Glam Slam Tennis

The most critical aspect of the volley is the GRIP.  Holding the grip in the proper place (Continental) ensures that the racket edge will be forward for hitting volleys with under spin and control.  Volleys are control shots not typically power shots. Here are a few grip reminders to ensure a great CLASSIC volley from anywhere on the court: Spread your hand out a bit on the grip vs. bunching your fingers together. No death grips – hold the racquet lightly. Stand with good upper body po...

Hitting the slice – it’s a love hate kind of thing.  You’ll absolutely love having this shot in your repertoire and you’ll probably hate learning it Good news.  Here’s a fun way to get a feel for the backhand slice – borrow your kid’s Frisbee and start tossing it around! The motion of the backhand slice in tennis is very similar to that of tossing a Frisbee.  I’m talking about the basic, recreational Frisbee toss, not the modern slick shots you s...

Unfortunately many of us hold our breath when we get nervous or uptight on the tennis court. If we do breathe, it’s usually shallow, which causes an increase in muscle tightness and blood pressure -making the situation worse.  We see this a lot on the return of serve. Players have a lot of time while waiting to return serve.  Too often our minds do a number on us by bombarding our brain with thoughts.  It’s tough to stay relaxed with this mental barrage going on. Nothing con...

Ok – so your opponent watched our recent video on The Dip shot, mastered the technique and is constantly getting the ball at your feet.  What do you do?  First of all, well done to her – ‘cause you are now forced to hit a shot few of us would choose to – the Half Volley! The half volley happens when the ball lands at your feet so it’s too short to use your regular volley and you’re too close to the net to hit a full groundstroke.  A lot happens in a short amount ...

If you want to be a good doubles player, let alone a great one, you MUST be able to serve and volley.  True, a lot of pieces must come together to execute the serve and volley – get the serve in, transition to the net, make the first volley and be ready to close the net – all the effort is worth it. The cornerstone in this whole process is what we call the “transition volley.”  This requires hitting a volley on your way to the net.  I know it sounds counter intuitive –...