Many tennis players get a case of the “yips” when they are faced with a second serve.  This is normal but does need to be overcome in order for your second serve to go in the court and be an effective serve.

There are three things you can do to help yourself with your second serve. Remember time, imagination and relaxation.  The first of these, time refers to the following tips:  Don’t rush a second serve; bounce the ball a few times before serving and make sure you are balanced and comfortable before you serve.  The second tip, imagination refers to taking a second to visualize the path of the ball.  In your mind’s eye it should travel 3 or 4 feet above the net and land comfortably in the box.  The last thing to remember is relaxation.  This means to relax your serving hand and exhale as you swing. 

If you stick with this three part plan, your confidence and serving percentage will increase.

I had someone ask me recently a question that arose during a match. The person’s opponent was serving.  She picked up an older ball that was in the back of the court and served the ball into play.  The ball was old and barely bounced making it unreturnable for the opponent.  Realizing it was not a match ball the opponent asked if the point could be replayed.  The other player refused. The question to me was, was the player correct in refusing to replay the point with a match play ball?

The answer is simple. If the opponent (the one who was receiving the ball) attempted to play the ball, then they accepted the ball into play.  Even if the ball bounced too low to return, if there was an attempt to play the ball, then the point cannot be replayed.  If rather the opponent had questioned the condition of the ball prior to the service or didn’t try to hit it after the service, then they would be entitled to a let if the ball was found to be broken.  Now here is the tricky part.

According to the USTA rule 3.1  a broken ball is defined as a ball that has no compression. The rules distinguish between a broken ball and a soft ball.  Both should be removed from play, but only a broken ball, not a soft one, is cause to replay a point.  This is true regardless if the player accidentally uses a ball from another court or one that was left on the court.

So in answer to the question, the opponent lost the point because she attempted to play the point.  Additionally, if the ball had not been broken she would have lost the point as well. 

This is a tricky area and one that really relies on the courtesy of players.  The best course of action if you are unsure of a ball that is being played is to try to stop your opponent from putting the ball into play without first checking to see if it is broken. If it is not but is old and soft, perhaps ask them to play with a match ball.  The vast majorities of tennis players in our experience have great etiquette and would not hesitate to do so.

The Racket Bracket® is a breakthrough in tennis training aids because it creates instant results. To explain how The Racket Bracket® works one must first understand why it is so difficult to achieve accuracy hitting a tennis ball with a tennis racket. The main reason is the way our brains use our wrists. The wrist was built to make highly variable adjustments when handling objects like a fork or for power to throw a rock. When a tennis ball approaches a first time player, their natural response is to use their wrist to hit the ball at whatever height it arrives. Why should they adjust their feet when the wrist is perfectly suited to make contact with the ball at almost any height and with considerable power?

The problem is that the player then has an infinite number of contact points to choose from when using the wrist and none can be optimized for accuracy and consistency. It would be like going to the driving range to learn how to hit a golf ball except that you would tee the ball at a different position and height every swing. If that were the case you would never get better at golf. The same principle applies to tennis. The goal is to approach the ball the same way each time and hit at a consistent contact point. This is inherently difficult as long as the brain can use the wrist to make the adjustments for you. By blocking the wrist, the brain automatically focuses on positioning the body first which trains the brain to use the feet to make adjustments and for power. With the wrist blocked, your practice time becomes dedicated to positioning and finding the optimal contact point every time you hit the ball.

Once that technique and response is ingrained into mental memory you will never think about how to hit the ball again and naturally position yourself better.

Work = Force x Distance

In the basic work equation if you increase the force you must decrease the distance in order to preserve the same amount of work or energy. Assuming that it takes the same amount of work to swing a tennis racket in the proper or improper technique a similar equation can be formulated.

Total Swing Work = Leg Work + Hip Work + Arm Work + Wrist Work

The swing complication lies in the way the total swing work is distributed across the four different contributors. Since it is much more difficult to discipline the body to coordinate the work from the leg through the hips, arm and wrist the natural tendency is to limit the work from the legs and hips and increase the amount of work from the arm and wrist to achieve the total swing energy. The problem with using the arm and wrist as the main power supply to the swing is that it is difficult to control or standardize that swing because the wrist has many degrees of freedom that it can move in. Therefore, this type of swing does not satisfy the accuracy and consistency that is needed to achieve higher levels of competitive tennis.

Unfortunately, the incorrect type of swing does not involve a lot of preparation or positioning and therefore becomes the default swing for all beginners. So instructors are faced with a fundamental challenge of changing the natural swing tendency of a player.

The proper swing involves a kinetic chain of events to occur starting with the proper planting of the feet and legs then activating the hips and swinging the arm while minimizing the work from the wrist. This swing takes a lot more thought and preparation and is therefore not the default type of swing for beginner tennis players. Explaining the proper swing technique is difficult because the players mind and body want to hit the ball using the easier improper technique. It is difficult to ingrain the proper swing because an instructor must hit thousands of balls with a student and correct them every time the proper swing is not executed.

The Racket Bracket® teaches a player the proper swing technique by simply removing the player’s ability to use the wrist as a power supply to the swing. Once the wrist is eliminated as a source of power the student magically starts to look for that power from the legs and hips. They must also use footwork to prepare themselves for the shot because without the ability to adjust the wrist they must strike the ball at the same contact point each time. Repeatedly hitting with the device builds in the muscle memory of the swing and ingrains it as the primary way to approach hitting a tennis ball. This is the foundation for any player to build a better tennis game.

The Racket Bracket® simply locks the racket into the same plane as the arm eliminating the ability to flex the wrist in the improper direction. It creates the feel that the tennis racket is just an extension of the arm and not controlled by the wrist. The racket can freely move within the device in the proper manner so that when a proper swing is attained the user will not even notice having the device on. Except for the serve, The Racket Bracket® will strengthen all strokes and volleys regardless of grip type including two handed grips. The Racket Bracket& is also easier to use then all the other tennis training aids.