I have been playing tennis for a long time.

My problem is this: in the practice I have very good shots & also play matches well, but there are some people that I always lose against.

I feel nervous and out of control. What can I do to prevent or overcome this?

Let’s first try to understand why this nervousness happens and why you lose matches to the same people and what are possible solutions. (more…)

Hi Tomaz, I am a 4.0 baseliner, and occasionally move into the net.

My volley skill is not that bad but I feel more comfortable in the baseline.

I hit with a semi-western forehand, with a slice back hand. My opponent is an old man, with a continental forehand.

He had no pace on the ball, and I make a lot of errors trying to hit his ball.

My power forehand seems to be very effective sometimes, but most of the time, he had a soft touch and lure me into the net or move me from side to side with short ball.

He used a lot of old-man game, drop and lob and I feel my baseline game is slipping, and eventually I found myself volley with him at the net and he always had the advantage of that.

Unlike other old man, he had a lot of stamina and move very well.

How can I stick to my baseline game when he can always bring me to the net with one stroke?

(more…)

What is the best game tactics a lefty could use to raise his game to full potential?

Do left-handers have an advantage in tennis?

Yes, and the main reason is that in most cases player’s forehands are better than backhands and this makes a left-hander’s forehand go cross court to your weaker backhand.

And because of court coverage and higher percentage shots everyone needs to play a lot cross court; so the forehand – backhand duel is inevitable.

You might think that it’s the same for the right-hander since their forehand goes to lefty’s backhand and that’s true, except the right-hander doesn’t practice this very often.

There are approximately 8-15% left-handers so the right-hander may practice their “forehand against backhand” tactics in about 15% of the matches, while a left-hander practices this in 85% of the matches.

So in general, the left-hander finds it easier to control the point with their forehand than a right-hander.

The other advantage is that the left-hander serves out wide to right-hander’s backhand on crucial points like 40:30, 30:40.

And since left-handers play at lot of right-handers, they keep serving their wide serves time and time again and become very good at them.

Right-handers on the other hand play mostly right-handers and don’t serve many wide serves out to opponent’s forehand.

So when they play a left-hander they are not that good with a wide slice serve.

Your main goal as a left-hander is to try and gain advantage in the point with your wide serve and occasionally surprise your opponent with a serve to their forehand.

There is a whole chapter in the Tennis Strategy Encyclopedia on how to deal with left-handers and that might help you discover new tactics that you never considered before.