Want to improve your tennis footwork?

 Watch Novak Says Venus

Iga is Playing the Long Game

 The Long Game: This philosophy is the way to continuous improvement in any endeavor. Incremental improvements for changing circumstances are better than complete overhauls once you've reached a high level of performance. Thoughts?

 Iga goes for the Long Game

Cold or warm water during a match?

I've read that cold water stops digestion which probably means it impedes blood flow and circulation, so it's less of a tax on the system to use warm water.

 Still, to say cold water is harmful runs up against nature since had to take water at whatever temp it was available such as in cold mountain streams or in winter from a well.. 

I'm guessing the negative effects are marginal for normal day-to-day consumption.

Dead Ball vs Live Ball Drills - What do you use for Beginners?

It often depended on the court space available and the number of students. I preferred to use live ball drills as soon as possible in conjunction with a graduated approach. Dead ball feeds were used for absolute beginners. I would use both for variation and also accomplish specific objectives.

If a student loses a match and wants to take a tournament off, what to do.

Each person develops a method for coping successfully with loss and challenges. One weekend tournament off won't change the long view outcome for her or anyone, or it shouldn't. I'd use it as a training opportunity and would be hesitant to push someone who may already know what works for her.

Tennis Coaching: Watching your own playing skills decline

Most mechanics neglect the maintenance and repair of their own vehicles because they are so busy working on others. It's the same with tennis Coaches.

Accept it and focus on business or become a tennis player that just coaches to feed the habit.

How should a Tennis Pro/Coach Look and Dress

What do people think of a tennis coach who is carrying an extra forty or fifty pounds?  

What do they think of a poorly dressed coach?

This reminds me of a story Dennis Van Der Meer related when running a Tennis-University back in the '70s. He related that he was on a flight and a stewardess asked him if he was Vic Braden. He said, "No, I'm the skinny one." 🤣

It brought lots of laughs and at the same time, it was a subtle way of saying, your image matters. He was very insistent on that down to the manner of dress. If you are a tennis Pro/Coach, it is best to dress and look like a tennis player, so four or five inner tubes around the mid-line become a hard sell. All that said, it can be tough to maintain that look once you hit your 40s upward. It takes work. Anything you can do to look professional should also add to your bottom line.

I have another example though. I worked for a former Davis Cup player back in the 70s-80s who carried some extra weight, but in his 40s he could easily outplay any ranked students that came for lessons. I never heard a negative word of judgment against him for this, rather, it added to his aura His reputation as a player and skills silenced anyone thinking about it.

 

 

Ethics in Tennis. - A Strategy?

 Here is an interesting take on why ethics on the tennis court matter and how to approach it.

Brain Sports Dot Coach

This information rings true.   If you play tennis with a strong code of integrity and follow the rules of etiquette you'll likely find your career in tennis more enjoyable.

I always told my students that once we walk onto a tennis court, we choose to operate on a higher plane were we leave politics, personal drama, and our daily concerns outside the fence and focus on the joy of tennis.  Taking this approach and applying ethics to your conduct and behavior out there will leave you happier regardless of the outcome.  Plus as the video describes, you will "deserve to win."

Training Methods for strokes - Net Height and Spin

I have students target midway between the service line and baseline with moderate spin. The net clearance height becomes a function of the desired depth. I set guidelines of 3-6 feet above the net depending on the speed and spin. My only firm rule is to avoid net skimmers.

Fartlek Running workout - useful for tennis

 Check it out.

Fartlek - Swedish training method

Lendl on Training

 Back in the 1980's Lendl was at his peak of fitness and domination in Tennis.  

Here is an interview where he discusses the value of fitness training and 

How the Best Players Adjust the Best

Novak speaks to Tom Brady for Training Advice

 Brady

Handling a Pusher

Make them do what they don't like to do. That usually means bringing them up to the net on your terms. Once at the net you can pass or lob them depending on their skillset and yours. Short angle shots are also an option. 

 With serving, always think of body serves. Pushers tend not to like being forced and this may give you midcourt returns you can attack. 

When receiving most pushers have no strong serve or they wouldn't rely on defense only.   Try stepping in on their serve before they begin their motion so that they can clearly see you standing well inside the baseline to attack.  If they are really weak on the serve, I've seen players standing a foot behind the service line as a challenge and it can rattle a server.

 While in the heat of the struggle, I'd keep trying new things. Find one weakness and attack it relentlessly. As a group, pushers are risk-averse and mentally strongest when frustrating their opponent. You need to frustrate them. For instance, if they have an iffy low backhand since pushers tend to play well behind the baseline, keep going to it with angle and backspin. Isolate their weakness and focus on it. 

 As a proviso: If they are good at handling all of these things then they just might be better than you and your options may decline down to learning from your loss.  

Time vs Timing in Tennis

Americans focus on time when it comes to tennis.  

I saw a post online that mentioned that the Spanish focus on timing while Americans focus on time when it comes to tennis.  I believe he had a point.

Take no prisoners and fight to the last man. No retreat. I used to tell those students that tended to back up and move in to never give up ground. Having a great deep volley also made the court smaller so that you were closer to the net than you believed. 

I remember myself telling students that they can compress time by moving forward and thus remove time from their opponent.  Americans are time focused.   Imagine when hey played some matches on parquet back in the '60s. Time was everything. There wasn't time for timing. 

Peterson on What Beckons you Forward

 

Beer and the Effect on Training

 Beer

It seems that the old habit of tennis players back in the '50s-'70s to go out for beer after matches and training wasn't necessarily wrong.

Footwork: Novak vs Fed

Novak seems always on balance no matter how far he's stretched. His footwork is invisible through efficiency rather than polished and artistic like Fed.

 Both work well but for the long term strive for efficiency.

Team or lesson Discipline - Safety is first

Players that cause safety problems are always my first focus on both team and lesson environments and that refers back to the idea of requiring compliance or leave. An example might include someone tossing a racket or hitting wild balls intentionally.  Those situations aren't acceptable.

Punishment vs Discipline

Injuries are a real risk. Some sort of reprimand or penalty makes sense to me for a team situation. If a team member is a slacker, I might tailor something to test their discipline such as boring and repetitive drills. I always stayed with tennis focused training and never want to be the cause of an injury.

Harming team members or students under your control is not acceptable. We know much more now than decades back. Heat exhaustion and cardiac risk is a major concern. Other injuries can be debilitating and ruin a sports career. All of these are counterproductive. Coaches should be aware of the risk and act accordingly.

Tennis skills are Perishable

 Most skills have a shelf-life. There is probably a ratio of time versus skill loss for most things just like physiological decline after physical training stops that can be graphed. For tennis, I'd put it at 5-10% per week down to 60%, and then it declines at a slower rate. Just a guess. Somebody has probably done a study.

If you find a study I'd love to see it.

Walking for a health plan - Tennis Walking is even better

 Jut walking for health proves valuable.

Walking 

 Tennis Walking

Tennis Walking is a way of walking while practicing.   You don't have to run for balls that are out of reach of a walk.  Look at older players and you'll often see that they don't run or even jog but rather limit the balls they reach by how far they can walk to reach a ball.  

Another approach to this is a toss and hit method of solo practice when you don't have a backboard.  Just toss the ball to the maximum distance you can move and reach it on one bounce while walking.