Carlos Moya’s (pictured above at Roland Garros 2019) coaching has helped Rafael Nadal in his 4 most recent major titles. I have not done anything like that, but I still think the quotes below are worth considering if one plays or follows tennis. “Great shots win points, but good shots win matches.” – Don Isaacs,…
Tag: Tennis Coaching
Emotions in Sports – Bjorn Borg as an Outlier?
I ate out tonight and a soccer recap show was on the big screen. The celebrations and the displays of anger over poor plays were quite volatile to the point of being a bit comical. I know basketball far better than soccer, but again it is easy to think of players celebrating big dunks, making…
Another Conversation with Tim Mayotte: The Kinetic Chain
This past June I was fortunate enough to have a second interview with Tim Mayotte. Mayotte is an incredibly nice person with a lot of well-rounded interests. In that conversation, we discussed multiple things, but when it came to tennis Mayotte explained that the Big 3 in men’s tennis all share certain commonalities in how…
The Self-Similar Nature of Tennis
Tennis can be thought about at a number of levels, but each level is of a similar complexity to the level above or below it. I will look at 3 of these levels. The Level Most People Talk About: Individual Skills One’s technique when hitting the ball, one’s movement on the court, and one’s conditioning…
Second Season: Saint X wins Regional Title with Eyes on the State Tournament
What a Difference 1 Week Makes The 6th Region of Kentucky’s 16 high school tennis regions crowned a familiar champion before regional realignment goes into effect in 2019. Saint Xavier’s tennis team absorbed a tough upset loss on Senior Day 1 week ago. At the same venue, Saint X fended off duPont Manual High School to…
Novak Djokovic’s Coaching Situation: I Like Reuniting with Vajda and a Suggestion
Novak training with God Marian Vajda!!! 🙌🏼 pic.twitter.com/UtoTf1Donw — Ashish (@Ashish_1603) April 8, 2018 Marian Vajda working with Novak Djokovic is a good sign. He is comfortable with Vajda’s approach. Djokovic took a lot of criticism when he split with Todd Martin and worked with Vajda only in Spring 2010. Djokovic then reached the US…
Imperfectly Perfect – Part 2: Season 1’s Emerging Road Warriors
As our first dual match got closer, I had no idea what to expect from our opponents but felt good about our team. The week of our first match, one of the players in my line-up failed to measure up to our weekly academic eligibility standards. I was down to 5 players I trusted to…
Imperfectly Perfect – Part 1: Head Coach?
With the Kentucky high school tennis season having just begun, I am looking back on my coaching start. I became a teacher in August 2002. I mentioned to my co-worker and athletic director that I would like to help both the boys and girls’ tennis teams. He said that would be fine because each team…
Tennis Instruction: Tennis Abides Partnering with PlayYourCourt!
One of my goals for tennis since I started formally coaching in 2002, was to help people interested in tennis have a chance to learn tennis. The sport we love is wonderful, but until a certain tipping point of skills are acquired and a player can keep the ball in play, tennis can be difficult…
Quick Thoughts on Federer-Ljubicic
Get Used to Seeing this on the Practice Courts Like many people who follow tennis, I was not expecting the departure of Stefan Edberg or the addition of Ivan Ljubicic to Team Federer. The news coming out indicates that Edberg was only likely to work with Federer in 2014, but that this agreement was extended…
Tennis Abides: Dan Martin on Tennis and Life 