Instantly Improve Your Tennis Serve With These 7 Simple Tips

1) Know Your Optimum Hitting Zone
Stand close to and facing the fence on a tennis court. Reach up with your tennis racquet to the fence with maximum arm extension and note where the racquet touches the fence. This is roughly where your arm and racquet should be reaching towards when you hit the ball.

2) Don't 'Toss the Ball' - Lift the Ball!
I believe that many people get confused with the term 'toss the ball'! A much better way to think is of 'lifting the ball' towards the hit zone.

Hold the ball by forming a tripod with your thumb and first two fingers, palm facing upwards and use a very light grip. Keeping the arm as relaxed and straight as possible, raise the arm upwards towards your hit zone, releasing the ball in front and to the right of you (for right handers) by opening the 'tripod'. A good image to think of for proper ball release is of your first 3 fingers looking like a flower opening its petals. The ball should be getting to just above, or a maximum of one foot above, your optimum hitting zone found out from tip 1 above. You can experiment with the ball height to find what suits your serving rhythm.

3) Get a Consistent Ball Toss
When you find your optimum hit zone, you need to be able to consistently put the ball in this spot, which will in turn improve your serves consistency.

When you know where the ball should be placed for your optimum hit point, toss the ball to that point and let the ball land in front of you, noting where the ball lands. Place your racquet on the ground where the ball landed and use your ball toss to get the ball to consistently land on the racquet.

4) Keep Your Toss/Lifting Arm Extended for as Long As Possible When You Release the Ball
This really does help you reach for the ball and will reduce the amount of times that you put the ball into the net.

5) Back Scratch
To get maximum power you need to feel like you are throwing the racquet from the middle of your back towards the optimum hit zone. To practice this, start your serve by having the racquet placed as if you were scratching the right hand side of your back with the racquet (for right handers). The racquet tip will be pointing towards the floor at this point

6) Throw the Racquet at the Ball!
From the back scratch position it should feel like you are throwing the racquet at the ball. If you have an old racquet that you no longer use then you can get this feeling and practice it by throwing your old racquet from the 'back scratch position' towards the hit zone and letting the racquet go! The racquet should fly upwards and land some distance away from you. Apparently this is one of the methods that the Williams sisters use to practice their serve technique!

SAFETY NOTE: please ensure that nobody is close to you that may be hit by your flying racquet!

7) Check that You Have a Good Finish Position
To get maximum power you need to have good racquet head speed. If you follow the steps above then when the stroke finishes the racquet should be stopping at your left hand side, with your right hand finishing up in the middle of your left thigh (for right handers). Don't try to force this follow through, your finish position should be as a result of throwing the racquet at the ball but if you do naturally end up in this position then it is a good sign that you have a proper swing path. If you don't end up in this position, check you are doing the tips outlined above correctly. If you are doing those correctly then try to visualise your hand finishing in the middle of your left thigh. That should get you finishing your service motion properly.

A Final Word on the Service Grip
You should also try to develop hitting your serve with a 'continental grip' (also sometimes called a 'chopper grip') but that is not an instant tip so please feel free to look up information about this grip and try it out. If you don't currently use this grip and want to give it a try then practice it gradually, so as not to cause any injuries. If in doubt about this grip then seek the assistance of a professional tennis coach who can help you with this!

Remember, whilst these tips can lead to instant improvement, if you want to also see medium and longer term results then please keep practicing these tips. Your whole game will thank you for it and you will really look forward to serving in any situation!

To get more tips, news and advice from Ian Clark visit http://www.simplytennisinformation.com You'll also get a FREE REPORT called 7 Simple Tennis Tips that will Instantly Improve Your Game.

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Get the Best Wrist Exercise With the Powerball Neon Power Ball

Wrist exercise is not limited to young men and women, older people is also need to do it. In this regard, various products for wrists exercises are coming out in the market and the Powerball Neon is just one of the few popular wrist exercise gadgets today. Powerball Neon or also commonly known as gyro exerciser has the same size of a tennis ball but a little bit heavier. However, the big and most interesting difference between the tennis ball and the Powerball Neon is the extraordinary sensation you can feel, the moment you take the Powerball into your hand, set the rotor in motion using the cord provided. By the time you already get used of your Powerball, you can take the rotor in motion using your fingers.

As you start with your gyro exercise, a gyroscopic force will let the powerball come alive slowly giving you a pleasant resistance to your movement and will eventually transmitted into your wrist and arms providing a soothing, non-impact rehabilitation at a lower speed.

The moment you get use to your powerball, bring it into a higher level like the 10,000 rpm and experience a stronger and more vibrant sensation. Try to take it higher to 12,000 rpm until you reach the unbelievable 15,000 rpm, where the powerball exerts almost 40lbs of pressure into your limbs. This one of a kind exercise machine uses no battery, no motor, only pure gyroscopic power making this the first human propelled device ever.

It is advisable that you will get one with a screen, as it will provide a great incentive for you to keep using it, for you can keep or view your progress via the screen. If you are the one who are in a tight budget or simply do not have the time to visit to the gym for some weights, the Powerball Neon is the best tool to keep. It can hurt your arms at first, but will keep your arms solid overtime. While playing with the Powerball, it is advisable to watch your television with the subtitle on, for the powerball is a bit loud. In addition, you do not have to worry about electricity when using it for it is human powered.

There are many series of powerball neon available. You might want to check out our website for more information. You can also read other sports equipments from our website: Sporting Goods Review

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Three Secrets You Want to Know to Playing Your Best Tennis

There are so many millions of people who play tennis everyday throughout the world. They play in public parks, country clubs, private tennis courts, and anything in between (i.e. against a wall).

Tennis is the only sport I know that begins with love and is a sport for a lifetime. I remember the great Sugar Daddy, Bobby Riggs who said in one of the many tennis clinics he taught, "Tennis is a sport you can play from cradle to grave."

Why do people enjoy playing tennis? I believe because it is a classy sport. It is a sport you can play for as short as 15 minutes or as long as 3 to 5 hours, it all depends on your ability level and motivation. I was fortunate enough to play professional tennis. I had a world ranking in the ATP Tennis of 662 in singles and 457 in doubles. I had wins over players ranked in the top 200 in singles in the world and wins over players ranked in the top 50 in doubles.

In this article, I want to provide you with the three secrets to playing your best tennis. Of course, there are more than three secrets, but three secrets are enough to help you play better tennis.

First, there is no substitute to practicing, practicing, over and over and over again. Practice is the seed to building confidence! When you practice in addition to playing tennis regularly, you will feel a sense of accomplishment, you will feel that you deserve to win because you know for yourself that you have been investing the time to improve your game. So, practice at least two to three hours extra a week if you are a club tennis player. If you are a tournament player you should practice at least 15 hours a week, which equals to 3 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Second, visualize yourself hitting the tennis ball perfectly. Imagine yourself in the movie screen of your mind that you are moving side to side, running forward and backward, hitting each ball with perfect accuracy. Visualize your forehand, backhand ground strokes being hit over the net with 3 to 5 feet clearance. Picture every stroke you hit with perfect ball control. See each of your tennis strokes, feel each tennis stroke, and experience each and every tennis stroke you hit with confidence. Repeat this each time pre and post tennis game or match. By so doing, you are training your mind or inner game to manifest itself in your outer game or physical game. Tennis is a mind game once you have learned all the fundamentals of each tennis stroke.

Third, watch the big players or your favorite tennis pro on the ATP or WTA tour and copy their tennis style. Watch YouTube videos or television footage of your favorite player over and over again until you emulate their movements. One of my favorite players to watch when I was playing competitive tennis was John McEnroe (USA) and Guillermo Villas (Argentina). I use to watch McEnroe's serve and literally copy his serve. I would watch Villas hit his ground strokes over and over again until I was mirroring Guillermo Villas' ground strokes. It was usually after watching these great tennis players in a grand slam event that I mirrored their mannerisms. After all, why event the wheel, copy what the big players do and do the same. Of course, as your tennis game matures, you will begin to develop your own style and preferences.

So, there you are the three secrets you want to know to playing your best tennis! Remember, there is no substitute to practicing each and every day in addition to playing regularly tennis matches. Begin today if you do not already do so; visualize yourself hitting the tennis ball with each and every tennis stroke perfectly until you are confident in your mind and in your heart that you can execute it with ease and confidence. And, finally, do not reinvent the wheel, copy the tennis players on the tennis tour by watching their tennis until can have someone say on the side line, "Hey, that person hits the ball like Roger Federer or Maria Sharapova." Before you know it you will be winning your club tournaments and filling your shelves with trophies.

Want to learn how to play tennis better? Go visit my FREE Online Tennis Lessons and become a member of my Online Tennis Club. Tell others if you like what you find. Go to: Join DMACTennis.com it's FREE [http://DMACTennis.com].

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Agility Training For Tennis

The tennis game is becoming faster and faster and being able to move well and to be quick on the court is now a requirement to become a great tennis player. Do be quick on the tennis court, players have to be able to move fast to the ball but it is also very important to recover fast in order to be ready for the next shot. Different kind of footwork techniques are used by tennis players and this include, quick and small step, forward, sideways and backwards movements. Quickness for tennis needs to include all those different kind of movements and this should be trained regularly.

Some players are naturally quicker and faster than other but agility and quickness can always be improved and this at any level. To be quick it is important to be able to move in any direction with the right technique and this can be done on court or off court with a lot of footwork drills.

During a match, for most of the shots players have to be on the ball in 3 or 4 steps max and they have to be well balanced when they hit the ball. Balance training for tennis is then an other important part to include in fitness training. This can be done by executing drills on unstable surface or on one leg. Quick and small steps will help the players to be set up in the right position and this can be worked by doing quick feet drills around cones.

The first step is the most important in order to be quick on the court and it should be as explosive as possible. A good and explosive first step will make a huge difference while moving to the ball. To be efficient the first step should be done in the direction on the ball. This seems obvious but a lot of players have the tendency to step backwards first in order to be able to push off better on the ground. Stepping toward the ball in an explosive way is one of the key to improve your quickness.

Once the player is on the ball and hit his shot, he needs to get ready for the next one and this is why recovery steps are also very important. A lot of players are quick and explosive but do not recover as fast as they could do. The best footwork technique for recovery steps is to execute a big crossover step and then to use sidesteps to come back to the middle of the court.

Agility training for tennis can be done most of the time on the court. Having the players move to cones and focusing on the right footwork technique. It is very important to be as intense as possible when doing the kind of drills. Coaches can use bunjie cords to add some resistance and to work more on the explosive power during the first steps. Moving and sprinting on sand is great mean to improve a tennis player explosive power. If a player is able to be quick on the sand he will be even quicker on the court.

Quickness for tennis should then be worked every week and this could be done before practice as a good warm up. This area can always be improved and even some great tennis players who are quick do not use the right footwork and if they focus on a good and efficient technique they could become a lot quicker. This will allow players to reach a lot more balls but moving well will also help them to save energy while running back and forth on the court.

Doing agility training is then mandatory if you want to improve your quickness on the court and to be efficient. Fit4Tennis will help you to work on the area by providing specific fitness programs for tennis.

Patrick Muller is a Strength and Conditioning Specialist and Fitness Director who has been working on different physical activities. He is mostly specialized in tennis and he is leading fitness training for tennis players of any level. Patrick Muller is the creator of http://www.fit4tennis.ws.

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How to Cure Tennis Elbow

Just about everyone who plays tennis will experience an injury known as tennis elbow at some time or other. Actually, many doctors will tell you that they will see patients with this injury from a number of other activities such is hedge clipping, excessive use of a screwdriver or a hammer or simply from house painting. In short they see this injury in any situation where a person is engaged in excessive, constant gripping or squeezing of some item. Other individuals who also suffer from this problem include golfers, mechanics, machinists, carpenters and even computer users. This means there are a lot of people looking for a cure for tennis elbow at any particular time, not just you. The following information discusses what tennis elbow actually is, what causes it and what you can do to rid yourself of this nasty problem.

A person diagnosed with tennis elbow usually complains about having a great deal of soreness and tenderness on the outer part of his or her elbow. The soreness can become very debilitating and can make it very difficult to perform even the simplest of every day tasks with the arm that is affected. If left untreated it can result in a chronic pain difficult to get rid of. Medical professionals often describe tennis elbow as a specific type of tendinitis, where the tendons of an arm are repeatedly stressed and overused, causing an inflammation that results in the extreme soreness that you feel. Other experts say it can also result from the irritation and inflammation of the nerves that pass near the elbow region. But no matter what causes it, if you have it you know it! And you need to find some way of getting rid of it.

There are a number of things that you can do to lessen the pain and to speed the healing processes for tennis elbow. Here are a few things that you can do, some you can do yourself and some you can consult a doctor on:

* Try to use ice packs to reduce the inflammation as soon as you identify what the discomfort is.

* Rest from the activities that cause your elbow pain. If you don't rest you're only going to have increased discomfort and eventually more pain...and possible chronic pain if you persist.

* Moist heat therapy can help to reduce the pain. Ultrasound and physiotherapy are two other treatments that you can use that have proven effective.

* Use anti-inflammatory drugs such as Tylenol to reduce inflammation and pain. If the case is severe an injection of steroids may work but a doctor has to be consulted.

* Some type of brace can be used to support the area and often a heat retainer can be used for support and to accelerate the healing process.

* Various creams such as a hot pepper cream (capsaicin) or similar ointments can be used to heat and soothe the area at the nerve level. Braces and creams can be purchased at a local drugstore.

* Massage therapy and acupuncture are two other treatments that have reported good results for many people with tennis elbow problems.

* As a last resort, surgery can be performed to attack the problem and relieve the discomfort. Surgery is said to be 85% effective in relieving the pain.

Another very important thing you need to do, if you're a tennis player or a golfer especially, is to determine whether a poor grip or a poor swing is contributing to your problem. You don't want to get rid of your tennis elbow only to have it return very quickly because your swing or your grip is not proper and contributing to the problem. It would be wise to seek out professional advice from a golf or tennis pro to make sure you don't have a recurrence of your tennis elbow.

Take care of your tennis elbow problem quickly and properly and you can be back on the courts or the links in no time enjoying your favorite activity without pain and discomfort.

Learn how to cure tennis elbow by visiting our site at http://www.curefortenniselbow.info/

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Tennis Racket String - What to Consider

Your tennis racket strings are just as important as your racket. But all too often we spend way too little time researching tennis strings. Many tennis players spend hours upon hours researching rackets to find the best tennis racket. They may even spend hours playing with a demo racket before purchasing it. Once they find the best tennis racket, many players go for the cheaper string or the string that they had in their old racket.

This can be a big mistake. If you used a demo tennis racket, it most likely had the best all around string put in it for that racket. For example, if it was a very stiff racket, chances are it had softer string in it or it might even have had natural gut in it, which is one of the top playing strings. It has been said that the strings are the "heart of the racket" or "the soul of the racket". This is so true. Your tennis racket string is what gives you the "feel of the racket" or playability. If you put the wrong string in your racket, you will wonder why you ever bought the racket to begin with. Put in the right string, and it will be hard to get you off the court! Of course, the "right" string is different for everyone. It all depends on what the tennis player likes and needs. Some tennis players like the firm crisp string, while other players prefer the softer tennis string. You need to find the string that you like and works for your type of game and tennis racket.

Playability is subjective and depends on the tennis player. There are several factors that give a string playability and should be considered when deciding on tennis racket string. The next time you replace your string, please take time to considering the following factors:

String Gauge - Gauge refers to the thickness of the tennis string. The most common gauges are 15-18 gauge. Each gauge has a half size which is referred to by an "L", which means light. Lower numbers are thick string while higher numbers indicate a thinner string. So a 16L gauge string is thicker than a 17 gauge but thinner than a 16 gauge tennis string. A thicker string generally provides durability so it lasts longer. A thinner string gives you better playability but sacrifices some durability.

String Tension - Tension refers to how tight you string your racket. Tennis rackets typically come with a recommended stringing range. The rule of thumb is that tighter strings give you more control, while a lower tension provides more power. If you have no preference, it is generally best to use the mid-range.

String Materials - Tennis racket strings are made up of many different types of materials. The materials include natural gut, synthetic gut or nylon, polyester, Kevlar, and there are even hybrid string sets which come with two different types of material. The choice really is a personal preference. It is said that natural gut offers the optimum in playability and feel. It has been and continues to be the number 1 pick on the pro circuit. Kevlar is known for its durability while synthetic gut offers a good combination of durability and playability.

String Construction - There are several different types of string construction that play a part in the string's make-up and playability. I will not go into detail but there are solid core strings with one outer wrap, solid core strings with multi-outer wraps and then there are those strings with no solid core, they are just multi-filaments. There are also multi-filament strings with outer-wraps, textured strings, and composite strings made up of a combination of materials. All of these different types of construction provide the string with a different feel and performance benefits.

As you can see, there is a lot more to tennis racket string than meets the eye. The intention of this article was to hopefully encourage you as a tennis player to pay more attention to the string that goes into your tennis racket and to do a little bit of research next time your racket needs stringing. Get the most out of your racket and your tennis racket strings!

Chris is an avid tennis player with over 25 years experience in stringing tennis rackets. For more information on tennis racket strings or where to find tennis strings at a discount, please check out the blog dedicated to tennis racket strings. Don't miss out on all the great information there!

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How to Keep Your Head in the Game

Tennis is a lonely sport. Though there are two people on the court at a time, there is absolutely no communication allowed between the players or anyone else, including coaches. When you are playing a match, all the thoughts in your head speak more loudly than usual, heightening the great wins but worsening the defeats of each point and every game. Especially in a sport like tennis, it is easy to lose your focus. When your thoughts move to the idea of a "match" as opposed to the moment in which you are playing, you make careless errors and often cost yourself the game.

Whether through self-talk, deep breathing, or zen "in the moment" thinking, it is integral to live and play in the moment. You can't think about who won the last game or how many sets ahead or behind you are. Instead, focus on looking at the corner to which you're serving, the object or line that you're spotting, or how hard you'll hit your backhand return.

Don't let "failure" get you down; everyone makes mistakes. It is important to let go of your errors so you can look at each serve, each set with a fresh face. If you linger on things you've done wrong in the past, you will continue to flounder. If you focus on the moment you are in without looking forward or backwards, you will achieve the clarity needed to succeed in such a fast-paced sport.

There are two main sentiments that get in the way of on-court success: over-confidence and fear; both lead to sloppy game play.

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