June 2018 – Page 2

In Mens Tennis

Posted on June 14, 2018 by blogger

The 1968 season in mens tennis was a critical one in the advancement and growth of tennis. Previous to this season the mens tennis world was in an era that we know as the amateur era in mens tennis. The amateur era refers to the era in which only players that were not professionals were allowed to play in Grand Slam events.

The amateur era officially ended after the first Grand Slam event of the year. After the amateur era the beginning of the open era would begin. The term open era simply refers to the era in which professionals and amateurs can both play in Grand Slam events.

The first grand slam event of the year would be the Australian Open. This would be the last tournament of the amateur era and it would be won by William Bowrey. Bowrey had never won a Grand Slam event previous to this one and he would actually never win another Grand Slam event in his career. Despite the fact that he had a relatively insignificant career outside of this victory he will always be remembered as the last victor of the amateur era.

The beginning of the open era featured a couple of players that had not won Grand Slam tournaments in years. These players were able to bounce back in this year after not winning Grand Slam events for more than 6 years.

The first tournament of the open era was the French Open. The French Open would be won by Ken Rosewall. Rosewall made a remarkable comeback after not winning a Grand Slam event for 12 years. He had won 4 Grand Slam tournaments in 4 years, but then did not win for 12 years. His victory in the tournament turned around his career and he was able to win three more Grand Slam tournaments after that victory.

Rod Laver would be the winner of Wimbledon in 1968. Rod Laver was formerly a dominant player in Mens tennis. In 1962 he won every Grand Slam Event in the year. He did not win another event until 1968, but this victory set him on a dominant streak. This victory helped him bounce back and he went on to take all four Grand Slam Events in the 1969 season. This victory set him on path towards being the most dominant player of the beginning of the open era.

The last tournament of the year would be the US Open. The US Open would not be won by a former champion, like the last two majors. Instead Arthur Ashe was able to win the first Grand Slam of his career. He was a very relevant player at this time and this victory would be one of three Grand Slam victories over the course of his career.

In tennis today you will often hear that a player has the most wins in any given event since the beginning of the open era. 1968 is when all of that changed and the open era of which is spoken about commenced.

How Will The Andy Murray Tennis Game Compare To The Federer Tennis Game This Season

Posted on June 11, 2018 by blogger

As the current professional tennis season gets underway, it wouldnt be stretching the truth to say that all eyes will be on the four players who are currently topping the mens rankings Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Although the matches the matches that they play are sure to be mostly dominated by these big four players, what seems to be of interest to tennis insiders and fans this season is how well the Andy Murray tennis game will stand up against the Roger Federer tennis game, particularly since both players are now, what some fans and sports insiders believe, reaching the end of their prime match-playing years.

It cant be denied that both players have, over the years, given us some fine examples of professional mens tennis. Even though Andy Murray is yet to reach the same dizzying heights as Federer when it comes to winning those big Grand Slam tournaments, he is still widely considered to be just as good a tennis player with some tennis insiders dubbing him the best tennis player never to win a Grand Slam. Despite this and all his achievements, the Andy Murray tennis game has simply never been quite enough to win him one of those elusive trophies, even on the home courts of the All England Tennis Clubs Wimbledon Championships. Federer, however, has been a different story, consistently winning those big tournaments its only in recent years and with the arrival on the scene of that dominant Serb Djokovic that the Federer game has started to wane.

Although these two players dont share the same kind of rivalry as Nadal and Federer, they did meet this year at the Dubai Open where incredibly they both placed higher than Djokovic. In the semi-finals the Andy Murray tennis game actually triumphed against Djokovic, and he managed to beat him 6-2, 7-5. Unfortunately he couldnt continue this when he faced Federer in the finals, and eventually lost to the Swiss player 5-7, 4-6. This interesting finals match has also promoted tennis insiders to believe that Federer is starting to regain his game again, and that this season will see him play some of his best tennis. What that means for Andy Murray we just dont know, but we can be sure there will still be some exciting tennis tournaments ahead for both players.

The History Of Tennis Apparel

Posted on June 8, 2018 by blogger

Men’s and women’s tennis apparel has evolved over the years since before the first matches at Wimbledon. Trends in tennis apparel are influenced by changes in the social aspects of life. As people become bolder, so does their clothing, including active wear and tennis apparel.

Men’s tennis apparel, prior to 1946, consisted of shirts, sweater vests or cardigans, and full-length flannel pants. Bunny Austin influenced men’s tennis apparel as the first top-ranked player to compete in white shorts.

Common men’s tennis apparel of clean-cut white shorts and pants has been replaced by the bright, colorful, tight lycra athletic shorts that cover but don’t leave much to the imagination. Some competitors wear looser shorts or blue jean shorts over the longer athletic shorts.

In 2005 men’s tennis apparel saw changes that have perhaps been influenced by the daring women’s tennis apparel. We have recently seen men running around the tennis courts in Capri pants and peek-a-boo cutouts on their tight lycra muscle shirts. Colors of hot pink on black have made their debut in men’s tennis apparel.

Women’s tennis apparel has followed a similar path beginning with the very modest long, flannel, and bustled skirts, corsets covered by blouses with high collars and neckties, and skimmer hats. In 1884, Maud Watson won the first Wimbledon Ladies’ Championship in tennis apparel of white, full-length, bustled two-piece dresses. That began a long run in white tennis apparel and hem lengths which kept going up.

Lottie Dodd was a 15-year-old Wimbledon competitor in 1887. Her skirts, which happened to be part of her school uniforms, were half-way up to her knees. In 1905, May Sutton contributed to the shocking boldness of tennis apparel by exposing bare wrists and rolling up the sleeves on men’s shirts she wore. Those shirts were said to have been her father’s.

By 1914 the hats, corsets, and bustles were gone, but Dorthea Lambert Chambers won seven Wimbledon Championships wearing several layers of starched underslips called petticoats. Color followed in tennis apparel fashion when Suzanne Langlen wore colorful silk chiffon, short sleeves and white stockings under her calf-length skirts.

Bustles, corsets, hemlines, sleeves, stockings, long pants, and modesty have disappeared in tennis apparel. Current tennis apparel worn by stars like the Williams sisters and Dominik Hrbaty are tight, form fitting, cover very little, allow for ease of movement, and are bold like the players who wear them.

You can save a lot of money if you shop in the right places for tennis apparel and in these difficult times we need all the money we can get or are able to save.

Off Court Tennis Training For Young Players

Posted on June 5, 2018 by blogger

It is always recommended for young players from the age of 8 years and up, to do a thorough fitness assessment and postural analysis to determine their height, weight, flexibility, physical strengths and weaknesses. It also gives them the ability to look back in subsequent years and see areas they have improved on, track their growth and development etc. After the assessments a tennis program should be designed to target certain areas such as strength, speed, cardio vascular endurance, flexibility etc.

If tennis is the main sport of a young player, then training away from tennis should be structured to help gain benefits for tennis, this is what we call specific tennis training.

Tennis Training programs should take into account the movement dynamics (high speed, agility and power endurance) and dimensions of tennis (lateral, forward, backward, up and down, rotational etc). Strength is the foundation for development in all-young players. Increases in muscle strength will help to improve movement, power, endurance, injury prevention, co ordination and confidence. There have been 100s of times I have had a coach or parent tell me their young player needs to move quicker or have more power. Doing power and agility exercises will help to a degree, but without a solid strength base benefits will be minimal.

Examples of strength exercises for tennis are:

Body weight: (push ups, squats, planks, lunges etc)

Suspension training: It is highly recommend for young players, it has many benefits and is very low risk for injuries. We use suspension training with the majority of our young players and get great results in strength, balance and co ordination.

Resistance band training: Resistance bands have been around for decades and are a great way to work certain muscle groups in the body. They are commonly used for rehabilitation from injuries, injury prevention and to challenge the musculoskeletal system (muscles, bones, tendons and ligaments) to promote muscle strength. Resistance bands are low cost and are good to travel with.

Muscle loading: It is using weight (dumbbells, weight plates, barbells, machines etc) to challenge the musculoskeletal system. This form of training has huge benefits for athletes, but for younger athletes it can be very dangerous, particularly on the joints of the body. It is hard for a coach or parent to know when a child should start lifting weights. Research tells us, this form of training should be avoided until the age of 16. In most cases it would be accurate, however we need to take into account the body type, physical maturity and natural strength of young athletes before determining when to start their strength program. Obviously working with a specific tennis conditioning trainer will help make that decision. A tennis conditioning trainer should start all players off by lifting no more than 5% of their body weight for upper body exercises and 5%-10% for lower body exercises. Until you have seen a trained professional avoid using weight training for players under the age of 16 years.

As important as strength is, it is also necessary to look at other areas of training for tennis to help boost a young players development. Cardio vascular endurance (running, swimming etc) Anaerobic cardio vascular training (agility) flexibility (stretching), co ordination and core stability should also be targeted and structured into the off court tennis training plan.

Young players should be encouraged to participate in a range of structured sports (soccer, basketball, netball, gymnastics, swimming etc.) and also fun unstructured exercise/play. Participating in other sports (e.g. Basketball, soccer) away from tennis will often give young players an increase in cardio vascular endurance, co ordination and strength.

It is best to consult a qualified tennis conditioning trainer to help structure a plan for off court tennis training. Getting them to work in with the coach is highly recommended, as the coach will have some knowledge on areas of strength and weakness.

Tennis Mind Game Tennis Confidence Checklist For Big Matches

Posted on June 4, 2018 by blogger

What does it truly mean to believe in yourself? When you believe in yourself, you have full confidence in your physical skills and ability to execute shots in tennis. My definition of self-confidence for tennis is how strongly you believe in your ability to execute a successful shot or win a match. Dont confuse believe in yourself (self-confidence) with self-esteem. Self-esteem is all about how you view yourself and how you appraise your self-concept (how you see yourself), also called self-worth.

Self-confidence comes from a baseline of past success in matches, practice, preparation, and a strong mental game of tennis. For example, a beginning tennis player has little or no confidence in his ability to execute a service in tennis. But with practice, he becomes competent in the skill of serving. With competency or skill mastery confidence improves. You can also get confidence from the belief that you are physically talented, which mirrors the definition of confidence.

When working with my personal coaching students, I discuss two different types or levels of confidence. The first is a general or broad belief in your ability as a tennis player the feeling that you can win or perform well. The second type of confidence is the specific belief in your ability to nail a successful overhead or hit a winning serve. Both broad and specific confidence are equally important and they influence each other.

Over my 20 plus years as a mental game coach, Ive come to learn that many athletes have practice self-confidence, which comes from working hard in practice to develop your skills. However, these same athletes dont always transfer that confidence from practice to playing matches. They lack what I call tournament self-confidence, for many reasons. Match or tournament self-confidence is critical to your success in matches.

It seems irrational that you can gain a high level of self-confidence in your practice, but cant transfer that confidence to tournaments. Most of the time, this problem is due to the mental game getting in the way and how you practice, which Ill discuss in another article.

One of my readers recently asked this tennis psychology question: What is the checklist for gaining confidence before a tough match? I have no simple answer to this question because every player reacts differently to a tough match. However, Ill give you the top four strategies that every player should apply:

1. Check your expectations in the parking lot. I believe that expectations (demands you place on your game) are harmful to high confidence. You want to believe in your skills and your practice, but without demanding how the match should go.

2. Review the reasons why you deserve to play well before each match. You might default to your practice, your experience, or your superior talent.

3. Prepare five positive self-talk statements you can use between points when you need a lift of confidence. These statements can be as simple as I deserve to play well today.

4. Cut off any last minute doubts. Doubt is the opposite of confidence. When you engage in doubt and allow it to feaster in your mind, you confidence suffers. Acknowledge any pre-match doubts you have and practice rebutting your own doubt.