Author: blogger

Rafael Nadals ace strikes would have inspired many of us to just go ahead and try playing the same shot. But very few will ever think about the hard and calculated work that goes in constructing the tennis court for the world class players to showcase their talent or even the court in the backyard of the house that helps many budding talent to be a world class player tomorrow.

A new tennis court takes 30-60 days to finish the construction though there are many factors like soil condition and time of he year. All courts are not constructed in the same manner. Typically a tennis court is of the size 120ft*60ft. For adequate water drainage it is better to use 1% pitch on every court.

The surface of the tennis court can be hard or soft based on your preferences. But nowadays people prefer to play on soft surfaced tennis court, the Acrylic/Cushion Tennis Court. Going by the current demand the most favorable is the standard 3 coat color system tennis court. It consist of one resurfacer coat and 2 coats of 100% fortified acrylic. Once a coat of resilient layer is applied on the hard coat it results in the cushion court. In between the acrylic resurfacing product and the court paint the cushioning is applied. At least five to nine coats of cushion has to be applied once the resurfacing product is applied. Firstly three to four coats of heavy rubber granules are applied followed by three to six coats of fine rubber granules are applied.

The color coating system are formulated such that it can resist the fading and a range of weather condition from ice and snow to intense hit and ultra-violet rays. The cushion tennis court are is an all weather surface. The multi-layer cushion system offers maximum player comfort and exceptional durability for a very long time, sometimes throughout the life of the court. It can also be used to tune the speed of play as a player wishes to.

The speed of the play, impact resistance, energy return and resisting the ultra violet rays are the few features which makes a cushion tennis court the most favorable among the players.

The typical problem faced with the tennis courts are caused either due to aging or earth movement or sometimes due to improper designs and construction. Fading and peeling are caused due to aging and cracks, bird baths are caused due to earth movements. But there are several repair techniques available as a solution to the problems.

A procedure that works excellent as a tennis court repair job is the usage of resilient epoxy on the repairable deep cracks. It is made resilient by use of Versamid hardener. Versamid-epoxy is as viscous as honey and thus does not flow out from under the crack. If the base is porous, a fairly thin bead, say 1/4 inch in diameter, allowed to harden, will seal off the bottom if applied several times. If there is debris in the crack then the best way to remove it is with a power washer. By using acrylic emulsion, nearly all surface cracks on the tennis court can be repaired.

One of the most important aspect of the tennis court lighting is the ability to see the plight of the ball consistently across the court it is very crucial to have a complete knowledge of the size and layout of the tennis court before selecting the tennis court lights. In most of the residential tennis court lighting projects a level of 60-75 average foot candles is considered a minimum and 75-100 average foot-candles is sufficient for most applications, where foot-candles id defined as the measurement of light output in candela per square foot.

Tennis can be a tricky sport when you’re just starting out. The following 7 beginner mistakes are what I believe to be the biggest challenges for the novice. Address these issues and you’ll be improving in no time.

1. Judging The Ball

Its very common for a beginner to lack judgement in where the ball is going to go and how fast its going to get there and play appropriately. A beginner often thinks the ball is going to be shorter than it actually is. They rush to the ball and consequently hit the ball to hard and are off balance when they get there. They dont realise that the ball will actually fly deeper.

2. Hitting The Ball Too Hard

Another big challenge for a beginner is how not to hit the ball too hard. They see a ball and swing at it. A beginner is only thinking of connecting with the oncoming ball and they may panic a little. One of the main reasons for hitting too hard is that they dont have a target. Your arm doesnt know how much it should swing, if you know the distance then you can get a feel for what force is required.

3. Not To Be So Tight

Being too tight is another challenge. When you start playing tennis you contract too many muscles and you lose that all important feel and can hit the ball too hard and generally get it all wrong. So, how can you become a little more relaxed? A good tip is to rate your tightness 1-5. 5 being very tight and 1 being relaxed and going with the flow.

4. Not Stopping the Racquet at Contact Point

You must try and learn to complete the follow through of your shots. When you find yourself hitting the ball too hard, a consequence of that is stopping the racquet at the contact point and not completing the follow through leading to an ineffective stroke. When doing this you actually contract many muscles in your arm when you stop the flowing movement forward and you lose control of the ball.

5. How to Play with an Arc

Another big challenge is to hit the ball in an arc rather than a straight line
The easiest way to hit the ball is to play in a straight line from the ball to the target on the other side, however we want to get into the habit of playing with an arc. The straight line approach can often have the ball ending up in the net. Then, to avoid going into the net you may well overcompensate and hit it too far resulting in the ball going over the opponents baseline. Of course you may get lucky occasionally and the ball can fly over the net and land in the court but it wont consistently bring results.

6. How to Reach the Ball in Time

Learning how to get to the ball in time is another big challenge. If you get to the ball late then you are still moving and are off balance which will obviously effect your shot. We tend to naturally move to the ball with the minimum speed necessary and get there just in time for the shot but we want to get there quicker so were ready and set.

7. Toss the Ball Consistently in the Same Place

It can be very challenging when serving to toss the ball in the right place each time. Sometimes it may go behind, sometimes in front, often too far forward or too high, too low etc. This causes you to lose balance along with the correct technique.

So there we have it, the 7 biggest challenges beginners face. In order to become a more proficient tennis player we need to learn how to overcome these and work on each aspect to make our game stronger.

The Basics of the Tennis Forehand

The forehand is arguably the most important shot in tennis. Its typically a players most offensive groundstroke. Many top college players and most pros inside the top ten have big forehands.

The forehand is a very complicated shot and this article wont cover all of its ins and outs. What this article will try and do is teach you the fundamentals, the things every player with a good forehand does, so that you can then pursue those tweaks that will take your shot to the next level. The four steps outlined here may seem simple, but the fact is that most club level players do not execute one or more of these steps properly, but every single pro does.

Pivot and Shoulder Turn

The pivot and shoulder turn motion is how you should begin every forehand you hit no matter what stance you will hit your shot in. You execute this step as soon as you realize you are getting a forehand. This motion gets your body sideways and allows you to move effectively to the tennis ball. To execute the pivot and shoulder turn, pivot with your outside foot (your right foot if you are right handed) and transfer your weight to that foot. At the same time, you need to turn your shoulders sideways while leaving both hands on the racket. It is also very important that you do not use your arm to take the racket back yet; this is a big mistake that a lot of club level players make. The racket will start to come back, however, simply because your shoulders are turning sideways.

Take the Racket Back / Extend Other Arm

Now that you have pivoted and turned your shoulders, you can now use your hitting arm to get the racket all the way back. At the same time, extend your other, non-hitting arm out across your body so that it is parallel with the baseline. This will help you stay balanced and judge the oncoming tennis ball. Once you get into this position your preparation is complete and you are ready to swing forward to your contact point.

Swing to Contact

From the completion of your preparation, do the following three things at the same time: 1) Push off your back foot, 2) Rotate your body back toward the net, and 3) Drop the racket down and swing forward to your contact point. The path your racket travels along during this step will look very similar to the letter “C” when seen from the side. Your contact point will be out in front of your body, about waist high. Your upper body should be facing the net. Also, make sure the strings are perpendicular to the court when you hit the ball.

Follow Through

The point of the follow through is to smoothly decelerate the tennis racket after you make contact with the tennis ball. Based on how you were swinging earlier in the shot, the follow through should be the best and easiest way to stop the racket. In the case of the forehand, extend out in the direction you hit the tennis ball and continue to rotate your body. Once you have extended out, turn your forearm and wrist over together like you were trying to check the time on a wrist watch. Bring the racket across your body in a smooth and relaxed motion.

Hopefully this article has given you a clear picture of the fundamentals involved in hitting a technically sound forehand. Every top pro does these things when they hit, and if you can master these basics youll have the foundation upon which you can build a killer shot.