Pro Tennis Tips To Change Your Game

Why is tennis up there as a go-to workout?
“You can achieve a very complete physical and mental workout.

“I believe tennis players to be one of the most complete athletes as it involves, speed, agility, strength, flexibility, endurance, hand-eye coordination and hand skills.

“I say it's a good mental workout too, because there can be lots of ups and downs in the way the scoring is done in tennis. You can win more total points in a match but still end up losing. The match is never over until the very last point. So, with that said you are training the mind to be able to sustain good concentration so you can perform under pressure. This is a fantastic skill to have in everyday life.”

And there’s the benefit of a social side too...
“Socially it's a great sport as you can do it with friends (singles or doubles). There are many clubs around that do social tennis which includes, fun games, cardio tennis and some friendly competition.”

We guess it’s the ideal sport for now as it’s something you can do alone or social distancing...
“Absolutely, growing up I would drive my parents crazy hitting a ball up against the side of the house. There are also some fantastic ball machines out there that can give you a good run around. Finally, you can always practise your serve on your own, which I highly recommend as it is the most important shot in tennis.

“If you have someone to play with, with the court's length being 23.77 meters long you are most certainly abiding by social distancing rules.”

What are your top tips for improving your game?
“I am going to start off by saying the obvious and that is practise, practise, practise! However, you need to be practising the right things, so if I was to give one tip that would be to contact the ball in front of you. This enables you to have more control of the ball so you can place the ball wherever you want in the court.”

What kind of challenges and targets do you set yourself to keep your skills at their peak?
“Since I stopped playing professionally, I have been fortunate enough to work with IMG on their Champions Tour events (which are tournaments for all the past legends such as, McEnroe, Rafter, Cash, Philippoussis, Haas, Rusedski, Henman and so on) as well as a couple of other ATP events for current pros. So, by still being involved with some of the world's best tennis, it motivates me to keep fit and healthy so I can practise and compete with them.

"That aside, every time I go out on the court I try to improve and work on my consistency and quality. A good target for you is to try and hit 5+ out of 10 shoots past the service line at the start of every session you play.”

People might have the kit, but what’s really the best thing to wear to tennis?
“I think this is personal, as what I may find comfortable you may not. For me, the most important thing to wear in tennis is a good pair of tennis shoes. There is a lot of change in direction and so a shoe with good stability is key.”