Transitioning to the Slice Kick (Topspin) Serve

About 17 or so years ago I moved away from a flat first serve to a slice (which doesn’t imply kick/topsin) serve. Prior I was tossing more directly into the court rather than more down the base line and ripping it. Flat power (relative to level of play) serving, using so much forward motion of the body can be quite exhausting, inefficient use of the body and the over-the-net-and-in-the-service box window gets much smaller.

Sometimes You Have to Be an Ass – Part One

Many years ago I lived at this dated, yet wonderful apartment community in Charlotte, NC.

The architecture was timeless, not a single hardwood was felled unnecessarily, the property sat on rolling hills and it was on Providence Road. One could look at all 20 plus miles of Providence Road and not find a bad neighborhood or community, no matter how intense the search.

Sometimes You Have to Be an Ass – Part Two

I was living at an apartment community and although I could not be classified as a certified teaching pro, I mentioned to the property management that I would be glad to assist anyone wishing to learn how to play tennis. No big deal - I was willing to charge a measly $20 to $30 dollars an hour.

I also took the opportunity to assist the community staff with establishing a schedule for the tennis court as we only had one. The court was in great condition and had somewhat of a covered patio, much like a gazebo, which is rare for most any individual court.

I scheduled a court time with and a friend and we headed to the court to work on her game as she had just taken up the sport. 

The Backhand Slice – The Silent Killer

Oh, how do I say this?

Do I need to? A well executed backhand slice is one of the nastiest shots in tennis to deal with.

How do I know? Because I use it to a fault, perhaps not.

I use the backhand slice when it becomes so effective and affordable.

Send me a weak shot about waist or chest high and I’m giving you back a ball that is difficult to interpret and may not leave the court enough for you to have a chance at striking it.

It took years (not many) to develop this, but it works. If you can use this shot effectively in singles, then you are golden.

Chelsea Moves On

I don’t know if an inordinate amount of British fans are following us or if soccer has the international presence I assumed it always has had.

I believe the latter to be true as I went to check my Twitter account and was inundated with endless tweets about Chelsea.

Andy Murray could have just won the French Open or Wimbledon and I don’t believe this would have passed through all the soccer media.

But, I love it. I began playing soccer in South Carolina when it was as welcome as Jai alia or farina for breakfast. We, my friends and many throughout the city, were pioneers, but more so, were the adults that created the YMCA league.

Soccer is such a wonderful sport, yet for the average American, most can’t appreciate the sport unless they have played it. I understand this. Even being an All-State player, I would rarely watch a match on TV even if I could find one back in the day.

Yet I will admit, when the U.S. hosted the World Cup in 1994, I didn’t work for about two weeks. Fortunately, I could afford to do so back then.

One will not find an unfit or out of shape soccer player. 90 minutes of running, positioning, jostling and playing the ball requires a lot. I’ve done it.

Congratulations to Chelsea and I hope you go all the way.

The Modern One-Hand Backhand

I bumped into an excellent video by Tom Avery on maximizing the one-hand top spin backhand stroke. This video is concise and covers his instruction from the proper points of view, making Tom's explanation easy to understand.

As soon as he had covered the basic parts of the stroke and completed a full swing from preparation to finish, I was reminded of one player, Roger Federer.

I remember years ago after winning a major match (those days when we were more likely to see Roger run around his backhand), he was asked what part of his game he wished to work on the most. "My top spin backhand", was his reply. Well, we know what has become of this - it's one of the most graceful and accurate one-hand backhand swings in the game.

Purple Taters

I here about some crazy things taking place when couples get together, but I’m not much into all that strange stuff. I’ve been there, but not on the couple level – my keys stay in my pocket if you know what I mean.

But, when you are hanging out with some tennis friends, having dinner and a few many (oxymoron) drinks, enjoying a nice spring evening, and the host asks, “Have you seen my wife’s taters?” one has to take notice and consider such a proposal. If nothing else, out of respect for such warmth and accommodation, one must respond to such a request.

Eye-Brain Preparation

We have all heard of eye-hand coordination, which to me relates to when one’s eyes are (through the brain) sending an adequate signal to the hands to perform the task at hand more accurately, with the most appropriate sense of direction and velocity.

I was reminded of this again by a tweet by Rick Salas @tennistennis.

One could probably paint this picture in at least a dozen different ways, but to sum all, I guess this is when the two, the eyes and the hands, are working harmoniously, with most efficiency and effectiveness.

Wow. I'm Beat.

Just created Pick a Pro on Find It. Trying to get our clothing on Amazon and I haven't written a thing in almost two weeks. Shoot me. On top of this, I have only played about 8 hours of tennis in the meantime.  I need some damn release - Moose League tennis tomorrow.

These and a few other things will be mentioned in our newsletter, SPIN, to be published in a few days.

In the meantime, Play the Game! We'll be back on track soon.

A Song for Tsonga

I showed praise for Jo-Willie (no disrespect at all – he has a killer first name) in my article Da Huh in Doha (Can I get a Mop Please?), regarding a match between him and Gael Monfils.

I believe we are giving audience to some of the best men’s tennis we have seen since the 70’s or early 90’s – just an opinion. The matches in the first decade of the new millennium were becoming too predictable. I don’t know how many tennis parties I threw or attended during this time when most guests were grabbing their tennis bags and saying “Who’s up for a match?” because most already knew the outcome of the match we were watching late into the second set.

Da Huh in Doha (Can I get a Mop Please?)

I decided to sit down recently and watch a replay of the final match of this year’s ExxonMobil Open in Doha on Tennis Channel.

It is Tsonga against Monfils and I’m loving watching these two French countrymen battle it out on court. It may not look like this at a glance as both players are such gentlemen on court.