Winning Singles Strategy For Recreational Tennis Players

This book is not about how to hit the tennis ball. It's about where to hit the ball, when, and why. It focuses on playing tennis strategically, which is the quickest and best way to raise your game to the next level. For recreational players, developing a strategic approach to the game is the single, most transformative step you can take. In this book, you will learn how to take advantage of the strengths in your game, how to minimize your weaknesses, and how to attack your opponent's game. Most tennis players start by focusing on the mechanics of their strokes. That makes sense. If you can't hit the ball over the net and inside the lines, the rest doesn't really matter. Later, when you're hitting the ball well, it's fun to keep working on your shots. All tennis players love to hit the ball. Unfortunately, stroke improvement has a diminishing return. Early on you improve rapidly, but then the pace levels off. It can be frustrating to work, week after week, month after month, and not see any progress. Developing your strategic understanding of the game completely changes that dynamic. It's difficult to exaggerate how much focusing on strategy can improve every aspect of your game. At first glance, tennis is a marvelously simple game. All you have to do is hit the ball over the net and inside the lines one time more than your opponent does and you win the point. Do that often enough and you win the match. In truth, however, tennis is endlessly complex. That's why it becomes a lifetime passion for so many of us. It's a demanding amalgamation of muscle memory, hand-eye coordination, geometric understanding, stamina, and split-second decision making. Adding another layer of complexity, most of us model our games on professional tennis players. We see them win points by smacking the felt off the ball, going for the lines, serving aces, and hitting topspin lobs from outside the doubles alley. We want to play like that. The catch is we don't have unbelievable hand-eye coordination and don't practice eight hours a day. Is it any wonder, then, that about 80 percent of points in a recreational match end with an unforced error? That's right. Eight out of 10 points-and often more-end because you or your opponent hit the ball into the net or outside the lines. When we come out of top in a match, we like to think that we won. It's probably more accurate to say that we didn't lose. At the core of strategic success at the recreational level is reducing unforced errors. Cutting them by just one or two per set can lead to an exponential leap in matches won. This book are filled with strategies and tactics that you can adopt and adapt to improve your game. You don't need to apply all of them; use only the concepts that work for you. If altering the strategies better suits your game, go for it. Playing strategically will make your game more consistent. You'll become a better competitor, and you'll have more fun.

This (quick-fix) book gives you the tactics and mental philosophy to beat any style player, singles or doubles. The tips are pointed, cut right to the chase, are in layman's terms and summarized into powerful bullet point sections for (instant access). The book is the culmination of 38 years coaching, 50,000 hours on-court experience, years of seeking uncommon knowledge, and decades of creating the most (efficient and effective) methods to help students find their best fast! The book has 3 main sections: 1. Understanding different styles of players. 2. How to beat any style player, singles or doubles. 3. Mental toughness philosophy and mindsets. The strategy section provides potent tactics on how to beat any style player including, Singles: how to beat a big server, a great returner, aggressive baseliner, pusher, counter-puncher, hacker-slicer, and all-court player. Doubles: how to beat big serving teams, great returning teams, teams that control the net, one up one back teams, poaching teams, lobbing teams, and teams with one hot player. The mental toughness section uniquely redefines attitudes regarding winning and losing, competition, pressure, mistakes, fear, choking, and adversity to teach you how to play up to and (stretch) the upper limits of your ability. Overall, this book is tailored to save you time, improve practice sessions, free your mind and emotions from blocking the flow of your body, and give you the instantaneous tactical wisdom to consistently win!

You want to amp up your doubles game. Maybe you want to win your Saturday morning match more than once a month, or you're slipping down the pecking order on your league team. What do you do? If you're like most recreational players, you double down on improving your strokes. You sign up for lessons, serve buckets of balls, and drill your backhand. While all of these steps are good and will help your game, you won't see the results you're looking for as quickly as you would like. Doubles is much more than the sum of your strokes. While you want to have some combination of a steady serve, consistent return, decent volley, reliable lob, dependable overhead, and good groundstrokes, you also have the twin challenges of playing with a partner and facing two opponents on the other side of the net. The better-and faster-way to start winning more is to improve your match strategy. Rather than focusing on to hit the ball, concentrate on the where, when, and why you're hitting it. Strategy is so important in doubles because you are playing as a team. All of us have been in those situations where your partner and you are each individually better than either of your opponents, but they beat you every time because they play together. They move as one, cutting off your angles. They always seem to be at the net, keeping you on the defensive. And they appear to know where you are going to hit the ball, waiting there to put it away. You can be one of those players. While there are numerous doubles strategies, the most effective for recreational players is to avoid unforced errors. In recreational doubles, eight out of every ten points are decided by unforced errors. Entire games can roll by without any of the players hitting a winner. The primary cause of unforced errors is trying to do too much with the ball. You hit your first serve too hard and it plows straight into the net. You drive your return down the line and it lands wide. You smash your overhead and it hits the back fence on the fly. When you play strategically, you don't have to try that hard. On every point, depending on where the four players are on the court, there are a limited number of correct shots to hit-often only one-and a correct position to take following your shot. Here's an example. You're receiving serve in the ad court. The server has spun the serve wide to your backhand, pulling you outside the doubles sideline. You may have the urge to drive the ball down the line, but that would be a high-risk shot even if there weren't an opponent standing at the net. You might try a sharply angled cross-court sliced return, but from that depth, you will be hard pressed to keep the ball in the court. And, if you do, the server will likely be well-positioned to hit a volley into the court that you've vacated. The right shot-really the only one-is to lift a lob over the net player's head. You remove her from the equation and force her-and maybe the server-to retreat from the net. With one shot, you steal the serving team's advantage and give your team the opportunity to take the offensive. On the following pages, you will learn how to adapt the concepts of strategic tennis to every situation you face on the doubles court. We will also look at the importance of playing with the right partner, the need for constant and constructive communication between partners, and how developing a shared strategy can give your team an almost unassailable advantage in most recreational doubles matches. Improving your tennis strokes significantly can take months or even years. Improving your tennis strategy enough to start winning the matches you're now losing takes only a few weeks. Knowing where to hit the ball and where to move will have a bigger impact on your game than adding a few miles per hour to your serve or working on your drop volley.

The tennis classic from Olympic gold medalist and ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert, now featuring a new introduction with tips drawn from the strategies of Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Andy Murray, and more, to help you outthink and outplay your toughest opponents. A former Olympic medalist and now one of ESPN’s most respected analysts, Brad Gilbert shares his timeless tricks and tips, including “some real gems” (Tennis magazine) to help both recreational and professional players improve their game. In the new introduction to this third edition, Gilbert uses his inside access to analyze current stars such as Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal, showing readers how to beat better players without playing better tennis. Written with clarity and wit, this classic combat manual for the tennis court has become the bible of tennis instruction books for countless players worldwide.

Take Your Doubles Game to the Next Level! Whether you're trying to improve your doubles game or are just getting started playing tennis with a partner, The Art of Doubles is the book for you. Author Pat Blaskower is your personal coach, guiding and encouraging you and your partner to play winning tennis by showing you how to: • choose a compatible partner • determine your jobs on the court • learn poaching skills • communicate with each other and opposing teams • maintain mental toughness • use various formations and strategies • pick your shots intelligently • decide where to play: tournaments or leagues • and much, much more! The book also includes detailed court diagrams that show you how to execute offense, defense, and tactical plays; checklists that summarize the most important points of each chapter; and on-court drills to help you improve and refine your skills. The Art of Doubles is loaded with practical, proven tennis strategies that you can put to work immediately to see improvements in your own doubles game!

Solid groundstrokes, a confident net game, a dictating serve, a sharp return game, and specialty shots for every situation—build your game from the ground up with the techniques and shots that are essential for success in today’s versatile and powerful game. Combine that with winning tactics for singles and doubles, and Tennis Skills & Drills is your blueprint for taking your game to the next level. Start with assessing the basic techniques for the various strokes and see how you can improve your footwork, grip choices, and swing patterns. Then increase your options with spins, angles, and depth. Complete instruction for all of the strokes along with over 110 practice drills is like having your own personal coach. Since your technique is only as effective as your tactics, the book also covers the key tactical principles and game plans for maximizing your strengths while minimizing your opponent’s. You’ll learn to prepare for, adapt to, and counter every style of play. Whether your goal is to beat your favorite playing partner or to win the next league, state, or national title, Tennis Skills & Drills is your guide to mastering the game.

Pro tennis player and coach, Joseph Correa, teaches you the most important singles and doubles tennis strategies and tactics around to help you maximize your potential. Learn about: - "I" formation doubles strategies - Classic doubles strategies - Advanced doubles strategies - Basic tennis strategies - Advanced tennis strategies - Mental tennis strategies - and more... Some of the strategies you will learn how to do are: How to beat an all-court player. How to beat the "net rusher". How to over come "lobbers". What to do after you double fault. Learn from the best with this great tennis strategy book that will get you winning more matches and thinking better on and off the court. Win more matches by using the right strategy for each situation. Every player is different in their own way. Some players prefer to stay on the baseline, while others prefer to rush the net. This book will give you the answer to your strategy questions. These 32 strategies will teach you how to beat many different types of players and will help you to overcome mental obstacles through specific mental strategies that are included in this book. The more strategies and tactics you know and can use the better it is for you. Learning to master the mental side of tennis has always been a difficult part of the game. Some players have decided to simply not train mentally or simply ignore it which is a big mistake. It is said that winning in tennis is 80 - 90 % MENTAL! Just take into account that key points in a tennis match such as match point, game point, break points, and set points, are all crutial situations that can decide the outcome of any particular competition. SO WHY DO MOST PEOPLE SKIP MENTAL TRAINING? Take into account that on average a tennis match lasts 1 hour and 30 minutes. Focusing for such an extended amount of time is not easy task but with the right concepts and ideas to get you there things will become more obtainable. Start reading and putting into practice the concepts and ideas provided in this book so that you can get the most of your game and win more often. For more great tennis books and videos go to www.tennisvideostore.com

The timeless guide to achieving the state of “relaxed concentration” that’s not only the key to peak performance in tennis but the secret to success in life itself—part of the bestselling Inner Game series, with more than one million copies sold! “Groundbreaking . . . the best guide to getting out of your own way . . . Its profound advice applies to many other parts of life.”—Bill Gates, GatesNotes (“Five of My All-Time Favorite Books”) This phenomenally successful guide to mastering the game from the inside out has become a touchstone for hundreds of thousands of people. Billie Jean King has called the book her tennis bible; Al Gore has used it to focus his campaign staff; and Itzhak Perlman has recommended it to young violinists. Based on W. Timothy Gallwey’s profound realization that the key to success doesn’t lie in holding the racket just right, or positioning the feet perfectly, but rather in keeping the mind uncluttered, this transformative book gives you the tools to unlock the potential that you’ve possessed all along. “The Inner Game” is the one played within the mind of the player, against the hurdles of self-doubt, nervousness, and lapses in concentration. Gallwey shows us how to overcome these obstacles by trusting the intuitive wisdom of our bodies and achieving a state of “relaxed concentration.” With chapters devoted to trusting the self and changing habits, it is no surprise then, that Gallwey’s method has had an impact far beyond the confines of the tennis court. Whether you want to play music, write a novel, get ahead at work, or simply unwind after a stressful day, Gallwey shows you how to tap into your utmost potential. No matter your goals, The Inner Game of Tennis gives you the definitive framework for long-term success.