Instant Tennis Tip - The 5 Elements of Ball Control in Tennis

I like to tell my students that if they can hit the ball over the net and in the court they are good

If they can hit the tennis ball over the net and in the court, and land it anywhere they want, I will sit down and enjoy watching them play.

If they can hit the tennis ball over the net and in the court, and land it anywhere they want, and do so with varying spin and power, I will buy a ticket to sit down and enjoy watching them play.

In tennis, hitting with great power is fun, but ball control is much more important. Anyone who wants to learn how to play tennis should concentrate on mastering the 5 elements of controlling a tennis ball. This will result in the ability to vary your shots according to any situation.

Height

The first obstacle any tennis player must deal with is the net. For a shot to be successful it must first clear the net before it lands in the court. Beginner tennis players should focus on clearing the net by 5 - 8 feet on all their shots from the baseline.

Depth

In general, a ball that lands deep in the court is a better shot than a ball that lands short. However, there will be times you want to deliberately hit the ball short. Beginner tennis players should practice placing their shots to different depths on the court. Remember, where the ball lands is directly related to the height of the ball. Height Equals Depth.

Direction

After you master height and depth, I recommend beginner tennis players move on to mastering direction. Don't get too complicated here. Just try to direct every ball to either the left or to the right.

Spin

After you've mastered hitting the tennis ball with different heights, and to different depths and directions it's time to move on to spin. Learning to put spin on the ball is definitely a more advanced concept and a clear sign that you are moving to the next level as a tennis player. You can hit a tennis ball with topspin, backspin, sidespin, or relatively no spin.

Power

This is the last element of ball control in tennis. A player should move on to hitting a tennis ball with power only after they have learned the previous elements and how they can be combined to create shot variety.

Mastering all 5 elements of ball control takes lots of practice. It's what separates the good players from the elite players. I suggest beginner tennis players focus on the first three in order. Practice hitting the tennis ball over the net, into the court, land it anywhere you please. Then you can work on hitting a tennis ball with spin and power. After that, who knows, maybe someone will buy a ticket to watch you play.

Andreas Radermacher
http://www.InstantTennis.com

Learn how to play tennis at Instant Tennis! It's the internet's hottest tennis newsletter designed especially for people who want to improve their tennis skills.

Published by USPTA Tennis Professional Andreas Radermacher, It's full of tennis tips for anyone who wants to improve their tennis form, expand their tennis knowledge, and just plain learn to play tennis!

Subscribe now to receive the latest updates including how-to videos, expert audios, and other high quality content from Andreas and other top tennis teaching experts.

You'll also get immediate access to The Instant Tennis Report: The Fastest and Easiest Way to Get Good at Tennis in 12 Simple Steps. (a $45 value)

Is Online Tennis Training For You?

There are many benefits you can get from online tennis training. There are a variety of resources including eBooks, online videos and articles written by expert tennis instructors. Some of the online training can give you information on the best tennis techniques, best tennis equipment and the best ways to play a better game of tennis through exercises designed specifically to improve your stance and swing. Many people like the convenience that online tennis training offers, which has made it one of the more popular ways to perfect your tennis game.

There are online tennis training websites that feature lessons for every tennis stroke, how to mentally prepare to think and play tennis like a pro and you can take advantage of free lessons that teach you everything a beginner should know or teach you some of the more advanced tennis playing techniques that the pros use. There are thousands of people that learn to play tennis by watching the pros play and many of the online tennis training videos feature the best techniques that are easy to master.

The great thing about training online is that you can learn at your own pace and put what you have learned into practice on the court as you learn the techniques. Some people might criticize that learning online is a one-way street with little feedback from an instructor, but there are many forums and chat sites where you can ask questions and get tips from expert players without paying the high costs associated with a gym membership or private tennis lessons.

For those that love to play tennis recreationally, online tennis training can improve your game. By taking advantage of the free online tennis courses and videos, you can learn the basics and some of the more sophisticated tennis techniques, which is all that most amateur tennis players need to know, when it comes to beating their opponent.

Because tennis and many other sports involves some visualization and mental attitude to be successful, it is believed that tennis training online can offer a lot of benefit to many tennis players that want to improve their game. Of course, professional athletes can gain some additional perspective from online tennis training, even though they may be involved in professional lessons from the pros.

Tennis is a game that requires good hand-eye coordination and a great degree of agility. Some of the online lesson give you warm-up exercise routines and upper body strength building exercises that can improve your swing. Getting expert advice about the best tennis equipment is part of the improvement that many beginners find out about, but they can learn new techniques that they might not come across any other way, as well.

If you have an interest in tennis and are looking for ways to improve your game, you should consider some of the excellent online tennis training that is available. You might be surprised by what you can learn from watching the videos and most of the eBooks are quite affordable, convenient to download and have a lot of information you can use to improve your tennis game. It is the convenience that online tennis training offers that makes it so popular with those that want to learn about better tennis in the comfort of their home.

Learn about some of the available online tennis lesson plans such as Tennis Insider Strategies and the Ten Laws of Tennis

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.

Unlike the dimensions of a tennis court, the tennis court surface can vary in character. The different surfaces have different characteristics that affect the style of play. Common surfaces for outdoor tennis courts include grass, red clay, green clay, and hard courts. In addition, indoor tennis courts often have hard surfaces or synthetic, carpet-like surfaces.

The very first tennis courts were made of grass. While the number of grass tennis courts has decreased in recent years, some remain, and the world's most prestigious tennis tournament, The Championships at Wimbledon, is still played on grass tennis courts.

Grass tennis courts are considered a fast surface because the ball moves quickly through the court when it bounces. Typically, the ball stays low and close to the ground. Because of the speed of the court and the unreliability of the bounce, historically players playing on grass tennis courts prefer to volley the ball out of the air whenever possible.

Red clay and green clay are the two types of clay, or slow, court surfaces. Red clay tennis courts are made of natural clay or crushed red brick. The French Open is played on red clay courts. Green clay, the more common type of clay court in the U.S., is made of Har-Tru, a mixture of crushed stone, rubber, and plastics. Clay courts are considered slow because the ball bounces more slowly off the court. Typically, players playing on clay tennis courts prefer to hit balls off the bounce from behind the baseline.

Hard courts, the most common court surface in the U.S., are another fast court surface. Hard courts are made of asphalt or concrete coated with a thin sealer and special paint. Some types of hard courts have more extensive, rubberized coatings. The ball bounces high off hard tennis court surfaces and moves through the court quickly. Because the ball has a reliable bounce and the ball moves quickly off the court, players can employ a variety of tactics. Generally, aggressive play is preferred.

Finally, tennis players also play indoors, especially during the winter, on indoor tennis courts. Indoor tennis court surfaces are made of concrete or a synthetic or plastic material that mimics grass. Indoor tennis courts are generally the fastest tennis court surface of all. At the professional level, hard serves, volleys, and powerful ground strokes dominate matches on indoor tennis courts.

For more information on tennis try visiting http://www.TennisQuestions.com, a website that specializes in providing tennis related tips, advice and resources to include information on the best tennis court.

Tennis - The Benefit of Tennis Ball Machine Practice

Tennis is a sport in which the more skill you have and the amount of time you put in practicing, the more successful you will be. Some tennis professionals have played tennis as far back as they can remember or their parents played tennis. For those who have tennis engrained in their blood, they still have to have some amount of practice in order to beat the other players that will be on the same or higher level than they are. There are many ways a person can train to perform at high level on the tennis court. One of the first things that you have to have is determination followed by patience and the will to succeed. Practicing your game is not unlike any other sport or art, the more you practice, the higher your skill and expertise become.

Just like many of its sports counterparts, tennis players will do what is necessary to win at their craft. Some players will begin their day with tennis and also end their day with tennis. Great players with a passion for the game can be found by joining the local country club or by heading down to the city park. When it comes to having a passion for the game, no card membership makes anyone more qualified than another. Unfortunately not everyone will have a skilled player to compete against daily so they will have to find other methods such as machinery to assist them. Hitting the ball back and forth helps the tennis pro be able to return a serve given to them by their opponents. So they would spend hours with their tennis ball machines returning the ball across the net. This ball machines tennis allow the tennis player to stay out on the court for as long as they would like.

Some players are so dedicated to their craft that they will purchase a portable ball machine to practice anywhere they go. In order to be good at tennis you have to return the ball back from where it came and put the ball where the other player cannot get to it. So some players invest in one of the most inexpensive portable machines in the twist tennis ball machine for their selves. The tennis twist ball machine can help them with their placement and their return. The good thing is for those with a budget to spend on their tennis lessons, this machine will help them tremendously in both savings and the improving tennis skill.

For those tennis players that are looking to improve their tennis skills faster and are ok with investing more money, the prince tennis ball machine is the ball machine for you. The tennis ball machine prince will give the tennis player variable speeds to choose to hit, various levels of ball trajectory and also can hold up to 250 of the prince tennis ball for your return. They will keep coming at you, so you can practice your forehand and backhand swings at the pace of a normal return from a human player.

For all levels of tennis players you can see look for the tutor tennis ball machine which is said to be the best portable machine on the market. The tennis tutor ball machine comes in a state of the art design which is considered best for traveling. It has a cubed design that can easily fit in the back of your vehicle to be taken out when you are ready to hit a tennis balls when you have the opportunity.

There is no wrong choice when it comes to how you want to train for tennis matches or to just use tennis as a way to stay in shape. You will not always be able to practice with a person so you cannot go wrong on which brand of automated machine you choose.

To learn more about a tutor tennis ball machine visit us at: http://www.royaltyuniverse.com/

Tennis -- How Vulcanized Rubber Changed the Game

In my mind, the true history of tennis does not begin until the 1850's, when the first "modern" tennis balls were invented and used. Before this point, the history of tennis is the history of a completely different game - "real tennis."

Real tennis is played on indoor courts. In fact, real tennis cannot be played outside - the players use the angled walls of a real tennis court to strategically hit and return the ball to their opponents. Yes, real tennis his very similar to today's modern tennis, or "lawn tennis," but only in the same way that handball, badminton, croquet, and racquetball are similar to lawn tennis!

That is why I choose to start my history of tennis at the point in which lawn tennis diverged from real tennis, and this happened in the 1850's. It was in the 1850's that Charles Goodyear, of Goodyear tire fame, invented vulcanized rubber. Vulcanized rubber is a process that prevents natural rubber from deteriorating so quickly (without the vulcanization process, natural rubber could deteriorate within just a few days.)

So, with the vulcanization of rubber came rubber tennis balls. The rubber tennis balls could be used outdoors on lawn courts. These rubber tennis balls were a nice change from the wads of wool, hair, wool, or cork wrapped in leather or string and cloth - these are what had been used in real tennis.

And because these vulcanized rubber tennis balls could be used outdoors, on lawn courts, without walls to bounce them off of, new rules had to be invented for this new game of lawn tennis.

Walter Clopton Wingfield is usually the man who is given credit for the invention of modern tennis, or lawn tennis. Around 1874, Wingfield actually patented the game. And the game became popular among the leisured classes throughout the end of the 1800s.

The popularity of tennis spread relatively quickly. Tennis clubs were set up around this time. The first tennis championships were held in 1877 in Wimbledon... a precursor to the Grand Slam tournament held in Wimbledon every year, even today.

The rules of tennis changed gradually throughout the later 1800s, changing the shape of the court and the height of net and thereby changing the history of tennis in the process!

So, as you can see, it makes sense that I choose to start the real history of tennis around the 1850's when Charles Goodyear's invention of vulcanized rubber made modern tennis possible.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and sports. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on tennis, please visit E-Tennis.

Basic Rules For Playing Tennis

The rules for tennis are basic and simple. Before you begin playing tennis, make sure you understand the rules and the equipment that's required. Now that we have that out of the way, let's go over the basic rules for playing tennis.

Rules of Tennis

The basic rules for playing tennis are really simple. One of the players serve, or hits, the ball from one corner of an area that's marked, also known as a court, that's divided in half by a net that is three feet tall (about 1 meter). The goal of the opposite player is to return the tennis ball.

It should bounce only once, aiming for the other player not to be able to return it. When this is done correctly, you have scored, which means if the other player isn't able to return the ball without bouncing it once, you'll get a point.

Official tennis rules

The overall goal in tennis is to gain enough points to win games, sets, and matches. The highest score out of 3 tennis games are known as sets for women. And in men games, it's out of 5. A player only wins a set if he or she leads by at least two games.

Officials

Officials are only needed during professional tournaments. The official keeps an eye on the lines to call where or not the ball is in. The senior empire calls score, can overrule other judges, and is in a very high chair on one end of the tennis court.

There's a match referee, who sits in the stands, and is consulted if there's a major conflict during the match. If you dispute with any of the judges, you could lose a point and possibly be disqualified from the tournament

Scoring

Score keeping is part of the basic rules for playing tennis. When a player hasn't scored, it's called love. And when a player does score, it doesn't increase by single digits, it begins at 15, then go up to 30, and then 40. I'll give you an example. Let's say player 1 scores. And player 2 hasn't scored yet. Well, the score now is 15-love.

Whenever the score climbs to 40-40, it's known as a deuce. And the next person to score 2 more points wins. But let's say a player scores one point after a deuce, which is known as an advantage server or receiver, and they end up losing the next point, the score goes back to deuce. From time to time, some players agree to do away with that rule.

Equipment

A regulation size tennis court is part of the basic rules for tennis. A regulation size tennis court is 78 feet long (23.78 m). It also has a net dividing the middle of the court in half. The line where you serve is marked at 21 feet.

Next is the tennis rackets. The usual size for tennis rackets used in tournaments are 11 1/2 inches wide and 32 inches long. After that is the tennis balls. They come in different colors, however the official tennis ball for tournaments must be white or yellow.

Singles

Another basic rule for playing tennis includes playing one on one. The server, or first person to hit the tennis ball, is chosen by spinning a racket or tossing a coin. The person who wins can elect to give the other player the choice of whether or not they want to serve, choose which end they want to serve, or they can pass their option to the other player. And from there, the other player can choose which end they want to play and if they prefer to serve. The person who is able to serve is changed each game, making it a fair match.

Doubles

Serving is alternated from player to player and from team to team. It's done this way so that each of the players can serve every 4th game. It's traditional for partners to stand beside each, however, they can stand anywhere, regardless if they're serving or receiving.

Penalties

Here are some penalties that are also in the basic rules for playing tennis. They can result in points being lost. The penalties are:

1. Catching the tennis ball or carrying it in your tennis racket is against the rules.

2. Throwing your racket or any other kind of abuse.

3. If the tennis ball is carried by a person, with the exception of the racket, or if it hits a player's clothing, then it's against the rules.

4. If you touch the net, posts, your opponent, or any official, it's against the rules.

5. Hitting the tennis ball more than once before it has crossed the net.

These are the basic rules for playing tennis. Now that you know the rules, go out there and have fun.

For more information on how to play tennis, go to my blog http://www.how-to-play-tennis-like-a-pro.blogspot.com This information has helped many people like you, so if you want to really elevate your game and learn how to play like the pros, go to my blog now.

How to Model Your Tennis Technique After Pro Tennis Players

When discussing tennis technique in general, we normally refer to top players in the tennis. The important question is: Should a amateur tennis player attempt to copy the tennis technique of the pros?

The answer is a cautious Yes if the tennis player is looking to improve their tennis technique and tennis strokes. The takeaway from watching professional players is that something can be learned everytime you watch the pros practice.

World class tennis players usually always share commonalities in their tennis technique that you should model.

It's a bad idea to try to copy little nuisances and rituals of professional players. Things like John McEnroe's exaggerated rock back and forth swing before he serves, or Maria Sharapova's complex ritual before every point may look cute - - but it's far from what the average tennis needs to incorporate if he or she wants to play better tennis

When watching the pros and attempting to model their tennis technique, it's important to know what to look for in their tennis strokes and what is a matter of personal preference. Replicating important fundamentals of their tennis technique is the most vital - - and key to improving your own tennis technique.

For the forehand, a good model is Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Justine Henin Hardenne. All three of these players have exceptional forehand tennis technique and at the same time are the most efficient and clean forehands in tennis for the average tennis player to model. They are great models because their forehands are top of the game while still staying relatively simple.

Attempting to model Rafael Nadal's Forehand, or Andy Roddick's serve are two very complicated tennis swings. The reason these two tennis shots are not ideal models to copy is simple - - it contains very advanced elements that recreational and club players may not be capable of reproducing without a firm understanding of the fundamental tennis technique behind the strokes.

Nadal's Forehand is a powerful tennis stroke, with a massive topspin forehand. Not a bad forehand by any standards, but one that average player should steer clear of trying to copy until they have mastered the basic elements of a sound forehand. Looking at Nadal's Forehand, we see that his tennis forehand technique is technically sound, but very complex. His wrists, arm and racket goes through several stages just in the preparation phase of the forehand.

Andy Roddick's serve is another difficult tennis stroke to master. It is a tennis stroke that is only possible by first mastering the basic elements of a more classical serve and having exceptional throwing mechanics. The motion itself requires a great deal of upper body and arm strength, as well as athleticism.

Andy Roddick achieves his world class serve through a rapid abbreviated serve motion where the arm flies in and out of the trophy position faster than any other professional tennis player. The ability of his arm to load prior to contact in such a short burst is responsible for his tennis serve being more explosive than any other player on tour. The external rotation Andy Roddick's serve achieves is exceptional This tennis technique requires the player to stretch the body to it's upper limits. It's a serve that only advanced tennis players should attempt, and even so with caution.

Keys of Modeling Tennis Technique

In looking to model the tennis technique of the pros, it's important to look for the basic fundamentals behind the tennis technique. Avoid trying to copy any extreme elements and instead aim for simplicity when trying to emulate the tennis technique of the pros. Try to find a good model to base your tennis strokes off of and then let your natural technique emerge while sticking to the fundamentals of proper technique.

Visualize the correct technique you wish to solidify in your game and observe the strokes of the pros. By watching the pros execute their strokes, an unconscious process in your brain will develop, therefore burning the "perfect image" into your mind. This will help you ingrain the technique, because the brain will have a clear file on the correct technique.

Coach Ed is a former nationally ranked tennis player and coach. Optimum Tennis offers tennis instruction, tennis tips and tennis tips at Optimum Tennis

Click here to find out How to Play Better Tennis