Jon Wertheim
• Take another victory lap, Novak Djokovic. After a slumplet that lasted a good 18 months or so, the Serb has resumed playing top-shelf tennis and challenging the Federer/Nadal-ocracy. A week after beating Federer in Basel, Djokovic won the Paris Indoor Masters Series event, performing vivisection on Nadal in the semis and then outlasting Gael Monfils in the final. (That's the equivalent of two straight Sunday road wins.) For a player whose fitness has been called into question in the past, Djokovic is to be commended for sustaining a high level of play 94 (!) matches into the season. If he has enough petrol in the tank to defend his Masters Cup title next week, it will be still more impressive.
• The Agassi Book Tour rolls on. Two weeks ago, Andre Agassi was a married father enjoying a life of repose. Suddenly he's back in the media/publicity maw, shuttling from interview to interview, answering the same questions again and again ("What made you want to write this book?"), and defending himself from criticism that's been unexpectedly fierce. In short, it's 1991 all over again. By this point, he's well within his rights to wonder what exactly it is, the public wants. We ask for honesty and authenticity from our public figures. "Down to earth," is among the highest compliments a star can receive. We hate spin and clichés and expressions of superiority. Yet when Agassi shares the intimate details and is relentlessly candid, he takes a public beating. Tough crowd.
• Sa-finis? An "unretirement" notwithstanding -- a necessary disclaimer these days -- Marat Safin played his final match last week. Before doing so, he engendered some controversy when he suggested Agassi return prize money he won in 1997, hereafter known as the Year of the Meth. In a rich bit of irony, Safin chastised Agassi for his mistreatment of the ATP, the same organization the Russian has spent the better of his career impugning. A monstrously talented player and irrepressible personality, Safin will be missed. His two Grand Slam titles ensures Hall of Fame enshrinement. And still: one is left thinking about the unfulfilled potential, what his career might have been has he been a bit more focused.
Best of three marginalia:
• Taylor Dent is back -- no pun intended -- in the top 100 after winning the Knoxville Challenger. Take a bow. Or a similar gesture that might not be as taxing on your spine.
• Thanks to Colette Lewis for informing us that Sekou Bangoura Jr. is headed to the University of Florida.
• Yanina Wickmayer began her damage control campaign for her suspension. Here's a transcript of her defense.
How to choosing tennis shoes ?
Tennis shoes must be able to support your feet with all the stops and starts you have to make, and it must give you good support at the sides of your feet. Each surface has differing requirements, and all of us have different types of feet, all of which places different demands on your tennis shoes.
The first consideration is what type of feet you have, because that will determine how much cushioning you will need, and what and where you will need lateral support.
There are three basic foot types:
1. SUPINATED – here your wear is on the outside of the shoes
2. PRONATED – here your wear is on the inside around the ball of the foot, and this type of foot suffers the most with injuries from overuse.
3. IDEAL – here the wear is even.
Either get a fellow player to walk behind you to determine whether you are walking with your foot tilting inwards, or outwards, or not at all. Better still find yourself a well-qualified sports shoe person. You could also test yourself by wetting your feet and standing on a square of cardboard.
1. If there is a large are where the arch of your feet didn’t touch you are SUPINATED
2. If the whole of your foot is marked, looking like a rectangle with slight curves then you are OVERPRONATED
3. If your feet leaves an imprint that is a balance between the others then your foot is IDEAL
Confirm this self-diagnosis with a third party watching you walk, and the wear test on your current shoes.
THE FIT OF THE TENNIS SHOE is vital, and points to pay particular attention to are as follows.
1. You need about half an inch of space between your longest toe and the end of the tennis shoe.
2. The foot should be a comfortable fit without any stretching
3. The heel should not slip, although some movement is wanted.
Just remember your feet are different sizes, so pick your size according to the larger foot, and use an insole to balance up your smaller foot.
The most important thing in a tennis shoe is LATERAL SUPPORT because much of your running on a court is side to side, and there are dangers of turning your ankle. Good lateral support is necessary if you are heavy and if you are pronated.
Your tennis shoes will need a degree of CUSHIONING and SHOCK ABSORPTION.
This is especially true if you are a baseliner, and you play most of your tennis on hard courts. Pronated feet jar most easily.
The two most common cushioning you read about are EVA, which is lightweight, but not very durable, or stable, and PU[polyurethane] which is denser, better stability, but it is a lot heavier.
FLEXIBILITY is important, and tennis shoes must bend easily at the ball of the foot, however too much flexibility makes for a shoe that won’t be comfortable.
At the end of the day, comfort is important, and tennis shoes are no different to anything else, you tend to get what you pay for, and I know very few things of quality that are cheap!!
How to Play Tennis - The Basics ?
This article is going to talk about a number of things that go into playing tennis. It will focus on equipment, the various shots involved in the game, and the scoring, but it won't go into specifics on any particular topic.
Equipment
There are three things you need to play tennis: a tennis racket, some tennis balls, and a tennis court. A tennis racket is, of course, specifically designed for the sport. All rackets have approximately the same design: a handle (sometimes called a "grip") and an oval-shaped head with strings. A tennis ball is about two and a half inches in diameter and covered in felt. Typically, the inside of a ball is pressurized so that it bounces relatively high. Finally, a tennis court is 78 feet across and 27 feet wide (for singles) with two-inch white lines dividing the various areas of the court.
The Strokes
There are several basic strokes in tennis: the forehand, the backhand, and the serve. The forehand is hit with your dominant hand on the dominant side of your body. For example, if you are right handed, you would use that hand to hit a forehand on the right side of your body. The backhand is on your non-dominant side and hit with either one (your dominant arm, reaching across your body) or two hands. The serve starts the point and must be hit behind the baseline into a service box.
The Scoring
The scoring of a tennis match is very unique. You need to win four points to win a game and six games to win a set. Matches are typically best-out-of-three sets, but for major tournaments they are best-out-of-five sets. Both players start at 0 - 0. Let's say the server wins the first point. He is now up 15 - 0. If he wins the next point he is up 30 - 0, and if he wins the one after that he is up 40 - 0. So the first point you win gives you 15, the second 30, and the third 40. If both players make it to 40 (so 40 - 40), this situation is called deuce. From this spot, a player must win two consecutive points to win the game. If one player wins the first point, but the other player wins the next, they are back to deuce.
Tennis Tips
The rare shortcuts in the tennis game
There are two major ways of improving your game: tennis tips and lots of repetition. A lot of practice grooves your strokes and establishes a solid foundation from where you can move on.
But before, during and after this learning process you can apply various tennis tips which help you find a more effective, effortless ways of improvement.
You can make various little mistakes when learning or competing and at first you don't even notice the problem.
It's like a ship that changes its course for 1 degree. It doesn't show immediately but after a couple of hours of sailing there is a big difference where you end up.
So tennis tips are actually those little but very important »course modifiers«. That's why they are called tips and not encyclopedias. ;)
But remember – there is a great value hidden in these tips especially if you apply them for a longer period of time until they become subconscious.
Another very important issue that needs mentioning is the learning process. MOST of the learning and improvement takes time, effort, commitment and many repetitions. Our brain and body need many recurring informational packets before they fluidly adapt.
But – there are other ways. In some specific situations repetitions are not needed. What is needed is just a slight change of course and you will sail to your desired treasure island. These are the tennis tips.
There are many different tips – physical, technical, tactical and mental. Since TennisMindGame.com is dedicated to everything related to mental aspect of tennis and everything related to making your mind your best ally, all the tips on this site will be mostly mental ones.
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