essential Tennis Blog

Tennis Ball Machines

Michaela — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:14:34 +0000

The basic purpose of a Tennis ball machine isn’t to recreate a tennis match but as a substitute for a tennis partner, who consistently plays the shots. Dependent on how advanced the machine is, topspin, backspin, ball depth can all be altered to give a good work out.

A Tennis ball machine will give you consistent shots which is what you need when setting a drill/practicing. With a range of ball machines on the market it can be quite difficult to decide, the main competition being Lobster, Tennis tutor, Tennis tower and Playmate. The main differences between the more expensive ball machines and the cheaper ones are the level in which you can alter the settings. You get what you pay for! the more expensive machines allow you to change ball direction, ball depth, spin and speed with some having built in pre-set programs giving you an instant work out. Each Tennis ball machine comes with information on the functions available allowing you to make an informed decision.

Ball machines use pressureless balls and should always be used with new/newish tennis balls for reliability, as the point of a ball machine is consistency.

Olympic Tennis

Michaela — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 10:01:58 +0000

Will there be any top seeds left in the finals? Federer who is about to loose his number 1 spot is out, the Williams sisters are out, Andy Murray had a second chance in the doubles but he is out again. Its great to see the lower seeds and some unknown players come through. Is this not what the Olympics is all about?

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games: Andy Murray will face Lu Yen-Hsun in his opening match

Michaela — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 09:50:10 +0000

Murray now seeded sixth in the world after winning his first ATP masters title against Djokovic is also seeded 6 at the Olympic Games and will face Yen-Hsun of Taipei, who is currently ranked 74 in the world.
Second seed Rafael Nadal is a potential quarter final opponent for Murray, with Novak Djokovic, a possible semi-final opponent.

Is there to be a new mens world number 1?

Michaela — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 14:20:30 +0000

Roger Federer is under increasing pressure from his biggest rival Rafael Nadal to keep his world number one ranking. Federer has been at the top of the world rankings for 234 weeks. In January Federer was 1445 ranking points ahead of Nadal, now there is less than 300.

Laura Robson - will the media attention get too much?

Michaela — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 09:44:50 +0000

Virginia Wade is concerned by the Media attention and expectations suddenly attracted by Laura after her fantastic Junior Wimbledon Title win

But Wade admits Robson has made a stunning start to her career and says there is no reason why she cannot be challenging for honours in the future.

“I’m really proud of her for what she did on Saturday and I do think she’s got what it takes,” said Wade.

“She’s got a very instinctive natural game, she moves well, she serves well and above all her concentration and her head seem to be excellent.

“You don’t know whether a great player is going to pop up at the same time, but it’d be nice for us if we had someone in contention some of the time.

Carl Maes, head of women’s tennis at the LTA, says the coverage of Robson has been “scary”.

“This media expectation is going to be pretty daunting and her entourage I think are going to protect her,” Maes told Sportweek.

Will the media forget she is only 14 years old?

British Lady at Wimbledon - no wild card in sight

Michaela — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 14:26:38 +0000

Britains Anne Koethavong recorded the best month of her career in May as she won a $50k singles title in Lebanon. This win entered her into the world’s top 100 for the first time and became the first Brit since Sam Smith in 1999 to gain direct acceptance into the ladies’ singles main draw at The Wimbledon Championships 2008.

Rain stops play - French Open

Michaela — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:46:15 +0000

It’s not just Wimbledon that suffers match delays, The French Open is experiencing the wonders of rain suspended matches, yet this will not make the headlines like the All england tournament which is known for its rain as much as for its Strawbberries and cream.

Federer cruised into the 2nd round yesterday defeating American Querrey 6-4, 6-4, 6-3. Nadal is awaiting his 1st round match once the rain has stopped.

Jamie Murray to play singles at Wimbledon?

Michaela — Tue, 27 May 2008 11:29:05 +0000

The 22-year-old Scot who has not played a singles match since April 2007 and is currently not ranked in the world for singles said “I would like to give it a go, and I thought after what I did last year it was probably my best chance. It would be a dream come true.”

Murray has tasted success at Wimbledon, winning the mixed doubles event with Jelena Jankovic in 2007.

“The faster surfaces suit my game so I think I could do OK. I can only ask and see what happens.” Murray has also asked for entry into the singles at Queen’s leading up to Wimbledon.

Djokovic claims a lot of UK tennis kids are spoiled

Michaela — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:56:46 +0000

World number three, 20-year-old Serbian Novak Djokovic told BBC’s Inside Sport programme: ”In the UK a lot of kids are a little bit spoiled. If you have perfect conditions and everything you want, you don’t know the real meaning of tennis and you don’t work as hard as you are supposed to. You do not have hunger for success because everything is on a plate.” He also went on to say”I think you have enough tennis history and enough people who have a big knowledge about tennis who will recognise the problem, and you still have a lot of potential and everything you need. You just have to find the right moment and to change the mentality of the coaches and the kids.”

Djokovic who beat Murray 6-0 6-4 at the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday points out that Andy Murray could never be described as spoiled, and he also expects the Scot, who was coached and trained outside of the British system, to join him in the top five rankings, stating “He has enough quality, enough talent, and enough potential to be a top-five player, and everybody expects him to do that.”

What do you think are Britsh players spoilt and is the LTA’s process not quite right?

Tennis victory at 55th attempt

Michaela — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 09:00:19 +0000

Robert Dee, 21, recorded a victory in the qualifying section of a futures event in Spain. Normally this would be nothing to get too excited about but when you consider this young British tennis player has earned the title of the worst player in the world after losing his first 54 professional matches you can understand why this would be classed as a benchmark victory after finally winning at the 55th attempt and after three years of trying.

Dee beat Arzhang Derakhshani 6-4 6-3 in the first round of qualifying for the Reus tournament, near Barcelona. His new found winning streak didn’t last long - he lost 6-3 6-1 to Artur Romanowski in the second round. The victory means he still remains joint holder of the record for the longest losing run in the history of the pro game with Diego Beltranena of Guatemala.

Until his victory, Dee had lost 108 straight sets, who has a career high world ranking of 1466, has been trying to win in tournaments at the lowest level of the professional game since April 2005.