Michael Maidens Pat Rafter Peter Tramacchi Tennis Assist
The Team from http://tennisassist.com were fortunate enough to get Pat Rafters time to answer a few player questions. Many readers were very interested in. How shorter players can beat taller and stronger players.
This is a short part of our 45 minute interview with him.. Pat’s response:
“You have to be a great athlete when you’re short – it’s one of those things. You have to have qualities the big guys don’t have, and that’s mobility. And you’ve got to work extra hard on your fitness work. And also be someone who does not miss, and have that tenacity never to give in. And I think those are qualities that shorter people seem to have over taller people.”
and then goes onto talk about the importance of learning how to be smarter than the opponent
“there are ways. You’ve just got learn the craft of the game and hopefully have some good coaching“
So, being a shorter player for most of Pats junior career he was forced to learn how to beat players using his head. Most players in juniors win by over powering the other player. The stronger usually dominate over the shorter or younger players.
So, what does this mean if you are a late developer? Pat thinks it was actually great because he was forced to learn THE GAME. Use his head and workout how to break the opponent down. It also forced him to trust his game (Serve and Volley) will eventually pay off. Not necessarily in this match or tournament – but in a longer term – his career.
Then when you do grow in size you have both weapons. The craft of the game AND power.
Remember – what most developing players forget is that – what has been your reason for winning in Juniors WILL NOT be the reason you win in opens. The difference in age is not a huge advantage. Experience is. Tactics, strategies and game plans are what wins matches.
What importance do you put on your game and how do you beat stronger players. We know a few tactics but lets hear some ideas.. Maybe lets think about some REALLY tall pros at the moment – how are they beaten. What game style to they rely on vs the shorter players..??
Peter Tramacchi from http://TennisAssist.com shares some tips that helped him achieve a world number 127 singles and 45 doubles ranking.
To prepare my mind for a match one of my favourite drills has always been a 2 on 1 drill.
To be guaranteed of a high intensity workout its the 2 on 1 net drill. 2 players on the baseline in each corner and the focused net player on their service line.
Any player can feed the ball in and the workout begins. To make it that bit harder the net player must try to push themselves and volley every shot yet still retain their court position around the service line.
The reason for this is that the majority of first volleys, whether its a serve and volley point or an approach shot will be played from that area. Therefore, if you practice the harder volleys more often then the easy ones will be that much easier.
The intensity is a major part of this drill as every player needs to be on their toes. Be ready to work the net player around the net with a lot of variation and working on the dinks and lobs.
Keeping the rallies alive for as long as possible, the players on the baseline stack their hands and pockets full of balls and feed in when an era is made. The faster the feed is makes it tougher for the net person and keeps a good tempo flowing, consistent as if no mistake is made.
Another tipfor the players on the baseline – decide who will feed all of their balls first. When they are empty the other player feeds theirs. This avoids two balls being fed at the same time. Baseliners your objective is to keep that ball alive. Talk to each other and motivate each other. Scramble as if it is a match point.. Do whatever it takes to keep that ball in play.
Keep the intensity up and paractice that deep concentration. You will notice that over the session and over the next few weeks your rallies will get longer and your reactions and results will improve dramatically.
2 on 1 drills are a great way to get a workout not possible with 1 on 1. The rallies are easily more than twice as long as one on one. You can have an awesome workout with people of different standards.
http://tennisassist.com Peter Tramacchi and Michael Maidens discuss Pete’s take on the Australian Open 2010 Mens Final Between Roger Federer and Andy Murray. Pete was court side and talks about the atmosphere, the missed opportunity of Andy Murray and the tactics and strategies unfolding by both Andy Murray and Roger Federer.
Roger Federer Australian Open 2010 Mens Singles Winner
Can you say cheese! Newly crowned US Open mens singles champion Juan Martin del Potro has become the fifth player to qualify for the end of year Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. He has joined Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic for the event which takes place at the O2 in London from 22-29 November.
Roger Federer became the first tennis player to reach $50 million in career prize money with his first-round win at the U.S. Open tennis championship. The 28-year-old Swiss, who is guaranteed at least $31,000 by advancing in New York, is seeking his sixth straight U.S. Open title and 16th Grand Slam championship.
Here is a quick breakdown of the US Open prizemoney is for 2009:
Andy Murray has entered the debate over the value of the tennis world rankings by questioning the Williams sisters’ interest in tournaments outside the grand slams.
The rise of Russian Dinara Safina to No 1 has raised the question of whether it is justifiable for a player without a grand slam title to be on top. Serena Williams has won three of the last four grand slam women’s singles titles, however she only stands at No. 2 in the WTA Tour standings. Men’s world No. 2 Murray, who has also still yet to win one of the four top tournaments in tennis, believes there would be little merit in raising the points on offer at the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open just to ensure the winners of those events have a better chance of topping the rankings.
Murray understands why the issue is being discussed, and why there are varying views, but he is convinced the ranking systems as they stand have plenty of merit.
The Scot said:
“Do you not agree that it’s important for the top players like Serena to turn up at the other big events? “Tennis (has) an 11-month calendar. If you have ranking points which are too small for Serena to turn up at some of the smaller events, then all of a sudden the whole calendar is completely pointless and she can turn up — which is probably what she wants to do — at the four slams and play, and then not play for the rest of the year. And I think you have to be rewarded for consistency, and her consistency in slams is great, but in the other tournaments I don’t think it is.”
It has been reported that Rafael Nadal has purchased a new beachside house in the exclusive residential complex Playa Nueva Romana in the Dominican Republic.
The community will have “1,200 luxury homes, a marina, a five-star hotel, and an 18-hole golf course. This new development represents an investment of more than US$180 million and covers an area of 620 acres of coconut groves, just 45 minutes from Santo Domingo’s international airport.”
We can now confirm that Ana Ivanovic is dating Australian golfing sensation Adam Scott. The pair met at the start of the year in Australia and have been spending more and more time together ever since.
Scott recently pulled out of the Tiger Woods AT&T National to head over to Wimbledon and watch Ana play.
The relationship is still yet to come out officially in the public domain, but in this case it has been confirmed by several close sources.
Im sitting in my living room at the moment watching Marin Cilic and Sam Querrey play in the second round of Wimledon 2009, and thinking that it was only a couple of years ago when I saw both these top players playing in the junior event.
I find it funny how the average person who watches tennis really only knows and likes the top players. I wish there would a lot more tennis on tv especially here in the UK and home back in Australia, but I wish they provided more of an acknowledgement to the lower level players and even juniors at these major events and any other event for that matter.
I honestly am really not sure what The Tennis Times will eventually turn in to, but im very keen to provide as much coverage as possible about the players you have never heard of.
If you have never seen Fabrice Santoro, aka “the Magician” play tennis, run, do not walk, to anywhere you can find him because he’s retiring soon. Eastbourne is one of the oldest women’s events and always attracts a top-class field, and this year the LTA has moved the much lower-profile men’s event from Nottingham down to join it. Andreev is the top seed. The chance to see Santoro play in an intimate setting is the hidden gem. Today, he was playing the US’s Robert Kendrick, one of those beanpoles that come out of the woodwork with the switch from clay to grass. And there’s Santoro with every characteristic you don’t expect to add up to a good player on grass: relatively short (5 foot 10), two-handed on both sides, a spin artist. Kendrick’s grass credentials aren’t bad. He reached the quarter-final at Newport in 2005, the same year he had a two-set lead at Wimbledon over eventual finalist Nadal – then lost the third set tie-break before losing 6-7 3-6 7-6 7-5 6-4. Santoro, who like Navratilova is perfectly balanced no matter where he is on court or what position he’s had to adopt to hit the ball, proceeded to carve him up like a nice Sunday roast in some of the most entertaining play you’ll ever see anywhere. Final score: Tomorrow, Santoro plays Ginepri – more of the same kind of classic match-up you used to get in the old days.
We can now confirm that Ana Ivanovic is dating Australian golfing sensation Adam Scott. The pair met at the start of the year in Australia and have been spending more and more time together ever since.
