Fatso Tennis

Posts Tagged ‘Tennis Book Review’

WOW! This book covers a lot of ground . . . mind you it doesn’t go very deep into anything, but if you want to cover a lot of ground with one book, then this would be a good addition to your library.

Although this book doesn't go deep into much of anything, it does cover a lot of ground.

Check out just some of the topics covered. Some in only half a page:

• Tennis History
• Grand Slams
• Tennis Greats
• Rules and Scoring
• Competitions
• Surfaces
• Equipment
• Clothing
• Fitness
• Drills
• Grips
• Stances

Anyway, it goes on and on including behind the back shot, between the legs shot (tweener), squash shot.

You can’t really go wrong with this book.

Recently I reviewed a book called “$20,000.00 in Tennis Lessons: Your Personal Coach”.

This book has so much darn stuff in it that you can’t possibly absorb it in years of playing tennis. The problem is that if you don’t have a professional coach that can help you choose techniques that are right for you, then you are going to be a confused tennis player after reading this book.

I’ve been having a little serve trouble recently so I referred to the book for some tips. This book gives you just about every way anyone has ever done any stroke.

There are 39 large pages (this book is the size of a coffee table book) on the serve alone.

Look what they had under the subsection “Racket and Ball Position to Begin Serve”

• Pointing to the left
• Pointing to the target
• Dangling hand low
• Racket held high
• Racket on edge
• Racket open
• Racket closed

I think I slammed the book shut and told myself I’d wait until my next serving coach lesson to try to figure this out and see what seemed to be best for me. I’m sure I could make any of them work with enough practice, but a professional coach who has seen hundreds of students with different body styles, strengths, heights, etc. should be able to recommend what’s right for me so that I’m not trying to force something that makes no sense for me and my level of athletic ability.

“$20,000.00 in Tennis Lesson: Your Personal Coach” by Robert Greene has to be by far the most comprehensive book on tennis in my entire collection.

The most comprehensive tennis book in my entire collection.

Every little nuance of strokes, different kinds of strokes, serves, volleys, history, player profiles is included.

This book even tells you all the details of doing underhand serves and the author even took years to teach himself how to serve with the opposite hand in case his main arm wore out.

This is a great addition to any tennis library.

This book has so many gems I don’t know where to start. For those of you that don’t know, Brad Gilbert, the author is the guy who had no business being on the court with the greats because of his poor tennis strokes and what everyone considered a low skill level, yet he beat many of the greats and made it into the top ten.

I've read this book five times and still can't implement all its great tips.

Here are just  few of Brad’s great tips:

• Evaluate your opponent and think about the match on the way to the court. NOT after you get there.
• In the first two points of a tiebreak play “steadier” tennis, NOT “flashier” tennis.
• Do not change ANYTHING when you are winning.
• (Even though my video says to speed up when you are winning), Brad says not to speed up too much to the point you get careless.
• Agressive tennis doesn’t mean hitting harder. . . . it is being mentally more alert, aware of the significance of the situation and intent on not losing your advantage through sloppiness.
• In general, start the match with the sun at your back and the wind in your face.

This book has 100 times the tips mentioned above and I’m sure I’ll read it another five times this year. I consider this book a MUST HAVE for any serious tennis player.

How To Defeat Better Tennis Players by Carlos Campos

What a hoot this book is. I’m not sure if you can stll find it, but I got my copy off ebay.

It’s kind of a homemade looking book, but what gems inside!

Follow what this guy says and you WILL defeat better tennis players.

Carlos calls himself, “The Hacker, Pusher & Dinker from Hell!”

He has gems of wisdom throughout the book like:

• You want your opponents to know that you will fight like a pissed off Pit Bull for every point.
• Beware of tennis players disguised as “social tennis players” as a ploy to gain a psychological edge over you.
• When a tennis player gets surprised, frustrated or annoyed, they tend to make a lot of unforced errors.
• It’s difficult for players to hit their best shots while on the run. Therefore, in general, hit to the open court.
• When starting a match feel out your opponent to see what you can get away with. Start with soft short shots which are high percentage safe shots until your opponent forces you to hit harder, deeper, riskier shots. I.e., why hit a high risk shot if your opponent is letting you get away with soft, short, safe shots?
• You will not lose very often if you make your opponent beat you with winners because most players make more unforced errors than they hit winners.
• Watch out for players who miss every shot during the warm up. They do this intentionally to deny you the chance to warm up. You should be warmed up before the warm up.

He’s got quotes sprinkled throughout the book. Some famous and some his. One of my favorites is:

“It’s not whether you win or lose that counts. It’s whether I win that counts”

See if you can get hold of a copy of this great book on ebay.