So what’s in the Fed Baguette?

Caviar – of course.
Truffles – of course (plenty).
Oysters – of course.
Gold leaf – of course.

And some other stuff – of course.

The Fed Baguette is best enjoyed with a glass of Moet (or a bottle, because it doesn’t taste so good with those ingredients mixed together) or if you don’t like champagne a cup of Jura espresso and a Lindt chocolate.

t’s disgusting. There are no simple remedies for this, everybody gets into a slump from time to time, but you can change your mindset to make it easier to get back that important match-winning focus.
How do you do that? Just buy my secret focus potion consisting of Rafael Nadal’s blood, sweat and tears called Rafa Juice!

Act now and get a “30-day Your-Dignity-Back-Guarantee!”. If you don’t like the drink and don’t feel you’ve gained focus and intensity, just send an e-mail to rafajuice@rafabull.com and we’ll send reimburse you the whole price of $169.99! This is an offer you can’t miss out on!

Ok, enough of that. I don’t have Rafa’s blood, sweat and tears on a bottle. And if I did, I’d probably be behind bars fairly soon.

And you’t need Nadal’s juices to adapt his mindset. Instead you need a list:

1. Never ever give up. You can turn around 6-0 5-0 into a victory. This is tennis, not football and has the most interesting scoring system known to man.

2. Give yourself a little bit of VAMOS when you win a good point. Don’t complain about the way you play. Focus on the positives! That’s how Rafa gets his fist-pumping energy.

3. Play each point competitively. Don’t waste any points by not giving it your best. That’s the only way to get back into focus. Don’t tank!

4. If you lose yourself completely and start handing your opponent the match on a silver platter, take a little break. Sit down under a towel Soderling-style, go for a quick toilet break, take some extra deep breaths. It’s important you get a moment for yourself to get back your focus and possibly get your opponent a bit off his. Nadal has hundreds of routines to remind him to focus, focus, focus. Bounce ball x times, move hair behind ear, pull nose, pull pants, step up and down with feet, adjust water bottles etc (yes, he has OCD, but some of these manoeuvres really help him quiet his mind).

5. Come prepared to do battle. Make sure you have enough water, maybe a banana, and that you haven’t eaten a big meal to close to the match. Try to feel your best or close to it.
6. Losing is not a big deal, but losing while not giving your best is a big deal. You’ll always feel better afterwards (even if you lose!) knowing that you gave it your best shot.

Good luck adapting to the Rafa mindset. Drink that Rafa Juice!

RESULTS – THURSDAY, 23 MAY, 2013

Singles – Quarter-finals
P Andujar (ESP) d [2] G Simon (FRA) 64 75
[WC] E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d [3] S Querrey (USA) 36 76(2) 61
A Montanes (ESP) d P Mathieu (FRA) 64 61
[WC] G Monfils (FRA) d R Haase (NED) 62 63

Doubles – Semi-finals
J Brunstrom (SWE) / R Klaasen (RSA) d M Elgin (RUS) / D Istomin (UZB) 62 36 10-8

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, 24 MAY, 2013

CENTER start 2:30 pm
A Montanes (ESP) vs [WC] E Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
[WC] G Monfils (FRA) vs P Andujar (ESP)
N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs J Cabal (COL) / R Farah (COL)

ATP TOUR 250 Düsseldorf

RESULTS – THURSDAY, 23 MAY, 2013

Singles – Quarter-finals
[6] J Nieminen (FIN) d [2] [WC] T Haas (GER) w/o (illness)
[3] [WC] J Monaco (ARG) d T Kamke (GER) 63 64
[Q] G Pella (ARG) d [7] V Troicki (SRB) 76(5) 75
I Sijsling (NED) d J Hajek (CZE) 63 61

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[1] C Fleming (GBR) / J Marray (GBR) d J Murray (GBR) / J Peers (AUS) 75 63
[3] T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) d D Brands (GER) / I Sijsling (NED) 76(4) 64
A Begemann (GER) / M Emmrich (GER) d I Dodig (CRO) / L Rosol (CZE) 64 75

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, 24 MAY, 2013

CENTER COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
[Q] G Pella (ARG) vs [3] [WC] J Monaco (ARG)
[1] C Fleming (GBR) / J Marray (GBR) vs [3] T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) – Possible Court Change
Not Before 4:00 PM
I Sijsling (NED) vs [6] J Nieminen (FIN)
[4] F Nielsen (DEN) / A Sa (BRA) vs A Begemann (GER) / M Emmrich (GER)

So how do you improve this often weaker wing? Well, you obviously have to make sure you practice it. Most people tend to avoid hitting the shot even in practice, because they’re scared of fucking it up. Fear never got you anywhere in life, right? Hitting a backhand requires footwork and some technical basics, but the main thing is to put trust in your shots and that’s all mental.

Okay, okay. Not everything’s mental, because it’s hard to build confidence in a shot without practice. Maybe I should rephrase that and call it determination. You need to be determined to improve your tennis, not always looking at the scoreboard.

If you’re playing a league match or the club championship, this might not be the ideal time to dare the shot that you fear, but any kind of practice session or match you should focus on getting that glaring hole in your shot repertoire fixed. Tennis will be much more fun if you’re not feeling like a beginner on one wing and a pro on the other (I’m not saying it’s that bad for you, but for many club player it’s exactly like that).

And there are things you can do to improve while sitting at your desk, you don’t even need to go to the court. Here’s my list of off-court and on-court tips to improve your tennis game.

1. OFF-COURT: Watch a lot of tennis videos and really study their shots. I suggest looking at a few practice videos of your favorite players. You can check out the Tennisnerd Youtube channel for a start (slowly building on it).

2.ON COURT: Tape yourself using your iPhone, digital camera or whatever recording object you have (mini-disc won’t do ). Then watch and see if you can identify where you go wrong. Are you really moving your feet properly in preparation for the shot? Are you starting your backswing early enough?

3. OFF COURT: Check out these excellent videos on backhand technique:

Coach Kyril’s Two-handed Backhand Tip
James Jensen’s Ultimate Backhand
The One-Handed Backhand Grip
How to Master the Basic One-Handed Backhand
Tennis Tips: One-Handed Backhand
Tennis Tips: Two-Handed Backhand

4. ON COURT: Get a ball machine and practice, practice, practice.

5. ON COURT: Play practice points where you’re only allowed to hit the backhand.

6. ON COURT: Hit backhand to backhand with your hitting partner. This will give you more than another practice set where you both get nervous and stop hitting the ball properly.

More to come! Stay tuned /TN.

So how do you get access to Bet365 and their tennis live streams? Well, first you to Bet365.com and sign-up. This quite straightforward and doesn’t require much time. When you’ve signed up you need to make a deposit to get access to the live streams. Bummer, right?

Not really, because the minimum deposit at Bet365 is only £5, which you obviously can bet for. As long as you have money in your account you’re allowed to watch the live streams – even if it’s so low as £0.01. A great deal for any tennis enthusiast.

Of course, I’m a bit of a betting enthusiast as well, but only on tennis really. But if you don’t have money to spare and are completely uninterested in making a bet on a tennis match, you could just keep your money in your account or play some slots in the bet365 casino.

If you, however, are interested I recommend you reading “How to Bet on Tennis” and How to Bet on the French Open with Bet365. I’m going to write more material about tennis betting as soon as I get the time.

A few tennis betting tips that might be worth mentioning here:
* Never bet more than you can lose.
* Start ridiculously small. A 50 cent bet is enough at first!
* Check head-to-head stats, player form and previous results. Get that edge!
* Keep track of your bets and make sure you learn from them.
* Don’t take it so seriously. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose that’s the nature of sport as well as betting.

Good luck just watching the tennis live streams or with your tennis bets. Keep me posted on your results.

Ps. Please note that the screen on Bet365 is a bit small, but you can expand it and if you watch it on a bigger screen it’s absolutely fine. Ds.

Ps2. Bet365 doesn’t only display tennis live, but all kinds of sports! Ds.

RESULTS – WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 2013

Singles – Second Round
[2] G Simon (FRA) d [Q] G Rufin (FRA) 64 63
[3] S Querrey (USA) d [Q] S Stakhovsky (UKR) 75 63
R Haase (NED) d [4] J Isner (USA) 64 16 75
[WC] G Monfils (FRA) d [6] F Fognini (ITA) 62 76(5)
A Montanes (ESP) d V Hanescu (ROU) 75 76(2)
P Mathieu (FRA) d C Berlocq (ARG) 75 36 63
[WC] E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d R Berankis (LTU) 26 64 62
P Andujar (ESP) d Y Lu (TPE) 62 60

Doubles – Quarter-finals
N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d [1] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) 36 75 10-3
J Cabal (COL) / R Farah (COL) d [3] E Butorac (USA) / L Dlouhy (CZE) 62 36 10-6
J Brunstrom (SWE) / R Klaasen (RSA) d F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) 63 62
M Elgin (RUS) / D Istomin (UZB) d [WC] P Andujar (ESP) / A Ramos (ESP) 64 64

SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 23 MAY, 2013

CENTER start 12:00 noon
J Brunstrom (SWE) / R Klaasen (RSA) vs M Elgin (RUS) / D Istomin (UZB)
Not Before 2:00 PM
[3] S Querrey (USA) vs [WC] E Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
A Montanes (ESP) vs P Mathieu (FRA)
Not Before 6:00 PM
P Andujar (ESP) vs [2] G Simon (FRA)
Not Before 7:30 PM
[WC] G Monfils (FRA) vs R Haase (NED)

ATP TOUR 250 DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY

RESULTS – WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 2013

Singles – Second Round
[Q] G Pella (ARG) d [1] J Tipsarevic (SRB) 76(1) 61
[2] [WC] T Haas (GER) d I Dodig (CRO) 36 64 75
[3] [WC] J Monaco (ARG) d [Q] A Ghem (BRA) 64 64
I Sijsling (NED) d [4] P Kohlschreiber (GER) 36 63 64
[6] J Nieminen (FIN) d R Bautista Agut (ESP) 64 57 63
[7] V Troicki (SRB) d G Zemlja (SLO) 63 76(3)
T Kamke (GER) d [LL] A Bedene (SLO) 61 64
J Hajek (CZE) d D Brands (GER) 61 60

Doubles – First Round
J Murray (GBR) / J Peers (AUS) d C Kas (GER) / O Marach (AUT) 76(3) 46 10-8
A Begemann (GER) / M Emmrich (GER) d R Bopanna (IND) / P Raja (IND) 64 62

SCHEDULE – THURSDAY, 23 MAY, 2013

CENTER COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
[3] [WC] J Monaco (ARG) vs T Kamke (GER)
[Q] G Pella (ARG) vs [7] V Troicki (SRB)
[6] J Nieminen (FIN) vs [2] [WC] T Haas (GER)
A Begemann (GER) / M Emmrich (GER) vs I Dodig (CRO) / L Rosol (CZE)

CENTER COURT 2 start 12:00 noon
[1] C Fleming (GBR) / J Marray (GBR) vs J Murray (GBR) / J Peers (AUS)
Not Before 2:30 PM
J Hajek (CZE) vs I Sijsling (NED)
TBA
[3] T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) vs D Brands (GER) / I Sijsling (NED) – After suitable rest

But looking at the up and coming young guns of today, I’m not too worried. Grigor Dimitrov has been dubbed Baby Federer and for a good reason since their playing styles and shot mannerisms are very similar. Dimitrov is currently ranked #28 in the world and is starting to get some impressive wins under his belt. He’s my number one “young gun” when it comes to being entertaining to watch.

So we have a Federer for when our great champ retires!? It will be close to impossible, but at least some players are still adopting the free-flowing style and the varied game. Some “experts” even talked about the death of the one-handed backhand, but players like Dimitrov, Wavrinka and Gasquet keep proving them wrong.

What about a Nadal though? Can someone take his place as the king of clay? Well, if you’re looking for a young Spanish player with a really impressive clay court game, don’t look further than Pablo Carreno-Busta a 21-year-old Spaniard who has made a small breakthrough this year. Many people predict great things from him but as great as Rafa? Nah. Rafa and Fed are both too special, but there’s hope that the gap in quality of tennis from one generation to the other isn’t going to be too big.

Anyway, from Dimitrov to the three  ”misfits” (sorry fans, I know they have great potential) Bernard Tomic, Ernests Gulbis and Fabio Fognini. They all possess massive shot-making abilities and there can be no doubt that they have everything in their bodies to become top ten players, but their heads are another matter. Tomic has a tendency to just “give up” and tank away matches (plus a slightly psychotic father in John Tomic), Gulbis is sometimes called “Gulbrat” because he acts like a spoiled brat and rants and has rich parents (not his fault), Fognini is a pretty-boy Italian who strolls around the court like he’s on a Sunday walk through the city and not on a tennis court. Sometimes he doesn’t seem to give a fuck, other times he can belt the living daylights of the ball.

A recent story of Gulbis is particularly telling, both about his talent and his bratty attitude. After blowing a decent chance to beat Nadal in the quarterfinals of Rome and eventually losing in the third he said: “I thought I was the better player in the match, and also in the second and third sets (which Nadal won). . . He is solid and he didn’t do anything special and I made mistakes so he won.”

Nadal found a pretty good line without actually criticizing Gulbis (that says it all about tennis): “If you hit as hard as you can, and hit every ball at 216 (kilometers per hour) or 220 and then that means being the best player then perhaps he was the best player.”

Spot on, Rafa.

Other youngsters then? Canadian serve-canon Milos Raonic – can he amount to something? Well, in one way he already has, being ranked 16 in the world and having won four titles, one as late as in February this year.

The question is whether he can go further. Not sure. He has a big game, but sometimes big game fall short when it comes to the top 5.

One player who has reached even further than Raonic (one spot further to be exact), is Japan’s shining star Kei Nishikori who recently beat Federer in Madrid Open (Masters). We will sure see more from him in the future, especially on hard courts where he feels most comfortable.

What are your thoughts on the young guns of tennis? Who has what it takes? Have I missed someone special (I most certainly have!)? Please comment and get the discussion flowing!

RESULTS – TUESDAY, 21 MAY, 2013

Singles – First Round
[7] V Troicki (SRB) d M Russell (USA) 36 63 64
[LL] A Bedene (SLO) d [8] N Davydenko (RUS) 36 64 63
G Zemlja (SLO) d D Goffin (BEL) 57 60 62
I Sijsling (NED) d [Q] E Korolev (KAZ) 62 64

Doubles – Quarter-finals
[4] F Nielsen (DEN) / A Sa (BRA) d J Erlich (ISR) / D Tursunov (RUS) 64 57 10-8

Doubles – First Round
[1] C Fleming (GBR) / J Marray (GBR) d [WC] D Brown (GER) / F Moser (GER) 76(2) 64
[3] T Huey (PHI) / D Inglot (GBR) d P Marx (GER) / F Mergea (ROU) 57 76(2) 10-2

SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 2013

CENTER COURT 1 start 12:00 noon
[1] J Tipsarevic (SRB) vs [Q] G Pella (ARG)
[3] [WC] J Monaco (ARG) vs [Q] A Ghem (BRA)
I Dodig (CRO) vs [2] [WC] T Haas (GER)
I Sijsling (NED) vs [4] P Kohlschreiber (GER)

CENTER COURT 2 start 12:00 noon
A Begemann (GER) / M Emmrich (GER) vs R Bopanna (IND) / P Raja (IND)

Not Before 1:00 PM
T Kamke (GER) vs [LL] A Bedene (SLO)
[6] J Nieminen (FIN) vs R Bautista Agut (ESP)
D Brands (GER) vs J Hajek (CZE)

CENTER COURT 3 start 2:00 pm
G Zemlja (SLO) vs [7] V Troicki (SRB)
C Kas (GER) / O Marach (AUT) vs J Murray (GBR) / J Peers (AUS)

ATP 250 DÜSSELDORF

RESULTS – TUESDAY, 21 MAY, 2013

Singles – First Round
[6] F Fognini (ITA) d [Q] M Cecchinato (ITA) 16 61 62
P Mathieu (FRA) d [LL] R Harrison (USA) 64 64
[Q] S Stakhovsky (UKR) d [Q] R Dutra Silva (BRA) 62 63
[WC] G Monfils (FRA) d S Giraldo (COL) 46 63 63
[Q] G Rufin (FRA) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 63 61

Doubles – First Round
[1] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) d J Cerretani (USA) / V Hanescu (ROU) 63 61
[WC] P Andujar (ESP) / A Ramos (ESP) d [2] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 63 63
[3] E Butorac (USA) / L Dlouhy (CZE) d [WC] A Massa (FRA) / A Pierson (FRA) 62 62
J Brunstrom (SWE) / R Klaasen (RSA) d [4] D Bracciali (ITA) / P Starace (ITA) 46 75 11-9
N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) d L Hewitt (AUS) / M Matosevic (AUS) 46 61 12-10
M Elgin (RUS) / D Istomin (UZB) d A Seppi (ITA) / K Skupski (GBR) 76(6) 64

SCHEDULE – WEDNESDAY, 22 MAY, 2013

CENTER start 11:00 am
[WC] E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) vs R Berankis (LTU)
[3] S Querrey (USA) vs [Q] S Stakhovsky (UKR)

Not Before 3:45 PM
C Berlocq (ARG) vs P Mathieu (FRA)

Not Before 6:00 PM
[Q] G Rufin (FRA) vs [2] G Simon (FRA)

Not Before 7:30 PM
[6] F Fognini (ITA) vs [WC] G Monfils (FRA)

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) vs J Brunstrom (SWE) / R Klaasen (RSA)
A Montanes (ESP) vs V Hanescu (ROU)
Y Lu (TPE) vs P Andujar (ESP)

Not Before 4:30 PM
R Haase (NED) vs [4] J Isner (USA)
M Elgin (RUS) / D Istomin (UZB) vs [WC] P Andujar (ESP) / A Ramos (ESP)

COURT 5 start 12:00 noon
[3] E Butorac (USA) / L Dlouhy (CZE) vs J Cabal (COL) / R Farah (COL)

Not Before 2:00 PM
[1] A Qureshi (PAK) / J Rojer (NED) vs N Mahut (FRA) / E Roger-Vasselin (FRA) – After Suitable Rest

Viktor Troicki hasn’t played his best of late, but this is a great show! I get the feeling he’s right and Cedric Mournier is too ashamed to admit it.

Tennis can be a crazy sport and that’s another reason to love it.

I find practice videos the best to study top player techniques and this video really gets you close to the action of Rafael Nadal striking the ball.

It can’t be easy dealing with that amount of TOP SPIN!

If you think it’s gear and not only technique, or you simply just want to look cool striking the ball, this is what Rafa plays with:

Babolat Aero Pro Drive (tennis racket)

Babolat RPM Blast (tennis string)

Find more top player practice videos on the Tennisnerd Youtube channel.