Lleyton Hewitt beat Gaston Gaudio in the second round of French Open 2007 after being 0:2 down in sets. The final score was 4-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

Here are some interesting comments they both made in their interview after the match and what you can learn from them: (more…)

Venus Williams served a thundering serve at 128 mph (206 kph) in her second round match at the French Open against another American Ashley Harkleroad. (more…)

Everything started with a very tough draw for Michael Russell, ranked 67th, who had to face Roger Federer. Russell of course didn’t have a chance but did put up a good fight losing 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Next to go out was Justin Gimelstob who played an experienced clay courter Nicolas Almagro and lost in straight sets too.

Amer Delic was also unlucky with the draw since he played a former world nr.1 and French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.

All these 3 defeats were not as shocking as the next two: Andy Roddick and James Blake.

Andy had a good preparatory period before the French Open, playing lots of matches on clay courts and getting used to grinding it out. But Igor Andreev was too tough in the first round. Andy lost 3:1 in sets after winning the first set. (more…)

Hi. My name is Josh. i’ve been playing tennis for about a year, but i’ve been taking lessons for about 6 months now. see i sorta want my life to go somewhere with tennis. and i know i cant do that if i dont get a lot better faster.

so i was wondering if you had any tips or comments that would help me get a lot better quickly.

Hi Josh,

There are a few factors to the fastest improvement in tennis. But please be aware that what I might perceive as fast improvement may seem slow to you.

That’s because you probably don’t have a large database in your memory of watching hundreds of players improve over a longer period of time.

All these tennis players with different abilities and skills have different rates of improvement.

So based on this experience a coach who has been teaching tennis for years can then make a pretty good judgment what is fast and what is not so fast improvement.

So what do you need to improve in the fastest possible way?

1. Correct teaching method that shows you the most natural way of learning with step-by-step progression.

2. A tennis coach who knows how to teach this and is not expert only in the technical part of the game but also in communicating his expertise to you on your level of understanding.

3. If you are fit then at least 2 and not more than 3 hours of tennis per day in this learning period. Later you can play more if you have the energy and time.

4. Practice with different types of players – not as good as you, about the same level and better than you. That way you will learn to adapt quickly to various speeds, spins and directions of tennis shots.

5. Spend some time watching TV and video clips of good tennis players in order to absorb as much information as possible in the visual way. That way you will programme your body and mind in the fastest way to perform correct technique.

6. Take at least one day per week off in order to regenerate physically and mentally.

7. Be involved in other sports like basketball, volleyball and soccer which will improve your other “non-racquet” skills like: reaction, balance, coordination, speed and stamina.

8. Mentally you need to be positive since at the beginning you will make many mistakes. Tennis is a very challenging sport and it takes time to master.

9. Be aware of what you can do well instead of focusing on what you are still not good at. Of course, don’t blind yourself from your weaknesses but the key is not to think about them, instead focus on what you want to achieve.

10. Have fun, enjoy the process. Don’t become obsessed with the final outcome of you playing perfect tennis. Become totally immersed in hitting the ball and be aware of the feel, sound and visual experience of the shot.

This is of course a perfect scenario but it may not be impossible. When I was a college student I was actually able to play 2-4 hours per day, watch TV, practice volleyball in the evening and still have enough energy to keep it going the next day.

If you don’t have that much time, then adapt these 10 factors to your time, energy and motivation. Remember, if you want to become master in anything (tennis, playing a guitar, building websites, making public speeches, designing buildings, …) it will take you around 10.000 hours or about 10 years.

This is of course mastery of the field, but if you just want to play solid tennis, you’ll be there much quicker.

There is something magical, almost unreal about earning additional (or full time) income with the power of internet.

I’ll explain it from the perspective of a tennis coach and then you can make an analogy to your current business or job position.

When I teach tennis on court, I can share my ideas with only a few people, typically from 1 to 4. I do that for a few hours every day and I get paid for sharing my experience and providing value to the players.

After that, I need to do this again and again to ensure a constant income. I am tied to this way of earning money and can never get free. As soon as I stop working on court or in the office (working on mental training), so does the income.

And since I live on planet Earth where I have to pay for food, bills, gas and so on, I need money. Just for surviving we need money and that puts a lot of stress on us every day.

But there is way right now.

Many are taking advantage of it and if you are reading this, you are a very lucky person.

Why?

Because you were born in the internet age. You can use internet to leverage your knowledge and provide value to thousands of people every day without exerting yourself and living in constant stress.

For example, http://www.tennismindgame.com receives from 800 to 1000 visitors per day who can benefit from the information and tennis tips that I may have written a year ago.

That information and value that I provided is not lost in the same way as it is when I coach personally. It is preserved and can help thousands of people more to play better tennis.

And of course – the more you give, the more you receive.

Since I also offer a two e-books on tennis strategy and mental part of the game as well as “How to play tennis” videos, a certain percentage of people buy these products and gives back the energy (I invested) in form of money.

Internet technology also allows you too keep most of the process automated so there is almost nothing on my side that I need to do after I set up the whole process except help someone with the download occasionally.

How did I learn all this?

Do you think you have to be a computer geek or a genius to have a popular and profitable website?

No, not at all.

What I like about internet business is that it is learnable. This is not quantum physics where you have to have an IQ of 150 to understand what is going on.

No, everything is learnable: from writing quality content, optimizing your website for search engines, getting quality links to improve your rankings and all the rest.

It just takes time, motivation and determination and eventually you get to a place where you log in to your stats in the morning and see that you have earned $65 in Adsense, $40 in affiliate programs and $67 in selling your own products during the night while you were sleeping.

I plan to share some of my tips in the future but first you need a proven and reliable learning method to get you started.

AFP/Getty Images

In May 2003, Roger Federer was seeded fifth and had some positive thoughts about French Open.

“I remember going into the tournament feeling so confident,” Federer said, “going like, ‘I could win this thing. I’m playing so well at the moment.”‘

But he lost in the first round in straight sets to Luis Horna from Peru who was ranked 88th in the ATP rankings.

“I lost the first set and thought, ‘There’s no chance I’m coming back in this match. And if I do, with seven matches to play, there’s no way I’m going to win the French Open.’ All of a sudden, within 45 minutes, my whole dreams were shattered,” Federer recalled. “I was so weak mentally.”

What can we learn from this?

(more…)

I’m looking forward to sharing tennis thoughts and ideas about the strategy and mental part of the game as well as tennis instruction tips.

I also intend to share some of my thoughts about internet marketing, becoming financially and personally free and other thoughts related to psychology and personal growth.

If you want to find out more about me or my tennis instruction website…