Every tennis player has experienced that day where they can do nothing wrong.

Every shot comes off your strings with a crisp clean pop. Every ball you strike goes to its intended target like a magnet.

On those days, it’s easy to have a relaxed and easy going demeanor on the court and to compete hard without losing your temper.

But what about the other side of the coin? There are also days when you feel awkward and un-athletic.

Your shots seem to float and sit up for your opponent. You can feel your competitive fire boil over into a fit of rage at any moment.

You know deep down inside that you are a better player than this… Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Federer is back on the top! While Rafael Nadal deservedly holds the #1 ranking for the 2010 ATP rankings, Roger deservedly won the ATP Finals in fashion we haven’t seen for quite some time.

Roger Federer Wins ATP Finals 2010 against Rafael Nadal - AFP PHOTO / GLYN KIRK

Roger hasn’t lost a match in the whole tournament and beat Ferrrer, Soderling, Murray, Djokovic and finally his arch-rival Nadal with some amazing tennis.

Let’s look at some interesting stats from the match…

1. The players hit 585 shots in the 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 score. That’s 585 shots / 25 games = 24,4 shots per game and 585 shots / 130 points = 4,5 shots per point on average. Read the rest of this entry »

We have all heard of the tennis injury called “Tennis Elbow” (or extensor tendonitis) – but what are the most common tennis injuries?

I’d like to share my personal experiences as a tennis player as well as my professional experience as a Physical therapist.

In my youth I played tennis a lot! Actually, I managed to play for Leinster (a province in Ireland) for two seasons and saw all the common tennis-related injuries over this time. I suffered from two of them myself!

And now, as there are two very active tennis clubs nearby, I see a lot of tennis-related injuries in my physiotherapy practice.

So, what are the 5 most common tennis injuries? Read the rest of this entry »

Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic in the Basel 2010 final 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 and surpassed Pete Sampras’ record of 64 tour titles by one.

Roger Federer wins Basel ATP 2010 against Novak Djokovic / Photo by AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI

I’ve analyzed this match in a slightly different way – I actually noted every shot they made.

The end of each point was also noted – whether it was a untouchable winner, forcing shot that forced an error or an unforced error.

For example, this is how the stats looked like for the first game of the match when Djokovic was serving:

2 UW, 12 UE, 1 UW, 3 UE, 8 UE, 2 SW, 2 SW, 4 UE

The first point is 2 UW which means that there were 2 shots – a serve and a return and the return was an UW – untouchable winner.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a very simple technique that will help you quiet the mind during tennis.

It happens often that while we train we start thinking about other things we need to do – whether they are related to tennis or even something else.

We think about money, job, partners, kids, your to do list, the homework, the future – and those thoughts keep entering our mind and they keep distracting us.

We simply cannot focus 100% on tennis and on the current point or the ball exchange. We therefore play poorly and get even more distracted and less focused. Read the rest of this entry »

If you keep your eyes open you can discover many new good tennis warm up drills just by watching a promotional Youtube video.

The video below, shot in Beijing includes these WTA girls in their warm ups: Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Sam Stosur, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Maria Kirilenko, Victoria Azarenka, Gisela Dulko, Flavia Pennetta, Jelena Jankovic, Kaia Kanepi, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Andrea Petkovic, Yanina Wickmayer, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Dushevina, Alicja Rosolska, Ekaterina Makarova & Sara Errani.

Read the rest of this entry »

Rafael Nadal has just won his first US Open and completed a career Grand Slam which is a remarkable achievement considering his age and that he is playing in the era of Roger Federer.

But there was a certain pattern occurring in the last 3 Grand Slams – Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open.

The player who beat Roger Federer in each tournament eventually faced Rafael Nadal in the final – and lost.

Robin Soderling beat Federer at Roland Garros with 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, reached the final and then lost to Rafael Nadal easily with 6-4, 6-2, 6-4.

Tomas Berdych beat Federer at Wimbledon 6-4, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 and then lost in 3 straight sets again to Nadal in the final with 6-3, 7-5, 6-4.

Novak Djokovic beat Federer for the first time at the US Open with 5-7, 6-1, 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 and again lost to Nadal with 6-4, 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. Read the rest of this entry »

I have a (probably) mental tennis question to ask. I’m 45 years old now.

I played in two singles tournaments (NTRP 5.0 and above) in the past two months. The first time, I beat a title contender in semi and got cramped, so had to forfeit the finals.

The second time, I beat a top senior player in the first round 9-7, beat a 34 years old 5.5 player 8-4 in the second round.

In all these matches, I played above my “daily” level. I saw the ball clearer than usual, my legs moved almost by itself and my body moved through every stroke, and my volleys were all phenomenal (I played an extreme net rushing style : the way Stefan Edberg and Pat Rafter played).

The problem is – the next morning, in the semi of the second tournament, I played against the same guy I beat in the last semi. But this time, I lost 0-8!!

He didn’t play that better, but I experienced a strange feeling. First, I missed all the easy volleys (hit the frame, dumped it to the net, sent it wide, long, anything that lost the point). And I still felt so relaxed that I didn’t care to increase my focus.

I didn’t care to raise the consistency. I just felt so lazy to fix it. My opponent, however, was on fire as he really expected a revenge.

I didn’t plan to play loose. I went there intending to play as usual, but the eyes, hand, and body don’t seem to get along like the afternoon of the day before. And I didn’t do any thing to fix the problem. So the result was logical.

And I didn’t feel bad or upset being beat 8-0. I knew I could play much better but realized that – on that day I could lose to any 3.5 player.

This is my first lost in 5-6 matches after beating many reputed players. And I don’t understand why I didn’t try to fight (well, I have digged deeper and have come back to win matches before, but not this time).

———————————————————— Read the rest of this entry »

This is a guest post from Paul Gold, the author behind http://www.footwork4tennis.com. I’ve had to chance to check Paul’s videos and they explain in great detail different types of footwork that pros use.

Paul also shares tons of ladder drills, dot drills and box drills that will help you develop the foot coordination needed to great tennis footwork.

Here are Paul’s thoughts on tennis footwork and how it improves your game…

Great tennis footwork is the key to great tennis, which is a fact that so many players overlook.

I see far too many coaches and club players concentrating and in fact wasting too much time and energy on 1 or 2 particular shots, but the fact remains – it doesn’t matter how good the shot potentially is if you never get yourself into a good position to hit it!! Read the rest of this entry »