As Sloane Stephens said she had to run down a lot of balls "...left me completely exhausted/fatigued both physically and mentally." 

That's typical for two-hand players who rely only upon long rallies.

Many "unseasoned" players want time to savor their lastest win, it's understandable;  they don't know when the next win will be.

That's the disadvantage of two-hand strokes, you must run more, you have a shorter reach, and prefer defensive tennis as opposed to " shooting the rapids," agressive net play, daring, in-your-face Tennis.

Two hands is batting the ball, that's what baseball players do. Two handed play is like riding a bike, and not taking the training wheels off.

Daniel A. Young, Sr.

Nttcacemaker.com 

"Teaching Tennis the way it ought to be taught."

The Art of Persuasion in Tennis

“Persuasion:” “The art of getting others to see things as you see them.”

 Surely there is something more to persuasion than that.  If not, answer me this!
 

Say for example, you’re in a tennis match with players of reasonably equally skill level, and you would assume equal mental capacity.  Since Tennis is a competition between you and your opponents, if you’re playing doubles. “Getting you to see what needs to be done, if you’re losing shouldn’t be all that hard.

Maybe, we’re not as good as we think we are.  We hit the ball crisp, and hard in the warm-up, but the court appears to be too short for those shots during play. What do you do?

If you’re making a number of errors: say double faults, hitting balls into the net, when players are standing at the net, it’s time to assess what you can do to decrease the errors you’re making.” If we both have a goal of wanting to win, the solution to our errors shouldn’t be that hard to correct, right?  Maybe we should try a lob next time, maybe a soft angle?

Repetition they say is one of the ways to get a person’s attention.  Ok, so if you’re making the same error, shouldn’t that trigger something mentally that you need to become critical of your behavior, or action?

If you’re employed, and you are continually short when the receipts are tallied, you start looking for solutions.  When you’re constantly missing your plane, your bus, or subway, you might set your alarm earlier, get up earlier, leave the house earlier, so you are at the point of departure earlier.

Relating this to tennis is not that difficult. If your balls are going into the net, maybe should aim a
little higher, and when you aim higher, and they go long, maybe you should use more control, by slowing down.

More matches are lost on errors, than are won with winning shots, but how do you persuade your partner this is so?

I tried humor by asking: “Are you used to playing on longer courts? I tried reasoning: “Let them make the errors.  That’s Ok!  “You got that out of your system.” Sarcasm doesn’t work either “Maybe they will let us play without the net to make it even.”

Ok, Tennis Gurus let’s hear from you.  What's your solution?

 

 

 

Winning Doubles by Serving down the Middle

Tennis is an interesting sport.  No two players play or think  alike, but they all crave the same results: to win.

For that reason, it is a "puzzlement" (King and I) to me why a player of several years refuses to see the logic behind the strategy, I use in doubles which is, to serve everything down the middle on the deuce point, as well as the ad point.

Let me explain by examining how I would play the first point in doubles if I were serving.  If this were a new partner, male or female, I would tell them that I would be serving everything down the middle, and anything over their head is theirs.  If I were to change, for tactical reasons, I would inform them.

By serving down the middle, when the ball bounces in the deuce court, my partner can readily see that he/she don't have to worry too much about the backhand down the line, and they would likely just hold their position, as the ball is likely to come back through the middle, and towards their forehand.

However,if the ball comes back out of their reach, which could result if the receiver decides to run around the  serve down the middle; then, and if the receiver in the deuce court happens to be right-handed and who attempts to hit the return wide, the ball would be coming to the server--my forehand, which gives me a possible opening angle, since the player, who having ran around the forehand to take the serve, would be out of position by being away from their alley for having run around the serve.

Now, as I see it, if I were to serve the ball wide, using a spin serve which pulls my opposing receiver off the court, he has the option of hitting cross court, at the lowest part of the net, or through the middle, since my net man would have to protect the down-the-line shot, and I would have to cover the sharp angle, or a drop shot.  Remember, "one good angle deserves another."

But wait you might say: "When serving down the middle in the deuce court, you are serving to your opponent's forehand, if they are right handed.  That's true, but a well spun ball would take the service receiver into, and behind their partner, and likely to cause them to make an error--not wanting to hit their partner.

As the server, I must come up fast and wide to cover the sharp angle, or if I'm old, dig up a drop shot at my feet if towards my forehand, or backhand;  and if I'm old and slow, this becomes a real challenge if you hope to win.  But if it's served down the middle, it's likely to be towards my forehand therefore anything through the middle is likely to  be hit as a winner.

That's how  see it, what about you?