The single-handed backhand is a beautiful shot when played correctly but when performed poorly without knowledge of its key components, it is extremely ugly. It is important to understand the key aspects of the shot and then replicate them until the desired result is achieved.

Many players avoid the backhand side like the plague; if the technique is poor the shot becomes unreliable, it is difficult to force a good shot on that side. Most players don’t have a proper understanding of the fundamentals. More on Tennis Lessons - The Single Handed Backhand Preparation

Throughout my tennis career I have struggled to choose which style of backhand to use. I chopped and changed between the single and double handed stroke throughout my junior career, partly due to injuries (I broke my left arm on two occasions falling on court) and partly due to my willingness to copy various idols I had growing up.

When I reached the age of sixteen I decided to stick with the two-hander and I had much success with this shot, gaining my first singles world ranking points in 2000. It wasn’t until a bad loss at a Futures event in Mexico City in 2001 that I decided the double handed variation wasn’t versatile enough for my game. I felt it limited my options and didn’t compliment my personality, style or game. More on Choosing A Style Of Backhand

Over the years that I played professional tennis I tried numerous fitness regimes, some of them worked superbly for me, others were not so effective. In particular I found that excessive running was not conducive to maximum performance. Cardio training, and in particular, long distance running is often cited as the best way to burn fat.

I used to train excessively using this method pounding out in excess of 25 miles a week with the belief that you had to train hard and long to gain maximum benefit. Despite all my hard-work and determination I found that I felt tired, lacked explosiveness and wasn’t losing any fat. Like so many players, in my eagerness to improve, I was over training. More on Fitness For Tennis - Over Training

I was thinking today how often players love to practice their favourite shots, which very often are their strengths and how little time they spend practicing their weaknesses. I would suggest that this is the fundamental reason why players don’t achieve their potential and I thought I would write a little article about it so that more people become aware of this mistake and get motivated to change.

I’m sure that every tennis player would agree that if you improved your weaknesses you would improve your game. The question is why don’t the vast majority do it? They seem content to continue hitting their favoured strokes, perhaps because it feels good or it’s easier.

Of course there may be another reason; More on Practice Your Weaknesses

People! Here is an article to go hand in hand with my other one regarding doubles serving strategy. This one is all about basic return strategy in doubles.

When receiving in double make sure you are in good communication with your partner, you need to make sure that together you have made the decision to either attack or defend. If you choose to attack the player not receiving serve should take up a position just inside the service line this allows the possibility of a poach assuming the return is good or if the server stays back and a cross-court rally ensues. More on Doubles - Basic Return Strategy

After writing the last article on doubles partnerships I thought I should expand a little bit regarding doubles strategy. For this part I am going to focus on some basic tactics when serving.

Before I begin we need to make clear that doubles is a very different game to singles, we often see solid doubles teams defeat players they wouldn’t have a prayer against in singles. The doubles court is 36 feet in width; that is 9 feet wider than a singles court and since each player covers only half the court they end up covering a third less than they would in singles – this makes a huge difference and changes the strategic character of the game. More on Doubles - Basic Serving Strategy

Hi there people! I am back from a weekend of celebrations and lying in bed nursing a cold, not what I had envisioned! But never-mind, I thought I’d add a little article about doubles partnerships, this post was inspired by a discussion at one of the tennis forums that I frequent.

It made me think about what I look for when choosing a doubles partner and had me reminiscing about partnerships I’ve had in the past, some successful others abject failures and why they turned out as they did. Here is a tennis lesson especially for doubles players! More on Choosing A Doubles Partner - What To Look For

Hey again! I’ve been busy posting on a few of the more populated tennis forums and people have been discussing some really interesting things, it’s given me a fair few ideas on some posts so expect and influx of those over the next week. Right now let’s finish up the forehand lesson from the other day by concentrating on the follow through and finish. More on Forehand - Follow Through & Finish

Right then, the site is just about set-up and ready for a whole heap of visitors – so invite your friends, colleagues and the strangers on the street! Seriously though, this place is going to be humming so it’s a fantastic spot to hang out amongst other tennis fanatics.

So I thought I’d better begin some proper lessons and to start the ball rolling I’m going to focus on the forehand drive. The forehand is undoubtedly my personal favourite shot whilst also being my strongest; I’m especially fond of running around the backhand to hit it inside out. In modern pro tennis every player without exception uses their forehand to dictate the play and most can hit winners with it from anywhere on the court. More on Forehand Preparation

The USA won their 32nd Davis Cup title on Sunday – well actually it was on Saturday, when the Bryan brothers comfortably defeated Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko in straight sets to give the States an unassailable 3-0 lead.

The key match in the tie proved to be James Blake’s victory over Mikhail Youzhny in the second singles. In a battle exceeding the three hour mark Blake held his nerve and produced possibly a career defining win, 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 7-6(3). “I got to say this is probably my biggest win. No, I’m not going to say probably, I’m going to say this is the biggest win of my career. I wanted to prove that I was tough enough to hang in a tough situation, in a big match, in a final that I’ve never even been in before.” More on USA Defeat Russia 4-1 To Win 2007 Davis Cup