The End Of An Era
Andre Agassi, the most recognizable figure in professional tennis, announced his retirement from professional tennis after the 2006 US Open. Agassi was 36 years old at that time and his tennis career spanned 20 years. He was regarded as a master of the sport and held in high regards by other professional tennis players. Agassi dawned into the eyes of the public with an emphatic win at Wimbledon in 1992. Nobody gave him a chance to win in the finals because of his baseline playing method. However, Agassi went on to prove his critics wrong. Agassi is one of the only five players in the men"s tennis to have won all the four Grand Slams. He has also won 8 major titles during his career which is regarded as a significant achievement given the unpredictable world of professional tennis.
Service - The Opening Gun of Tennis
Service is the opening gun of tennis. It is putting the ball in play. The old idea was that service should never be more than merely the beginning of a rally. With the rise of American tennis and the advent of Dwight Davis and Holcombe Ward, service took on a new significance. These two men originated what is now known as the American Twist delivery. From a mere formality, service became a point winner. Slowly it gained in importance, until Maurice E. M'Loughlin, the wonderful "California Comet, " burst across the tennis sky with the first of those terrific cannon-ball deliveries that revolutionized the game, and caused the old-school players to send out hurry calls for a severe footfault rule or some way of stopping the threatened destruction of all ground strokes.
The Tennis Court, Dimensions And Surfaces
Tennis courts are standard in dimension, but vary widely in surface material. Tennis rules dictate the length, width, and placement of the lines on a tennis court. Tennis courts have a variety of surfaces and can be either outdoors or indoors. In this article, we will introduce the basic dimensions and aspects of the tennis courts and discuss the different types of tennis court surfaces. The rules of tennis dictate that tennis courts be 78 feet long from baseline to baseline. A net, 3 feet high in the middle, divides the court into two equal halves. Tennis courts are 36 feet wide from doubles sideline to doubles sideline, and 27 feet wide from singles sideline to singles sideline.
The Basics Of Table Tennis
Table tennis is an Olympic racket sport where two players, or two teams of two players, hit the table tennis ball back and forth, across the net on a table, with wooden paddles. The manner of play is similar to that of tennis, hence the name. The playing surface is a table, 30 inches above the ground that is approximately 9 feet long and five feet wide. A six-inch high net divides the table in half. The table tennis ball has a diameter of 40 mm, is made of celluloid, and is hollow. This article will discuss a few basic elements of table tennis, scoring, rules, and basic strokes. Official table tennis rules mandate table tennis matches consist of either a best of five or a best of seven series of games played to 11 points.
Black Sisters Are Tennis Phenomenon
Black Americans have been prominent in basketball and boxing since time immemorial. What"s noteworthy in the past decade is that they have invaded other sports as well including golf and tennis which used to be dominated by the middle-class whites. And what"s praiseworthy, too, is that the Black Americans that have made a name for themselves in the world of tennis are not males but females and sisters. We"re talking about none other than the Afro-American Williams sisters - Venus and Serena. Both ladies have proven that race is not a big issue in achieving their dreams in tennis. They are proud of being blacks and they will do anything to fulfill their goals of winning more tennis titles.
Serbians Dominant at Roland Garros
There is a lot to like about the emerging rising stars of Serbian tennis in the ATP and WTA series. Despite the chaos they experienced 8 years back in their homeland during those air strikes, what were very difficult times have only made these exceptional talents stronger. In what has seemed to have happened in the blink of an eye, three of the top ten players in the male and female tour are Serbian players. Novak Djokovic currently has an ATP ranking of 5, Jelena Jankovic has a WTA ranking of 5, and her fellow compatriot Ana Ivanovic is ranked number 7. All three Serbian players were expected to perform well in this year"s 2007 French Open Grand Slam at Roland Garros, all demonstrating good form during the clay season leading into the tournament.
The Inner Game Of Tennis - Tai Chi For Centering And Balance
Many years ago when I was a manager I provided Tai Chi lessons for my staff during the lunch break as a stress reduction technique. I brought in professional teachers and participated myself. We learned to breathe effectively and move in the slow, rhythmical movements of Tai Chi. I was acutely embarrassed initially because I could not pick up the movements. However, as I progressed I started to feel the stress release effects of Tai Chi and wanted to learn more. The most surprising result for me was that my tennis improved, particularly my volleys. As I investigated this further, I found that Tai Chi helped me in two key ways. 1. Becoming centred through Tai Chi Centring yourself or becoming grounded is a key focus of Tai Chi.
The Inner Game of Tennis - The Emotional Cycle of Change
When you undertake a new endeavour or project such as improving an aspect of your tennis game you experience the emotional cycle of change. Mastering this change cycle is a key element in the inner game of tennis. The four stages are described below. Stage 1: Unrealistic optimism You might decide to focus on one of your tennis groundstrokes to improve your overall tennis game. At first you are full of enthusiasm because you are optimistic about the outcome, an improved tennis game with more enjoyment. This stage is often referred to as looking through rose-coloured glasses. As you set out to make the change, you are oblivious of all the obstacles and difficulties that can get in the road of reaching your goal.
The Inner Game of Tennis: Visualize For Success
Visualization involves developing a rich picture of a successful tennis stroke and a positive outcome. For example, you can visualize yourself doing the perfect backhand that results in a winning tennis shot. The richer you can make the image of the successful tennis stroke, the stronger will be the power of visualization and its capacity to build your inner game of tennis. Visualization derives its power from its capacity to build your positive thinking, your self-belief and your self-efficacy. Visualization builds your positive thinking To visualize you need to eliminate all negative thoughts and focus only on the positives. You capture all that is good about a successful tennis stroke and shut out any negative images.
The Inner Game Of Tennis - A Simple Visualization Technique
You know that you should visualize to win at tennis. The tennis professionals tell you this, as do the tennis writers. If you read the strategies of any successful sporting professional, you will hear about the importance of visualization for winning. Visualisation strengthens your inner game of tennis because it builds your positive thinking, your self-belief and your self-efficacy. If visualization is so important, what is stopping you from using it more? Is it because you do not know where to start? Or have you been put off by some complicated method recommended by a psychological expert? In this article I discuss a simple method that is very easy to develop.