What a difference a surface makes. Nadal had been coming off a series of losses in the US where his opponents would serve well enough to hold serve and then go for big enough shots that Nadal would struggle to hold his own serve. In Indian Wells, Ljubicic lost rather handily in a first set,
Italian tennis has seen better days, at least, on the men's side. The women seem to be doing fine. Once, players like Adriano Pannatta would give Bjorn Borg all he could handle on clay. Today, Andreas Seppi is the highest ranked Italian player at 47. Seppi is a solid clay courter. Steady enough to hit
Everyone knew this would be a tough opener for Federer, regardless of who he faced. On the one hand, he could face Marcos Baghdatis, the guy who beat him in Indian Wells. On the other, Ernests Gulbis, who everyone said could be the next great player as long as 3-4 years ago. Hard to believe
Should you pronate on a wide serve even though it turns your racket in the opposite direction that you're aiming? In this video I explain why you should pronate on every serve, no matter where you're aiming, and exactly how you aim your serve to different parts of the service box.
The backhand slice can be an extremely useful shot to your tennis game. Not only can it be used in a defensive situation such as when you're pulled off the court to the side or pushed back behind the baseline, but it can be used as an approach shot to get up to the net
I finally got out to hit a couple tennis balls today! This video shows a few baseline points that Louis and I played after I filmed some specific strokes for instructional videos. Comments are welcomed.
Perhaps the most anticipated of the first round match, if you can call a first round "anticipated", was a first round match between Ernests Gulbis and Marcos Baghdatis. For most players, even players that play in the main draw of a Masters 1000 event, winning a title, possibly 2 in a year, is considered a
I often times have tennis experts on the show to talk about improving a specific part of your tennis game. Today my guests are two recreational players who have worked really hard to improve over the last several years. Find out what worked for them, what didn’t, and what has been most important to them
Once called the Italian Open, Rome now has a rather ponderous name: Internationalzi BNL d'Italia, which makes sense except BNL. Once, it was a challenge to get top players to play the clay circuit. Players like Connors and McEnroe often skipped right to the French, unwilling to take their lumps playing grueling points that weren't
The Education of a Tennis Player, by Rod Laver with Bud Collins (Simon & Schuster, 1971)(318 Pages, 25 Chapters, with Introduction, Epilogue, 3 Appendices, Index and Black & White Photos), republished in Paperback by New Chapter Press, April 2010, with updates and 4 new chapters (280 Pages). On the 40th anniversary of his 1969 Calendar-Year
