One of the best tips I have for any level of tennis player is to record yourself while playing and analyze your technique and your movement afterwards. You’re bound to find out some interesting things! Since I started recording some of my own tennis sessions (more reviews to come, I promise), I’ve released and aimed to correct a lot of things in my own game and although it takes a while to do so, there is no better coach than you realising what you need to improve to become a better tennis player. One important thing here is not to …
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Got to enjoy the men’s quarter-finals live in Wimbledon and here are some likely incoherent thoughts: You could see in the training that Gasquet is doing something differently. I watched for a good 15 minutes and I don’t think he missed a ball. And it’s not like he was slicing them over either. The guy seems to have a plan and looks more focused than before. Enough for Djokovic? No, I don’t think so. Talking about Djokovic. Cilic is now 0-13 in matches against him. You knew before the match that it wasn’t about to change and Cilic’s body language …
It was a joy, as always, to watch Nadal play tennis live. This time I was lucky to enjoy it from the first row as the company I’m working for were sponsoring Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. What you could see after only the first few minutes of play, was that Nadal seemed to have his famous intensity back, he hit every ball with force and determination and despite having a few tough matches he seemed confident he would come out the winner. He did so in all his matches in Stuttgart and it was fun to see him lift the …
So besides watching Nadal play a great match against Monfils, I got to play doubles with Toni Nadal, play my first-ever session on grass, and finally meet the legend Rafael Nadal. A great day here at Mercedes Cup. Highly recommend you to visit this excellent tournament. An experience of a lifetime for a true tennis nerd. More to come.
I’ve been struggling with my serve lately and decided to go back to the basics and try to get the feeling back. I’m usually a fan of watching good video content and then doing practice swings at home. Do that until you’re confident of the mechanics and then take a bucket of balls to the training court and work hard. What you can do is to bring notes (like a short bullet list) with you to the court so you remember the basics. Here are a few notes I would bring: 1. Positioning feet towards where you’re going to hit the serve. …
To become better at something you need to challenge yourself and move outside your comfort zone (besides practice, practice, practice of course). You need to dare trying different shots and losing training matches you wouldn’t lose or lose as badly with your standard game plan. Let’s say you want to broaden your tennis game and introduce a new shot – let’s say the drop shot, then you need to make sure that you dare to play it in a match situation to gain confidence. If you’re a sore loser or hate losing also against your practice partner this can be …
It’s not a simple quest. For me it’s almost eternal. I’m never completely happy with my frame – it almost feels like my tennis soul never will find peace. As I’m writing in “My Tennis Racquets” I’m currently playing with the Head IG Prestige MP and the Wilson Pro Staff Six.One 90 BLX but I can’t really make up my mind. Maybe I need something in between like a Volkl Powerbridge or a Wilson Six.One 95? These thoughts keep going back and forth in my head. But I can’t keep changing my racquets forever. I need to make up my mind and stick …
I’ve gotten quite feedback on my post The Best Tennis Racket for Intermediate Players and decided it was time for an update. In my previous post I reached the rather obvious conclusion that there is no Best Tennis Racket for Intermediate Players, but that everything is very individual. A club player might prefer playing with his old super-heavy Sampras Pro Staff 85, although it might on paper benefit his game to move to a lighter, swing-friendly stick with a bigger head size because he will get more power with less effort and fewer off center hits and probably also less arm-strain. …
Every tennis player has a playing style and personality on the court. We have weaknesses, strengths and patterns in our play. But sometimes we don’t know who we are, we know who we want to be and it’s not doing us many  favors on the tennis court. Let me explain. I have always pictured myself as an aggressive baseliner. I have a weaker backhand (but a decent backhand slice)  and a pretty big forehand and I try to get myself into hitting it as often as I can. This often leads me into over-hitting when I have the opportunity. I …
You’re watching Gasquet, Ljubicic, Wavrinka, or Federer and look at their backhand side and think to yourself “I want to be able to hit one of those as well!” Well you can! The excellent Coach Kyril’s Tennis Vault has a lot of great teaching material to show you how to proper shots with plenty of tips and tricks that can elevate your game. Here are some tips to think about: Grip: Spread your fingers out over the racket and don’t grip it tight until contact point. Prepare your racket. As soon as your opponent hits the ball you should be …