February 25, 2026
Andre Agassi could have been the first player to use string dampeners to lessen the’ping’ sound at impact. His was a rubber band tied in two knots around the two central vertical strings. These days, we see a lot of worm dampeners that extend across the entire width of the string bed. Here’s my take […]
February 16, 2026
This drill features 2 lines and players begin in the center with David Bailey toggle steps and a split step. I call them Ali steps too. The players are given a free point and begin with 15-love. They play the first two balls cross court and the last down the side and large targets are […]
February 16, 2026
Dennis Van der Meer had a neat hack for fixing a half volley that has a downward angle of attack and underspin. The Master would feed balls to the player and have them touch the racquet edge to the court prior to contact. He’d show the player and encourage them to create a bump with […]
February 7, 2026
It’s just a guess but it seems that today is day number seventy-nine or so 79 days of delectable Planter’s peanuts laid out on the back porch for Tiny and his furry friends The protagonist and pesky character arrived early today and with an expression of great disdain seemed to mouth the McEnroe words “You […]
February 6, 2026
In every life there are pinnacle moments when God smiles upon us and all is good For balance sake perhaps there are seasons of storms that rock the boat that once sailed so smoothly and lulled us into believing that He had wrapped us securely in a cocoon of contentment This cocoon is a mirage […]
January 21, 2026
There are more great new artists than ever and Imani Shiloh is terrific! Just click on address below. And…if you’re looking for a great read, try Braveing The Way by Laurel Fox https://youtu.be/mVU3Gf_Q7No
January 21, 2026
Anam Cara May you be blessed with good friends. May you learn to be a good friend to yourself. May you be able to journey to that place in your soul where there is great love, warmth, feeling, and forgiveness. May this change you. May it transfigure that which is negative, distant, or cold in […]
January 6, 2026
After nearly five decades of teaching/coaching adults and juniors focused on fun and improving, I’ve decided that I’ve become a bit like Robert Lansdorp. I’d rather have a root canal with no anesthesia than coddle unfocused, scatterbrained, pampered kids whose main goal is to disrupt classes with foolish shenanigans in an attempt to bring others […]
January 1, 2026
Mary booked a private lesson and arrived to be asked these two questions …”if you could improve one or two things today, what would they be? “ When she said backhand and serve, the second question was…”would you prefer that anything we explore today would be subtle and not damaging to brain cells?” ”Absolutely”, she […]
January 1, 2026
Al Secunda was a tennis coach to many of the stars in Hollywood. in a book he wrote, Al described a corrective technique for helping tame the turbulence often seen in the racquet with amateur players’ volleys. Most folks fifty years ago were familiar with stick horses that had the head of a horse atop […]
January 1, 2026
The average hang time for punts in the NFL is 4.5 seconds. It gives players a chance to sprint toward the receiver and make an immediate tackle or distract him and cause a fumble. We used to go watch the finals of The Denver City Open annually to see players like Butch Buckholz, Larry Loeb, […]
January 1, 2026
The year was 1977 and Randy Ross and Art Thomsen were conducting this two day tennis camp at Ken Caryl Ranch. I was invited to be one of the coaches and gladly accepted. It was a terrific weekend as players moved from court to court learning new ideas from six coaches. The most memorable image […]
January 1, 2026
Footwork Often, I will gather players together at the net and have them repeat after me…. WE LOVE TO COMPETE WITH OUR FEET Our high school basketball coach, Bob McKendry, was fond of saying that ‘you play the way you practice.’ Far too often, tennis coaches feel like a dentist removing a tooth….we try to […]
December 30, 2025
Was Tim Mayotte on to something? John Williams was the popular head tennis pro at Boulder Country Club in the good old days. He invited me to come up and attend a clinic and exhibition by Tim Mayotte who was ranked as high as #7 in the world while winning an Olympic silver medal and […]
December 26, 2025
I like to give players a little test on the important aspects of tennis. They are asked to put the five dimensions in the correct order of importance. Can you pass the test? Depth Spin Power Consistency Direction
December 26, 2025
Carlos Goffi was a coach of a young left handed player from Douglaston, New York who became the number 1 player in the world. Can you name him? Goffi wrote the book Tournament Tough and is credited with using a stoplight concept to assist players in shot selection and point play. Many coaches have, like […]
December 25, 2025
She’s a little pixie…this 8 year old. Eleanor seems to possess an innate respect for good form on the tennis court. Recently, we tried to expand her skills on the two handed backhand. I showed her how to hold the racquet choked up in her significant other hand (Welby Van Horn) and to toss the […]
December 15, 2025
Sally and I were in New York waiting between shifts to watch some US OPEN tennis. We took a seat on a bench and a friendly fella asked if he could join us. He introduced himself as Don Grensted from California and said he was a tennis teaching professional. In the course of our conversation, […]
December 12, 2025
A player has a well orchestrated backhand unit turn and makes an aggressive swing at the two hander. Occasionally, the ball finds the sweet spot and a beautiful topspin cross court finds its target. More often than not, the ball caroms with a thud from the bottom edge of the racquet and goes fifteen higher […]
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