Tennis strategy is best understood at the level of individual shot selection decisions; for each unique situation we are forced to play, we have a different strategy, appropriate for that particular situation. Skill levels...
When we’re on court, we don’t complain. We win. To the questions below, there is only one productive answer – win anyway. The manner in which we go about this may vary from question...
While there are numerous different teaching mistakes that lead to ineffective coaching, many of them stem from the same fundamental misunderstanding – confusing cause and effect. Some body movements are actively, volitionally caused by the...
The following is a page from The Fault Tolerant Forehand, available in eBook and paperback formats on Amazon (click here). The key to effective stroke production is efficient bio-mechanical alignment. For every shot, there...
Many events in tennis appear lucky. The ball dribbles over the net for a winner. Someone hits a second serve ace on the line. A forehand is shanked high and deep, and ends up...
When performed correctly, the forehand is a stroke with a very large margin for error. Proper forehand mechanics ensure that the swing is fault tolerant – when things go wrong, the swing still succeeds....
The pusher's strategy isn't very good - hit the ball back into the court and never play offense. Clearly, the pusher is wasting at least some opportunities to get ahead in rallies at...
Tennis is random. Each shot is best understood not as a particular result (winner, error, rally ball, etc.), but as a probability distribution of possible results, from which a particular result is chosen at...
Tennis doesn’t feel random, because, as we swing, we feel like we’re in full control of the racket, and thus the result of the shot. This control is an illusion. Don’t believe me? Let’s assume...
Last year, I worked with a 14 year old girl who had one of the most mismanaged forehand strokes I’ve ever seen. Her problem: “roll your wrist over/around the ball.” She turned to me,...