Win the warm up.

1. Introduce yourselves to your opponents.
2. Spin the racquet before beginning the warm up so you will be on the correct side when warming up and know the serving order as to who will serve first, second and so on.
3. Immediately be the one who “spins” the racquet to decides who will have 1 of the 4 options (don’t spin the racquet on the ground as it often takes too long, scratches the end of the grip when it falls to the ground and depending upon how it is picked up the racquet you can control the be “up” or “down” call. Just spin the racquet in your hand with the butt of the racquet toward your waist until they make their call, “up” or “down” then show them the butt of the racquet to see who won the spin.
4. If the opponents win the “spin” and choose to serve, make them serve from the sunny side of the court first and prepare to lob them a lot during the first game of the match.
5. In the warm up, the first server for each team will take a lot of practice serves as they will begin the offense for their teams initially. The third and fourth servers will take a lot of overheads, a few serves and focus on returning the servers as the first two servers warm up. This is important as the third and fourth servers will play several games before serving and have opportunities to be warmed up before actually being called upon to serve. However they can play an important part of their teams success by focusing on returning well early in the match.

You and your partner need to have a plan before the match starts. This gives you confidence and a purpose for what happens early in the match.

Photo Credits: GeoNando

• Do you know your Job Description for Doubles Positions as a Doubles Team? [/caption]It is difficult to perform well at work, home or play, when you are not knowledgeable or confident in your job description. Too often players and partners on a doubles team are not aware or confident in their job description. Great teams like the Bryan brothers talk between points, keep......
• This will be my last update from Aussie Land... [/caption] Today was another great day and we finally had sunshine - yeah... I took the tram to Rod Laver and was able to get in straight away. Met with the Tennis Australia group that ran the Australian Coaches Conference and thanked them for making it such a great experience.......
• 5 Drills to Improve Your Game by Yourself [/caption] 1. A 5 minute warm up is a must. 20 jumping jacks – Puts you on the balls of your feet and stretches out the body. 20 alley shuffles – Start in the alley and side-shuffle across the doubles, then singles side lines, until you have crossed a line......
• Serve and Volley or Rush and Crush Formations These players love to get to the net at any cost, hit strong volley winners and overheads. Don’t be afraid of the charging team. Reasons for the serving team to use this formation: 1. The serving team is both good volleyers. 2. The serving team has good overheads and likes......
• 11 Ways to Improve Your Tennis Game at San Jose Swim & Racquet Club - Year 'Round... [/caption] The following are 11 ways to improve your tennis game at the San Jose Swim & Racquet Club: Private hour and half hour lessons. These lessons can include technical work and hitting with the pro during that time to see if the technical and strategy changes work. Semi private......

• Tennis Glossary pt3 Ace - This is a serve that the opponent is incapable of returning, to serve an ace. Ad - This is a shortened version of Advantage. Advantage - The player that scores the very first point after deuce is said to have had the advantage, because winning the next point......
• Self Adjusting Match Play with Junk I have been playing a gambling match with my friends when I am just playing with one other person.  It is a variant of Match Play with Junk.  It is self adjusting match play with junk. Before the self adjusting part let me lay out the rule of the basic......
• Tennis Glossary pt4 Pass - This means hitting a shot that goes beyond the opponent, typically when that opponent is either at or close to the net. Passing Shot - This is a shot that goes past the opponent in the court. Penalty Point - This is another word for point penalty. Pickup......
• Tennis Glossary Continued Here is a continuation of the tennis glossary of terms that we have been working on for some time now. Serve- The initial shot of each point in a game is called the serve. While behind the base line of the court the player is required to first toss the......
• More Tips to Improve your Serve There are a variety of different tips that you can employ in your game to improve your game of tennis. Right now we are talking about the steps that can be taken to improve your serve, and by proxy, all of your game playing capabilities. Serving is a truly......

78 feet long – 36 feet wide for doubles and 78 by 27 for singles

Love- Score when a player has no score

15- Score when you win the 1st point
30- Score when you win the second point

40 - Score when you win the third point

Duece- Score when both players have won 3 point

Add– Score when a player has one the next point after duece, Add-In if the server won it –Add-Out if the receiver won the point

Game- When a player wins 4 points and is ahead by 2-points. Or when two players have reached a score of DUECE, one player wins the next point for an ADD-IN then wins the next point for GAME

Serve – Stroke used to put the ball into play. You get 2 chances to put a serve into the service court to start a point

Return of Serve - Stroke used to return the servers serve to play out the point

Ground Stroke - Stoke (forehand or backhand) used to return the ball after it hits the ground

Volley - A shot used near the net (similar to catching the ball) before it touches the court

Overhead - Stroke used near the net (similar to a serve) to smash the ball out of the air and above your head

Rally – Term used when players hit the ball back and forth in practice or a match

Have Fun!

• Serve and Volley or Rush and Crush Formations These players love to get to the net at any cost, hit strong volley winners and overheads. Don’t be afraid of the charging team. Reasons for the serving team to use this formation: 1. The serving team is both good volleyers. 2. The serving team has good overheads and likes......
• 7 Habits of Highly Successful Tennis Professionals 1. Be "Pro" Active Sure you have been teaching for years and may not need a lesson plan. But just as you would prepare to play a match, you still would need to review.  So, have a game plan for your student or opponent and think about your last......
• Defeating “The Two Opponents” before you defeat; “The Player on the Other Side of the Net” [/caption]You have seen the draw, met your opponent and walked to the court to begin the battle.  However, when you warm up to begin the match, you must first defeat two opponents before you can even begin to win the match against - the player on the other side of......
• Do you know your Job Description for Doubles Positions as a Doubles Team? [/caption]It is difficult to perform well at work, home or play, when you are not knowledgeable or confident in your job description. Too often players and partners on a doubles team are not aware or confident in their job description. Great teams like the Bryan brothers talk between points, keep......
• Winning in Practice, pt 1 "Practicing to win requires rehearsing the tactical situations you will encounter and selecting the correct appropriate response for that situation until you can execute these responses in the heat of match play" ...Ken DeHart Playing the Score Practice your singles and doubles match with altered scoring situations: Start all games......

• More Tips for Serving Here are some more useful tennis tips for improving your serving game. If you want to make improvements in your ability to serve, these tips will prove useful. Tip #1: Be a little off center after your serve. When you are serving wide to your opponent in order to......
• Sam Querry Manages to Defeat Carsten Ball During Final Querry has managed to win a second title on the ATP Tour, and now he is saying that he also plans to come back next year for the same tournament. At least next year during the LA Tennis Open's draw, the defending champion is going to be present. Sam Querrey......
• Tips for Serving Here are some more useful tennis tips for improving your serving game. If you want to make improvements in your ability to serve, these tips will prove useful. Tip #1 - Vary your procedure when you are serving. You are going to want to vary your procedure as well......
• What You Need To Know About Playing American Football Learning to play football is definitely fun and exciting, however it also takes some time. There's a lot more to this game than simply learning the rules, and there's a lot more to learning the game than first meets the eye. The only way to properly explore the ins and......
• Tennis Glossary Lawn Tennis - This is the original name used to describe modern tennis, based primarily on the fact that it is played on the grass, which was intended to distinguish it from tennis played on a court. Left Court - Left court and advantage court are the same thing. Let......

Playing the Score

Practice your singles and doubles match with altered scoring situations:

1. Start all games at love 30, 30 love, 30 all, 15-40 to experience the  pressure of being ahead, tied or behind with no room to play lose points.
2. Start all sets at 2 all, 3 all or down 2-4 and serving to feel the pressure of set scores that create no wiggle room for unfocused play
3. Play best 3 out of 5 tie breakers using the 10 point tie breaker used in place of a third set.  Use this in place of regular sets for challenge ladders and tie breaker experience (first to 10 points by 2 wins the breaker)
4. Play best 3 out of 5 tie breakers using the 12 point tie breaker used at 6 all in a set (first to 7 wins the breaker).

Situational Tactics

1. You can only score while serving.  If you lose the point the opponent serves until someone scores a point from that side of the court (deuce or ad court).  Like the old system of volleyball scoring, this situation teaches the players how to win while serving.  *Regular games and sets are played using this scoring or you may use some of the altered scoring scenarios from “Playing the Score” above.
2. Players must serve and volley both first and second serves.
3. Serves can only go to the backhand in both the deuce and ad courts, only to the forehand or into the body for a designated numbers of games to work on placement of the serve
4. Players only get 1 serve per point – no second serve.
5. All players must serve from the sunny side of the court each game.
6. Serving from the sunny side of the court, the servers must serve underhanded, side arm or some below the shoulder type of serve.
7. Servers must play with only a specific type of serve: slice, topspin or flat for a specific number of games.  This helps the players get lots of experience in practicing a particular type of serve.

Photo Credits: 1

• Present Yourself for the Win - Posture and Attitude Whenever we enter into a competition, our greatest opponent can be ourselves. We will misguide ourselves into thinking we are doing something we aren't. For many, when faced with the realization that this is happening, will bridge the gap and improve greatly as an athlete and player. The one thing......
• Ladies Finals from Australia [/caption] I got up at 3:30 am here in Charleston, SC to see THE match from down under.  My roommate was asleep, they wouldn't let me access the TV in the bar - afraid I would drink them dry I guess.  Little did they know I don't drink.  I went......
• 3 Secrets to Winning Doubles, pt 1 [/caption] This is the first post of three consecutive posts on the secrets to winning doubles in tennis. Secret #1 "Tennis Talk" - What to say and when to say it! Before the match: Decide with your partner ahead of time if you want to serve first, receive first, and......
• 12 Tennis Tips to Improve Your Game 1.) How to know if you are ready to start a tennis match?  As you warm up for the match, notice if you are able to see the spin on the ball before you meet the ball or if you can see a "yellow streak" into and out of your......
• Both Players Back Formation When playing both players back, the serving team or receiving team both start together on the baseline. Reasons for the receiving team to stay back: 1. The serving team is too strong with the serve and it is difficult to return the ball past the server’s partner – fear factor.......

• Book Review: The Tennis Drill Book By Tina Hoskins One of the most important steps of becoming a good tennis player is practicing your drills, over and over again, until it becomes second nature. There are numerous methods that are promoted for different drills, and dozens of books on the subject. We were ready for more of the same......
• 100 Quick Tennis Tips pt 2 Here are 100 quick and easy tennis tips to get your game going. We're going to spread this list out over a couple of posts to keep it interesting. Tip #12 - When the ball is coming so fast that you are not going to get to it in time......
• Even More Tips for Your Tennis Serve Here are some helpful tennis tips that will give you some perspective on improving your serve. Remember that different tennis tips are going to help different players in unique ways. The true key is going to lie in your ability to try out different tips and techniques until you......
• 100 Quick Tennis Tips pt 3 Here are 100 quick and easy tennis tips to get your game going. We're going to spread this list out over a couple of posts to keep it interesting. Tip #25 - You are going to want to imitate the incoming ball's trajectory using your backswing. For example, if the......
• Tennis Racquet Racket Review Having the right tennis equipment is a vital part of improving one's game. Sure, experience and skill are the most important part of playing well, but with the wrong equipment, a good player can easily have trouble winning matches. Everyone is going to have different requirements when it comes to choosing......