Open or Closed Stance on my Forehand?

7 year old Bobby just spent 2 hours watching a rerun of one of the now many, great Nadal-Federer finals. He watched them both rip open stance forehands (Moya photo above) from various points on the court and was inspired to try to hit just like that at his 4 pm practice drill. Except the coach kept telling Bobby, step in to the ball, don't over rotate, close your stance, you're too far from the ball. Needless to say, this left Bobby confused. What to tell Bobby? That two options are better than one, choose accordingly.

Most little kids don't have the balance and the footwork to get to the ball, setup in open stance and then generate their own pace from there. Without a doubt they should be taught open stance, but by no means as the only option. Tennis has advanced today and there are a lot of old techniques that have been exhiled but hitting a closed stance shot is not one them. Yes, these days almost everyone hits an open stance forehand because the game has gotten faster, the balls land deeper with more pace and it is inefficient and nearly impossible to turn sideways and step into every shot, players today use their torso and their hips to rotate that shot back into the court without a full turn and a step in. However, when there is time to set up and to step in to a ball that is inside the court and infront of you, by hitting a closed stance shot, you'll hit a powerful, more accurate shot, keep the momentum moving into the court, which will make your play that much more aggressive and give your body a chance to get to net faster to win the point. Not to mention there is no fear of being pushed back by the ball since you're the one stepping into it.

How to do it?

- See the direction of the ball
- Anticipate its depth and speed
- Turn your body sideways
- Racquet back with butt of the racquet pointing at the ball as well as your other hand
- Get ready to transfer your weight from the back to the front foot
- Step forward into the shot, you want to be behind the ball, not sideways going straight into it
- Drive the ball
- Fully extend your arm towards the target before coming around and following through
- Try not to move your head throughout the stroke
- Your follow through should end up over your shoulder although some prefer to make a semi circle finishing at the elbow
- Finally, determine whether your shot was good enough to close into the net and finish off the point

Indian Wells Recap

On the women's side the title goes to Vera Zvonareva. Its about time she captured a big tournament. Safina's run to number one was slashed by Viktoria Azarenka, who with her performance was able to break into the WTA top 10 of singles and doubles. She went on to lose to Zvonareva in the semis. Zvonareva took down Ivanovic in the finals 7-6(5), 6-2 for the championship. Not only did she shine in singles, but she also captured the doubles title with Azarenka, beating Shahar Peer and Martinez Sanchez in the final. Overall it was a great showing for a lot of the youngsters and signals an exciting season ahead.

On the men's side, all hail Nadal. Once again the champion battled through the draw. Roddick ended up beating Djockovic in a full match, those who remember their meeting at the Australian will appreciate that. Roddick lost in the semis to Nadal. Federer on the other side of the draw beat Gonzales in 3 sets, then beat Verdasco in two for the quarters and lost to Murray 6-1 in the 3rd. In the finals, Nadal destroyed Murray 6-1, 6-2. This was the 3rd consecutive time he took out Murray. Can the guy be stopped? The surprise on the men's side came in doubles, when the 1 seeded Bryan Brothers lost to unseeded Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the semis. The Bryan brothers were the only seeds to even make it to the semis as there were a lot of upsets and the title went to childhood friends Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick in what must have been a very exciting final with the score of 3-6, 6-1, 14-12.

Tournament and News Recaps

Sony Ericsson Open:
Men's Champion:
Andy Murray defeated Djockovic 6-2, 7-5 in the finals and Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 in the semis. En route to the finals, Djockovic defeated Federer in the semis 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and the top seed Nadal was upset by Del Potro in the quarters 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(3).
Women's Champion:
19 year old Viktoria Azarenka defeated an injured Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1 for her third title. Serena beat Venus in the semi's 6-3 in the third. Jankovic lost 2cnd rd to Gisela Dulko after a bye and Safina lost 3rd to Stosur after one win. Azarenka beat Kuznetsova to get into the finals against Serena 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.


Safina became World #1 Arpil 20th. With Serena's injury and first rd lost at the Andalucian Experience, Safina was able to overtake her points. Here is what she had to say about it:
"It's a great honor to reach the number one ranking and it is a dream that every girl who has ever wanted to play professional tennis shares. It is even extra special for me since my brother Marat was able to reach the number one ranking (in 2000) and I am happy to share this achievement with him. There's no question that while I am very proud of my results over the past year, I would have liked to reach this achievement in a different manner. I hope to prove to everyone over the coming months that I merit the honor of being world number one."

Andalucia Tennis Experience WTA Tournament:
Jelena Jankovic was able to regroup after her last two tournament 1st rd losses and beat fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-3 for her first title of the season.

MPS Group Championships:
A promising teenager, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1 6-2 to win this event, making it her fourth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour career title

Family Circle Cup:
Another promising teenager captured this prestigious title as an underdog. Germany’s Sabine Lisicki beat fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 in the final as well as Bartoli and Venus Williams en route, to claim her first career WTA title and jump from the 60s to the 40s in the rankings.

Monte Carlo Masters Series:
Nadal beat Djockovic in the final 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 but didn't play his best according to his team.

Barcelona Ladies Open:
Unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0 6-4 to win her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.

Married!
Both Roddick and Federer tied the knot this past week. Federer married his long time girlfriend and expectant mother Mirka Vavrinec in a small ceremony in Switzerland. Andy Roddick married his swimsuit model girlfriend Brooklyn Decker in Texas.
http://tennis-atp.blogspot.com/2009/04/photos-andy-roddick-brooklyn-decker-on.html
http://tennis-atp.blogspot.com/2009/04/photos-roger-federer-and-mirka-wedding.html

Burn out victims inspired:
Kim Clijsters is back in training after she refound the "desire" as well as Gaston Gaudio, a former French Open Champion. Gaston Gaudio, who is ranked 966th after nearly retiring for 2 years, won his first ATP match in two years at the Barcelona Open. Gaudio said earlier this year that he had rediscovered his enthusiasm for the game.

Marketing and Advertising:
Aside from Jankovic signing with a Chinese company for 5.1 millions dollars, Sharapova sketching dresses for the French Open she may or may not play and promoting Unilever's dandruff shampoo called Clear and Cole Haan sports attire...here is a video worth watching
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/multimedia/default_video.asp?videoid=1151 and this one too http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9G2iIYkPSg

Television News:
Reality TV, we can't live without it. Martina Hingis will now be joining Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles as a reality tv star. Hingis has been in London filming ITV’s Beat the Star, a show that pits a star against a member of the public in physical and mental challenges. Maybe it will pop on the internet for those of us that don't have ITV.

Justine Henin Gives Back to Kids

Justine Henin may be the only number one to retire at such a young age due to "burn out" but she doesn't cease to impress everyone with her gifts. Henin just launched an official website for her non-profit organization that supports different projects aimed at kids suffering from serious illnesses like cancer. You can see for yourself at www.justineforkids.be.

Justine can be quoted off her site: "After several months of work, I am very happy to launch my new charity organisation, Justine For Kids. Children living with illness face many painful and difficult obstacles. It's always necessary to have the desire to fight, to hope and the spirit to believe in dreams. This is the message of Justine For Kids which wants to bring a little comfort to the children who suffer."

In addition, the RTBF tv channel has also fallen for the gift of Justine Henin and is making her into a television star. Reportedly, she will be on a show called De twaalf werken van Justine Henin, which translates as The twelve works of Justine Henin, in which she will have to take on 12 various challenges from modeling, to cooking to becoming a part of a soccer team. She was also given a part in a popular soap opera called Plus belle la vie, to play herself. But, that is not all, she will also be a VJ, and start hosting a music show that revolves around world renowned singer Lara Fabian.

While we are on the subject of Belgian tennis greats, it cannot go unreported that the speculations about Kim Clijster's return to the WTA have been confirmed as true. She was seen training on and off the court for several hours each day with a coach and trainer and she has officially asked the WTA for wild cards into the hard court events, namely Toronto, Cincinnati and the US Open. "I don't need to be number one again. I have done that and I don't need to do it again. I am just going to see how things evolve", says Clijsters. Who knows maybe she was inspired by Jelena Dokic and will herself in turn inspire Justine Henin to give it another try.

Tennis is Growing!

The nets have just been put back up on the local courts here in the north east, and already the courts are packed with recreational players. Tennis may not have the popularity of Sunday night football or March Madness, but the argument could be made that more people play tennis, than watch it, and those that are true fanatics do a lot of both.

Each year the USTA and the Tennis Industry Association call upon the Taylor Research Group to report some statistics on how many people are hitting the courts out there. Apparently the number is far greater than 15 years ago. Last year 27 million recreational players got out there; that's 12% more than in the last few years and 7%more than just last year. The study also showed that 5.62 million players report playing around 21 times a year and another 5.91 million people take up tennis as something new each year. This is not even counting the rest of the world and the professional and junior athletes.

Another clear indicator is the fact that ball sales have gone up %15 percent since 2003. Perhaps the great athletes we have today, alongside the marketing efforts and the belles of the court have all contributed to the popularity. But then again there are those that briefly follow it but love to get out and play more than they know. The most important thing is participation. Tennis is a family game and a game for people of all ages. This is why Tennis Racquets for Kids exists; everyone should have the opportunity to play because tennis is great!

Practice Makes Perfect, Preparation Makes Opportunities

  In this day and age, talent as natural ability and work ethic translated as tons of practice are absolutely necessary ingredients. Close behind that, are motivating factors which could be parents or coaches, or maybe just internal drive. Financial support is necessary, because lets face it, lessons, court time, travel, tournament entries, and equipment all cost money that kids don't make themselves.   Most players are on board with the above essentials and only few rise to the occasion.

This is where preparation makes the difference. What you ate, how fit you are off the court, how strong you are and how flexible. Like all other sports, tennis is no exception, you have to swing the racquet for hours a day but then you have to hit the gym, run some miles, do your stretches and try to fuel your body with the right things. Tennis Racquets for Kids believes in the essentials and emphasizes the importance of fitness for tennis and good health.

Stretching: 

Before you play it is recommended by experts to do dynamic stretching as opposed to static stretching. If static means staying in one place then dynamic is the opposite, it is stretching while moving. The old way, of holding one stretch for a few seconds actually reduces performance of the muscles because it doesn't fire up the muscles rather relaxes them and for a sprint and stop sport like tennis, that is bad. So jogging a few laps and proceeding with walking up and down lunges and high knees across the court and torso twists is more the way to go. Once you're done playing, then it is a good idea to sit down and do some still stretches holding each for 30 seconds or so to cool down the muscles that were just tensing for the past hour or so.

Strength: 

You have to be strong in tennis, even if you're only ten. While it is a good idea to hire a personal trainer,this is not practical and most people cannot afford one. You can pay a visit to a bookstore to evaluate the many good tennis exercise books on the shelves that will give you the same exercises a trainer will. Kids should work out with supervision.  The workout can take place anywhere; in the house, apartment or backyard, but it has to be done correctly. Strength building exercises should be done twice a week. Things like lunges, planks, squats, abs and push ups. You don't even need weights, your body weight and a medicine ball with a rubber band will do most of the time. These exercises should be done in several sets and made up of several repetitions. 

What happens when you play and you're weak? Your muscles get tired sooner, you get out of breath, the lactic acid crawls into the muscles and you stop bending your knees, you stop accelerating your arm on your serve and you are no longer capable of running down the balls and keeping it in play long enough to win points. Strong muscles also help prevent injuries and give you the force you need to create power and play at a higher level.  

Speaking of injury prevention, there are injury prevention exercises that should be done before practice with a rubber band. These will ensure that the correct muscles are warmed up with several sets of restraining repetitions. If you are not sure what these terms mean, you can always ask a coach or look it up online, there is a ton of material written on the subject.<

Fitness: 

All sports require off court fitness to make you better, faster,and stronger. This is necessary if you want to compete at a high level. Some people play tennis to get fit. These exercises are good for all children and can help fight fight childhood obesity if done on a regular basis.

  If you want to be a competitive tennis player good fitness is essential. It is necessary to help grind out those long matches. You need to do long distance running of several miles a week and short timed miles once a week. Long distance running is not very good for tennis players because it builds the long lean muscles they really do not use. Long distance once a week is for stamina, the muscles you want to build are quick fire sprinting ones. Biking is also a great way to get those muscles working. Interval workouts are the best for tennis, where you sprint for 30 seconds then jog for 3 minutes. In tennis its also important to be able to move in all four directions, up back and side to side. Shuffle sprints are very important as well. Last but not least recommendation is plyometrics. There is nothing better for tennis. That involves a little bit of jump rope and a lot of jumping and sprinting, hurdles and boxes. Don't forget to give yourself days off and alternate the workouts to give yourself time to regroup and prevent injuries!

Food:

Athletes need to eat, they need energy and they need muscles. Unless you're playing defense on a football team, you need to be light enough to fly like a butterfly and sting like a bee too. Which means eating right. Athletes need carbs but need to limit the fat, because the fat won't let the body use the carbs. If you watched the Olympics and saw the special on what Michael Phelps eats, you would be shocked, but athletes like that burn more calories than we can imagine. It is good to eat a while before you play and pack snacks if you plan on playing a while. Good to go for lean meat protein and low fat foods. Hydrating is perhaps the most important, since tennis is not only physical but also playing in hot weather typically. 16-20 ounces of Propel throughout an hour sounds ok. Visits to Starbucks for coffee are not at the top of the list as caffeine is a stimulant and can make you jittery. Fruits and nuts make perfect snacks while you play. After you finish with your tennis for the day, eat within 30 minutes, it will fit in the metabolic schedule your body maintains to get you refueled and ready to play again.

This little intro to preparation sounds like a lot, but really everything listed are just small elements of the whole picture of competitive tennis. Its hard to find the time to do everything because of the hectic lives we lead, kids lead, but at the same time its a very rewarding thing, as all these things are not work in a cubicle or lessons at schoold behind the desk. These activities should be fun and benefit the overall health of your body. These things are for your tennis, but even more so for you. So think of it as you time and don't be lazy.

Check out this really great fitness resource http://fitspott.typepad.com/fitspott/

Visit Tennis Racquets For Kids to help children play tennis.