I’m talking to tennis players over the age of 40. I am going to give you five tips to help you play better tennis. Are you ready? let’s get started;
The first one is what I just did so I feel really proud of myself and that’s a workout, don’t look at the tennis court as your gym, don’t think that you only maybe workout because if you do, you want to know what’s going to happen!
1. You are going to get hurt
2. You are not going to be playing as good tennis as somebody who
does look at their fitness seriously.
1. If you want an unfair advantage look around the tennis courts and look at players over the age of 40 and then ashes up. How many of these players are working out regularly consistently and working out the right way. I am not talking about getting on the treadmill and walking for 20–30 minutes or even jogging all right! that’s just teaching you how to run slow on the court. You want to be doing explosive exercises, because we know getting older we think that stuff’s not for us.
And actually, that’s exactly what we need to keep working on, you know building up our muscle mass that’s a big one after age 30 we start losing especially men start losing testosterone, we start losing muscle mass and so lifting weights and working with weights is actually a really good thing working on explosive exercise is a really good thing full-body high-intensity workouts very very good thing to be doing and that’s also going to translate to playing better tennis on the court.
I can’t say you from losing a step or two as you get older but you certainly are going to be losing fewer steps in your competition is this going out there and playing on the tennis court and they’re not looking at anything else but the tennis court is our gym so that’s tip number one.
2. It goes into tip number one is moving your damn feet. I even see people fit that’s what really frustrates me when I give a lesson and I see someone fit and they’re not moving their feet it’s like what are you doing you’re actually fit you see the person across from you they’re not fit they’re not
moving their feet and guess what you’re not moving your feet either you’re
moving your feet less than they are and so you’re leaving a lot on the table right there.
You could just blow so many people who are fit especially over the age of 40 they could blow the doors off their competition if they just move their feet split Stephanie not only are you gonna be getting to the ball faster but imagine you’re playing somebody you know, you’re out of shape and then you see somebody across from you who’s moving their feet, their split stepping automatically.
This looks like a much better tennis player than you. They’re intimidating and so besides just the idea of getting to the ball faster which will have you play better tennis, you’re also bringing that intimidation factor in there.
Look at what Rafi on the dowel does to his opponents just by sheer intimidation alone the way he’s moving his feet the energy the attitude well moving your feet as part of it, people start even if they can’t pinpoint what’s better about you.
There’s something about they can see it! it’s obvious like oh they’re a pretty darn good player and they might not even figure out that the reason.
The difference between you and them is that you actually moved their feet
dirt in the seats that something different is going on though then most
people they play, because most people give clinic after clinic and everybody
just stands there and doesn’t move their feet so that’s tip number two for us
passionate totally obsessed tennis players over the age of 40.
3. Know how you win your points, know your game I just did a clinic in Florida there was a really really nice guy who actually ends up being the most improved player of the weekend after we really identified.
Hey, what’s your game alright the first day went out there and played and what he wants to do is he wants to go out there and swing through shots like a Rothfeld Nadal like a Roger Federer.
He wants it that toss and that’s what he really wants but he doesn’t have that development to where it’s actually going to work in a match.
I’m not telling this guy not to work on this or not to try and get a forehand that you can swing through with confidence, that’s really cool especially if it’s important to you.
But that’s not your natural game that’s not how you’re gonna win points, right now that stroke is not developed yet we went out we watched the match of these teaching
pros play.
Later that night he’s watching these teaching pros swing through shots had beautiful shots well that’s because their technique was developed and he said to me you see that’s what I need to be doing and so the next day actually gave a talk to the group saying you really got to know your game and then I did a test there, what do you do well, you punch the ball well, can you chip the ball and add a little more spice on it? can you hit topspin and what I found out with this one gentleman is what he was really
really good at he probably had the best volley and chip technique in the whole camp so what we turned him into that weekend was a chip and charge player a nut a net rusher he embraced the skills? He had rather than fighting against the skills he doesn’t have and he ended up playing much much better tennis and you could see his mood changed the whole weekend, that’s tip number three.
4. Developing new shots I think it’s great especially as we get older in 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s. I mean study after study just proves the more you’re working this right here the younger you stay, you stay in better shape your mind works better. You live longer people who just kind of like think okay you can’t teach an old dog
new tricks well they tend to just deteriorate, I mean I’m sure you’ve seen it in your life so the more you are challenging your brain doing skills especially when you have the mental and the physical working together that is such a healthy thing to be doing. So this one gentleman who wants to go out there and swing like a Roger Federer like a
rock in the Dow Serena Williams your Novak Djokovic he should do that but he should do that on the practice court so the way I want you to develop your strokes is not to like watch a video and then think you’re gonna go out there and use it.
If it’s something you’ve never done before you’d be frustrated you’re gonna think it doesn’t work and you’re gonna lose instead what you want to do is treat it as a secret project.
So let’s just take our one example we’re talking about this guy in Florida who didn’t have a smooth swing yet they could use a match that’s okay.
I’m not telling you to use that now go on go on the practice court do tons of shadow strokes you know do some self bounce feeds go out on the ball machine then start to introduce it maybe go out and ride with somebody with a low compression ball right do things like that rally in the short court go back to the baseline you know a whole bunch of micro progressions is what you need to do and fall in love of the process of
learning rather than being so stressed out.
That is something you want to use the match right away enjoy the journey of learning the new stroke right because it’s not just about winning the matches it’s also about your overall mental physical health. Your’re longevity you’re going to have on the tennis court and in life, so that’s tip number four.
5. The ultimate rally ball! so what’s the ultimate rally ball rally the ultimate ride ball to me is a ball that is going anywhere for or I’ll take the data foot three to six feet over the net even higher is fun because as we get older, we are gonna lose a step so think of it think about all the benefits of developing the ultimate rally ball.
The ultimate rally ball is a shot you can hit a hundred times in a row. that you know however you do it whether you’re hitting topspin whether you’re kind of pushing the ball, I don’t care how you do it but it’s a shot that you feel really confident in that.
Essential Things you mush have when going to court:
- Waterbottle
- Overgrip
- Racquet
- Waterproof Bag
- Towel
- Bandages
Article By Marwats.com
