Books

Hey everyone, i was wondering what good instuctional books there are. I don't have enough money for private lessons so I want to buy a few books to help improve my game. I dont want any on tecnique, i want some that are on stategy and mental game. I already own the inner game of tennis i read it last year and i have seemed to have forgotten it all so i am reading it again right now. I am interested in Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert. what books would you guys suggest?
 
Pancho Segura's book

A great book that will be very hard to find from the 70's is
Pancho Segura's
Championship Tennis.
 
Advanced Tennis by Paul Metzler
Mental Tennis by Vic Braden
Match Play and Spin of the Ball by Bill Tilden
Tennis Tactics by USTA
Pressure Tennis by Paul Wardlaw

These are all on the tactical or mental side of the game, as opposed to focusing on technique. I'll echo the sentiment that Winning Ugly is also a worthwhile read.

Just a thought, but if you have enough money to buy books, you probably have enough for lessons. In today's economy, I've seen all sorts of imaginative accomodations to keep pros busy that you never would have encountered a few years ago. For example, the club pros here, which tend to be more pricey, are charging a flat hourly rate for up to four people. Go with one of the assistant pros and that's about $35/hr split up to four ways. Fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to set up a group lesson that could be run like a mini-clinic, focusing less on technique and more on patterns of play.

Public recreation departments usually hire younger, less experienced pros because they cost less. They generally don't charge as much for private lessons as well. Depending upon your needs, public programs can be a good value. Of course, as in most things, you get what you pay for, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

Good luck and good reading! Cheers!
 
Hey everyone, i was wondering what good instuctional books there are. I don't have enough money for private lessons so I want to buy a few books to help improve my game. I dont want any on tecnique, i want some that are on stategy and mental game. I already own the inner game of tennis i read it last year and i have seemed to have forgotten it all so i am reading it again right now. I am interested in Winning Ugly by Brad Gilbert. what books would you guys suggest?

Scott Williams: Serious Tennis

Paul Wardlaw: High-Percentage Tennis Video

If you play doubles:

Louis Cayer: Doubles Tennis Tactics Video

I believe all of these books and videos are sold here at TW. I also think John Yandell's site and FuzzyYellowTennis Balls are good learning sites. Must join John's site though, excellent articles on a variety of topics and you get excellent video footage on strokes.
 
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Advanced Tennis by Paul Metzler
Mental Tennis by Vic Braden
Match Play and Spin of the Ball by Bill Tilden
Tennis Tactics by USTA
Pressure Tennis by Paul Wardlaw

These are all on the tactical or mental side of the game, as opposed to focusing on technique. I'll echo the sentiment that Winning Ugly is also a worthwhile read.

Just a thought, but if you have enough money to buy books, you probably have enough for lessons. In today's economy, I've seen all sorts of imaginative accomodations to keep pros busy that you never would have encountered a few years ago. For example, the club pros here, which tend to be more pricey, are charging a flat hourly rate for up to four people. Go with one of the assistant pros and that's about $35/hr split up to four ways. Fairly easy and relatively inexpensive to set up a group lesson that could be run like a mini-clinic, focusing less on technique and more on patterns of play.

Public recreation departments usually hire younger, less experienced pros because they cost less. They generally don't charge as much for private lessons as well. Depending upon your needs, public programs can be a good value. Of course, as in most things, you get what you pay for, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

Good luck and good reading! Cheers!

I see your reasoning but what got me is that i feel like I could accomplish more in a book than a lesson. Also if i get rusty on one of the topics i can always read the book again for free
 
I see your reasoning but what got me is that i feel like I could accomplish more in a book than a lesson. Also if i get rusty on one of the topics i can always read the book again for free

That is good reasoning. I have a library full of them and have gone through them all. Many of the books and videos are gems. I provided a few of them above.
 
If you really are a tennis junkie, the TennisOne site is good for many hundreds of articles accompanied by short instructional stroke, strategy and training videos. It gets my vote as being more illustrative than any 10 books I own because the short videos accompanying the articles more clearly make the point.
 
I see your reasoning but what got me is that i feel like I could accomplish more in a book than a lesson. Also if i get rusty on one of the topics i can always read the book again for free

Agree, just like we can always go back to read black & white emails and chats, that is better than skype talking.

If you like the videos in the “RPT Spanish Training Model” thread, you would like the book [Tennis Kung Fu by Bruce Wang] too.

They both give some new concepts and techniques for tennis playing.
 
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