I have been watching a lot of Raphael Nadal play in the last few months and I have noticed that he still takes a huge amount of time between points. Dont get me wrong he is a great player and is a huge asset for the game, but I just wish he would take a little less time in between points and actually be a little more sportsman like. The average person already thinks tennis is a little slow and boring already, so adding more time of nothing in between points in just going a bit over the top. What do you think?
The Women’s Tennis Association is fighting a losing battle to keep Sony Ericsson as its title sponsor after the mobile-telephone company issued a profits warning last month.
The joint-venture company made the WTA the richest property in women’s sport in 2005 when it signed a £47m deal. With two years to run, sources say negotiations would ordinarily be in progress with regard to extending the contract but the WTA has privately conceded that it has almost no chance of persuading Sony Ericsson to renew.
This could make for a good sponsorship opportunity for another major global brand, possibly Nokia, Motorola, or even LG. Im interested to see what happens in this battle and who ends up taking control of the naming rights to the professional womens tennis tour.
Elite level players will use different shoes for different surfaces. The main 2 differences are hard courts and ’slippery’ courts. (eg clay, dirt and synthetic grass)
There are 2 main things to look for when deciding what shoes to wear when. Cushion and grip pattern.
On a hard court surface the pattern does not matter as much as the cushion. Having extra padding, cushioning, gel, air – whatever the technology – is important.
Read the full article at The Tennis Times http://thetennistimes.com
I just had to post this for everyone to read. Im sure her fellow players on tour are going to give her a fair bit of grief about this, well I would anyways.
This is just too good. Harkleroad talks in the August 2008 issue about sex, athelete’s bodies and also Anna Kournikova.
On Fit Sex:
“I do think athletes have better sex,” she asserts with a bashful giggle. “Who wants a waify girl with no definition to her body? I like that I have some power and that everything’s tight.”
On Lesbos in the Locker Room:
“Tennis players don’t mind showing off their bodies,” she said. “Often in the locker room I feel other girls’ eyes on me.”
On What She Thinks About The World’s Foremost Tennis Sex Symbol:
“Anna [Kournikova] is stunning to look at, but she’s probably a bit damaged from what she’s been through. That’s how she acts — a bit damaged.”
Harkleroad who is only currently number 72 in the world, really needed to boost her profile somehow and there was no way it was going to be from winning tennis tournaments. What can I say she needs to make money somehow so why not get it from just taking your clothes off.
Here at The Tennis Times we are going to be launching a new service in the coming months, this service is a marketplace. What can be found on the marketplace? Well on The Tennis Times marketplace you will be able to find Tennis Jobs, College Tennis opportunities and Club Tennis opportunities. If there is anything else you would like to see on the marketplace, please get in touch and make a suggestion.
For singles players The Tennis Court can become a lonely place. There are so many things going on out there and it is left to you to process them all and work out what to do.
Well here is a tip. Pretend, in your mind that your towel is your new best friend and coach. Take him or her with you all over the court. Your towel follows you down each end of the court and every time you need a chat do it! (You can actually wipe your face and forearms with it too !)
It may sound strange, but by talking to your towel – probably not too loud – you are actually talking to your self, and having to construct your thoughts in a coherent way. Therefore the jumbled ideas in your head become clearer. Listening to yourself or asking yourself questions, you WILL give your self answers.
There is a great book called ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ and early in the book it talks about Self One and Self Two. You become the player and the coach. Talk about what to do next, if you are feeling tired etc. IT is also a way for you to ‘vent’ and become more relaxed afterward.
By talking to the towel you start to ask the coach in you clear questions and YOU WILL get answers. Remember not to talk too loud, maybe you dont need to actually say anything out loud, but just go through the process and see how that goes !
Thanks for listening and keep the feedback coming in.. It is great to hear !!
Michael
It is important to get off to a quick start in a match. Why not start with the warm up! The best part is you make the rules and start controlling what is happening on the court. I am not talking about hitting winners or junk in the warm up. It is unsportsmanlike and you should always respect your opponents needs to warm up. Tennis is one of the few sports where you actually warm up the person you are about to try and beat.
Focus on making no unforced errors. In the warmup you should be looking for your opponents weaknesses and not letting them see any of yours. Focus on not having any balls sitting on your side of the net.
After warming up your ground strokes be the first to come into the net to warm up your volleys. This shows that you are happy with your ground strokes and are moving on. You are already starting to control the match.
After you have practiced your serves to first court be the first to change sides and serve to second court.
Finally, when you are practicing your serves to second court offer to start the match before the opponent. “Are you Ready?”
This is what I call win the warm up. You are already focusing your attention to the job at hand AND you are already appearing like a solid opponent who is already in control and knows what they want.
Keep that momentum going and win the first game, serving or receiving, it sets a nice tone for the match !!
Enjoy and keep improving. Dont forget to Sign Up to ensure you do not miss a Tip!
You never know, the next tip could be the difference between winning and loosing your next match!
Since I am from Australia and I have been playing tennis all over the country since I was about 14, I have spent a lot of time on the Tennis Australia Website. Im currently doing a lot of work in the technology and new media industry and I find it really funny how professional organisations with a lot of money to spend on getting their websites right, always seem to get it wrong.
For some reason Tennis Australia has had a dysfunctional website that takes an eternity to load. This considering I have high speed broadband which is not normally found in Australia and also im using Firefox (the fastest browser in the world). I just thought I would write and mention this, and I hope someone from Tennis Australia reads this article because it really needs fixing. If I had a dollar for every time I have loaded a Tennis Australia page and then closed it because I got sick of waiting for the article!
Name: Venus Williams
Country: USA
Birthdate: June 17, 1980
Birthplace: Lynwood, California, USA
Residence: Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, USA
Plays: Right Handed (Double Handed Backhand)
Highest Singles Ranking: 1 (February 25, 2002)
Highest Doubles Ranking: 5 (October 11, 1999)
Scouting: As we all know Venus is the older of the two Williams sisters. Venus has been one of the most influential female tennis players in history. Between Venus and her sister Serena they have made womens tennis a lot competitive and exciting.
Venus has a very solid all-round game. One of her key strengths is her movement around court. Venus is a very agile and fast mover around court and with a very potent forehand and backhand to match. Under pressure Venus tends to break down in two key areas, her second serve and forehand. Her backhand is very consistent and can also hurt you on short balls. Players need to look to take advantage of her second serve and move forward into the court. When playing big points from the back of the court make Venus hit as many forehands as possible and if coming to net on her forehand make sure you cover the line, because that is her favourite passing shot.
