It’s finally here! The trailer for the book and DVD Tennis In A Flash is finally ready. The book and DVD will be available February 18, 2010.

Enjoy the video!

Phil

This is hilarious and Mac gave the Joker a small taste of what it was like facing him back in the day!

Good for you Johnny Mac!!!

Please join me as I preview the 2009 US Open Mens and Womens Draws

JOHN YANDELL VERSUS ROGER FEDERER

Introduction:

In the May 2008 issue of Tennis Magazine its editors suggest that there are four secrets to Roger Federer’s forehand. John Yandell, the originator of www.tennisplayer.com provides the four secrets in an article called MODERN CLASSIC beginning on page 56.
There is only one secret to Roger Federer’s forehand. It is still a secret.

The Article: Modern Classic (by John Yandell)
Yandell suggests that the four secrets to Federer are: (1) The Grip (2) Stance and Torso Rotation (3) Extension and (4) Wiper Finish. If the USTA is correct in suggesting that stroke production evolves to accommodate the grip, secrets 2, 3, and 4 are simply commentary on stroke production that is driven by a particular grip. In theory, secrets 2,3, and 4 are open secrets based on Federer’s grip.

The Yandell/Federer Grip
 

Yandell relates Federer’s grip to an eight-side handle with bevels one through eight going from the top of the handle clock-wise to bevel eight on the top left bevel of the handle. Yandell locates the hand on the racket by suggesting that a particular point on the hand (the base knuckle of the index finger) locates on the intersection of bevels 3 and 4. Yandell notes that Federer keeps part of his hand off the end of the grip.

The Problem with Secret One (Federer’s Grip)
 

People, including Federer, do not hang onto a tennis racket with the base knuckle of the index finger, or the heel of the hand, or the famous “V” between the thumb and index finger. These are simply points on a hand that gripping gurus suggest should be aligned with certain points on the handle.
 

The points on the hand and the points on the handle are then converted, for whatever reason, to geographical points on a world map and called Eastern, Western, Continental or semi-this or modified-that.
 

Points on a hand or handle do not make a grip. Fingers on the hand grip the racket. And more importantly some fingers don’t grip the racket depending on the individual player.
 

Fingers that grip are dominant fingers. Fingers that don’t grip but more or less go along for the ride are blocking, bracing, or indexing fingers.
 

When a hand goes onto a racket, the base knuckle of the index finger will always be someplace. In Yandell’s explanation of Federer’s grip he says it locates on the intersection of bevel 3 and 4. He says the base knuckle shifts downward toward a semi-Western. He than names it a “modified Eastern.”
 

The problem with conventional gripping theory is that when the base knuckle of the index finger is shifted to the right or to the left the name of the grip changes. The theory is that every grip can be characterized by a change of location on the handle. The individual is than labeled with the geographical grip that a reader has become familiar with in conventional wisdom gripping terminology. Yandell dismisses the suggestion that Federer plays with a semi-Western grip and suggests that Federer’s forehand grip is a “modified- Eastern.”

A CONTRARIAN APPROACH TO FEDERER’S FOREHAND GRIP
 

Federer hangs on to a tennis racket with his thumb (primarily the thumb metacarpal) and with his ring-finger (the middle pad). These fingers are dominant. The other fingers can be called blockers, bracers, or indexers. Pete Burwash, in trying to explain the peculiarity of his grip has called them non-dominant digits. Burwash suggests that the middle, ring, and little fingers are dominant when he puts his hand on a racket. Neale Fraser,who has a sterling reputation as player and coach, says that the dominant finger is the little finger coupled with an assist from the butt of the hand. Fraser called his grip the “Australian grip,” while Burwash failed to name his. Burwash has suggested he has given up teaching grips.
 

The base knuckle of the thumb (thumb metacarpal) presses into bevel 1 while the ring finger reaches around the grip and pulls the grip into the palm by placing the middle pad (middle phalanx of the ring finger) on bevel 7. The hand extends down onto the butt cap which becomes part of the gripping surface (the heel of the hand is off the end of the racket).
 

It is unusual for gripping gurus to locate a point on the hand (base knuckle of the index finger) on the intersection of two bevels as Yandell does. But Yandell is probably correct in this. What is happening is that the base knuckle of the index finger (the distal end of the index finger’s metacarpal) braces on the lower part of bevel 3 while the bottom pad of the index finger (lower end of the proximal phalanx of the index finger) braces on bevel four. Normally when the base knuckle of the index finger can be found on bevel 3 the grip can is called Eastern….or in this case, modified Eastern (as Yandell says) since it’s on the lower half of bevel 3.
 

Yandell does not mention nominal grip size or the size of Federer hand. Federer has an exceptionally large hand (long fingers/palm) and uses a small grip size. A recommended grip size to hand size used to be l to l. Federer uses a grip size that is exceptionally small compared to his hand size. This probably better accommodates his gripping techniques and, in fact, my have driven him into his gripping peculiarity with the thumb and ring finger dominant.
 

The use of Eastern, Western, or Continental gripping terms are obsolete. In Federer’s case they should be replaced with: The Federer Peculiarity (or The Federer Twitch). It’s doubtful if Federer’s stroke production (Secrets 2, 3, and 4) can be replicated without knowing the Federer Twitch (Secret 1).

Check out 14 year old “Quack Quack” successfully put away the short ball and listen as I teach you how you can add this powerful weapon to your game!

14 year old “Gumby” aces his opponent during his most recent semi-final appearance!!

Billy is 11 years old and has been playing tennis for almost 1 year. As you can see in the above clip this little kid can really hit a ball.

Did you notice how Billy follows through with his racquet on EVERY shot he takes? I mean he does this EVERY time and not just on this clip.

Did you notice Billy’s racquet head speed? His racquet accelerates through the ball BIG TIME. I have some really good kids here but no one here has that kind of acceleration through the ball.

Did you hear the sound the ball makes coming off the racquet? I did. BAM! BAM! BAM! You should hear the way his serve sounds. BOOM!

See how Billy put away the short ball? No fear just swing normal and follow through!

Because of bad weather Billy hadn’t played in about a month but you couldn’t tell from watching him hit could ya? Keep in mind that Billy only plays 1 hour a week making his progress that much more incredible!

If this kid ever got serious and spent more time on the court I can only imagine how good this kid could be. Hopefully after watching this he’ll realize how much talent he has and want to take it as far as he can!

Kalo Mina! That’s Greek for have a good month….that’s what you’ll hear from both friends and foes in Greece today.

Kalo Mina!

I’d never heard anyone in the states say have a good month to me before…most people are too busy for that….or they don’t care…either way I’d never heard it before until I came here.

Kalo Mina!

I think its a great thing for people to say to one another “have a good month”…don’t you?

Kalo Mina!

Has anyone ever said “have a good month” to you before? The first time someone said that to me I thought they were kidding.

Kalo Mina!

You know what I like about “Kalo Mina”? There’s no hidden meaning behind it…it means what it means.

Kalo Mina!

It’s easy to say…and it has a nice ring to it….just to simple words….say it with me….

KALO MINA!

That’s nice isn’t it? Doesn’t that make you feel good to say that? Doesn’t it feel good to hear it?

Kalo Mina!

Wanna make someones day a little brighter today? Simply say “Kalo Mina”!

Kalo Mina!

To all you out there….friend and foe alike….and especially to the girl of my dreams I’d like to simply say;

Kalo Mina!

Last night while the kids were playing doubles I decided testing my new video camera was a good idea….I had no idea at the time what I was filming would become a perfect lesson on serving in doubles…..the mental part.

Before I begin let me remind you of a few things….Mark (the boy serving) is 10 years old…..this game lasted well over 5 minutes….he was playing against his older brother.

The first thing that stood out was how Mark placed a high percentage of first serves in the box….he used a variety of flat and spin serves which kept the returner off balance. This is very important and something most recreational competitive players don’t understand….and one of the main reasons they get their serve broken.

The second thing that stood out was how well Mark mentally handled mistakes that either he or his partner made…after every mistake he came back with a good ball. He didn’t dwell on the mistakes… he simply played the next ball which is another thing most recreational competitive tennis players fail to do.

The third thing that stood out was Mark didn’t try to do too much….he left his ego on the bench and did what he had to do. I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve seen adults try and hit their first serves as hard as they can and when they miss they try and hit it harder….which is a big mistake. Mark doesn’t do that….and neither does any of my other fulltime students which is why they are the best servers in all of Greece in their respective age groups.

The fourth thing that stood out was how well Mark handled a bad call…the game should’ve been over when he hit a flat serve wide to the ad court the returner couldn’t handle but they called it “out”….this has happened to Mark many times in tournaments…..I’ve seen him fall apart after this happens yet this time he didn’t let it bother him enough to throw away the game….and he made his second serve.

Did you also notice after the bad call Mark’s partner missed an easy ball? That’s two bad things that would have mentally destroyed most players…but not Mark. He just kept right on doing what he’s been taught to do…and he held his serve….another thing most recreational players don’t do very well.

One other thing…the boy in the red is Mark’s older brother Alex…the best junior in Corfu and someone Mark really wants to beat…Alex usually crushes him and as most older brothers want to do Alex taunts him about it afterwards…so Mark had that to deal with as well….

There is so much more to successful serving then just hitting the ball…anyone can do that. In order to serve big in big matches it takes mental toughness…the toughness that Mark is beginning to display and the type of toughness you need in order to hold serve when it matters!

We spend a LOT of time here at the Phil Naessens Tennis Academy™ working on the mental part of the game….I’m tough on kids like Mark because I know how important it is to be able to focus and concentrate when everything around you is chaotic…and Mark shined like the brightest star in the sky because of this.

Do you crumble like a cookie when things aren’t going your way? Mark used to but he doesn’t anymore. He was faced with just about everything that could make him go wild but he stayed calm and focused and did the job and if you come to Corfu I’ll teach you how to do the same.

©2008 PhillyFlash Enterprises All Rights Reserved Worldwide….

This week I will continue my 7 part series 7 Keys to Successful Competition with Key #2…..Practice Makes Perfect…..

Please press the link below.

practice