Keeping It Going

One thing that the professionals have down is consistency. They are able to keep a rally going with precise and powerful shots. Both players on the court are skilled in their shot placement and in strength and that's what makes their rallies so amazing! Their rallies have tremendous speed to it and they must change their strategy in an instant as the rally progresses. Many times it looks like they are just hitting it back and forth with no rhyme or reason to it. However, they are actually using a strategy to beat their opponent. They are working to move their opponent into a position to where they can make a move to hit a winner. Here is a video of an epic rally between Federer and Hewitt! Enjoy!

The Upcoming Event!

It seems like it hasn't been that long since the U.S. Open but it's time to move on. It's almost time for the Australian Open! The men and women are gearing up for the Sydney International as a lead-up to the Australian Open. On the women's side, 9 out of the top 10 pros will be attending this event. This includes Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva. Venus Williams, ranked #6, will be the only one absent. She will be in an exhibition match in Thailand at that time.

This will be the strongest the women's field has been in the Sydney International. The organizers are ecstatic to have nine out of the top ten women be in it. This is a great prelude to the upcoming Australian Open. The tournament will still have qualifiers and wild card draws for the tournament. This will be the ultimate test for any up and coming new talent that as something to prove. The fans will have a difficult time finding tickets to these matches. This will definitely be something to watch.

Tennis Lookalikes

Some times you just have to have a little fun. And this is one of those times. The stars of tennis are everyday people like us.. kind of. They all are familiar faces but I bet you don't know how familiar. Many tennis pros have a shocking resemblance to other stars in our world. This is a video that compares the tennis pros to the stars. See for yourself and make the call:



If you're like me, then you did not expect to see this at all. These guys almost have twins! Some of them are meant to just be funny but they actually do look like them! Hope you guys enjoyed the video.

Spain Is The Victor!

The world famous Davis Cup came to an end this Sunday and the Spaniards came out victorious. This showed that Nadal is not the only big man is Spain but there is a whole team of Spanish warrriors. Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco beat Radek Stepanek and Tomas Berdych of the Czechto to seal the deal on Sunday. Spain is also a repeat winner, having won the Davis Cup last year. They have won 4 titles since 2000. Nadal commented on his teams victory Sunday.

"First thing, you have to have good players," Nadal said, referring to his team's prowess. "In Spain, we have a lot. Sure, last year was disappointing for me not to be there, but for sure the team was better. They play unbelievable and they won, so they did much better without me than with me."

Spain looks to be unstoppable, on their home courts at least. Their powerful presence on the court makes their entire team a force to be reckoned with.

Tennis Doubles

Tennis is unique in the way that in can be played by 2 people or 4 people. Tennis doubles is similar to singles tennis but also very different. There are many different strategies to playing doubles. It can be a very fun thing to do with friends but also a very aggravating thing if people don't know how to play doubles. Here is 2 videos on how strategy in doubles:

How To Return a Serve


Baseline Shot From Net


These are just two of the many strategies for doubles tennis. It takes time to learn how to play doubles just like it does for singles. Players must find another player that compliments their abilities in order to make an effective doubles team.

The Mighty Have Fallen

The ATP World Tour Finals were a few days ago and the winner of the U.S. Open, Del Potro, was in the finals. When he won the U.S. Open he became a giant over night. For one thing, he is a giant, he towers above all of his opponents. He also defeated the modern legend Roger Federer and so he was an immediate star. However, he was brought back down to Earth in the finals as he lost to Nikolay Davydenko. His powerful skills that were dominate in the final of the U.S. Open were no where in his World Tour final. His powerful forehand is the strongest part of his game and it was absent in his loss to Davydenko. Some would say that Del Potro just had a bad day and he will bounce back and I think this is true. We have seen how amazing he can be but he is still young. He needs to gain consistence in his game if he wants to be the best. He has the potential to be a legend but he still has room to grow. Players will always make mistakes but the best learn how to recover and keep their confidence in a match. They control their game and are consistent in their shots. This loss is good for Del Potro. He can use it to go back and look at his game and where he needs to improve. He will realize that he it not the undefeatable giant that the News made him to be. He is human just like Nadal and Federer and he will make mistakes. He will learn how to control himself in a match and recover from mistakes. He will soon be back and better than ever.

That's Why They're Pros

Some times we will go out and have an extraordinary day of tennis. All of our shots will be solid. We will be precise and skillfully sound. And for a few hours, we will feel like we could be a pro. There can't be that much to it? You just have to be able to return the ball and hit a powerful shot every now and then. We watch them on TV and think about how we could match their level of play. The pros make it look so easy on TV. In reality, their level of play is way above ours. The speed of their matches are ridiculous and almost every shot is precise and powerful. Sometimes we don't know just how good they are until situations call for the best of their abilities. That is when we see just how amazing they are. That's also when we realize that we really don't have what it takes. This is a video of just a few of the amazing shots professionals have made:



All we can do is marvel in their greatness and hope that we will be half as good as them one day. They truely are professionals at tennis and they have perfected the sport.