Mental Tennis Skills

I recently received a great question from one of our WebTennis.net subscribers about a tournament match I played this year in 2008.

I lost the first set 6-0 and it really wasn’t that close…

And yet, I eventually ended up righting the ship and winning 6-4 in the 3rd set.

Losing the first set of a tennis match badly like 6-0 or 6-1 isn’t the greatest of confidence boosters, for sure, but if you panic, it’s over.

I’ve got an audio clip, approximately 7 minutes, I just recorded that I want you to listen to.  If you’d prefer to read the transcript, no problem, you can download it at the bottom of this post.

You can also download the mp3 version of this audio if you want to save it to your computer or play it on your iPod.

This Tip’s Related Tennis Lesson

Brent’s Downloadable Lesson – “Mental Tennis Skills”

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[ Download Audio for Computer or iPod ]
[ Download Transcription (PDF) ]

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Being Consistent with The Tennis Half Volley

Lots of players absolutely cringe at the thought of having to deal with the 1/2 volley.

And their perception is usually that the half volley is all about how ell you stroke the ball.  And to me, the half volley requires very little stroke mechanics and much more timing and commitment to when you’re going to move through the shot.

Use Your Feet to Insure Shot Accuracy & Good Court Position

Think of the half volley as simply a footwork pattern.  Your racket just goes along for the ride as your footwork moves your body against and through the shot.  Your body weight moving through the ball gives the shot enough power with plenty of control IF you don’t add a lot of unnecessary swing to it.

If you combine moving your body weight forward along with a swing, you typically get uncontrolled power and then you lose consistency.

Look, another way to think about the purpose of the approach shot is that it’s all about where you want to end up on the court after you play that 1/2 volley.

And don’t ever forget that consistently good court position where you’re forcing your opponent to have to hit perfect passing shots all day long is normally going to win the match.

So, the 1/2 volley is a means to an end, meaning, where do you want to end up on the court when your opponent is forced to hit that big passing shot.

I’ll give up trying to hit a winner for good court position any time.  Check out this video from chapter 5 of my lesson on the half volley.

The Tennis Half Volley – How to Practice

Get a practice partner to feed you some slow underhand fed balls that you have to to take on the rise and feel how your racket sort of preps to cover the eventual contact point and then move your feet through the shot with very little to now swing.

Keep your head down through contact and don’t allow your eyes to “peek” at your shot until you feel your feet have truly moved through the shot.

This Tip’s Related Tennis Lesson

Brent’s DVD & Downloadable Forehand & Backhand 1/2 Volley Lesson

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Right click a link below and then choose “Save As”

[ Download Video for Computer or Video iPod ]
[ Download Audio for Computer or iPod ]
[ Download Transcription (PDF) ]

Brent’s Lesson Discounts
[ Order 3 or more of Brent's Lessons and Get a 30% Discount ]   
[ Order All of Brent's Lessons and Get a 40% Discount ]

Here’s a follow up to what we discussed yesterday about focusing on your feet first so you can consistently get a good spatial distance away from the path of that incoming ball.

Good spacing also allows you to move comfortably forward against the ball at contact which gives you much better control of the length of your shot.

But, what I love the most about good spacing is the abilty to always move forward and then morph that forward movement into an approach shot if I look up after my shot and can see my opponent is either reaching for my shot or slightly off balance.

You can hit decent shots from time to time when you back up at contact, BUT you can never take advantage of those times when you hit a really good forcing shot if you back up.

You may have seen this video already, and if so, it’s a good one to review and spend time practicing.

Yep, as the end title on the video states, I’m doing a 2 for 1 lesson sale for a couple of days only. 

Take advantage of it before I pull the sale page down.

Cliam your 2 lessons for the price of 1 over at:

http://www.webtennis.net/Lesson-Special.htm