Tennis with Feeling

By Alan Lane

Winning Fundamentals of Tennis

The complete fundamentals of the game of tennis. Absolutely necessary for the beginner.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bowerbird Publishing
• Release date: Jul 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9780994203601

Book preview

Tennis with Feeling

Winning Fundamentals of Tennis

By Alan Lane

What the Experts are Saying

Alan Lane was a very experienced player and was ranked 10th in Australia when Laver, Newcombe and Emerson were ranked 7th and when there was a great depth of tennis in the 60’s. Alan has much to give from his experience and I am sure that you will learn much from this book on how to better your tennis.

Margaret Court, AO, MBE

Winner of All-Time Record 24 Singles Slams, 19 Doubles Slams

and 19 Mixed Doubles Slams

I first met Alan as a hitting partner when I was still active on the world circuit. Through the years I have known him both personally and professionally, and we have worked together at various coaching clinics and other events. Alan’s book is a treasure trove of advice and insights for beginning, intermediate and even advanced club-level players. It distills many years of experience into one valuable resource for improving all your strokes and developing a complete game.

Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, AO, MBE

Winner of 4 Australian Open, 1 French Open

and 2 Wimbledon Singles Championships

It has been my privilege and pleasure to have known Alan for almost sixty years. I have seen him play many great matches throughout a very distinguished career as an international tennis players in the sixties. His natural game was athletic, attacking and beautiful to watch.

His ability to analyse the sport coupled with several years playing on the European Clay Circuit allowed him to develop his game to the point where he achieved a victory over Nicola Pietrangeli—at that time the best clay court player in the world.

When his competitive days concluded, he turned to coaching in the USA. Over many years he has imparted his intimate and vast knowledge of the sport to thousands of pupils.

Alan is a very experienced and highly respected tennis coach. In this book he has targeted the club player and the beginner. He simplifies the game and tells you how to improve fundamental skills.

I thoroughly recommend it.

Colin Stubs

15 Years as Tournament Director of the Australian Open,

25 Years as Co-Owner/Promoter of the Kooyong AAMI Classic

Tennis with Feeling

Winning Fundamentals of Tennis

By Alan Lane

Tennis With Feeling: Winning Fundamentals of Tennis

Copyright © 2014 by Alan Lane ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise—without prior written permission, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

ISBN: 978-0-9942036-0-1

Contents

Foreword

Welcome to the World of Tennis

Tennis With Feeling

The Groundstrokes

The Forehand Groundstroke

The Volley

The Forehand Volley

The Backhand Volley

The Half Volley

The Split Step

The Serve

Serve and Volley

The Backhand

The Slice Backhand

The Smash

The Lob

Grips

The Height of the Ball Over the Net

The Spin of the Ball

The Drop Shot

Shot Selection

Where to Stand in Match Play

Self Practice

Aiming Spot

Reaction Time

Footwork

Power

Tracking the Ball

Rhythm and Gracefulness

Wind

Sun

Court Surface

Percentage Play

Journal, Match Play Report, Black Book

Rules

Battle of the Sexes

Distractions

Left-Handed Players

Backboards (Hitting Walls)

When to Start

Summing Up

Trivia

Once Again, With Feeling

Acknowledgements

About the Author

Other Titles

Foreword

By John Marks

Level 3 Master Professional Coach

Former National Director of Coaching, Tennis Australia 1978 Australian Open Singles Finalist

Have you ever been asked to have a game of tennis with your mates? You say yes even though you have never held a racket before. You’ve seen it on TV and it doesn’t look so hard. So you get on the court, thinking this is going to be fun, but when you hit a ball, it dribbles off your racket and barely makes it to the net. The next ball flies off the strings over the back fence.

You are embarrassed, but your mates laugh it off and ask you back next week.

You decide to get lessons. The local pro wants you to mortgage your house for a ten-week group of lessons. That’s not on! There’s got to be another way.

Well here it is.

This book explains in detail the basic strokes of tennis. The author, Alan Lane, has had decades of experience playing at international level as well as an extensive coaching knowledge.

I first encountered Alan in the late 60’s. He was to play a young Geoff Masters at Memorial Drive, Adelaide. It was the feature match of the evening under lights. Both Alan and Geoff played similar styles of attacking tennis, but, to be fair, Alan would have been in the twilight of his playing career, and Geoff prevailed.

The next time I met Alan was at the 1996 Level 3 Coaching Accreditation Course, at which I was the National Director of Coaching for Tennis Australia. My playing career had come and gone and I was now in charge of the three coaching courses, of which Level 3 was the highest.

The examiners were dubious of this older candidate but he passed easily.

So how had Alan and I become coaches in high positions? When had the playing knowledge morphed into coaching ability? Well, I can tell you that it takes years of both playing and coaching at the highest levels. It doesn’t always happen. Some professionals never make it as elite coaches because they are unable to get that knowledge out of their own head and into the pupil.

I remember one pro who had won a round of a Grand Slam singles, but failed the Level 2 course because she said Just hit it crosscourt and with that, hit it crosscourt with power and topspin. But the pupil couldn’t do it. I made headlines of the back sporting pages that week.

As players, both Alan and I would have taken the same path: local junior tennis, inter-district, State, National then International tennis. But as coaches, we had to start at the bottom. I remember giving Saturday morning lessons from 8 till 12. I recall the numbers increased so I must have been doing something right. Then I had a few private lessons. And again I was getting good results from my pupils. But now I look back and ask myself, How did I do that without knowing anything about coaching?

Years later, when I took on the role of coach at the Institute of Sport, I thought I knew everything. Being challenged by the leading Australian juniors I learned more about sport psychology, physical training, the modern stroke methodology of the time.

When I became the National Director of Coaching, I was supposed to be the fountain of all knowledge!

Alan was on a similar coaching path.

Coaching knowledge takes decades to acquire. From an extensive playing career to a coaching career takes thousands of coaching hours.

So, next time you ask how much for a coaching lesson, also ask the coach’s playing and coaching experience.

This book has that experience. It will help develop players of all ages and standards. It is simply written, easy to understand and filled with anecdotes of Alan’s experiences. I am confident you will enjoy reading this book so much, you will want to find a court and start practising.

And within a short time you will no longer be embarrassed hitting with your partner. When they comment on you improvement, you can say Thanks. And I didn’t have one coaching lesson.

Isn’t this game easy?

Welcome to the World of Tennis

Tennis is a science and an art. You need the brain, hours of training, reflexes, and coolness of a fighter pilot; you need the artistry of the best dancer, painter, or musician. Watching one of the big cats hunting its prey is a pretty close comparison to the perfect tennis player. Against the best player you may feel that you are opposing a big, fast, strong, hungry panther! The pic below shows how you may feel.

Fig 1. Welcome to the world of tennis!

It is my task to guide you along those two tortuous paths of science and art. If you persevere you will reach your goal, and I guarantee you that the quiet, peaceful, inner satisfaction you get from that journey will be better than you could ever have imagined. This book will assist you whilst you go from step to step. I will be with you all the way through your tennis journey.

In my tennis life I have been lucky to play with and partner a national ice hockey goalie, an NFL linebacker, a world class soccer goalie and several world class musicians. All the people from other sporting codes quickly picked up the need for basic tactics, especially in doubles. And those were: get to net, assess the play, be prepared to poach and then hit a winner. And for all of them, being at net and having a ball coming at them at 200kph was chicken feed. In their own sports they were dealing with situations like that all the time. It was amazing how quickly they went from beginner to a B grade club player. The musicians I met played with much grace, rhythm, smoothness and artistry. The film stars I met and played with all showed the tendency to be successful and have the will to win.

Of course in all my tennis travels I have met a very large number of tennis players. Many, many of them are what I call my blood brothers/sisters. A blood brother is someone who falls in love with the game of tennis. They love the challenge of trying to control the ball—at least more than the opponent can. They love chasing after the ball, similar to a dog at the beach with a ball. The dog is happy to play ball all day long. They love the comradeship, at the end of the day, of discussing those won or lost matches. They are fierce competitors, but at the end of the day they are happy to be your friend. And many of the people I met are my friends for life. They are a wonderful group of people, usually quite fit and active in their older age, and with a great sense of balance in life.

So I encourage you to put all your efforts into giving your game of tennis its best shot. I will guarantee you this: the more tennis skills you develop, the more enjoyment you will get out of your tennis.

And hopefully one day I can call you my blood brother!

This book is written specifically for club players and beginners. Good players who need to make some technical changes to their strokes and players of all levels who wish to improve will also find the information they will need in order to make the changes in their game which will help them get to the next level of tennis skills.

Everyone will find something in this book which will improve their knowledge of the game of tennis. Club players and beginners will find that this book will supply all the key elements needed to master the strokes.

Those players making changes, and those wanting to go to the next match play level, will find many helpful hints on how to achieve their goals.

Should you be teaching someone how to play tennis or simply trying to help a fellow club junior improve their tennis game, you would be wise to follow the fundamentals described in this book and use all the little tricks, stories, and visualisations which I have included. You are free to use them all.

This book will be invaluable to any parent of a junior tennis player. This book will enable you to help your child in learning the large number of technical items shown in the book. It will let you see what your child will need to learn, and if you look carefully, the degree of difficulty involved in mastering those items. See Figs 2 to 6 for more details on these items later in the book. The book may also help you with any frustrations you may find yourself having over your child’s performance.

I apologise for describing and having the pictures represent a right-handed player. It would have made too many sections repetitive to include both right- and left-handed descriptions and pictures. Any left-handed player will need to make a mirror image with the pictures and word descriptions. A version of this book specifically for left-handed players will soon be available.

I have used both he and she liberally throughout the book. It is meant to be read as he/she in each occasion. In the world of tennis, the female and male games are equal.

The Path of the Tennis Player: The Four Components

Figs 2 to 6. The Four Components

Right now I think it best to define a couple of terms.

Groundstroke means that the ball will hit the ground first and then the player will use a stroke (swing) to control the ball.

Volley means you are striking the ball before the bounce (whilst the ball is in the air).

A rally describes a match play point (usually) where all types of shots are used (serves, groundstrokes, volleys, smashes). People may ask how long was that rally or how many hits were in that rally.

Grips are described in detail towards the end of this book.

Racket Face. The head of the racket is that part of the racket which has the strings in it. The racket face is used to describe the exact angle of the hitting side (strings) of the racket. Knowing the angle of your racket face is critical in your control of the ball. The three main angles are shown in the following sketch.

Fig 7. The Racket Face

So you walk on the court and suddenly tennis balls are coming at you. Fast, slow, curving, straight. Which swing do you use? Are you a little confused?

Fig 8. Which One Is the Right Swing?

I have given thousands of tennis lessons at all levels. My pupils have ranged from beginner to world ranked, 2.75 years to 72 years, male and female. I have taught people who do not speak a word of English.

Sometimes the pupil has taught me things I was not aware of!

My experience tells me that the body is an incredible machine. When it comes to learning movements needed in sport, I find that there are many movements and or sequences of movements that the human athlete cannot force or teach or make the body do. For most of those required movements, the body reigns supreme and knows how to do it.

I find that provided the correct technical structure is adhered to, many of the smaller items will happen by themselves. For example, when you kick a football, exactly how do you control your lower leg to make it swing past your knee and thigh, which are also moving but a smaller distance and at a slower rate? I believe you cannot. All you do is give yourself the command kick the ball then many little movements take place by themselves made and controlled by the Body Supreme.

I have come to the conclusion that with tennis strokes, it is critically important to adhere to a few key positions; if this is done then I find that most of the other items will happen by themselves. Thus those key positions are what I call the fundamentals of technique. Do those items correctly, and the stroke will usually come together nicely. This book shows in detail what those key items and positions are.

Before we get started, I want to warn you of a trap which I see many eager aficionados of tennis fall into. Be careful in your attempt to listen to and take in all advice when you are trying to master the strokes. As mentioned above, over-focusing on a fine movement (e.g. thrusting the left hip forward on the serve, or trying to use the ground thrust going through your legs during the upswing of your forehand) will probably cause you to ignore one or more of the key fundamental items or even create an extra movement which will be unnecessary and end up destroying your stroke. Many, many of those items which you may be over-focusing on can take place by themselves by the Body Supreme if you make sure you have not missed any of the fundamental technique items.

Tennis With Feeling

The subject of Feelings in Tennis is a complex one with many levels of recognition and understanding.

The most common description in tennis with regard to feelings is this player has great touch, they have a feel for the ball.

And the description will be correct as this particular player will be caressing the ball. These players are often called great middlers.

What are these players doing differently? I will tell you in the hope that you will copy them and become a great middler yourself.

They always hit the ball in the exact centre of their racket strings. If you look around and listen, you will find many club players are hitting off centre. The good middlers stroke the ball, as against belting the ball. They can readily hit softly (when required). They