Venus Williams Women’s Tennis Star

Tennis star Venus Ebony Starr Williams the sister of Serena Williams a tennis star player as well was born in June 17, 1980. Venus started her career in tennis at a young age and at 14 years old she was already infamous in the world of tennis. She became professional tennis player in October 31, 1994 with top seed opponent Arantxa Snchez Vicario at the Bank of West Classic tournament in Oakland. After losing the game with Arantxa Snchez Vicario, she didn’t join any tournament in that year.

Venus Williams is a former World No. 1 tennis player though at the current standing she ranked as the World No. 3 as of May 11, 2009. In her entire career she already won in the Wimbledon singles and doubles category as well as the reigning Australian Open champion. With 16 years of being a participant of Women’s Tennis Association tour, she has already won 56 titles-17 Grand slams, eight in doubles-women category, seven in singles and two in mixed doubles.

The star tennis player Venus had also played in Olympics and won Olympic gold medals in both women’s singles and doubles category. She’s truly a record holder for winning the most Olympic medals in tennis than other tennis players either male or female. She was the most successful tennis player ever win three gold Olympic medals.

Venus Williams is one of many great tennis players today that most feared to match with. With her long wingspan and agility on the court that she utilizes to win the match, she is one of the powerful tennis players. When in match, she was well comfortable with court grass like in Wimbledon where she has five titles which she was given the Grand slam title. Other than that she also had the fastest serve ever with record of 130 mph equivalent to 210 km/h in Zurich Open and holds the record of the fastest serve in Grand slam tournaments. She has been injured many times that resulted for her temporary retirement in tennis for recovery but always had sensational come back. With all that great things happened to her, family and friends have been supported at all times. Her sister Serena Williams is her partner in most women’s doubles category. Venus is coached by their parents Richard Williams and Oracene Price with trainer Kerrie Brooks.

In terms of spirituality, She is a Jehovah’s Witness devotee with two sisters other than her equally famous sister Serena Williams. With her successful career as a tennis player she also managed to have a different career as an image model for shirts, shorts and others. Being popular, companies want to make Vanessa Williams as their products endorser. There have been Vanessa Williams’s handbags and Vanessa Williams shoes of her own collection

She has an associate degree in Fashion Design that she received in December of 2007 from the Art of Institute of Fort Lauderdale as a Cum Laude with 3.5 GPA. She also has her own company and wants to pursue her career in interior and fashion design after her tennis career.

As a tennis player, she did great jobs inside and outside of the court. Venus was the one responsible for having equally rights between male tennis player and women tennis player. Venus fought for women to have same equal prize money as with men’s tennis players. She has won the battle in February after Wimbledon announced that there would be equal prize money for all players.

Copyright (c) 2010 Davide Botticelli

Forehand and Backhand Drives in Tennis

The forehand drive is the beginning of every strike in tennis, and, as such, should be more fully gone into. There are fixed rules of footwork that apply to all shots. To get a ball that is a short distance away, move the foot that is away from the shot and swing into position to hit.

If a ball is too near to the body, draw back the foot nearest to the shot and drop the weight back on it, again, being in place for the stroke. When hurried, and it is not possible to shift the foot position, throw the weight on the foot nearest to the ball.

The receiver should every time wait for the service facing the net. Once the serve is started on the way to court, the receiver should at once reach the position to receive it with the body at right angles to the net.

The forehand drive is made up of one unbroken swing of the racket.

All drives should be topped. The slice shot is an entirely different stroke.

The hitting plane for all ground strokes should be in the middle of the knees and shoulders. The most positive plane is on a line with the waist.

In driving across the court from the right (or No. 1) court, proceed the L or front foot a bit towards the side-line and move the weight a little sooner.

As the weight shifts, pivot slightly on the L foot and drive flat, diagonally, across the court. Do not “pull” your cross-court drive, unless with the express purpose of passing the net person and using that method to disguise your shot.

The forehand drive from the No. 2 (or left) court is the same for the straight shot down your opponent’s forehand. For the cross drive to the backhand line up your body along your shot and make your normal drive. Do not try to “spoon” the ball over with a delayed wrist movement, as it tends to slide the ball off your racket.

The backhand drive follows closely the standards of the forehand, except that the weight shifts an instant sooner, and the R or front foot should always be advanced closer to the side-line than the L so as to bring the body clear of the swing.

The ball should be met in front of the right leg, rather than belt buckle, as the tendency in backhand shots is to slice them out of the side-line, and this will pull the ball cross court, preventing this fault.

The racket head must be a shade in front of the hand to help bring the ball in the court. Do not attempt for too much top spin on your backhand.

Try to develop both forehand and backhand, and do not “run around” your backhand, particularly in return of service. This would just open your court. If you should do so, strive to ace your returns.

Bear in mind that the fast shot is the straight shot. The cross drive must be slow, for it has not the room owing to the increased angle and height of the net. Go down the line with your drive, but open the court with your cross-court shot.

Drive deep against a baseliner, but short against a net player.

Play your drive:

1. With the body sideways to the net.

2. The swing flat, with long follow through.

3. The weight shifting just as the ball is hit.

Do not attempt great speed in the beginning. The most vital thing about a drive is to put the ball in play.

Put the ball over the net into the other court. Accuracy first, and then put on your speed, for if your shot is flawless you can then learn to hit hard.

Why not visit tennis tips for more tennis information.

Clay Tennis Court Construction

The very name of clay court reminds you of French open, Italia Open and the god of clay court – Rafael Nadal. The concept of clay courts is highly variable in terms of materials and the methods of clay tennis court construction, so an in-depth know-how is an utmost requisite. In many countries including France and United States the so called Clay Courts actually may not contain Clay at all. The reasons why they are called so are because they tend to behave very much similar to a clay court. Today the fast-dry type courts are very popular due to their building cost and low maintenance. These are known to be the Synthetic Clay courts. When deciding among the Natural and Synthetic courts there are few points that need to be taken care of.

First thing to check is the availability of synthetic materials in your locality. For example if good quality clay is available then it might be cheaper to build a clay court than importing synthetic granules to build a court.

The climate also plays an important role. As natural clay tends to hold and capture moisture for a long it cause sever building damage if the place you are staying has far amount of precipitation.

Cost of maintenance, a clay court with surface level drainage system will definitely cost less than maintaining a below surface level irrigation for synthetic court. Not to be forgotten the availability of water source for natural clay court.

Following are the tips for constructions:

Firstly check with the authorities if a special permission will be required to build a tennis court. Usually if your backyard is the place then no permission is required.

A standard tennis court is 120ft by 60ft, but for general purpose court 110ft by 55ft will the do the job quite adequately. Not only this, it can save a fortune which can be used in building a store house.

Fencing around the back of the tennis court can be visually less intrusive.

The thickness of the clay tennis court can impact the speed and bounce of the ball. A thicker court will mean the ball will speed away after hitting the ground. Similarly a softer court will slow down the speed but for the very same reason the ball bounces higher and a player gets more time to take his or her shot.

As discussed earlier drainage can take a severe toll on your budget if not planned properly. The elevation of the court if same as the surrounding area will assist a lot in surface level drainage system.

For a natural clay court, the basic rule goes like 8 inches of cinders, then 1.5 inches of grave, 3 inches of clay and on top around 1 inch of surface mixture. Color of the surface is very important in reducing the glare of the sun.

The aesthetics of the court should be given extreme care. For a great range of color and textures there are varieties of materials available today. Not only texture, they also come in various grades from very fine to coarse materials. These can play important role to control from the amount of slide to the speed of play. The depth of granules over the surface can be cleverly adjusted to control the degree of slide on a synthetic clay court.

Dusting the tennis court with chloride of calcium helps to bind the surface material and make the courts wear better.

Even after every care been taken there can be chances that after first rain small depressions start to appear. These should be marked and gradually brought to grade by light top dressing of the clay surface mixing.

Finally, a court set open on the landscape can be somewhat of an eyesore. Plant some trees at a distance so that broken shadows dont fall on the court. Also borders of low shrubs around the court can harmonize the same with a natural look.

Olga Blecher Pro Tennis Coach – Tennis Lessons For Fun And To Develop Your Game

Olga Blecher Qualified LAWN TENNIS ASSOCIATION Coach.

Olga Blecher offers tennis lessons to individuals and groups for both Adults and Children in Pirton, near Hitchin and St Albans area, through Pro Tennis Coach

Adult tennis coaching lessons are held every week at Pirton, near Hitchin and we also have 2 Children’s Group Tennis Coaching on the same day.

I also have a Children’s Tennis Group in Broxbourne on once a week.

It doesnt matter if you are an experienced player or a complete beginner having Tennis lessons from your own Tennis Coach will quickly improve your game and keep you focussed on your style and technique.

Our Children’s Tennis Club lessons are open to all children between the ages of five and sixteen and offer a fun, relaxed and enjoyable way to learn and meet new friends.

Olga Blecher has been playing tennis since the age of seven. As a junior tennis player she represented St Petersburg in the Russian Under 10s Champion League and toured extensively around Russia winning many National Competitions.

As an Adult, Olga played for the St Petersburg Ladies Team and had great success.
After her Professional Tennis Career Olga Blecher began coaching and in 1990 joined the St Petersburg Tennis Club as a Junior tennis coach, she then progressed to the position of Head Tennis Coach in 1996, a position she held for some ten years.

Olga holds a BA in Physical Culture and Sport Her professional Coaching Qualifications are from the LAWN TENNIS ASSOCIATION and also US PTR .
Major achievements include the coaching of the Russian under Fourteens National team members resulting in 5 winning Champions of St Petersburg under 14’s.

In 2006, Olga moved to St Albans in Hertfordshire with her partner David Clover who owns Top SEO Position, a website design and marketing business.
She began coaching at Townsend Tennis Club in St Albans but has now transferred to Pirton Tennis Club. Olga still plays for Townsends Ladies First Team who are currently competing in the Championship Tennis League.

As an LAWN TENNIS ASSOCIATION Qualified Tennis Coach, Olga has a vast experience of teachingcoaching tennis to Adults and Children individually and in groups.

The Advantage – What Pro Tennis Offers Its Fans

As a participation sport tennis has always offered a lot of advantages to the common player. You can play tennis at almost any level, the equipment is not expensive, and you don’t need costly fees or appointments to get on a court.

However, while tennis may be popular with the common person, professional tennis televised and sponsored is quickly losing ground as a sport to be watched and enjoyed in a world where we have over 360 channels and still complain there’s nothing to watch. The classic grace and style of tennis finds many audiences lacking interest. While it’s fun to participate on the court, watching tennis poses significant problems for a fast-paced video age. There are three things that cause tennis to be losing its status as a primary sport and challenge tennis to admit and overcome these issues.

It’s dull

The world of professional tennis has certainly seen its colorful characters, from Bjorn Borg’s on court fits to Jimmy Connors celebrating and running around the court inspiring audiences to cheer for him. Men’s tennis was at one time a lively and unpredictable sport. However, the focus in tennis has shifted from personalities to professionalism and from antics to athletes. Professional tennis players such as Pete Sampras and Roger Federer are not only known for their amazing feats of skill with the racket, but for their overall dull demeanor. Focused, practiced and trained the athletes of tennis bring little individuality or characterization to the game. In a controversial move a tournament in Spain hired models to work as ball girls during one of the main tennis events, admitting that men’s tennis has become dull and unattractive. The founders of the event thought the ball models would add delight and even a little wanted distraction from the game in hand.

It’s long

While many small individual tournaments can be played over a weekend, few people but tennis enthusiasts get very involved in them. If you asked somebody outside of the tennis elite where the Virginia Slims competition is, they probably could not tell you where it’s located or what times it occurs. You find populist fans most often at the grand slams: Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Unfortunately following any of these grand slams takes a consistent amount of time and availability because they take over two weeks to play out. Depending on where they are in the world, games occur at various times at night and are often rebroadcast during prime time. It’s only when you get towards the semifinals and playoffs that the major audience picks up. Media executives and tennis officials have been working for years on the problem of creating a sustainable interest in grand slam events and drawing attention to a tennis premier event.

Favors tradition over innovation

Unlike NASCAR, which unveiled its “car of tomorrow” and provides innovations in every season or the NBA, who provides new stars with the new controversies almost every week, new things don’t really happen in tennis. It takes a long time for an entering player to climb up to the professional level where they can receive attention, and the basic equipment of the game: the racket, the ball, and the court have been the same for decades. Minor changes in rules, spacing and traditions have occurred. But other than women adopting the Western grip or the controversy involving Monica Seles’ very loud volley returns, nothing new has happened in this sport in some time. While there is something of a gentle beauty and grace about the traditions of tennis, a sport known for its strategy over its ruthlessness, the lack of innovation has led to a pall in its overall popularity.

Tennis has something to offer anyone who wants to play or watch, but they must overcome these challenges to keep the game alive.

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