Flat, Spin, Slice

Some of the content found in this post can be originally found at http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/LC/SelectingRacquet.html.   When it comes to buying a new Racket for tennis their are many things to keep in mind when searching for one.  Factors include Head size, Length, weight & balance, Frame stiffness, string pattern, and finally grip/handle systems.  With head sizes, the range goes from 85-135 square inches, but however, most club players play with a head size of 95-110.  The benefits of a larger head size according to Tennis warehouse (TW) is "A larger head offers a larger hitting area and sweet-spot, providing more forgiveness on off-center hits." with the larger head will also help with shock absorption and will also provide more power due to the pocketing effect. When it comes to length most racket measure to 27in long some are 1/2in longer the longer racket will provide slightly more power and racket head speed.   Weight ...

Universal Tennis Rating has become one of the leading tools for college coaches, players, and recruits are using to compare how they are against other players, schools, and what school they are interested in for playing after high school. However, UTR is not the most accurate tool to determine the potential of a team or a player's ability.  According to the UTR blog, the UTR only looks at the "top 6 players to determine the overall team UTR and posts the score of all six scores to determine the teams overall UTR score.  The acclaimed "UTR Power 6 " is a great tool for Division I and stronger Division II and III players that most players has high UTR scores and helps makes the team more appealing to recruits and sends a "intimidation factor" against other schools.  Andy Murray, British number one, hitting a backhand.  The Truth about UTR Players, coaches, and parent need to remember that UTR ratings are based on match results , whic...

One of the biggest parts about playing for you college, high school or any other tennis team leagues is the traveling.  This past weekend me and my team went to Salisbury Maryland to play our first two matches. For the most part I actually enjoy going to other schools to play matches, because I personally like the change of scenery, as well as the trip down to where ever we are going. Our trip to Salisbury was about 3 hours long in a large transit van one everyone loaded up their bags and clothes we all picked a seat and hit the road.  Mostly the trip is great everyone his trying to have a good time talking about how they expect to do both in classes and on court. Sometimes we take music request, and get a group rap in that also can be pretty fun when the non- musically inclined players get into it. In terms of space per person sometimes it can get a little cramped but it all depends on the amount of people as well as the type of vehicle that is being brought. Finall...

This past weekend was our season opener against Salisbury University.  Before I start to talk about the match, here some background info on them. Salisbury last year ended inside the top 20 in the Atlantic South Regional Rankings. Both of my coaches were part of the team during their college years. My doubles partner, who's also our team's number one singles guy, went to Salisbury last year and played for them before transferring to my school, Stevenson University. Here's where it gets interesting, Stevenson Men's Tennis never won a single match against them in singles or doubles. I had one goal in mind, pulling an upset against the team. MATCH DAY My partner and I were playing #1 doubles against Salisbury. My partner was kind of nervous since he was playing against his old school at the #1 spot for singles and doubles. I pretty much told him, "we winning this (not exactly like that because the literal translation involves a lot of profanity)." ...

There's been a lot of confusion on how to spell racket for tennis. So here's a quick look which one is the right one to use: Racket: Racket is the common spelling for paddle sports that uses a net such as tennis and badminton. However, in North America, the spelling is commonly used for all paddle sports. Racquet:  Racquet is used for sports such as squash or racquetball. The word "racquet" is also used for context or a name for a place. For example, the "Greenspring Racquet & Fitness Club" Did you know?  Racquet was actually a misspelling from a french word since it first enter to the English language in the 19th century. The correct answer is... Racket is the prefer spelling in tennis while Racquet is the preferred spelling when talking about a tennis club and sports like squash or racquetball

Happy Valentine's Day! While people get chocolates, go on romantic dinner dates, spend a day with their love ones, have a magical day, etc. (I would have no clue what people do on Valentine's day.) We are here to talk about love. No, not that kind of love that you see in romantic comedies or in real life that makes us say "awww," but why 0 in tennis is called love. So sit back, eat some chocolates and continue reading to learn why. The number zero is called love in tennis since it came from a word in french called l'oeuf which means an egg in the shape of a zero. Not just any egg, a goose egg. Over the years, people began to overuse the term and eventually people mispronounced the french word and all of sudden, you got love-all to represent 0-0 in the tennis scoring system. (photo by Wornden Ly) There is also another theory that people uses the word "love" to show respect to the game and to the opponent. If you think about it, if we are teaching...

For any college athlete of any sport it is inevitable that you will have one bad practice within your four years of playing.  It can honestly be the most frustrating thing because you play at a level that you know you are far beyond. For me this most recently happened to me on Friday 2/09/2018 for me that day any offensive shot I went for went out as well as any first serve, and when that happens you build up unneeded pressure upon yourself  which wont help in preforming better. My advice would be pretty standard.  When frustration was building up I had to remain calm and go back to basics, with mental reminders and slowed my pace down, and after a while my game did eventually returned to me. 

I've been using several many different rackets throughout out the years, but my racket of choice is Head Graphene Prestige Pro. The Head Graphene Prestige Pro is consider an more control-oriented advanced player's racket. Most recreational players prefer to use a lighter racket with a blend of power and control, these are call "tweener" rackets. The Prestige Pro is a heavier racket weighing at 11.7 oz so it is a lot heavier compare to most frames. In exchange, the racket will give more plow through, which will help generate a heavy ball. Not only my racket is heavy, it also has a thinner beam compare to tweener rackets. Thinner beams allows for more flex on the head of the racket which gives more control since power is being absorb through the flex of the racket. The flex on the racket also helps with less vibration on the racket, giving a soft, plush feel when hitting the ball.  My racket also has a 98 sq. in head size, which allows for more control of directi...

When competing in the college level it is critical to always improve yourself to keep up with the challenges of recruits and rival schools, and in tennis it really can be hard to measure your progression in you development in the sport.   The racquet that I use is a Babolat AeroPro Drive Play.  The Aero line has been in Babolat's line up since 2005 which is a stiffer frame which allows for more  power, and less control.  Babolat has different trim levels with racquets being in order lite, team, regular, plus, tour, and play.   These trims usually are associated with weight, but the plus means the racquet is extended by half and inch, and the Play means that the racquet has a computer inside the handle which will measure multiple statistics such as ball rpm, power, as well as contact on the racquet string bed.   This is measured in percentages amongst the top ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) players....