Flat, Spin, Slice

With the season beginning to change, and the warm spring weather approaches winter just never wants to leave early (in Maryland at least) in the beginning stages of spring around April we always have high winds, temps as low as freezing and rain lots and lots of rain. But wind it almost kills the sport of tennis for most of us heck its probably the second most likely reason why people will play indoors behind the temperature.   I had recently played in the worst conditions ever for a tennis match however I will admit it was not cold, but winds gusting up to 60 MPH, and they would stay at 60 MPH for a few minutes at a time.  It was so bad that when I threw my ball up for service it would literally fly away from me.  Balls one side you could tap and go flying and on the other side, you could hit as hard as you could and barely get over the net. So let's talk about how to play in the wind because the outdoor season is starting for you hig...

Last week our team went down to Hilton Head South Carolina for our spring break trip to play schools from all over the country. The three school we played were Ill. Wesleyan, Marietta, and Concordia.  Out of all these matches, Concordia was our hardest this is a team who has previously won their conference and made it a few rounds into the NCAA and was equal in skill to our rival school Messiah college.   In doubles, it was tuff both 1 and 3 doubles lost but were extremely close both being a score of 8-6 and in 2nd doubles which I was apart of we overcame a 4-7 game deficit and won the match in a tie-break 10-8 Now down 1-2 going into singles we lost at 1 singles, as well as 6 singles both, lost in 3rd set tie breaks however we won at 3 and 4 singles 3 singles was a 3rd set win and 4 was won in straight sets. The score overall is now 3-4, and as I and my doubles partner are resting up to take our singles matches the tension is certainly building for both tea...

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...