a weapon.

Working out with his coach Lennart Bergelin and some practice partners, Borg hit ball after ball spurred on by his incredible work ethic. And, at the end of the day, Borg could often be found in the clubhouse with the other members having a snack.

Today's great champion Roger Federer has a game well suited to grass so it's no great transformation for him. But for the modern day Borg, Rafael Nadal, the 2 weeks in betwen the French Open and Wimbledon are his only opportunity all year to change his clay court game for the grass courts.

So, let the grass court games begin.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Different Tennis Tactics Work On Grass Than On Clay guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Ok, It's Time For Wimbledon

2007-06-21T13:12:00.001-07:00

It always takes me a few weeks after the French Open finishes to get ready for Wimbledon.

My first emotion is that Wimbledon is not part of the real tennis season. After watching the grueling rallies at Roland Garros, the quick points at Wimbledon and the emphasis on the serve seems unathletic.

Certain guys come out of the woodwork to become formidable opponents at Wimbledon.
Big servers like Ivo Karlovic can be a nightmare on the grass.

But as the fortnight approaches, I start to get excited about the subtlety of the grass game. This year in particular, I can't wait to see how Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal do on the grass.

My gut feeling is that both Federer and Nadal are going to run into trouble. I don't know why but it's a feeling I have.

And, one of these years I feel that Andy Roddick is going to win. He's been close in the past but hasn't been able to come up with a brilliant match at the right time. And, with his serve, he'll be dangerous for at least the next 5 years.

Federer skipped the warmup grass tournament this year and I always feel that that strategy makes a player vulnerable in the early rounds.

Similarly, Nadal got knocked out mid-week. I think he too could be upset early.

Now, in the spirit of Wimbledon, I'm about to indulge in a little strawberries and cream.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Smarter Tennis Tactics Might Have Helped Federer In The French Open Final guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Final Comments On The French Open Final

2007-06-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

The French Open final was no great surprise to me.

If you've been reading this blog, you know that I consider Nadal an extremely difficult matchup for Federer.

And, I predicted that Hamburg was an aberration. I felt that as soon as Nadal got to Paris and got serious at Roland Garros, he'd mow people down. Especially using his inside out and down the line forehands to a righthander's forehand.

And, that's what happened. Federer was actually hitting his backhand beautifully in the first set. But, if your backhand is on, then Nadal starts to punish you on the other side. Eventually, the legs go and you see a beaten player as you saw in Federer in the last 2 sets.

What was particularly striking to me though was that Nadal hardly varied his service placement at all. He hit almost every serve to the Federer backhand. And, he won 18 out of his last 20 service points.

This to me points out Federer's unwillingness to go outside the box in his tactical choice.

What could Federer have tried?

Well, he could have returned from way back and favoring the backhand side. This is typically how clay courters return. You get the ball in play but are vulnerable to the serve and volley and a big first shot.

This is how Nadal returns against Federer and you can see that Federer was often able to serve and volley easily to the open court.

Here's the key though. Nadal gets every return in play and says - "Beat me if you can with a second shot."

Federer wasn't even getting returns in play on the big points.

I'll say it again -- Federer should hire a clay court coach for the next French Open. Then maybe we'll see a different result in the French Open Final.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Smarter Tennis Tactics Might Have Helped Federer In The French Open Final guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Nadal Versus Federer - How Great is That?

2007-06-08T17:10:00.000-07:00

Another Great Nadal Versus Federer Match

Ask anyone in the tennis world what two players they want to see, and you'll almost unaminously receive the response of Federer versus Nadal.

And, now we've got the matchup we want.

All the talk of Federer's down the line backhand, and Nadal's lefty topspin forehand can quiet down as we prepare for the great Final -- Federer/Nadal.

I've been really impressed with both guys as they've mowed down their competition.

Nadal has been overpowering of the ground --brutalizing guys into submission with his heavy groundstrokes.

Federer has been more Sampras-like, getting out of trouble often with his superb serve which he can seemingly place on the line at the biggest points.

For the record, I'm going with the Nadal but I can't wait for the action to start in the latest chapter of the Nadal versus Federer rivalry.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Is It Better To Grow Up Playing On Clay Courts?

2007-05-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Ah, clay court tennis!

There's nothing like it -- the incredible passing shots from deep in the court, the great drop shots, the huge topspin groundies. All of it together makes for the most exciting and elegant tennis. The French Open is definitely my favourite tournament of the year.

A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to play in Chile on beautiful, slow, red clay courts.

What impressed me the most was the beautiful, flowing strokes of some of the young kids. I realized then that growing up on clay leads to the development of heavy top spin strokes, a good kick serve, and usually a good drop shot as well.

Of course, hard court players often have a flatter first serve, better approach shots, especially the backhand slice, and far better volleys. It's an effective game but it lacks the elegance of clay court tennis played on the slowest red clay like in Paris at the French Open.

So, I pose the following question. If you were the director of a national Tennis association in charge of developing the next generation of players, would you choose to train them on clay courts or hard courts? Let's assume that both are available.

For myself, I'd rather see the kids develop on clay with solid groundies, good tactics, good patience, and great footwork.

Later, I'd work with the most promising to develop a big first serve and some volleys.

What about you? Clay court tennis or hard courts?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Clay Courts or Hard Courts, Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Nadal's Lefty Inside Out Topspin Forehand

2007-05-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

Watch Out For Rafael Nadal's Lefty Inside Out Topspin Forehand At The French Open

The tennis world is abuzz with excitement now that Roger Federer has beaten Rafael Nadal on clay --finally. And, just on the eve of the ultimate clay court tournament -- the French Open!

All the Federer fans were shivering with exctasy as they watched Rog take apart Nadal 6-0 in the third last week in Hamburg.

But, I'm warning all Fed fans right now -- Beware of Nadal's lefty inside out forehand.

You see, Rafa hadn't lost in three years on clay --that's unbelievable when you think about it. And, when you haven't lost in three years, you start to think that you don't have to do anything special. Just play high percentage tennis and you're bound to win.

Nadal's version of high percentage tennis is to hit heavily topspinned crosscourt forehands to his righty opponents. Well, after three years of getting their hats handed to them, guys are starting to figure Rafa out and they're overplaying his favorite shot. They're anticipating the crosscourt forehand, moving in, taking it early , and returning hard and flat. This pattern is giving Nadal a lot of trouble.

Davydenko almost beat him recently, Hewitt almost beat him, and Federer did beat him.

Well, I'm here to tell you not to get too cocky. Nadal is about to unleash his inside out forehand.

The beauty of Nadal's inside out forehand is that it makes righties ( like Federer, Davydenko, and Hewitt) have to cover the forehand side of the court. They can't cheat as much to the backhand side since at any moment Nadal can unleash that lethal lefty inside out forehand stroke.

Then, when he's pulled them wide to the forehand side, he can pummel them with his crosscourt topspin forehand to their backhand corner. They won't be able to hit it on the rise anymore and then they'll be at Nadal's mercy.

So, look out for Nadal's inside out lefty topspin forehand at the French Open starting tomorrow --the world's greatest clay court tournament.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies Forget About Tennis Lessons, Here's A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Tennis Tips That Helped Roger Federer Against Nadal

2007-05-21T18:56:00.000-07:00

I'll bet any amount of money that Roger Federer was watching the semi-final match between Lleyton Hewitt and Rafael Nadal. And, As Hewitt played Nadal surprisingly well, you have to believe that Fed picked up a tennis tip or two to use in the final.

What Tennis Tips Did Fed Pick Up?

Believe it or not, Nadal is starting to become predictable and a lot easier to play against. In the last two weeks he's beaten Davydenko 6-4 in the third, Hewitt 7-5 in the third, and lost yesterday to Fed.

So, we have to ask what tips have the guys picked up.

Well, in my opinion, they're all anticipating that almost every Nadal forehand is going to be crosscourt. And, they know that a lot of Nadal's forehands land short.

They also know that if they let the ball bounce high they won't beat Nadal. So, all the guys are taking the ball very early and flattening it out. As a result they're either hitting clean winners or keeping Nadal on the defensive.

Not only are they winning more points but they're reducing the wear and tear on their bodies by playing further inside the court and having to move less.

Does Nadal have a counterattacking option? Of course he does and I'll give him my unsolicited tennis tips tomorrow.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Tips Coaching Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer's Looking For A New Tennis Coach

2007-05-12T18:08:00.000-07:00

Any tennis coaches out there looking for a new gig?

While the tennis world might think that Roger Federer is panicking in firing his coach Tony Roche, I think it's creates the greatest opportunity of his career.

Rog hired Roche as his tennis coach because he wanted to improve his attack game and his volleys. And Roche came through big-time. Rog has dominated on hard courts and grass in the last three years.

But Federer is now struggling on clay. And, like many greats in the past like Pete Sampras, John McEnroe, and Boris Becker, Federer is now realizing that clay is a different animal.

My belief is that Federer may have the talent to win on clay but he doesn't have the tactics to compete against great dirtballers like Rafael Nadal.

You can read some of my previous posts about what strategy I would advise Rog to follow if I were his tennis coach.

If Fed is really smart he'll hire a world class clay court tennis coach. And I emphasize clay court tennis coach. maybe someone like Jose Higuera who coached Jim Courier to 2 French Open titles.

Let's go Rog -- If Tiger Woods can switch coaches and revamp his game in mid-career so can you. Get that clay court tennis coach.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Coaching Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Winning Tennis At The Interclub Level

2007-05-01T07:21:00.000-07:00

It never ceases to amaze me how many tennis matches can be turned from losses into victories by recognizing patterns and matchups and changing things around to take advantage.

Of course, this is the basis of my whole theory of smart tennis and, if you're interested in learning more, then you can click on the image of my tennis book for more info.

Recently, my Sunday night doubles team has been in the league playoffs. My partner and I are playing first doubles. We've won two consecutive matches where we've lost the first set, won a close second, and then blown out the other team in the third set.

Last week we were playing a team that seemed pretty solid. They both had good serves and good returns. In particular, their deuce court returner had a very good two handed backhand return that he could hit inside out. We serve him down the middle and to his body in the first set and he kept hitting good returns.

Their ad side returner was a tall guy with a huge forehand. We obviously tried to get to his backhand but he was running around everything to hit his forehand.

And, since he was tall with good range, he could cover the down the middle serve when we tried to fool him.

We lost the first set and were struggling to hold serve.

To begin the second set I decided to make a few strategic changes. I decided to serve the deuce court returner wide to his firehand with my kick slice serve. This serve slices out wide but also has some topspin so that it bounces high.

The guy could not handle it. He kept ripping the return hard but couldn't keep the ball in play. Whereas on his backhand he took the ball early before it bounced high, on the forehand he let it get up too high and then didn't have the technique to generate enough topspin to keep the ball in play.

He gave us no trouble the rest of the match.

On the ad side, I decided to stand as far wide as I could and to turn my back even further away from the net in my starting serving position. I was determined to get the ball wide to the returner's backhand even if I gave up some disguise and some ability to go down the middle.

Well, this worked like a charm too. I told my partner what was working and he went to the same strategy.

They never made any counter adjustments and we cruised 6-1 in the third.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Plus, I've edited some pages on my web site about tennis strategy
tennis mental toughness
tennis playing tips to improve your game

tennis tactics and singles strategies to improve your game
how to play winning tennis

Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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What Tennis Strategy Can Roger Federer Use Against Nadal On Clay?

2007-04-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

It's spring 2007 and things don't look any better for Roger Federer when he steps onto a clay court and looks at the imposing figure of his nemesis Rafa Nadal.

In fact, things look worse.

Yesterday, in the finals of the 2007 Monte Carlo tournament, Federer got smoked like a pig on a fourth of July roast.

Fed just can't handle the Nadal topsoin forehand to his backhand. He's tried of course. He's tried a stragey of slicing his backhand. Didn't work. He's tried trading topspin backhands with Nadal -- doesn't work.

If I were to receive a telephone call late one night from somewhere in Switzerland and a certain R.F were to ask what Roger Federer could do on clay agsainst Nadal -- I might offer the following advice. And, if this Monsieur R.F. said he was a close personal friend of Rog and asked me to tape a little message for the Great One, this is what I might say:

Rog,

Dude, as much as I admire your greatness, you just don't match up well with Nadal. If you both play percentage tennis, he smokes you everytime. His forehand just beats you up brutally on your backhand side and you can't afford to play percentage tennis against him.

And, I know for someone as great as you are, it's hard to accept that there's another player out there who has your number. But, it's true and the sooner you accept it, the better your chances of beating Nadal.

Right now you're playing to keep matches close. You've got to accept that to beat Nadal you're going to have play riskier tennis and escape your comfort zone.

You might get smoked 0 and 1, but this is the risk you're going to have to take if you ever want to beat him on clay.

The first thing you're going to have to do is position yourself more in your backhand corner. You have to run around every backhand you can. Get it through your head -- Rog -- you can't beat Nadal on clay if you have to hit a lot of backhands.

Now, of course, you're going to say, but wait --he'll kill me with his inside out forehand. He might, but this is the risk you have to take. Anyway, every time he hits an inside out forehand, he's hitting to your forehand and this is exactly what you want. In fact, it's your only chance. You must force him to hit to your forehand and then you must go for every forehand. Win or lose the point -- and keep the points short.

Rog, I'm getting tired but I'll have nore to say to you in the next few weeks. After all, the French Open is a month away and you've got to get out to the court right away to start practicing running around every backhand.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Plus, I've added a new page to my web site about tennis strategy Tennis Singles And Doubles Strategies Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Some Practical Doubles Tennis Strategies

2007-04-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

I'm still waiting for my computer techs to sort out the problem with the tennis video software and hardware on my computer. So, for now, I have to put our foray into tennis video learning on hold.

In the meantime, I thought I'd talk about doubles tennis strategy.

I play in a good Sunday night men's doubles league. The guys playing one are usually 4.5 and up.

My favourite partner is a great returner with big groundstrokes. However, his serve is weak and he doesn't volley well for this level.

When we're both playing well we can beat anybody. But, too often his serve and volley dip at critical times. But to be fair, my game can go off too.

This last Sunday we started off slowly and lost the first set. Got bageled actually. Things weren't looking good and it looked to be a short night. As one of our opponents joked as we enjoyed a beer after the match, " After the first set I thought I'd be home in time for the Sopranos."

We were on serve at 3-3 in the second set when my partner got broken. They held, I held and they were serving for the match. We finally broke back to even the second set at 5-5.

We were playing on clay and my partner's second serve was getting hammered. I couldn't help much with poaching because of how hard the other guys were ripping the returns.

So, we decided that my partner would not serve and volley. He would serve and stay back. I would agressively hug the net looking to pick off easy shots and if they got by me, my partner would rip heavy low topspin shots and dare the other team to hit volley winners.

This change in tennis strategy seemed to calm my partner down. Now, instead of having to worry about his weakest shot - the volley- he could forget about that and just do what he does best, which is rip incredibly big groundies that are really tough to volley.

His serving improved, we held at 5-5, and broke to win the second set 7-5.

We were on fire in the third set and won easily 6-2.

We both felt great afterwards because it was a win that was really due to good tennis strategy and tactics.

Anyway, this was just another match that was won by understanding the patterns and dynamics that are going on in a tennis match. To learn more about understanding tennis strategies and tactics check out my Ebook INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook All About Tennis Strategy guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Can You Improve Your Tennis By Using Video?

2007-03-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Let's say you're a typical adult at the club playing a 3.5 to 4.5 game.

You didn't play tennis as a kid, love the game, have picked up a lot of savvy, and have a lot of good shots.

But, your game doesn't allow you to take it up a notch. You have too many technical limitations. Too many holes in your strokes which will take a lot of work to fix.

What are your choices?

The conventional approach is to take tennis lessons with your tennis pro. Not a bad option if you have a good tennis pro but it could cost you plenty at $40-60 per lesson.

Can you teach yourself by availing yourself of the newest technologies and studying the greatest pro tennis players in the world in frame by frame slow motion? What if you can compare yourself with them side by side? Is this an efficient way to learn?

Join me on this journey as we combine a love of tennis with the latest technologies. We'll explore the tennis video revolution.

It's going to be fun.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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You've Got To Give Serena Wiliams A Lot Of Credit

2007-01-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

Say what you want about Serena Williams. Tennis fans tend to either love her or hate her.

Personally, I've always admired her talent but she's not my favourite player. But, I am in awe of her competitive desire and mental toughness.

She should have lost to Peer in the quarters but I knew that there was no way that Peer was going to hold her serve and win the match in the third set.

And, when Serena was done 15-40 late in the third ,she promptly banged consecutive service winners. The woman produces her best stuff when the going is the toughest.

The only other woman who I can say shows that same 'fight till I die' attitude is Maria Sharapova. And, that ladies and gentlemen, should provide a very entertaining final.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook Guaranteed To Improve Your Tennis Results guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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I Love When Pro Tennis Coaches Commentate On ESPN

2007-01-20T17:37:00.000-08:00

The typical image that one has of a pro tennis coach is a quiet type who sits stoically for hours at a time while his or her player goes through the emotional ups and downs of a match.

So, it was quite interesting for me when ESPN invited Darren Cahill into the booth to provide commentary on the Andy Murray /Verdasco match.

Cahill was a breath of fresh air and had plenty to say. He essentially said that Verdasco was a stupid player and implied that he probably wasn't the sharpest guy either.

Of course, if you watch the extremly talented Verdasco play, you can see right away that he's a very dumb player. He has tremendous weapons that he doesn't know how to use very well at all.

Cahill went where ex-pros tend not to go. He was brutally honest but it was refreshing to hear some insightful analysis.

Of course, my all-time favourite is Brad Gilbert who knows more about tennis and has more opinions than anyone.

So, I say let's hear from more of the coaches and less from the players who basically give you the standard answers anyway.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies A Tennis Ebook With Great Tennis Coaching Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Watch Federer's Footwork --It's Amazing

2007-01-19T08:47:00.000-08:00

Like everybody else, I watch Roger Federer play tennis and try and figure out what makes him so great.

Last night in his match with Youzny, I decided to just watch Federer's feet during the points. And, it was incredible.

Federer is insanely cat-like with his movements. He moves almost like a squash player with extraordinary first step quickness after his split step. Plus, Federer will use small, super quick steps in order to optimize his positioning before striking the ball.

I think that's why his game looks effortless. We are all watching his beautiful flowing strokes but the work is being done by the lower body. It's a great lesson for all club players who play with one or two big steps. It's also highlights what a spectacular athlete Federer is.

So, next time you watch Federer play just spend a little time watching only his feet. You'll be blown away.

Comments?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Online Tennis Coaching Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Has Nadal Changed His Service Motion?

2007-01-17T07:32:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I only saw the last 2 games of Nadal's first round match. And, in the one service game that I did see I didn't see any major changes in his service motion.

But, reading about it afterward, I discovered that Nadal himself said that he has been working on his serve. And, on some of the tennis forums there were some comments about it. The comments seem to be that he has widened the distance between his feet in his set up.

Readers of this blog might remember that I charted the Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer. The most interesting thing that I noted was that Nadal hardly ever served wide in the deuce court and, when he did, he couldn't serve wide enough. You can read my analysis of the Wimbledon final here Analysis of 2006 Wimbledon Final

I postulated that the other players know this and cheat to the middle when they return Nadal's serve in the deuce court. I made the comment that if I were Nadal's coach I would teach him to serve wide in the deuce court.

I believe what made it so hard for Nadal to serve wide effectively in the deuce court was his starting stance with open hips and feet closely together. Broadening his base makes it easier to serve wide and this might be the reason for the change.

If Nadal can learn this serve I think he'll give players even more trouble. Serving wide to righthanders' forehands in the deuce court ( if he can get it wide enough) will pull them off the court and open up the backhand corner for an attacking shot on the next ball.

Plus, if Nadal can force his opponents to respect his wide serve, then they will probably have to set up for their returns a few feet further towards the sidelines than if he didn't hit the wide serve well. This will make his slice down the T more effective.

Ah, the chess game of tennis tactics.

Comments?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Online Tennis Tactical Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Time To Starting Following The Tennis Tour Again

2007-01-14T17:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, it's Australian Open time.

Readers of this tennis blog are well aware that I don't pay much attention to the pro tennis tour after the US Open. To me, it's all exhibtion tennis and a time for the players to make money and gain ranking points.

Personally, I've been focusing on my own game these past few months. But, now the real tennis season is starting. So, here are some of the story lines as the season starts:

1. How dominant will Roger Federer be this year? Can he possibly repeat his performance of 2006? Personally, I've got a crazy feeling that he won't be as dominant but that he'll win the French Open.

2. Will Rafael Nadal's slide continue? Everybody who follows the tour is aware that Nadal's results after Wimbledon have been disappointing. It's proably a combination of fatigue, injury, and the fact that the tour players probably now have a good book on Nadal.

They are all probably aware to step in and take the short topspin balls that Nadal hits and attack with flat shots. Blake and Berdych in particular have troubled Nadal by playing this way.

3. Is anybody else ready to step into the top 5? My one prediction is Novak Djokovic.
He's a big guy with a lot of power off both sides. And what about Gael Monfils? Personally, I've never been that impressed with the tactical side of Monfils' game.

4. Can Andy Roddick continue to improve? Imagine Roddick with a return and a volley.
Roddick did beat Federer last week in an exhibition and that has to be a great way to start the new year.

5. On the women's side, will Sharapova have a dominating year? I think she is the one woman with the game and the competivenesss to win majors consistently. Henin-Hardenne seems too injury prone.

6. Can either of the William's sisters make an impact this year? It's getting less and less likely but I could see a Wimbledon surprise.

Any comments?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Winning Ugly Type Tennis Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Can Pete Sampras Still Take Federer?

2006-12-25T15:38:00.000-08:00

This week in the online Sports Illustrated tennis section, Justin Gimelstob talks about his practice sessions in Los Angeles with Pete Sampras.

According to Gimelstob, Pete is playing great tennis . He claims Pete is playing as well as anybody not named Federer.

Gimelstob mentions that Sampras is playing with a newer, larger head size frame, and is using some of the newer strings as well ( probably a polyester or a gut/polyester hybrid). Justin implies that these equipment changes have added to Sampras' game. Can you imagine the Sampras serve with even more spin?

Gimelstob casually mentions that he believes Sampras is one of the few players in the world today who can rob Federer of time. He doesn't go into detail about this but it goes along with what I've written in the past.

I believe that the type of player who could beat Federer consistently, and on fast courts, would have to be able to do some things very well:

1. Serve well and finish off the point with a volley. Roddick serves well but allows Federer to float back returns because he doesn't look to hit first volleys. Sampras would eat up floating returns and force Fed to go for more and consequently miss more.

2. Attack the Federer second serve. Put pressure on Fed by chipping and charging the second serve. Again, Sampras is one of the few modern players who has the skills to do this.

3. Flatten out the forehand to take away Fed's time to set up. Again, Sampras hits a very flat forehand as his basic forehand.

I know that some people will write and mention that Federer beat Sampras in their only meeting which happened to be on Sampras's favourite surface at Wimbledon. But, really one match doesn't enough to draw the conclusion that Federer would have Sampras's number.

Here is the link to the Gimelstob article. Comments anyone?

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/justin_gimelstob/12/21/sampras.federer/index.html

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Mental Tennis Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Free Tennis Gifts

2006-12-19T20:25:00.000-08:00

This holiday season I am participating in a free holiday tennis gift promotion.
It'a great idea and a lot of well known tennis people are involved.

So, split step on over to

Free Tennis Gifts

All the best for the holiday season,

Glenn Sheiner M.D.

Federer's Historical Three Year Run

2006-11-29T09:34:00.000-08:00

In the last entry, I write about Federer's 2006 season and how, although it has been sensational, it has not been the greatest single season of all time.

Remember, he's had a superb year with a match record of 92-5, which means he won 94.8% of his matches.

Now, let's look at Federer's performance over a three year period and compare it to the other great three year periods in tennis history.

Let's look at it first from the point of view of total matches won in a consecutive three year period.

From 2004-2006 Federer has won 247 matches. This puts him in the number one position. Pete Sampras won 234 matches from 1993-1995 and Ivan lendl won 232 matches from 1983-1985.

If you look at the winning percentages over the same three year periods, Federer was 247-15 for a winning percentage of 94.3% while Sampras was 234-44 for a winning percentage of 84.2%.

Lendl was 232-20 for a winning percentage of 92.1%.

Now, let's look at the most titles won over a three year period. Again, Federer dominates. From 2004-2006, Rog has won 34 titles, of which 8 have been Grand Slams. Both Borg and Connors won 30 titles over consecutive three year periods ( Borg from 1977-79 and Connors from 1974-76) but, during their respective streaks, Borg won 5 slams and Connors just 2.

So, let's sit back and see what Rog has in store for us in 2007.

To learn more about the consecutive three year records go to:

Best Three Year Consecutive Most Titles Won;

Best Three Year Consecutive Most Match Victories

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Mental Tennis Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Federer's Great Tennis Season

2006-11-23T19:36:00.000-08:00

So, Roger Federer won another tournament and again everybody is talking about whether or not he is the greatest of all time.

He's had a superb year with a match record of 92-5, which means he won 94.8% of his matches.

As incredible as this year has been for Federer, his season winning percentage is only the fourth best in ATP history!

The best single season winning percentage all time on the ATP tour is 96.5%.

And, guess who holds that record?

None other than John McEnroe who in 1984 went 82-3. Not to mention that Mac lead Ivan Lendl 2 sets to love in the French Open that year before Lendl came back to win the match.

There's no question of Federer's brilliance but there have been periods of brilliance by others as well.

To see the top ten single season winning percentages on the ATP Tour click on:
Top Ten Winning Percentages On The ATP Tour.

To see the top ten single seasons as judged by the number of titles won click on:
Top Ten Seasons -Most Titles Won.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Mental Tennis Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Is The Tour Catching Up To Nadal?

2006-11-18T16:42:00.000-08:00

Every player has patterns. The great ones win consistently because they usually can execute so well that it doesn't make much difference if their opponents know what's coming or not.

Some of the all time greats have had very simple game plans. Borg would rip heavy topspin until you made a mistake or fatigued. His game was only vulnerable to a superb net player and only John McEnroe was good enough.

Pete Sampras would hold serve by using his incredible serve and then try to break with his fairly flat, attacking game. On his backhand he would just try to neutralize and bide his time.

Rafael Nadal likes to wear his opponents down with his heavy lefty topspin. He doesn't like to come to the net and likes to grind away.

I think the other players on the tour maybe getting wise to Nadal's patterns. They may be overplaying his lefty topspin shots so that they are better prepared for them.

In addition, a number of pros who have beaten Nadal consistently like James Blake and Thomas Berdych like to step into Nadal's groundstrokes and rip flat balls back to him -- often winning the point outright.

Nadal also has certain patterns on his serve. I wrote about this after the Wimbledon final this year against Roger Federer and I thinks it makes for interesting reading.

You can read my analysis of the Wimbledon 2006 final between Nadal and Federer by following this link: Federer versus Nadal In The Wimbledon 2006 Final

To read more about tennis tips and playing better tennis here are a few web pages to visit:

Tennis Tips
How To Play Tennis

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Tennis Tactics And Tips Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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Play Better Tennis While Trying To Win Matches

2006-11-13T15:39:00.000-08:00

It's the ultimate challenge.

All serious tennis players want to play better tennis, work on their tennis games, and improve. At the same time, almost all serious tennis players are very competitive and hate to lose tennis matches.

Guess what? The two motivations totally conflict.

From what I've seen there are very few players who will continue to try and work on new aspects of their tennis games while they are losing IF THEY KNOW THEY COULD BE WINNING BY DOING THE SAME OLD THING THEY'RE TRYING TO CHANGE!

It takes guts to have a longer term perspective and accept defeat today on the tennis court in order to gain victory in the future.

Having said all that, here are a few strategies that you can use while you're trying to improve your tennis skills while at the same time continuing to win matches.

Tennis Strategy 1.

Play down a level. Start playing the players you know you can beat fairly easily.
There is usually less pressure on you and if you are losing you can just switch back to your old patterns to win the match.

Tennis Strategy 2.

Play the set score. Let's say you're ahead 4-love in a set. You can try some new things even if it's going to cost you a game or two. You're still likely to win the set.

Tennis Strategy 3.

Play the game score. Let's say you're ahead 40-love in a game. You can use the next point to try the new option you're working on. Even if you lose the point, you're likely to win the game.

These are 3 ways for you to improve your tennis game, play better tennis, and still win matches.

To read more about tennis tips and playing better tennis here are a few web pages to visit:

Tennis Tips
How To Play Tennis

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Tennis Tactics And Tips Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
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A Tennis Lesson From Johnny Mac

2006-11-05T20:41:00.000-08:00

Who wouldn't love to get a tennis lesson from John McEnroe?

A friend of mine recently was on the court with McEnroe and Jana Novotna in Ottawa.
I asked him, of course, what the experience was like.

The format was mixed doubles and my friend had two main comments.

The first thing he said was that both Johnny Mac and Novotna were incredibly competitive, even in the supposedly relaxed setting of a tennis lesson.

The second thing that my friend said was that it was stunning to him how early McEnroe hit the ball. It was as if the ball was returned back at his feet the moment he hit it.

Hitting early is one of those things that you can't appreciate on TV. On TV, we can see power and often the early hitter is using the other's player's pace. So, it doesn't look that impressive.

There's nothing like tennis lessons from the world's best.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Insider Tennis Strategies An Ebook of Mental Tennis Tips guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Tennis Rackets Of The Pros -- What Sticks Are They Really Using?

2006-11-01T11:00:00.000-08:00

The Racket Controversy And What Is A Paint Job?

There are a lot of reasons for the controversy about the exact rackets that the pros use. The main reason for the controversy, as usual, is money.

It’s common knowledge on the inside of the tennis world that many pros are using rackets painted to look like the retail version of a new racket that the manufacturer is marketing.

Here’s a typical scenario. A pro has been using a racket for a long time and, the manufacturer with whom he or she has a deal, wants to introduce a new racket line into the marketplace. The pro may not really want to change rackets but may agree to have the old rackets painted to look just like the new racket. In tennis vernacular this is called a paint job.

Of course, this is usually good business for the racket manufacturer as sales of the new and probably expensive rackets will increase. And, the player pockets the fee from the manufacturer and still gets to play with the rackets with which he or she is most comfortable. Whether or not this is good for the recreational tennis player is debatable.

Most recreational players could never play well with the exact rackets that top pros use anyway.

Often top pros use rackets that are not that powerful and are very heavy (even if the retail racket frames that you and I can buy are not heavy, many pros either add lead tape to make their rackets much heavier, or have them customized to be heavier).

The pros can play with these types of rackets because they can generate tremendous racket head speed and power, and wouldn’t be able to control the ball if the rackets were too powerful.

The average recreational player will feel that they can barely get the ball over the net with many actual pro rackets.

So, even if a recreational player thinks he or she is playing with the same racket as their favorite pro, it’s actually a racket that is usually substantially different than the actual racket the pro is using. It may look the same and have the same name, but it usually isn’t the exact same racket.

Of course, some recreational players customize their rackets with lead tape. And, they’ll try and find out how much tape certain pros use and where on the racket the players place the lead tape.

You see, where the lead tape is placed on the racket dramatically changes the weight and balance of the racket and how it plays.

In the final analysis, the smart recreational player goes to his tennis pro shop and demos a whole bunch of rackets before buying. And, the smart player will buy the racket that he or she plays with best as opposed to the racket he or she thinks Federer or Sharapova is playing with.

The Controversy Over Roger Federer’s Actual Racket

Among tennis fans today there is debate about the actual racket that Roger Federer plays with. There are as many conspiracy theories about Federer’s racket as there are about the Kennedy assassination.

What is known is that when Federer was in the juniors he played with the classic Pro Staff 6.0 85. This is the same frame that Pete Sampras used.

Next, Federer apparently played with a newer Wilson model called the Pro Staff Tour 90.

And now, he’s apparently playing with a newer model again - the N 6-1 Tour 90.

But, not everyone is convinced that Federer is actually using the new N 6-1 Tour 90!

Here are two of the top conspiracy theories:

• He’s still using the Pro Staff Tour 90 painted to look like the N 6-1 Tour 90.

• He’s using a custom frame based on the original mold of the original Pro Staff 6-0 85.

Obviously, there are small differences between the proposed rackets that Federer is using. Tennis fanatics actually take pictures of Federer’s racket in match play and magnify the images trying to look for little clues.

They analyze everything from the grommets, the string pattern, and the number of cross strings in the PWS.

According to one report from an unidentified source at Wilson, all of Roger Federer’s racquets are made from a modified ProStaff 6.0 85 mold. Apparently, Roger wanted to increase the head size from 85 sq. in., while trying to maintain the original features of the Pro Staff 6-0 85.

In order to meet Federer’s requirements, plus successfully market the Pro Staff Tour 90, Wilson modified a Pro Staff 6.0 85 mold to include the tapered flanges on the throat, increased the head size to 90 sq.in., and made slight modifications to the PWS shape in order to make it look like a Tour 90 to the untrained eye.

Now, conspiracy theorists think that Fed is playing with this customized racket that has been painted to look like the N 6-1 Tour 90.

If you'd like to read a FREE report on exactly what rackets , what strings, and at what tensions the top pros play with then split step over here now FREE Report on the actual raquets, tennis string tension,and types of tennis strings of the top pros.

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What Does A Tennis Diamond Bracelet Have To Do With Tennis?

2006-10-30T13:41:00.000-08:00

Have you ever heard of a diamond tennis bracelet?

If you do a little research on the most common terms that people type into google to search for tennis terms, you'll find that the terms tennis bracelet or tennis diamond bracelet come up very frequently.

I was curious so I decided to do a little research.

And, it's an interesting story with a tennis twist involving one of tennis' greatest female players.

To learn more about the origin of the term tennis bracelet go to:

What is a diamond tennis bracelet?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Tennis Tactics And Tips Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Tennis Bracelet

I Played A Match Against One Of The Top Players In The World!

2006-10-11T07:22:00.000-07:00

What a thrill!

A friend of mine is friends with one of the top tennis players in the world and he set up a fun doubles match.

I don't want to name the pro but before I talk about his game, let me just say, he's a terrific guy. Played just hard enough to keep it interesting and kept up a running stream of humorous and good natured trash talking.

Now, neither myself or the other two guys can even remotely challenge the pro. So, to be honest, he was just fooling around except for a couple of points in the second set when his side was behind and he decided to step it up a notch.

What did I observe?

Amazing returns of serve - Man, this guy could return. Super clean, quick, low liners that just were back at your feet before you could move.

Tremendous volleys - Our pro is a doubles specialist and has one of the best volleys in the world. Again, short preparation, little racket movement, and then boom -- a rocket perfectly placed. And, with the same motion, a drop volley that just dies.

Incredible anticipation - Many times I had a short ball and was trying to disguise my intentions by not looking at the part of the court where I was going to hit the ball. But, it didn't make any difference. Our pro could read where I was going anyway and was just standing in the right place.

I didn't have a chance to hit groundies with him, and he was serving at half speed, so I didn't get to experience what returning one of the world's top serves is like but I can just imagine.

All in all, it was a great thrill for me.

Have any of you had the opportunity to play with top pros?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of Top Selling Tennis Tactics Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out the world's top tennis humor screensaver
Tennis Cartoon Screensaver. You can download a trial version for FREE.

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Tennis Humor, Jokes, And Cartoons

Why Can You Play So Well One Set And Then Play Horribly The Next?

2006-10-02T20:52:00.000-07:00

First, a little confession.

When it comes to peak sports performance, I'm not a huge believer in the theory that says that all one has to do is to just relax.

If that's all it took then, hey, just relax in your favorite way, then go out and shoot scratch in golf, or play high level tennis for 3 sets.

It's not that easy!

I believe that the key to playing consistent high level tennis is to master muscle memory of high level stroke production. Then, when you have total confidence that you've got the swings grooved, you can just relax and let it go.

You see the relaxation comes after creating muscle memory of the right patterns.

I believe that proper stroke production in tennis is a beautiful dance of all the various parts of the body moving in a natural and efficient rhythm. Now, there may be many different ways to acquire the muscle memory, but that's a different issue to be discussed at a later time.

So, in my opinion, if at times you play really well and hit the ball beautifully and other times your strokes fall apart, it's not neccessarily mental.

It's quite possible that your muscle memory is failing and you've gotten out of synch. This is when I think you have to have cues on each stroke that guide you back to that place where your rhythm returns.

The cues could be anything but they have to get you back to the right muscle memory. You may tell yourself to turn your shoulders as far as you can on your groundstrokes when you're struggling. Or, maybe holding your weight back a little longer on the serve before exploding into it.

I'll be discussing this issue more in later blogs as it fascinates me.

And, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of The Top Selling Tennis Tactics Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level. Also, check out a little about tennis history here Tennis history

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US Open Tennis

It's All Exhibition to Me Until The Australian Open

2006-09-18T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well, the US Open is done and fall is approaching here in Canada and probably in a good deal of the US and Europe.

Personally, I won't pay much attention to what happens on the tour until Australia. To me, it's all about money for the pros now.

Now, don't get me wrong. I think these guys should make as much money as possible. I'm just saying that there's a difference when they play for money and when they play for history.

A lot of guys will kill themselves and play through injuries in the slams. But, they usually don't show the same attitude in the regular tournaments.

Do you think Andre Agassi would have played through that horrendous back pain if it wasn't the US Open?

Now's the time when I focus on my own game. I'll meet up with Fed and the boys down under in January.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of The Top Selling Tennis Tactics Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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US Open Tennis

Federer Is Truly Amazing

2006-09-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's exhibition of superb tennis was a sublime experience.

When Roger Federer is on his game, it is an absolutely breathtaking experience if you're a tennis fan. His game is so solid, so cleverly constructed, his strokes so smooth that he literally makes the game look so easy.

I think that what a lot of people don't give a lot of thought to is Federer's tremendous defensive ability. Clearly, Federer is an otherworldy shotmaker.
Watch what happens when he's pushed and the matches get tight (doesn't happen too often obviously). But,when he's in a litle trouble, he relies on extraordinary footspeed and quickness to play superb defensive tennis. And, he's the best I've ever seen at turning defense into offense in a flash of a heartbeat.

There have been other great offensive tennis players in recent years. Players who were dangerous everytime the ball hit their rackets. Pete Sampras and John McCenroe come to mind right away. Anytime these guys touched the ball they could put the ball someplace difficult fot their opponent and be at the the net in a heartbeat.

But, neither Pete nor Mac were the greatest defensive players. Sampras actually was a better defensive player than Mac in my opinion because he had a lethal flat forehand -- a a weapon the that the continentally gripped Mac never possesssed.

And, when I think of great defensive players Rafael Nadal and Bjorn Borg come to mind.

But, Federer is literally the best offensive player and nearly the best defensive player in the game today. This is what makes him so unbeatable. When his offence is off, he can rely on his defense to keep him in the points. And, sooner or later, his offense starts to perk up again.

The other player who comes to mind as both the best offensive and the best defensive player of his time was Michael Jordan in basketball. And, he didn't do too badly did he?

By the way, I've just added a new section on my website about tennis strings. It's starting slow but will eventually have some really good info for you.

Cheers,

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US Open Tennis

It's Sad To See Agassi Retire but.......

2006-09-03T15:13:00.000-07:00

The great career of Andre Agassi is now over. Well maybe it's over. There's always the examples of Michael Jordan and Evander Hollyfield. But, both of those guys retired when they were getting older but still healthy.

Andre is not coming back and it's precisely because of his back that he's not coming back. It was sad in a way to see how he was moving in these last two matches. He moved in a very stiff way and looked like the older guys at the local tennis club.

It's absolutely remarkable that Andre could play such high level tennis with such a stiff back. It's totally a tribute to his anticipation, tactics, and great ball striking ability.

Now the tournament really gets going. For the past week no one has been talking about Nadal or Federer. It's been all Andre --all the time.

How great was Andre? Where does he rank among the all time greats? These are questions that will be hotly debated in the next little while.

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Agassi

How Far Will Andre Agassi Go At The US Open?

2006-08-26T12:14:00.000-07:00

This is the last go-round for Andre Agassi.

And fans don't know whether they should check out his early round matches to form final life-long memeories or just start watching the second week.

With Andre these days everything depends on his health and fitness.

If he's not hurting he can still play with anybody. But, if he's hurt, he can be beaten by anybody.

And, Andre's draw is tough.

His first round opponent is the veteran Andre Pavel of Romania. Pavel has been around a long time and won't be intimidated by the circumstances. He won't beat himself -- Agassi will have to beat him.

If Agassi manages to get through the first round he'll probably play the 8th seed Marcos Bagdhaitis. Obviously, Bags is one of the most talented players on tour so, even a full-strength Agassi, would have his hands full.

In the fourth round looms Andy Roddick.

So, let the games begin and let's see how Andre fares.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of The Top Selling Tennis Tactics Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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US Open Tennis

Five Sets favor Federer And Nadal At The US Open

2006-08-23T07:33:00.000-07:00

Right after Wimbledon every tennis fan would have layed all their money down on a Federer versus Nadal final at the 2006 US Open coming up.

So, what happens?

Nadal loses in the early rounds for 2 consecutive weeks. Federer wins at the Rogers Cup in Toronto but then loses to Andy Murray in straight sets at the Masters event in Cincinatti.

Nadal's woes are less difficult to explain. He doesn't have a great serve although it is improving.
And , he struggles with his returns against big servers. So, he can't get into the baseline rallies as easily as he can on clay where he dominates.

Federer obviously has to lose once in a while so it's really no big deal.

The US Open matches are best of five sets , unlike these recent tournaments which are best of three. And, I feel that the best of five format favors both Nadal and Federer but for different reasons.

Nadal is like a body puncher in boxing. He makes you run and reach and work very hard physically to return his balls which have heavy top and sidespin. By the time you've played two or three sets against him you're usually starting to wear down physically. That's why a lot of Nadal's matches are close in the beginning and then he pulls away easily.

It'll take a lot of physical endurance and mental toughness to beat Nadal in five sets. Now, maybe he'll be off and someone will beat him in 3 or 4 sets but I like his chances the longer the matches go.

With Federer it's a different story. To beat Federer you need him to be off and you have to be playing at your highest level. If he's on and you're off, you''ll get rolled --just ask Lleyton Hewitt.

And, I don't see anybody except Nadal giving Federer trouble over 5 sets.

So, on to the Open and let's see what happens.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of The Top Selling Tennis Tactics Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Watching Tennis Pros Practice

2006-08-10T06:17:00.000-07:00

One of the great secrets in learning how to improve your tennis game is to go watch the pros practice. And where can you see the pros practice?

This week I went up to see the qualifying rounds at the Rogers Cup in Toronto. I bought a general admission ticket for $11. And I didn't even bother to go into the stadium and watch any matches.

Instead, I went to the practice courts where in the space of 2 hours I saw both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal practice while standing about 10 feet away.

Name me one other profession where you can see the world's best practicing in public. Do the world's top musicians practice every day in public? Do you get to see a brain surgeon work on his operative technique?

And when you see these amazing athletes up close you learn so much if you watch closely.
Especially as they loosen up -- because here they're doing everything almost in slow motion and you can really focus on their body movements and racket technique.

So next time you really want to glean some amazing tennis knowledge go to a pro tournament and head to the practice courts.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Learning How To Play Your Best Tennis Against Lesser Competition

2006-07-30T16:16:00.000-07:00

Recently, I've had the experience of playing in the early rounds of a club tournament and also playing doubles against ex-Davis Cuppers in a provincial championship.

Even though I won at the club but lost to the ex-Davis Cuppers, I felt I played far better in the loss.

As I think about my mental state as I played both matches, I would summarize the difference as following:

In the club match I played safe tennis. I didn't really swing through anything aggressively. It was good enough to win and I knew I was going to win.

In the tournament I went for everything. I rotated and really followed through because I knew just getting the ball back wasn't enough.

And, I ended up playing some great tennis and was complimented a number of times by my opponents.

The lesson I draw from all of this is that I must maintain that state of really going for it every time I step on the court, regardless of the competition.

I really believe it's that attitude which is one of the differences between good players who can compete at the top levels and the top echelon players who can always play and win at the top levels.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Tennis Coaches -- Do They Improve Your Tennis Game?

2006-07-25T06:55:00.000-07:00

The big news in the tennis world today is that Andy Roddick has hired Jimmy Connors as his new tennis coach.

Now, most club players don't have tennis coaches. Instead, they have tennis pros who give them lessons but, for the most part, these tennis pros do not scout matches and give tactical advice.

For my money, Andy is in dire need of an experienced tennis coach --especially one with an attacking mentality like Jimbo. Somehow, Roddick got it into his head that should be playing Spanish style defensive tennis. But, Andy doesn't have the quickness and sold backhand neccessary to play that style.

If I were Andy's tennis coach I would I would build his game around the following:

1. He has to hold serve everytime. This means that he must become a master of changing speeds and locations as well as just using his power. And, he must improve his volleying.

2. He must attack the returns. No point for Andy to just get the ball back. This is where I think Jimbo will help Andy the most as his tennis coach.

3. Andy must look to end groundstroke rallies early, especially the backhand exchanges. I would like to see Andy rip his backhand up the line frequently to break the crossocurt pattern.

Anyway, with Jimbo as his new tennis coach it'll be fun to see what happens.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATGIES. This Ebook has sold in more than 50 countries and is full of Tennis Tips And Tennis Tactics . It's guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Roddick

Club Tennis -It's Good And Bad For Your Game

2006-07-19T08:54:00.000-07:00

The next few postings are going to be about my experiences in the last little while. I've just finished a tournament where I faced some of the top players in the country in my age group ( ex-Davis Cuppers) and where I've played a relatively easy match against a B player at the local club.

There's no question in my mind that if you play high level competition where you're slightly outclassed ,you're going to start really going for your shots because you know you can't win any other way. In a way it's liberating. And, when you see that those shots can actually win you points against the top players it certainly makes you think.

The trick is to continue to play this way when you're playing lesser competition.

I'll write more in my next post about what typically happens when you play lesser competition.

Dr. Glenn Sheiner ( aka TennisDoc) is the author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES the Ebook all about tennis tactics, tips, and strategies that is guaranteed to improve your game. Check it out now!

Federer's Strategy At Wimbledon

2006-07-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

Well, it was a decent final. And a fair result. Federer was the better player and deserved to win. But Nadal exceeded everybody's expectations and actually almost took it to five sets.

The key to the match was that Federer came out with a strategy to neutralize Nadal's lefty slice serves. He did this by returning with a slice backhand as opposed to topspin as he tried in the French Open final. He also may have adjusted his return position slighty to stand further to the backhand side to protect against the Nadal slice.

By protecting against the slice serve Federer was betting that Nadal could not completely change his serving pattern and serve effectively to the Federer forehand.

Federer's bet payed off but it's interesting to analyze exactly what happened. In the ad court Nadal started serving very effectivley down the middle to Federer's forehand. He won 80% of the points when he served to the forehand and ended up hitting about 50% of his serves in the ad court to the forehand.

In the deuce court it was a different story, and this is what won Federer the match in my opinion. Nadal only served 10% of the time to Federer's forehand in the deuce court. When he did go there he had good success but his relucatance to serve to the forehand in the deuce court is a deficiency which Federer capitalized on.

Look for Nadal to work on his serve wide in the deuce court and , if he gets it going, I'd be worried if I was Federer.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Federer Nadal

Nadal versus Federer -The Final Everyone Wants

2006-07-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

Ok. It's a miracle. Nadal made the Wimbledon final. Now he has to play Fed tomorrow.
What should we look for?

In my opinion, the most critical matchup will be the Nadal lefty slice serve against the Federer backhand return. This is partly what killed Federer at Roland Garros -- he tried to come over his returns with topspin instead of just slicing them back.

On grass, the slice is a far more effective shot and I'm sure this will be Federer's plan. He should get a lot of returns back in play.

As for Nadal, the key will be what he does with these low slice returns. He needs to take control of the point right away with his forehand.

Anyways, should be a very interesting tactical match.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Federer Nadal

Roddick's tactical play at Wimbledon

2006-06-29T05:56:00.000-07:00

What is Andy Roddick thinking? Here is a guy who doesn't have top ten ability in speed or groundstrokes who's decided to play defensive tennis!!

He will not go far with this tactical approach.

If I were Andy's coach I would tell him to keep the points as short as possible. This means standing a little further inside the court and going for penetrating shots right away. He has the forehand to play this way but it's his backhand that is a liability and that his opponents take advantage of.

So, on the backhand side I would tell him to rip a lot of flat backhands up the line.
Yes, it's a higher risk strategy but Andy wins very few of the backhand crosscourt exchanges anyway.

Even at the top level in tennis tactics determine winners and losers.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Andy Roddick

So Far Federer Hasn't Been Pushed

2006-06-06T23:01:00.000-07:00

What a great tournament so far for Roger Federer. He's played well and hasn't been pushed on the clay. Well, that's about to change. He faces David Nalbandian in the semifinals, and if he gets by him, he'll probably face Rafael Nadal in the final.

If you're a student of tactical tennis you can see how easy it's been for Federer. By and large, he's played guys who couldn't hurt him very much and aren't as steady off the ground. So Fed won by playing very high percentage tennis --mainly crosscourt rallies until he got an opening.

But against Nalbandian he'll be playing someone who is almost as quick and who possesses a better backhand. Nalbandian will win a great deal of the crosscourt backhand rallies and will hurt Fed with his beautiful down the line backhand.

So Fed will be forced to go for more off his backhand or run around it exposing his forehand corner. He'll probably win but it won't be easy and he'll have to play a higher risk game.

Let's see what happens.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Roger Federer

Don't Teach Anybody To Play Like Nadal Plays

2006-06-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, Rafael Nadal is an amazing tennis player. But, in terms of a model to learn from --as Tony Soprano would say --forget about it.

First of all his whole tactical strategy is based on the fact that he is an amazing athlete. He stands way behind the baseline and actually dares to people to attack him. And , because of his incredible speed and strength, he can hit winners off shots other players wouln't even reach.

After a while his opponents realize that to win a point they have to hit even harder and aim for the lines. This is a low percentage tennis and Nadal then usually starts winning easily.

So, the first ability that Nadal posesses that most human beings can only dream about is world class speed.

But, the other amazing thing about Nadal's game is that he is hitting winners with bad technique!

Watch the form on a lot of his incredible forehand passing shots. He is completely stretched to the side and is barely even able to get his racket behind the ball. But he is able with just his outstretched arm and wrist to generate great racket head speed and even hit with insanely good angle.

So admire Nadal, enjoy his artistry, but don't try and copy his game.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Rafael Nadal

2006-06-01T12:39:00.000-07:00

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

The 2006 French Open and the drop shot

2006-06-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

If you're getting into the French Open on TV, you're probably seeing way more drop shots than you traditionally see on hard courts or grass.

There's a couple of reasons for this. The main one is that power isn't the great weapon on clay that it is on hard courts because the red clay slows the ball down. So, all those crosscourt blasts which are winners on the hard courts are merely rally balls on clay. Plus, many players stand much further back on clay than they do on hard courts knowing that it's rare that the opponent will rush the net on clay.

So, what's an aggressive player to do?

Well, enter the drop shot.

Because the opponent is well behind the baseline a well-placed and well-disguised drop shot will often be a winner. Even if the opponent makes a great sprint and reaches the ball there is little he or she can do with it.

So, start watching masters of the clay like Nadal and Nalbandian use the drop shot.

Next time we'll talk about the technique and how to disguise it.

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Watching the 2006 French Open makes me think about red clay

2006-05-30T07:03:00.000-07:00

For most North Americans red clay is something we hear about a lot and see mainly on our TV screens as we watch the French Open every year.

It's an ongoing debate as to which surface ( hard or clay) is better for developing young players.

Having played on both, I think that if I had a choice as a national director of tennis training, that I would prefer to see the kids train on clay.

Obviously, clay ( especially the red variety seen mainly in Europe and South America) slows the ball down and makes it harder to play attacking tennis. But, it encourages full flowing strokes with lots of topspin, drop shots, angles, and wily tactics.

Of course, because clay doesn't tend to favor attackers, often clay courters don't serve that well and don't have particularly good volleys. You can see that now in the game of Rafael Nadal --one of the most dominant clay courters of all time.

Anybody have any thoughts?

Glenn Sheiner M.D. - author of INSIDER TENNIS STRATEGIES The Ebook guaranteed to make you a smarter tennis player and take your tennis to the next level.

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Red Clay