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January 27, 2004 *** Next Instructional Live Webinar *** Available to WebTennis.net Premium Members Hi and welcome to the Jan 27, 2004 issue of the WebTennis.net Newsletter. Man... busy, busy, busy... I'm moving this weekend and procrastination is ruling! I'll get there, but I gotta find a couple of young guys who can deal with some heavy lifting. My days of performing the "self move" are history! And my tennis colleagues are way too old to lift anything more than an old Jack Kramer 13 ounce racket (yeah, you know guys know who you are...!), so I'm thinking maybe a couple of Georgie's buds from the Campo football team wouldn't mind making a few extra dollars this Saturday... Wish me luck...! OK, here we go, and three things to mention... First, all Premium Members get an "Open Mic" Webinar tomorrow night, Wed Jan 28, 6-7pm PST. The teleconference phone # and access code are listed at the Premium Member Center. If you're not a member, it's just $7 / month. See the box below for Webinar details, Premium Member benefits, and how to subscribe...
Second, here's a tip you can watch in action at the Australian Open... and I mentioned to you last year about watching Lisa Raymond and learning from her style of play. Both Lisa and Andre Agassi are tremendous percentage players, but they have different styles of how to challenge their opponents. Andre has become Mr. Cross Court from the baseline over the past few years. I mean this guy is beautifully using the court geometry and his court positioning to challenge his opponents into hitting low percentage shots. His opponents are less worried about him actually coming into net and forcing them to have to pass Andre. They're much more concerned that Andre is just never going to miss hitting cross court. He hits the ball as well as anyone and can pretty much deal with anything his opponents can come up with. And because he consistently hits cross court (lowest part of the net, longest distance to hit into, biggest part of the court to hit into, and least amount of footwork needed to immediately recover to the "center" of the court), his opponents know they'll have to eventually hit up the line to try to challenge Andre. And unless they either hit a clean winner up the line or at least really stretch him out, all they're doing is setting up Andre for him to drill another big groundie cross court where his opponent now has to cover a ton of court to retrieve Andre's shot. Major problem... His stroke mechanics are so clean and unencumbered with any artificial set up, swing shape, or finish. He does get a bit semi-western on that forehand grip which I don't recommend you use, but that's him and for his style, it works... For us, I'd prefer the Eastern Forehand grip so that you don't become one-dimensional. I love watching Andre play, and we can learn a ton from his strokes and strategies, but if I have to pick a player for the rest of us to model, I'd much rather have you copy Lisa Raymond. She poses a different challenge to her opponents... Her opponents know that if they play any of their shots short or if Lisa senses she's hit a shot to a corner that is stretching out her opponent, everyone knows she's darting up to net and forcing her opponents to pass right then and there... And she, like Andre, does get a little semi-western on her forehand groundie. But after that, she's got the ability to go to any grip that is appropriate for her transition up to net... We all know she's one of the all time great women's doubles players. And that's they key for me. You can really improve your singles by playing a ton of doubles. I'd much rather see you present problems to your opponents in singles because they worry about your desire to end the point at net. That mental pressure they endure is totally different than if they know you're only a baseliner... The thought of you just wanting to come into net will get you some unforced errors from your opponents. So, what's the lesson here today? Keep working on your transition skills. Baseline, approach, first volleys, 1/2 volleys, put away volleys, drop volleys, and overheads. It's just plain more FUN...! Play more doubles and never, ever stay back even if you've got the weakest serve this side of Mars. Try to make your return of serve in doubles a simple approach shot. Transition... Have fun out there, move forward, take your time with your shots, be quick in getting to balls, and yet, never a need to rush the stroke... Here's where to enroll for the instructional Webinar on Wed. Jan 28, 6-7pm PST This is a one hour live instructional Webinar hosted by me where you'll also be able to ask any questions you may have regarding stroke mechanics and/or singles or doubles strategies. To enroll... Current Premium Members: Please enroll via the Premium Member Center Non Premium Members: Here's where to become a WebTennis.net Premium Member And finally, my good pal Scott Borowiak has two outstanding tennis trips coming up. One to Acapulco and another to the Italian Open... If you've ever been on one of Scott's trips, then you know, this guy delivers as promised. Scott's been organizing tennis trips and tours for over 25 years, and because of his experience, Scott knows the "ins and outs" of all of the best local hidden away restaurants, fun things to do, and places to go... Here are a few of the highlights of these two upcoming trips...
February Tennis in Acapulco
For
additional details and pricing, please contact Scott at
borotennis@aol.com
The Italian Open - Santa Costanza Package
Tour Includes: For
additional details and pricing, please contact Scott at
borotennis@aol.com NEW Instructional Product from Brent The Fundamentals of the One-Handed
Backhand Groundstroke Drive
I've produced my own instructional product for this shot, the one-handed backhand groundstroke. It's a CD and DVD of 60 minutes of video lessons and audio clips. The video lessons play on both the CD and DVD. The audio reminders play on the CD from either your computer or car CD players. The CD and DVD set will be shipped within 24 hours of your purchase and generally take no more than a couple of days to arrive to you if you live within the continental U.S. Here's what you get...
NEW Doubles Instructional Product - Online and CD...! "Your Top Ten Biggest
Challenges in Doubles" by Brent Abel and Pat Blaskower After reading the latest issue of Tennis magazine, maybe it should be the top eleven challenges which would include one about having to deal with all of the mis-information you have to put up with out there...! (OK, I'm calming down, hang in there with me...!) Doubles coaching guru Pat Blaskower and I have partnered up to give you the answers to ten of your most often asked questions about how to deal with specific situations in doubles...
Pat and I took your ten most asked questions and discussed exactly how to solve those problems. This instructional product is a one hour discussion segmented into 11 parts (intro and the answers to the ten questions).
Here's what you get... - Immediate access to the one hour online presentation of this lesson. You can listen to each of the ten answers directly from the webpage. - Each answer is a discussion between me and Pat which gives you our combined teaching and playing wisdom of nearly 100 years (yikes...!). - Each answer is a MP3 file that you can also download to your computer where you can listen "off-line" and/or burn your own CD. - The lesson CD will be immediately shipped to you. - PLUS, unlimited email and telephone support from Brent! Yep, I'm available to help you. Just let me know. - And with all of my instructional products, you get my 100% fully refundable lifetime player satisfaction guarantee.
Buy Now
$39 Feedback and Contact... As you know, I'm always interested in your opinion of my newsletters, products, and your overall tennis learning experience with me. Please feel free to drop me a line if you have any suggestions, criticism, ideas for topics, whatever... I want to hear from you...! Thanks. |
"What's your single most
important question on how to immediately improve
your
own
tennis?"
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Scott
Borowiak Tennis & Golf Tours
offers
you a unique opportunity to view one of the most colorful tennis tournaments
in the world in historic Rome. In the past years, nineteen of the top twenty
ranked ATP players competed in this Tennis Masters Series Event. In addition
to the city tours and optional group dinners, guests will be invited to play
tennis on red clay at the
