Just Wide

Tennis is at its heart a competition. And sometimes in competition, you lose ... and lose  badly. Losing sucks. It hurts. It can make you feel like you want to give up, particularly if you played particularly poorly. Of course, we all know that losing is also the basis for learning. Uh huh, right. And nothing will get the blood boiling quicker than when someone tells you that right after you walk off the court from a 6-1, 6-2 beat down. Here's the thing though, after suffering a bad loss - one in which you played really poorly and feel like you don't even know how to play tennis worth a crap - you need to allow yourself to wallow for a bit, but then pick two things you wish you could have done better and prepare a plan to improve those aspects of your game. Don't allow yourself to wallow, then wallow a little more, then go to bed, wake up and wallow still more, until eventually your mind is distracted by work or bills or what have you and finally the match becomes a distant...

Gift shopping for a tennis player is tough for a non-tennis player. I've received numerous well-intentioned gifts over the years that, to put it plainly, could best be described as bizarre. Tennis-themed pens, clocks, coffee mugs - you name it. It's as if my friends think that because I play tennis I also like everything I own and use to have some sort of tennis insignia. But I can't really blame them. I mean, what does make a good gift for a tennis player? Here are a few gift ideas that might help someone with a tennis player on his/her list this year: Vibration dampeners Most recreational tennis players use a vibration dampener on their racquet, and most non-tennis players have no idea what a vibration dampener is, where to get one, or how inexpensive they are to purchase. These are an ideal gift idea for a secret Santa situation, or in any case where you really don't want to spend more than $5-10. There are no shortage of designs you can find via an online search. M...

In my previous post I wrote about why I believe the link between throwing a football and the tennis serve is misguided at best, and destructive to your tennis serve at worst.   There are two other sports, however, that kids play every day and might actually help to improve their serves and overall tennis games as adults. Those sports are volleyball and baseball. Why do these two sports offer good prep for tennis? Both teach players to focus on the ball. The volleyball serve might be the best practice for the tennis serve in terms of keeping an eye on the ball. In volleyball, the server first selects the intended direction of the serve, then tosses the ball and watches nothing but the ball until it is struck. Thanks to the rules of volleyball (bump-set-spike), the server doesn’t feel rushed to react to the opponents and is free to completely concentrate on the service motion. So, while the tennis service arm and shoulder motion might more closely resemble the football throwing motio...

If you’re a boy who likes playing sports and you grew up in the U.S. you probably played football. Even if you didn’t play on an organized team, you probably threw a ball around with your dad and played a game of touch now and then with your friends. While you were tossing around the pigskin on those crisp fall days of your youth, you didn’t even realize you were setting your tennis game back years. If you’ve ever taken serving lessons you might have heard a tennis pro tell you that serving is approximately the same motion as throwing a football. Some pros will even bring nerf footballs onto the court and have their students toss them over the net to get a feel for the service motion. Don’t believe them. Seriously, think about throwing a football. Where are your eyes? They aren’t affixed to the ball, that’s for sure. Your eyes are downfield, looking for an open receiver and oncoming rushers. The throwing motion might be similar to the service motion, but the all-important eyes are focu...