If you want to be successful in doubles, there’s one very important element that you absolutely MUST have.  You’ve got to have a highly aggressive man (…or woman) at the net. This means, the one up from has to be ready to “poach” or pouncing when necessary and gobbling up every ball that you can legitimately get your racket on.

Don’t worry, I’m not saying go out there and be aggressive without any tools are tricks up your sleeves. You can actually consider yourself heavily armed with a variety of weapons at your disposal.

Of those, the poach technique is one of the most deadly weapons that the man at the net possesses.  This is a prime example of…

Hey guys! I’m glad you’re joining me this week, because we’re going to tackle a pretty powerful yet controversial issue that can have you winning matches … even against some of the toughest players you’re ever going to face. What do I mean? Well, let me explain…

Now, every now and then, when we’re out there playing a match, we encounter, a very terrible situation – a situation that we feel is a total “no-win” or “lose-lose one at best.”

The scenario, many times, looks like this. Your opponent is playing hotter than the Las Vegas sun in July. I mean, he is really on some serious fire while you are seemingly sitting on a cooler of arctic ice.

How many times have you been on a tennis court and heard a player, or yourself, yell out “My timing is off, Why I’m I so late, or Dang, I caught that one too early” at the top of their lungs, then storm back to the baseline in disgust?  Oh, and it gets better (…or worse).

Then, you sprint back to the line, thinking the next one will be different, and you lose that point, and the next point as well. I mean, it feels like you’re doing exactly what you’ve worked on in practice, but the result is nowhere near as nice.

Sound like you sometimes?

After doing some research, I found out that Raffa not only plays with this particular brand, he’s so confident in the feel and performance, he’s signed a whopping 10 year contract with them!

So I figured, why not go with what the champion of that clay surface uses to defeat some of the best players in the world and has vowed never to switch from for the next decade. Sound good to you? I thought so…wink

That’s right, when you win, you’ll be able to string your racket with the same exact stuff that Raphael “Raffa” Nadal uses for every heart-stopping performance – Babolat “Tour Duralast!”

PARIS – Finally, the end of Rafael Nadal’s unbeaten run at the French Open has come.

Robin Soderling of Sweden surprised everybody with his Sunday win against Nadal.

Soderling won the match 6-2, 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the 4th round, putting a stop to our Spanish hero’s 31-match winning streak at Roland Garros.

Soderling, who is seeded 23^rd at this year’s tournament, exhausted the open champ on the center area with his brutal serve and blistering forehand.

Nadal was the crowd favorite from the start, from his first appearance at Roland Garros. He dominated…

Hey guys!

I’m glad to see you made it… especially on a Monday. I want to address something that I saw some of the best players in the world suffering from this past week in the 2009 French Open.

I mean this “something” was everywhere, on the courts, in the stands, in the (…soft drinks). Ok not the soft drinks… laughing. But it definitely had a major affect on last week’s tournament results.

That “something” is the idea of doubt. The concept of doubt is an element that you want to avoid at all costs… if at all possible. Now this is easier said than done, I know.

The reason for that is because, many times, it’s something that you usually don’t see coming right away. It often appears without…