The Best Book Since Inner Game of Tennis

[crystal_clear]

I am reading Tennis Mastery by David Smith. It is the best book I have ever read since Inner Game of Tennis. Basically it says all problems I have and how to fix them in a clear format with help of lots of step-by-step pictures. I found the book easy to understand and to do drills mentioned in the book.

The book is especially good for those who like to know WHY and HOW and who want to improve their tennis. I haven't read the strategy part yet and the technical part is the best so far.

Thank you David.

 

[GetBetterer]

I have read that book too, and I do not put it in front of the Inner Game of Tennis.

The Inner Game of Tennis describes Side 2, the Side that knows how to hit the ball. It tells you how to have a balance between Side 1 and Side 2. If there's a book about fixing and changing your form, then you should read that first, get the stroke down, and then read The Inner Game of Tennis. This way, you have the stroke, then Side 2 does the work as it's supposed to.

 

[tennis_balla]

You mean Self 1 and Self 2. Didn't know I had sides, how many sides do I have?

 

[GetBetterer]

Yeah yeah, you know what I mean. It's been awhile since I read it. It's a good read, very good for any game really, he just happens to be a Tennis coach so he's able to focus on Tennis more.

 

[crystal_clear]

I have read that book too, and I do not put it in front of the Inner Game of Tennis.

The Inner Game of Tennis describes Side 2, the Side that knows how to hit the ball. It tells you how to have a balance between Side 1 and Side 2. If there's a book about fixing and changing your form, then you should read that first, get the stroke down, and then read The Inner Game of Tennis. This way, you have the stroke, then Side 2 does the work as it's supposed to.

I like Inner Game of Tennis a lot. Inner Game of Tennis is more for mental game and Tennis Mastery has more technique part. These two books are my favorites.

 

[CoachingMastery]

Crystal, I'm glad you are gaining insights to better understanding of your game and, hopefully, it enables you to make solid strides in reaching your greatest potential.

I too believe Inner Game as well as Winning Ugly are two excellent books on mental (and some technical parts...but not a lot) that offer applications that players can employ to help them use the technical aspects I included in my books. I allude to both books as well as many others.

I have always believed that my success has been driven by that which I've learned from others. I also would recommend Zen in the Martial Arts, (written for Martial Art students but written by a tennis player with so many elements that the tennis player can learn from), High-Tech Tennis by Gropple, Visual Tennis by John Yandell, as well as David Ranney's Mental Tennis, (He was a student of Gallwey's). Jeff Greenwald has some great stuff in his "Fearless Tennis" books, and Jim McLennan's World-class footwork is good.

For those who do teach, including tennis parents, my second book, Coaching Mastery, is an in-depth look at teaching the game within the Advanced Foundation that I wrote Tennis Mastery. It also offers over 70 proven drills as well as everything that my father and I did to produce championship teams for 22 years in Southern California.

Thank you for mentioning my book and hope you will continue to gain from it.

 

[papa]

Crystal, I'm glad you are gaining insights to better understanding of your game and, hopefully, it enables you to make solid strides in reaching your greatest potential.

I too believe Inner Game as well as Winning Ugly are two excellent books on mental (and some technical parts...but not a lot) that offer applications that players can employ to help them use the technical aspects I included in my books. I allude to both books as well as many others.

I have always believed that my success has been driven by that which I've learned from others. I also would recommend Zen in the Martial Arts, (written for Martial Art students but written by a tennis player with so many elements that the tennis player can learn from), High-Tech Tennis by Gropple, Visual Tennis by John Yandell, as well as David Ranney's Mental Tennis, (He was a student of Gallwey's). Jeff Greenwald has some great stuff in his "Fearless Tennis" books, and Jim McLennan's World-class footwork is good.

For those who do teach, including tennis parents, my second book, Coaching Mastery, is an in-depth look at teaching the game within the Advanced Foundation that I wrote Tennis Mastery. It also offers over 70 proven drills as well as everything that my father and I did to produce championship teams for 22 years in Southern California.

Thank you for mentioning my book and hope you will continue to gain from it.

Thought I had your book "Coaching Mastery", must have lent it out and you know what happens there. Guess I'm going to have to get another because I can't find it now. I have a substantial tennis library (maybe 25 - 30 titles) but every now and then one disappears.

 

[CoachingMastery]

Thought I had your book "Coaching Mastery", must have lent it out and you know what happens there. Guess I'm going to have to get another because I can't find it now. I have a substantial tennis library (maybe 25 - 30 titles) but every now and then one disappears.

I know the feeling! With 115 books on tennis, I've lent out so many, of which some don't make it back to my library!

Hope you find Coaching Mastery. Personally, I feel it is a better book than Tennis Mastery with more for every player, especially those who teach.

The book is available here at Tennis Warehouse.

 

[papa]

I know the feeling! With 115 books on tennis, I've lent out so many, of which some don't make it back to my library!

Hope you find Coaching Mastery. Personally, I feel it is a better book than Tennis Mastery with more for every player, especially those who teach.

The book is available here at Tennis Warehouse.

Yeah, I don't think people fail to return books on purpose but somehow the good ones have a tendency to become more mobile. Sometimes, I even get books returned to me that aren't mine so I guess it balances out.

Some books I use much more than others and I have been known to get a wee bit cranky if one goes astray.

 

[crystal_clear]

I finished reading the whole book. The mental part and strategy part are good too. I learn some important stuffs such as when I get lobbed, I need to turn sideways immediately and run...instead of looking up... As the server's partner, I need to watch the net person closely instead of watching my partner rally with opponents...I was picked on all the time when playing mixed doubles.

I had a lesson on return of serve today but not very successful. I kind of hitting late for the hard serve especially from the ad. court FH side inside-out shots. Are there any drill to practice how to hit out front for the return of serve? How come you don't sell your books on Amazon.com/ca as I usually buy books there which has free shipping? We Canadian need to pay the shipping fee at TW.

 

[CoachingMastery]

I finished reading the whole book. The mental part and strategy part are good too. I learn some important stuffs such as when I get lobbed, I need to turn sideways immediately and run...instead of looking up... As the server's partner, I need to watch the net person closely instead of watching my partner rally with opponents...I was picked on all the time when playing mixed doubles.

I had a lesson on return of serve today but not very successful. I kind of hitting late for the hard serve especially from the ad. court FH side inside-out shots. Are there any drill to practice how to hit out front for the return of serve? How come you don't sell your books on Amazon.com/ca as I usually buy books there which has free shipping? We Canadian need to pay the shipping fee at TW.

Crystal, glad you are getting things that will help you out of the book! I do have all my books, (Tennis Mastery, Coaching Mastery, and my new novel about Walt Disney, HIDDEN MICKEY) all on Amazon as well as my publisher's site: www.Disneytree.com and my own web site for the books, www.coaching-mastery.com. However, since TW is one of the largest book distributors, I've stayed mainly supporting them as they sell a lot of my tennis books every year.

On your return, have a player serve to you from the service line instead of the baseline. Work on a shorter turn and shorter take back on the return and think of "riding" the return instead of hitting it. Work on depth on the return instead of pace. You are late probably because you are trying to hit too big of return. Having your partner hit to you from the service line will help you develop your reactions. But make sure you are working on shortening your stroke and not trying to wrist the return because you are late.

Good luck!

 

[crystal_clear]

Crystal, I'm glad you are gaining insights to better understanding of your game and, hopefully, it enables you to make solid strides in reaching your greatest potential.

I too believe Inner Game as well as Winning Ugly are two excellent books on mental (and some technical parts...but not a lot) that offer applications that players can employ to help them use the technical aspects I included in my books. I allude to both books as well as many others.

I have always believed that my success has been driven by that which I've learned from others. I also would recommend Zen in the Martial Arts, (written for Martial Art students but written by a tennis player with so many elements that the tennis player can learn from), High-Tech Tennis by Gropple, Visual Tennis by John Yandell, as well as David Ranney's Mental Tennis, (He was a student of Gallwey's). Jeff Greenwald has some great stuff in his "Fearless Tennis" books, and Jim McLennan's World-class footwork is good.

For those who do teach, including tennis parents, my second book, Coaching Mastery, is an in-depth look at teaching the game within the Advanced Foundation that I wrote Tennis Mastery. It also offers over 70 proven drills as well as everything that my father and I did to produce championship teams for 22 years in Southern California.

Thank you for mentioning my book and hope you will continue to gain from it.

Thank you David for recommending more books. I'd like to read Fearless Tennis next.

I had a come-back victory last week at Intercounty Mixed 1 match just like the story you described in the book "Don't set yourself up to fail..." The opponent lady happened to play at my DT club and I lost to her in the final B tournament last year. She is a strong doubles player rated like 4.5. We represent for different clubs to play this match. First set, they won 6:1 handily. Before the second set started, I told my partner we just played like a practice match and this really freed us up. We lead 2:1 and I told my partner we improved. We hold all our serves and lead 4:2, 5:3 and won 6:4. The third set is a 10 points tie-break. Our opponents got frustrated at the second set and totally crushed on the third set and lost 1:10.

I played a fear tennis on the first set and a fearless tennis on the second and the third set. I learned an important lesson: never assume a winning/losing -- Don't set yourself up to fail...By what you say or what you think.