January 15, 2024
To say that tennis, like all other sports, has changed drastically via better training methods and nutrition is a no brainer. This morning, Ben Shelton hit a second serve ace at over 130 mph that left his opponent dumbfounded. Oldsters like me remember the stars of the past like Rosewall, McEnroe, and Evonne Goolagong. They […]
January 11, 2024
A player in my tennis drill this week had a very distinctive forehand volley….the kind of shot that keeps tennis pros in business. The racquet took on a new persona that caught everyone’s attention…especially mine. Thankfully, the player took my comment with a sense of humor knowing that eventually a fix was in order. ”Miriam, […]
January 9, 2024
Here’s a New Year’s wish for a former US OPEN singles champion. I close my eyes and see one of the best smiles on planet Earth after she claimed her OPEN title over good friend Madison Keys. May that smile return once again in Melbourne because watching Sloane Stephens play in Brisbane was a tough […]
December 31, 2023
A 3.0 student was in class this morning and asked a question on the first ball pickup. ’I went to a pro recently who urged me to move to Coco Gauff’s forehand grip, (Extreme western) and I wanted to get your advice.” My comments were….‘“Make that visit your last one to this imposter pro, ask […]
November 14, 2023
Irwin Hoffman was an outstanding tennis professional who called Green Gables Country Club home for many years. Dana Licht is the mother of Amanda Licht who took lessons from Irwin and a very young cowboy. When Amanda was seven years old, Dana invited Mr. Hoffman to come and watch Amanda take a lesson at an […]
November 13, 2023
The year was 1983 and a very young cowboy was in Miami for a coaching workshop. A gentlemen named Peter Burwash was introduced and his name was new to most in attendance. Two things he said have lingered in my skull for forty years. The first was a story he told about traveling to France […]
November 12, 2023
John was fairly new to the game of tennis and uttered the magic words….’I have my own ball machine’. He conveyed that his forehand was pretty erratic with more than the occasional ball being launched and hitting the back fence. We began his lesson by having him hit cross court forehands and sure enough, many […]
November 8, 2023
More than twelve years ago, I was giving a tennis lesson to Khaki and we decided that the thrill of hitting a tennis ball should be captured by a special word. We discussed that hitting the sweet spot provided a percussive feeling and sound and the word seemed to leap into our minds… PACHUUUUNNNNGG! Perfect. […]
October 29, 2023
Jimmy Arias was commentating on a terrific match between Sinner and Medvedev this morning. The younger Sinner had somehow won the first set tiebreaker even while having four net felonies when going over the high part of the net, Back to Arias…he said that Medvedev was in ‘lock down mode where he refuses to miss’. […]
July 22, 2023
We decided to get creative today in an advanced beginner tennis class featuring Diego, Carlos, and Revanth. On the next court, two 10 and under girls were playing a tournament match and they were very good players. Parents and relatives were viewing the match from the viewing area above and were clapping and giving verbal […]
June 9, 2023
A club tennis player lost a match recently to a player she’d beaten routinely in the past. In her next lesson, she told the coach she had tried to take the advice given and play just one point at a time. The coach listened and then responded…’I said play one ball at a time.’ Maybe this […]
May 23, 2023
Years ago, I heard about a banana forehand in tennis. Today, if you google banana forehand, you’ll come up with countless videos of Rafa Nadal’s reverse forehand. Watching a clip or two, I can’t see why anyone likens it to a banana. The old banana forehand was, and, for the most part, still is frowned […]
February 15, 2023
“Good teachers make teaching look easy. Bad ones approach it look like they are haphazardly dissecting a cat. They address every single movement possible and by the time they’re done they’ve taken apart the entire cat. There’s blood and guts everywhere, but where is the cat? Every person comes to the teacher with his own […]
September 13, 2022
I have been preparing my beginning players to play real tennis matches. I’ve stressed the importance of good etiquette and how to keep score. Taking nothing for granted, players have been encouraged to wear ‘pocket pants’ to ensure that play is not interrupted. Hana really took this advice to heart.
September 10, 2022
When 96 year old Queen Elizabeth died earlier this week, a person close to her postulated on what advice she might have given to Prince Charles. ’Keep calm and carry on’. It made me think of US OPEN semi finalist Aryna Sabalenka. In the past year, I had used the words ‘simmering cauldron’ to describe […]
September 10, 2022
It’s a rainy morning in Denver this morning so no tennis for me. I switched on the TV hoping the Tennis Channel might have an exciting match. They were showing a pickle ball men’s doubles match. I watched for ten minutes and, in my mind, tried to compare it to the incredible US OPEN match […]
September 6, 2022
It’s US OPEN time again and the tennis has been cwaaaazzzy great! Former pro and outstanding coach Brad Gilbert has used the word ‘donation’ to describe unforced errors that occur during the hotly contested matches at The Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. His use of the word prompted me to think that club players […]
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