Posts Tagged ‘tennis’

Tennis Attire

If you already take part in tennis, then I imagine that you already know what tennis players wear, so this piece is aimed at those individuals who would like to buy tennis kit for a loved one for a special occasion. After all, it is not as easy as it seems to procure sports clothes for the participant of a sport you understand nothing about.

There is a certain image we are inclined to associate with a tennis player: white Polo shirt with shorts or skirt and similar shoes. They are fashionable and stylish, comfortable and classic at the same time. Items of tennis kit often signify a great deal to people who are not just sports fans. If the person you shop for is a tennis aficionado, tennis clothing becomes a fantastic gift that could also prove pretty affordable in spite of the rumors that it costs a fortune.

In case tennis clothes is something foreign to you, Google it over the Internet and you will be astounded to see how much information there is on hand. Very many forums will tactfully let you know you about prices and discounts going on at a variety of retail shops and online merchants.

They will also provide you with information as to which brands are thought the best, which are considered the least durable and reliable, which are affordable and which exaggeratedly expensive .

What many tennis outfit wearers recommend is that you buy the type of top or shirt that will make you feel most comfortable and that will allow the very wide angled movements that are specific to the performance of this sport. For example, the shorter the sleeves of your tennis kit, the freer the swing during the game. Some obtain tennis attire also according to the season in which they expect to play. Still others go for the materials that can be worn in both warm and cold seasons.

They ardently believe that the tennis clothing ought to keep them both warm and cool at the same time. As far as the t-shirts for men are concerned, you ought to know that most players speak of Polo shirts in very high terms, as the collar offers you some neck protection from the sun’s rays.

Advice about tennis attire like that above are to be had on very many web sites. If you are not quite sure what to go for when purchasing your friend a gift, then you can always inveigle him or her to have a discussion about his or her favourite sport. Using a little guile, you will surely be able to direct the discussion to a related topic that interests you, that is tennis clothes. Making it all look like casual chit-chat would not make him or her guess what you have in mind for the special occasion.

If you are a beginner tennis player or want to know more about the general psychology of tennis, please visit our website entitled Tennis Tips for Beginners

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The French Open Championship

It is highly unlikely that you will not know of the French Open tennis championship, because it is a competition which is a regular topic of conversation. In French the name of the competition is ‘Les Internationaux de France de Roland Garros’ or ‘Tournoi de Roland Garros’. This tournament, which lasts for about two weeks is held in Paris at the Roland Garros Stadium, from which it got its name.

The French Open is one of the most publicised and broadcast sports events in the entire world of sport and many VIPs go to it. The attendees are fanatics who wait with baited breath on every stroke, especially when there is a tight struggle between the two sides, trying their best to win. Even TV viewers actually get a feeling of being there live.

The French Open tennis championship comes in second on the annual schedule of the Grand Slam tournaments and its history goes back to the year of 1891 when it was elevated to an international competition. In those days, it was named the ‘International Championship of Tennis of France’ or ‘Championat de France International de Tennis’ in French.

Initially, only players that were registered or licensed in France were permitted to participate in this competition, but things took a different turn in 1925, when the French open tennis tournament finally became accessible to international players. In 1912, the ground the participants used was made of red brick dust. Actually the crushed brick was formed into red clay that covered the ground, which until then would have been a green lawn.

The public’s enthusiasm for the French Open tennis tournament held at the Roland Garros stadium, goes back to a competition fought between the Philadelphia Four (Rene Lacoste, Jean Borotra, Henri Cochet and Jacques Brugnon) who won the Davis Cup in 1927. It was the trigger of the desire in the French to defend their cup in future competitions. This new tournament was designed to bring back home the cup and was held at a stadium named after the World War I ace Roland Garros. The name has stuck since then.

The term ‘open’ was has been used from 1968, when the tournament allowed both amateurs and professionals alike who wanted to test their skills at tennis. Since then the French Open tennis tournament has also brought in some novel prizes.

Apart from the usual winners’ prizes, they also give prizes called ‘Prix Orange’ for the most correct and press-friendly player, ‘Prix Citron’ for the player with the strongest personality and ‘Prix Burgeon’ for the one the best new-comer of the tennis year.

If you are a beginner tennis player or are interested in the general psychology of tennis, please visit our website entitled Tennis Tips for Beginners

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The General Psychology Of Tennis (Part 1)

Tennis psychology is only understanding the make-up of your opponent’s mind and assessing the effect of your own game on his/her head and also understanding the psychological effects resulting from the different external causes on your own mind.

However, it is true that you cannot be a successful psychologist of others without first understanding your own mental processes. Therefore, you must study the effect on yourself of the same thing happening under different circumstances. This is because people react differently in different moods and under different conditions.

You must understand the effect on your game of the resulting irritation, pleasure, bewilderment, or whatever other form your reaction is. Does it increase your prowess? If so, try for it, but never offer it to your opponent. Does it rob you of concentration? If so, either remove the reason, or if that is not possible, strive to ignore it.

Once you have correctly assessed your own reaction to circumstances, study your opponents in order to determine their characters. Like temperaments react similarly, and you may judge men of your own kind by yourself. Opposite characters you must seek to liken with those whose reactions you already know.

A person who can regulate his/her own mental processes has an excellent chance of reading those of someone else for the mind works along certain lines of thought and can be examined. One can only control one’s own mental processes after carefully examining them.

The regular, unemotional baseline player is rarely a keen thinker. If he were, he would not stay on the baseline. The physical appearance of a player is usually a pretty clear indicator of his/her type of mind. The stolid, easy-going player, who usually displays the baseline game, does so because he hates to stir up his/her slow mind to think out a safe method of reaching the net.

However, then there is the other sort of baseline player, who would rather remain on the rear of the court while supervising an attack intending to break up your game. He is a very dangerous player and a deep, quick thinking antagonist. He achieves his/her results by changing his/her length and direction and worrying you with the variance of his/her game. This player is a very good psychologist.

The first kind of tennis player mentioned above merely strikes the ball without much thought about what he is really up to, while the latter always has a solid, thought-out strategy and adheres to it.

If you are into the psychology of tennis, you ought to go to our website entitled Tennis Tips for Beginners

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Tennis Psychology (Part 2)

The hard-hitting, erratic, net-rushing player is a creature of impulse. There is no real system to his/her attack, no understanding of your game. He will make brilliant coups on the spur of the moment, largely by instinct; but there is no, mental power of consistent thinking. It is an interesting type of character.

The most unnerving player is the one who mixes his/her strategy from back to fore court at the command of an ever-alert mind. This/her is the player to study. He is a player with a definite intention. A player who has an answer to every problem you present him in your game. He is the most subtle antagonist in the world of tennis. He is from the school of Brookes. Second only to him is the player of slavish determination that sets his/her mind on one strategy and sticks to it, bitterly, fiercely fighting to the bitter end, with no thought of changing his gameplan.

This is the player whose psychology is rather simple to understand, but whose mental standpoint is hard to upset, because he never permits himself to think about anything but his game. This/her player is your Johnston or your Wilding. I respect the intelligence of Brookes more, but I admire the tenacity of purpose of Johnston.

Choose your kind from your own mental pattern, and then work out your game along the lines best suited to you. When two men are in the same class as regards stroke, strength and equipment, the deciding factor in any game is the mental viewpoint. Luck, as it is called, is often no more than grasping the psychological advantage of a break in the game, and turning it to your own account. People talk a lot about the “shots we have made.” But few people understand the importance of the “shots we have missed.”

The psychology of missing shots is just as important as that of making them, and at times a miss by an inch is of more value than a return that is killed by your opponent. Let me tell you why. A player drives you far out of court with an angle-shot. You run hard to it, and getting there, drive it hard and fast down the side-line, missing it by an inch. Your opponent is shocked and put off his stride, understanding that your shot might just as well have gone in as out. He will expect you to attempt it again and he will not take the risk next time. He will try to play the ball, and may make an error. You have thus stolen some of your opponent’s confidence, and increased his/her chance of error: all this by a miss.

If you had just tapped back that ball, and it had been killed, your opponent would have felt increasingly confident of your inability to get the ball out of his/her reach, while you would merely have been winded without result.

Let’s just say that you made the shot down the sideline. It was an apparently impossible get. First it amounts to TWO points in that it took one away from your opponent that should have been his/her and gave you one you ought never to have had. Second it also upsets your opponent, because he feels that he has thrown away a big chance.

The psychology involved in a game of tennis is very interesting, but readily understandable. Both player start with equal chances. However, once one player has gained a real lead, his/her confidence rises, while his/her opponent worries, and his/her mental standpoint becomes poor. The sole objective of the first player is to hold his/her lead, thus holding his/her confidence.

If the second player draws even or pulls ahead, the inevitable reaction is an even greater contrast in psychology. There is the natural confidence of the leader, but coupled with the great stimulus of having turned a seemingly inevitable defeat into a probable victory. The case of the other player is the reverse. He is apt to lose confidence and play worse. The breakdown of his game plan soon follows.

If you are fascinated by the psychology of tennis, you should go to our website entitled Tennis Tips for Beginners

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Tennis Basics

I expect that this, my first dissertation on the fundamentals of tennis, will be found useful by both novices and experts alike in the tennis world. I am trying to arouse interest in the student of the game of tennis by a somewhat lengthy discussion of match play, which I trust will cast a new light on the sport of tennis.

I will address the beginner in my opening article and speak of certain things which are second nature to the skilled player. The best tennis equipment is not much good to the novice even if he really is trying to succeed. However, one has to buy good quality; it is a saving in the end, as good quality material far outlasts poor quality gear.

It is vital always to wear tennis apparel when playing tennis. The question of choosing a tennis racquet is a much more serious decision. I do not like to force a certain make of racquet upon any player, since all the famous makes are of excellent quality. However, the weight, balance, and size of the handle are the really important considerations when selecting a racquet frame, while good stringing is essential to obtain the best results.

After having acquired your racquet, make a firm decision to use only quality tennis balls, as a consistent bounce is a great aid to advancement, while a “dead” ball is of no use at all. If you really desire to succeed at tennis and progress rapidly, I strongly advise you to see all the good tennis you can. Study the play of the best players and try to copy their play. Read all the tennis instruction manuals you can get your hands on. They are a great help.

Much more tennis can be learned off the tennis court in the study of theory and in watching the best players in action, than can ever be learned in one’s own actual play. I do not mean that you should miss opportunities to play tennis, far from it. Play tennis whenever possible, but strive when playing to put into practice the theories you have read about or the strokes you have seen.

Never let yourself become discouraged by lack of progress. The trick of playing some stroke you have worked on over weeks unsuccessfully, will suddenly come to you when you least expect it. Good tennis players are the product of very hard work. Very few players are born geniuses at the game. Tennis is a game that pays you interest all your life. A tennis racquet is a letter of introduction in any city.

The fellowship of tennis is universal, for none but a fit sportsman can succeed in the game for any long period of time. Tennis offers relaxation, excitement, exercise, and pure enjoyment to the player who is bound fast to his business until late afternoon.

The following order of development produces the quickest and most lasting results: 1. Concentration on the game. 2. Keep the eye on the ball. 3. Foot-work and weight-control. 4. Strokes. 5. Court position. 6. Court generalship or match play. 7. Tennis psychology.

Concentration. Tennis is played primarily with the mind. The most perfect racquet technique invented will not suffice if the directing mind is wandering. There are many reasons for a distracted mind in a tennis match. The main one is lack of interest in the game. No one should play tennis with any hope of real success unless he cares enough about the game to be willing to do the drudgery necessary to learn the game correctly.

Give it up at once unless you are willing to work hard. Conditions of play or the noises in the gallery often confuse and bewilder experienced match-players playing in new surroundings. Complete concentration on the matter in hand is the only cure for a wandering mind, and the quicker the lesson is learned the quicker the improvement of the player.

The best way to keep a match in mind is to play for every set, every game in the set, every point in the game and, finally, every shot in the point. A set is merely a conglomeration of made and missed shots, and the man who misses the least is the ultimate victor.

If you are a beginner tennis player or want to know more about tennis psychology, please go to our site called Tennis Tips for Beginners

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