Comments on: How Are Juniors Training Tennis In Europe And Why Are They Better Than Americans?

By: Anneliese

Anneliese — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 07:43:23 +0000

Thanks!
That sounds great; I will definitely think about those ideas, of the offensive and defensive games. Look forward to watching the DVD’s and reading more of your site!

By: Tomaz

Tomaz — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:33:06 +0000

One of the main thing in tactics is to recognize whether you can go offense or you have to try and neutralize your opponent.

Apply this to all 5 playing situations: serve, return, baseline, net game and passing game.

Then look for ways (tactics) on how to do attack and how to neutralize. This can be done my moving your opponent, taking the time from them, giving yourself more time and so on.

I am planning some DVD’s on this topic this year so stay in touch. But what I just mentioned here is the foundation of these DVD’s. You can even make them yourself, if you just think a little bit of all the options.

By: Anneliese

Anneliese — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:01:12 +0000

Hi Tomaz;
Thanks for the really, really quite reply!
And thanks also for the good advice. I do believe tactics is the main area my game is lacking in. It is good to hear confirmation from an outside source
I’ve already tried it out on the court and it was great!

What are the main tactical plays or ideas that you teach players? or encourage players to develop into their games?

By: Tomaz

Tomaz — Fri, 30 May 2008 13:22:52 +0000

Hi Anneliese,

You need to have a purpose to keep the drill interesting. Every shot is either a neutralizing one or an offensive one.

You can neutralize an opponent with a long ball, fast ball, make him move and so on. And in similar ways you can attack an opponent.

So think about what is your goal - what do you want TACTICALLY to work on and then break the situation down to more simple drills if needed. If not, just play the situation.

I would usually change the drill after 20 to 30 minutes to something else. (serve, volley, …)

By: Anneliese

Anneliese — Fri, 30 May 2008 12:17:23 +0000

hi tomaz;
do you know any good drills that you can do with rallys?
we tend to become a bit bored and loose focus after ‘just hitting’ for 3 hours baseline to baseline

By: Tomaz

Tomaz — Thu, 08 May 2008 01:43:41 +0000

Hi John,

3 ways to repeat strokes by not feeding:

1. The coach volleys back the ball
2. The coach plays from the baseline
3. The players rally with each other (or at higher levels, the player volleys back to the baseline player)

By: john staph

john staph — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:14:38 +0000

Tomaz,
I am very interested in the coaching styles of the Europeans. You said there is a LOT of feeding balls from the basket in the US . .. what then do they do for building repetitive strokes in Europe?
-thanks,
John