He strung his first racquet when he was 9 and has strung for pretty much every top player out there. This is my interview with Richard Parnell. He is a true stringing legend and even invented his own knot. My interview with Richard Parnell took place at his language academy and stringing room in Mijas, in Costa Del Sol, Spain. We chatted for hours about stringing, racquets, string trends, and the demands of top players such as John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Goran Ivanisevic, Venus Williams and many more. Afterward, he demonstrated his technique on his HEAD stringing machine. Watch and …
Latest in Tennis Instruction
Since I am off tennis for a while due to tennis elbow (for the first time in my life), I wanted to write a bit about how to avoid tennis elbow. I have been a week without tennis now and it is painful. Mostly because I can’t practice the sport I love. This is why I have been researching ways to avoid tennis elbow. As always, following a fitness program, is a good way to stay healthy, but when injuries occur you need specific treatment. Although it seems fairly common, stats say that only 5% of people who suffer from …
Court Balance – Tennis Fitness
I got this newsletter from the Martin Fitness Method about how to improve your court balance. This is something I have struggled with myself. Being in balance and using your kinetic chain properly is very important if you want to become a better tennis player. I have moved from a more traditional stance and swing to a more modern game and my court balance has required an adjustment. I thought these tips from the Martin Fitness Method were really good and wanted to share them here. The point they are making in the newsletter is to focus on strength and …
Functional Tennis Practice Journal
A while back I reviewed the Functional Tennis Match Journal, a great tool for improving your tennis. Here is the Functional Tennis Practice Journal. You can read more about the Functional Tennis Match Journal here. The Functional Tennis Practice Journal is, as the name implies, is for you who want to keep track of your practice sessions. It comes packed with some great advice, stats and other things to keep you inspired. If you are ambitious about your tennis and want to make sure you practice with quality, this is a really useful guide to make sure you stay on …
A visit to Good to Great Academy
Good to Great Academy is one of the top tennis academies in the world. I was lucky to visit their new home outside Stockholm to meet with the founders. Good to Great Academy was founded by former world-class players and Nicklas Kulti, Magnus Norman and Mikael Tillstrom in 2012. They have since then worked with players such as Stan Wawrinka, Rebecca Peterson, and Grigor Dimitrov to name a few. Last year they opened the doors to Catella Arena, a giant new sports complex and meeting point for tennis and padel enthusiasts. That is also where they hold their tennis academy …
One of the most common questions for tennis coaches is how to handle high balls. Especially on the often weaker backhand wing. This video deals with various approaches to dealing with high balls, both aggressive and defensive. We like to call it Moonballer Medicine. It might sound like a basic problem, but high balls on the backhand was one of the tools Nadal used to give Federer trouble for many years until Federer started taking the ball earlier with a more aggressive approach. His bigger head size racquet also helped to give him more margin of error. This video mainly …
Zen Tennis – Playing the Zone
I usually listen to audiobooks or podcasts when I string racquets, drive or go to the gym. Some of them are about tennis. One book I really enjoyed and just finished was Zen Tennis – Playing in the Zone by Dr. Joe Parent and Bill Scanlon. It is about working on your mental game of tennis. The mental game of tennis is perhaps one of my weakest areas. Yes, you have seen my strokes, they are not that great either, but I have a tendency to underperform in tournament matches. I tense up, tighten my muscles and start either over-hitting …
How to Serve! Tennisnerd Academy
The serve is arguably the most important shot in tennis and it is something that a lot of players struggle with. That is why we thought it was timely to release a new Tennisnerd Academy video called: How to Serve! The video deals with grip, stance, backswing, slice, flat and kick serve and is packed with tips. Tennisnerd Academy is a project I am doing together with my two tennis friends Vijay and Nikunj Siwach. The Siwach brothers are ex-professional tennis players and used to run their own academy in Germany. Now they live in Malta and work with the …
I have decided to make a serious effort towards improving my tennis fitness on the court. I have signed up for a course from the Martin Method Tennis Fitness which covers tennis fitness for all tennis players of all levels. Use the code TENNISNERD and get 10% off. I am definitely not a couch potato and exercise almost every day, but I mostly do it without a clear plan of improving my tennis fitness. Now I want to change that and work on my speed, agility, and power around the tennis court. So I signed up for two courses from …
I was in Marbella, Spain, about week ago and did a tough training session with coach Luis Perez. Luis used to be ranked within the top 500 players in the world so he knows what he is talking about. He quickly noticed my takeback was a bit long and complicated and devised this racquet preparation drill. This racquet preparation drill video is a short excerpt from my full training session with Luis, that I have posted further down. There are a few key things I learned from this drill. Prepare your racquet well before the ball bounces. Move with your …