Tennis Fever in May

Normally tennis fever hits the Coachella Valley during the BNP Paribas Open during the first half of March.

As it turns out, May is a pretty darn good month as well.  

The boys' team at Palm Desert High School travel Wednesday (June 1) to take on Santa Monica in the CIF finals at the Claremont Club in Claremont.  In case you want to support a great local team, the matches begin at 11:30.

And the men's team from the College of the Desert has won their state championship once again.  A conglomeration of Brazilians, Spaniards, Aussies, Mexicans and Americans, coached by local professional Carl Schroeder, this young team had an exhausting end to the season, playing a really tight dual match followed by a regional tournament at the JW Marriott Desert Springs Lawn & Tennis Club, and then the state tournament in Fresno, all within a week's time.  Sore muscles, blisters and all, the team represented C.O.D. and our valley in great fashion.

The French Open is keeping local fans glued to The Tennis Channel.  As has been the case for the past many years, the women's singles draw is wide open, especially since Wozniaki, Stosur and Clijsters have all been eliminated already and the Williams sisters both stay on injured-reserve.  On the men's side, Rafa has shown more vulnerability in the first couple rounds than in the past five years at Roland Garros.  The recent losses to Djokovic have most likely had some effect, but all it will take is a couple of matches where he finds his rhythm and confidence, and he could quickly return to form.  Even if he doesn't, he will certainly be no pushover by any opponent.

Federer has looked phenomenal in the first few rounds, but history's top men's collector of Major trophies hasn't had good luck lately against Rafa and Djokovic.  He will have to pull out some amazing magic to get past the man who has yet to lose in 2011 in the semis and then the "King of Clay" in the finals.  The odds have to favor a Nadal-Djokovic final, and it should be a war with Rafa unbelievably going in as the underdog.  Look out, Djokovic, however.  He's was all knotted up, one set apiece with Del Potro as night fell on Paris on Thursday.  Del Potro has the game to finally give the Serb his first loss of the year, but I doubt if Del Potro can keep up his shot-making for two more winning sets.

And to top it all off, the entire month of May has afforded local tennis players to beautiful tennis weather.  Hardly scraping the century mark and usually way below, the temperatures have been kind to staunch baseliners and serve-and-volleyers alike.  Soon will come the days of playing really early in the morning in an effort to beat the heat.  It's also time to drink water - a lot more than you think you need - and not just when you're on-court.  It's far better to have to make an extra trip to the bathroom than to feel the dizzy/chills/faint/fuzziness that can be the start of heat exhaustion or even heat stroke.  

Myth #1 - The toss is the most important part of the serve.  

If the toss were the most important part of the serve, you could just toss the ball up, let it land and say "15 - Love."  The toss has to be SOMEWHAT CONSISTENT, but it is NOT going to be perfect.  And even if you were the only player in the world with a perfect toss, what if the sun is in your eyes?  What if the wind is blowing?  What if you get nervous?  Have you ever thrown a good toss and missed your serve?  Have you ever thrown up a pretty bad toss and still hit your serve in?  Of course you have - on both counts.  If your toss is truly awful, I promise you that you have terrible (or terribly inconsistent) rhythm.  See your local professional to find some rhythm to settle down your toss.  But if your toss is off by a foot or more from where you'd like it to be, welcome to real life!

There are a few things that are important on the serve, but if you're going to focus on one thing and you choose the toss, you will be a lost puppy.  If you choose what you're doing with the hand that is holding the tennis racquet, now you're beginning to get it.  The key is to treat the service motion as a throw - in just about every way except you obviously won't actually throw your racquet.  

But it should feel like a throw, and you would never throw a ball while holding it tightly.  Our bottom three fingers, from the middle finger to the pinkie, are the fingers that control almost all of our gripping strength.  Try throwing any ball while gripping tightly with those fingers, and you'll look as foolish as you'll feel.  We simply would never do that, just as we shouldn't when we hit serves.   I've clocked my serve at 88 miles per hour - holding the racquet with my index finger and thumb ONLY - the two fingers that house almost no gripping power whatsoever.  

Look closely at photos of great servers in the "back-scratch" position, and you'll notice that the bottom three fingers are extremely loose.  This is how you want to hit serves.  When you can describe your serve as effortless, you've arrived.  When students ask if they should take our serve clinic, I tell them "...only if you want a better, faster, more accurate serve with less effort."  A loose hand allows you to adjust direction and depth so much more easily, it salvages a poor toss, permits you to hit much more effective spin and power and maybe most importantly, keeps you away from the orthopedic surgeon.  

You'll see most great servers begin with their opposite hand holding both the tennis ball and racquet at the throat of the racquet before they begin the serve.  Then instead of yanking the racquet back to start the motion, they simply release the racquet with their opposite hand and effortlessly allow the weight of the racquet to begin the serve.  Try it.  You'll be amazed by the results!

So, enjoy the end of May in front of the televisions watching the world's best, tip your hat to the men from C.O.D., send well-wishes to our local Aztec tennis warriors and start hitting your serves with 1/2 the effort and twice the result.
Best Tennis Regards!

Jim Leupold
PBI Director of Tennis
JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & SpaPalm Desert, CA 92260
760 341-1894
jim.leupold@pbitennis.com
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