OTHER TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE GAME

Maria Kirilenko, who has been ranked in the world’s top 10, on ‘HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR FOOTWORK’ …

Your first three steps need to be quick, so you can get into position as quickly as possible: ‘Some days you go on court and you feel as though your legs are slow and heavy, and you’re not moving well. So you have to do some exercises between points – go to the back of the court, and quickly do lots of little steps. Don’t do one or two. You have to do about ten. And keep on doing those between points until you feel as though your movement has come back. But once you have got your movement back, you should stop doing the exercises, as you don’t want to use up too much energy.’

If you’re not balanced, you’re going to find it very difficult to hit a good shot. It’s essential to understand that lots of mistakes come from poor footwork: ‘If you keep on making errors, it could be because your footwork isn’t good, and could have nothing to do with the rest of your technique. Everything comes from your feet. If you can get your feet moving quickly, and into the right position, you will find that you can cut a lot of mistakes from your game. So think about your feet and what you do with them – it’s such an important part of tennis.’

The hardest surface to get used to again is grass: ‘When you play your first match of the season on grass, it feels strange, as you don’t feel totally sure about your movement. When I return to the grass, I’m like a ballerina, trying to make delicate movements, and not to slip over. It’s different on hard courts, as you go on court and you immediately feel safe. And on clay, you can make sharper movements, and you can slide into your shots. But on grass you need to build up your confidence.’

Garbine Muguruza, who defeated Serena Williams in the second round of the 2014 French Open, on ‘HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR FOOTWORK’ …

The best way to understand what you’re doing and how you can improve is to film yourself during a practice session or match: ‘When I’m training, we tape my practice session as that really helps me.’

Don’t waste any energy: ‘You want to use minimum effort; if you can get somewhere in two steps and not seven, you should do it in two.’

Be ready to improvise. And react quickly: ‘Everything in tennis happens at the last moment. You have to make a quick decision about moving to the ball. You only have a small time to decide. And on the faster surfaces you have even less time to react, so you just need to do everything a bit quicker.’

Eugenie Bouchard, runner-up in the Wimbledon women’s singles in 2014, on ‘HOW TO MOVE ON GRASS’ …

The key on grass is to stay low: ‘Grass is such a different surface to hard or clay, and I think you need to get low so that you’re prepared for your opponent’s slices and for the balls that slide and shoot through. The toughest transition in professional tennis is when you go from clay to grass, as they’re opposite surfaces, so different, and Roland Garros and Wimbledon are the two slams which are closest together, so that’s tough. The glutes and quads are the muscles you need most to stay low, so you’ll need to strengthen those and keep them active.’

Wear a pair of shoes with studs or pimples – that should stop you from sliding on the lawn: ‘You occasionally see players sliding at Wimbledon, but that’s not on purpose, as they could sprain their ankle.’

Don’t obsess over a change of surface: ‘It’s still’s tennis; it’s still a court. When you play a match, you can’t only be thinking about the surface. You need to think about your opponent and the match. You go out and do your thing, play your game, and maybe just make a few adjustments because of the surface.’

Kim Clijsters, a former world No. 1 and grand slam champion, on ‘HOW TO SLIDE’ …

Don’t do it for show. Only slide if you have to, and there’s no other way to reach the ball: ‘Sliding takes a big toll on your body; it’s far better, if you can, to run fast so that you can reach the ball without having to slide. Having said that, sliding was always part of my personality, as I would do absolutely anything to reach the ball.’

You need to be in excellent shape if you’re going to slide – in the offseason, work on your legs, glutes and your core: ‘You have to make sure your body is ready to do a slide – after I came back to tennis after having my daughter, I had to wait a while to make sure that everything was ready to go.’

You can slide on all surfaces, not just on soft clay: ‘I guess I took that slider with me indoors and also on hard courts. Now when I watch professional tennis, I see more and more players doing it.’

Philipp Kohlschreiber, who appeared in his first grand slam quarter-final at the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, on ‘HOW TO DO THE SPLIT-STEP’ …

By doing a little jump or split-step, you will be much quicker at reacting to your opponent’s shot: ‘This is all about getting yourself ready for your next shot. If you’re playing well, and pushing your opponent around, you’ll know what’s coming next. But if you’re the guy doing a lot of running, you have to be ready. You should be looking at your opponent and watching his racket and the ball. And then you do the little jump or split-step and then you release the energy to the left or right side. If you stay flat on your feet, you’ll be much slower, and there’s a chance you’ll be on the wrong foot.’

You’re moving before the ball comes, but you shouldn’t be guessing where your opponent is going to play his shot: ‘If you make that small jump, you’re already moving before you have to react left or right, and it’s much faster that way. What you shouldn’t do is guess. So you wait until your opponent has played his shot. But if you time the split-step well, you are set up perfectly to sprint to either side, or to move forward to a drop-shot.’

It’s the same principle when you’re at net rather than on the baseline: ‘It’s just that everything goes that much faster, and you have to react even quicker.’

Mansour Bahrami, who is seen as tennis’s greatest entertainer, on ‘HOW TO PLAY TRICK SHOTS’ …

If you want to learn trick shots, it’s best to start early. You don’t need a coach, you just need to try things: ‘I’ve never had a coach or a tennis lesson in my life. I started doing trick shots with a piece of wood that I found in the street – that was my racket.’

Accept that if you’re going to play trick shots you might lose a few more matches, but you’ll have the pleasure of making people smile: ‘If you do a trick shot and it works it’s an unbelievable feeling. But if you lose the point, and even the match, it doesn’t matter, as it’s just a game. I have lost so many matches in my life because I have always played this way, with trick shots, but I’ve always loved playing this way as I’ve made many people smile and that for me is very, very, very important.’

One favourite shot is a drop-shot loaded with so much heavy backspin that it lands on his opponent’s side of the net and then bounces back to his side: ‘This is a difficult shot. You have to go under the ball as fast as you can and you have to hit the ball so it lands very close to the net on your opponent’s side. You can play this shot when you’re close to the net and also when you’re at the baseline. You just have to have good touch. But be careful – if you don’t have a strong wrist you can hurt yourself.’

When the ball goes over your head and you turn your back to the court to play the return through your legs, wait until the ball is just about to bounce for a second time before hitting it: ‘If you hit it before, you’re going to miss for sure. Three times out of five, I know I’m going to win the point when I play this shot. I will either hit a winner or make the other guy nervous. You have to be very careful with this shot, and I would only recommend it if you have very good coordination with the racket and ball, and have strong wrists, as there’s the potential for injuring yourself. But if this shot works, the crowds love it.’

Grigor Dimitrov, who appeared in his first grand slam semi-final at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, on ‘HOW TO PLAY A TWEENER’ …

You should be looking to hit the ball when it has dropped a little lower and closer to the ground than you would do for a regular shot: ‘You have to time the ball almost perfectly in order to have good contact. Wait until the ball is a little lower so then you can rip it with your wrist.’

Everything else, it’s all in your imagination, and how much you can improvise: ‘You can’t really practise a tweener. It comes pretty naturally in the match, in the moment. It’s obviously a really tricky shot to play, especially in the tough moments. It’s all down to the situation on the court. You never know what’s going to happen. Sometimes an opponent catches you off guard, and you have to find a way of getting the ball into play.’

Take pleasure from playing tweeners, especially if you hit winners with them: ‘You can really enjoy these shots. My coach wouldn’t necessarily find it more satisfying if I hit a winner with a tweener rather than a regular shot. He would give me so much shit afterwards. And I’ve noticed that lately I haven’t really been into those shots in matches so much, so maybe that’s my game changing a little bit, and because I’m starting to understand there are more important things than hitting shots like these. I hate myself for that, ha ha.’

Roger Dalton, the head stringer at the Wimbledon Championships, on ‘HOW TO SELECT THE RIGHT STRINGS AND TENSION’ …

Juniors and club players should go for the softest strings they can. Especially juniors, as the stiffer strings can damage their muscles and joints as they grow: ‘Amateurs should be looking at using soft strings that will last them the longest period of time. There’s no point using strings that are going to break within an hour. Those stiff strings, used by the professionals, are good for spin and durability and control, but not necessarily the best thing for vibration and shock and jarring of the joints. Once you’re physically strong and mature, the stiff strings are fine.’

Lower tension strings give longevity: ‘Juniors should be using the lowest tension they can, as that will prevent fatigue. With a lower tension, and a softer string, you’re going to have a much longer career. You will also have greater depth on your shot. Older players tend to like a lower tension too, as it gives them easy power.’

However, don’t drop your tension so slow that you’re always hitting the back fence: ‘If you feel as though you’re losing control over your shots, you need to play with a higher tension.’

Work out whether you prefer just polyester, just natural gut, or a combination of the two: ‘It’s about finding the right combination of strings that will give you the right spin, control, comfort and power. Roger Federer, for example, uses a combination of different strings – natural gut in the main strings and a polyester-type string in the cross. Natural gut, made from beef intestine, is still used by a lot of professional players. But they find it a little bit too powerful, so they are dampening down that power with a stiffer, less resilient polyester string. Andy Murray uses polyester in the main string and natural gut in the cross – so the opposite way to Federer. Murray goes for that combination as he found natural gut in the main strings a little bit too powerful. So Murray is dampening down the power, and giving himself some control and spin, by using polyester in the main strings. The main strings are usually the main driver of spin and control, and the cross strings give comfort and power. Some players do have only polyester. But that doesn’t give you much feel and power. It will give you oodles of control, but you’re losing out on power.’

While it’s cheaper using polyester strings, as they don’t break so quickly and last longer, that could be a false economy: ‘I’m always telling parents that they could end up spending more on physiotherapist’s bills than they would have done on more expensive strings.’

Think about the conditions every day: ‘On a warm day, the balls are going to fly faster through the air, so you want to increase the tension. And go for a lower tension on a cold or windy day. You have to take altitude, surface and balls into consideration when choosing a tension. The balls are different from tournament to tournament. You might want to bring the tension down if you need more depth on your shots. Of course, it’s not going to be possible to make changes if you have already started a match, unless you do what some of the professionals do and have several rackets strung at different tensions.’

Roger Dalton on ‘HOW TO LOOK AFTER YOUR RACKET’ …

Be extremely demanding: ‘Professional tennis players are very particular about their rackets, and so they should be. I don’t ever mind a player who says they want things done this way or that way. Some players, such as the Williams sisters, ask for their grips to be covered with plastic, as they don’t want anyone else touching them. Players competing at Wimbledon can be very particular about the exact time of day they want a racket strung. That’s because, with the strings losing tension all the time, they know that the racket will be just right for them when they go on court. It’s important to be demanding, as that makes a difference to your game. Some professional players will often send some rackets back to be restrung during a match, as they’re not entirely happy.’

Make sure that the grip is the same size on every racket – you want consistency in everything. If possible, always get your rackets strung by the same stringer: ‘The top players employ a stringing company that travels with them to all the tournaments, so their rackets will be strung by the same guy on the same machine in the same way and at the same time of day. It’s about consistency. You don’t want to be worrying about your racket. You want to pick it up and know that you’ve got the tension you asked for.’

If you’re serious about your game, the absolute minimum is to get a freshly strung racket for every match: ‘And maybe have some other rackets that have been slightly used as a back-up. Obviously you have to think about costs. Ideally, you would want to go on court with six freshly-strung rackets, but that’s going to cost a lot of money.’

Practise with a racket that is strung at the same tension as the one you will use in the match: ‘If you’ve grooved your shots on the practice court, and then in the match you use a racket with a very different tension, that’s going to make a big difference. That could change the depth of your shots by three or four inches. That’s why you see pros changing their rackets every ball change. Roger Federer changes his racket based on whether he’s serving or receiving. If he’s serving he will keep the racket for an extra game, as the racket has lost a bit of tension, which gives him some more oomph. However, if he’s receiving he will change the racket.’

Most decent juniors will have between four and six rackets. More senior players will have eight rackets: ‘One racket is not enough.’

Club players should change their strings as many times a year as they play per week: ‘So if you play twice a week, change your strings twice a year. That will keep your strings at a reasonable tension, and nice and resilient and fresh. If you can afford to do that more often, you will have a more consistent game.’

The worst thing you can do is to leave your rackets in the car on a hot day. Or leave them anywhere that’s freezing cold: ‘You want to avoid exposing your rackets to extremes of temperature.’

When travelling to a tournament, it’s a good idea to take a couple of decently strung rackets with you: ‘That’s a good insurance policy, as you don’t know whether the stringing service will be any good when you get there. If you turn up and the stringer is absolutely awful, you are not going to have any rackets to play with.’

When flying abroad with your rackets, wrap them in towels before checking them in with your luggage: ‘Putting rackets in the hold of a plane can mess them up.’

Gordon Reid, one of the world’s leading wheelchair tennis players, on ‘HOW TO GET STARTED IN WHEELCHAIR TENNIS’ …

Just go for it and give it a try. And have fun: ‘It’s a really fun sport that can be played by anyone. It’s fast-paced and skilful, that’s why I enjoy it. I know from my own experience you get so much more out of the game if you’re enjoying yourself. Find a friend or family member to share the journey with.’

To begin with you can use an everyday chair, to learn the shots and technique. But to really make the most of the sport you need a sports chair: ‘There are many clubs that now keep a stock of sports wheelchairs to be used by new players.’

As it can be a bit frustrating at first when the movement in the chair is new, start off using a smaller court and maybe using softer balls while you’re still learning the movement: ‘The hardest part of the game is being in the right position every time to be able to hit an aggressive shot. This takes time to master. I would recommend doing a lot of movement drills that involve sharp turning and short-distance sprints. Also, as it is a tough sport on the upper body, injury prevention and flexibility are both an integral part of top players’ training.’

The biggest mistake you can make is to get into the habit of pushing the chair without holding your racket in your hand: ‘Whenever you are on court always try to push with your racket against the wheel and avoid putting it on your lap or between your legs.’

Esther Vergeer, the most successful wheelchair player in history, who was undefeated for a decade, on ‘HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR WHEELCHAIR TENNIS’ …

Women should train with the men: ‘I used to train with men all the time. They’re faster, they’re stronger, they’re quicker, and it raised my level a lot.’

Get mentally stronger – that means staying calm on court and making the right decisions: ‘The other girls were so close to beating me – they had the skills and physically they could have done it – but sometimes they weren’t mentally stable enough to make it work.’

Find a coach who helps to give you that calm: ‘Working with a coach who comes from able-bodied tennis, he had a lot of experience and taught me amazing stuff, not only on the court but also off it – like how your attitude should be and how you should approach matches, training, other people, the media. My confidence was so high, on and off the court, and that gave me a lot of calm.’

Work harder on every aspect of the game: ‘I did a lot of mobility training in my chair; I did a lot of fitness training for my upper body so I think I was maybe a little stronger than the average girl.’