For a limited only Tennis Gear has their entire range of Wilson K Factor racquets on sale at unbelievable prices. Click here to see their Wilson Racquet calalogue.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
K Kactor Sellout
Free Adrenaline String
Tennis Gear have done it again with an amazing special on BLX Racquets. For every Wilson BLX Racquet sold between now and the end of December, you will receive three sets of Luxilon Adrenaline string for free.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Rafter to be Davis Cup Captain
Congratulations Pat you'll do a great job. From the team at Tennis Gear.
Former world number one Pat Rafter has been elevated to one of the highest positions in Australian sport, captain of the Davis Cup team.
Rafter, a two-time US Open champion and former Australian of the Year, will form a dream pairing with Tony Roche, who has been re-appointed coach of the team.
Rafter replaces John Fitzgerald and becomes only the fifth man in the past 60 years to captain Australia's Cup team.
The hugely popular 37-year-old follows on from Fitzgerald (2001-2010), John Newcombe (1995-2000), Neale Fraser (1970-1994) and the legendary Harry Hopman (1950-69).
Hopman also captain-coached the team in 1938-39.
Rafter, who in addition to his back-to-back triumphs in New York in 1997-98 also lost successive Wimbledon finals in 2000-01, now has the onerous task of guiding Australia back into the elite 16-nation World Group for the first time since 2007.
"We've got a lot of young players that have a great opportunity to play for Australia," Rafter said.
"My standards and expectations are extremely high. This is a great opportunity to be part of something that means a lot to me."
With Cup warrior Lleyton Hewitt sidelined from the reverse singles, Australia narrowly missed promotion to the World Group last month when they lost a play-off 3-2 to Belgium in Cairns.
Hewitt's Davis Cup future had been up in the air following Australia's latest disappointment, but it is now hoped the recruitment of Rafter and Roche will extend his career in the century-old teams' event.
"I'm happy with the appointment of Pat and Rochey. Pat and I get along great and have shared some special moments at the highest level of Davis Cup, and I look forward to working with him," Hewitt said.
"And Rochey, I have always said his experience is second to none and he will be a fantastic addition again to the team."
During his 10-year reign as captain, Fitzgerald led Australia to two finals, including 2003 glory over Spain in Melbourne, and also to the World Group semi-finals in 2006.
He said he has been in discussions with Rafter since January about assuming the role.
"Tennis in this country needs him, we want him," he said.
"He's the best role model you could hope for to step into this position.
"I'm delighted he's been able to fit it into his busy life, and with his family commitments to step into this role.
"There couldn't be a better person that you'd hope to take over this role. In my position to have someone take it over from me I couldn't have wished for anyone better than Pat Rafter."
Australia have won 28 Davis Cup trophies, second only to the USA's 32, but a failure to get his hands on the trophy remains one of Rafter's greatest disappointments.
The Queenslander frustratingly had to sit out Australia's 1999 final triumph over France in Nice with a shoulder injury, having helped the team reach the decider.
He then featured in Australia's losing finals against Spain in Barcelona in 2000 and against France in Melbourne in 2001.
Sadly, Rafter's last professional match - before he formalised his retirement a year later - was his controversial involvement in the infamous 2001 Cup final loss to France.
After beating Sebastien Grosjean on day one to level the tie at 1-1, first-year captain Fitzgerald opted to pit Rafter and Hewitt into battle against Cedric Pioline and Fabrice Santoro - rather than play doubles specialists Todd Woodbridge and Wayne Arthurs.
But, again hampered by injury, Rafter and Hewitt lost in four sets - before a tearful Arthurs succumbed to Nicolas Escude in the deciding singles rubber the following day in front of his home-city crowd.
Australia will begin the long journey back to the World Group with a first-round Asia-Oceania Group I tie against Taiwan in Melbourne from March 5-7.
How often should I string my Racquet
At Tennis Gear we do a lot of restrings. Almost everyday I am asked by someone "how often should I restring my racquet?" . We the answer is sometimes a difficult one to answer and depends on a variety of factors.
However the common rule of thumb is to restring as often per year as you play per week, but at least twice per year. This is just a rough guideline. Some types of string lose tension faster than others, heavy spin hitters wear strings out much faster than flat hitters, and some players seem quite happy to let the strings decide when to be replaced -- by breaking.
For all you tennis string questions, speak to the tennis specialists at Tennis Gear.
Great Tips to Improve your Backhand
Check our these great tips I found to improving your backhand. Taken from www.tennismindgame.com.
An effective and smart tennis backhand tip can make a big difference to your backhand shot. Backhand shot is very commonly regarded as a more difficult shot than forehand and many people have a lot of trouble with it.
There are a couple of main reasons for that. We will talk about right-handers but the same point stands for left-handers too. When a right-hander does something like pick up keys, open the door, clean up the table with a cloth or something like that, he usually does that on his right side of the body.
We unconsciously move our body in such a position that it's comfortable for our right hand. And that is usually slightly on the right side. And since we have been doing that for years we develop very good eye-hand coordination on the right side. We can judge distances much better slightly on the right side than on the left where we rarely do any actions with our right arm.
Backhand shot is on the left side and we don't have such a good feeling for that side. Not only with our arm and hand but also judging distances and coordinating our arm. That's why we need to take some time and get used to doing things on our left side with the right arm.
Tennis backhand tip 1
Understanding this principle will hopefully take some pressure of your poor backhand shot that you have been putting down. Here's what you can do:
Take time on the short court with 5 minutes of mini tennis every time you play. Play many backhands and be aware whether you hit the ball in the middle of the racquet or not. Be aware whether you set your self up for the shot in the correct distance from the ball or not. Just awareness of that will improve your judgment and coordination on your left side of the body.
Another common issue regardless whether one-handed or two-handed tennis backhand shot is that the body turn that we make before the shot turns our head too. And we often end up watching the ball with mostly one eye. And as you probably know we need to see with both eyes to correctly determine speed and distance (3D vision) of and objects.
The head and eyes need to be pointed straight to the incoming ball. As soon as we look at the ball a little sideways we cannot judge the speed and flight path of the ball. That quickly results in errors in a sport like tennis. And we usually think that something is wrong with our backhand shot.
Tennis Backhand tip 2
Become aware of your head position and how your eyes are aligned to the ball. If you tilt your head or watch the ball with one eye more than the other it's very likely that you'll mishit that backhand shot.
Observe the pro's how they look at the ball, how their head is level and pointed straight at the ball. Even though they make extreme body turns in preparation for the hit they still manage to keep their head pointed straight to the ball. It takes great flexibility to do that.
Ask yourself before the hit – am I seeing the ball as clearly as I am on the forehand side? In my experience when I ask players that have some difficulty with one-handed backhands, about 80% say that they don't see the ball as clearly as on the forehand side.
When you become aware that you don't see the ball well you'll soon find a way of keeping your head and eyes where you can do that very well.
Nr.1 reason why tennis backhand shot is usually weaker than the forehand – we hit it less times! As soon as you started to play tennis you might have felt that your backhand shot is a little weaker than your forehand and you tried to play as many shot as possible with your forehand. You might have hit 3 times more forehands in your tennis career than backhand shots.
Repetition is the mother of skill. It's not the backhand shot that is weak, it just hasn't received the same amount of training as the forehand shot.
I remember watching a father playing with his 8 year old son and the boy hit maybe 15 forehands and one backhand. The father of course didn't want to see his son feel uncomfortable playing that weaker backhand so he played 15:1 shots to his forehand.
Good intentions for a short term good feelings, but unfortunately not the correct approach for a long term satisfaction.
Tennis backhand tip 3
Play backhands! This was simple. Do not avoid your backhand because it's weaker at the moment. Start with mini tennis and keep hitting backhands. Just give your backhand enough repetitions and wait until it improves.
Do not run around your backhand. Keep playing it and don't look for too much in the beginning. Just keep developing feel for the shot and wait for improvement. It will come.
Welcome those opportunities with players who keep playing to your backhand shot because it's weaker. They are providing you with excellent opportunity to practice in real situation. Keep hitting your backhands and imagine what your tennis backhand technique will look like in 6 months!
When you play that fewer backhand shots you quickly fall behind your forehand feel and control. You start losing trust in your backhand and eventually you treat it like some bad part of your tennis game.
This affects your backhand shot even before you hit the ball. Even when the ball is approaching you already feel uncomfortable and think that you'll probably miss or hit a poor shot. And how does that affect your backhand shot when you actually hit the ball? Very negatively.
Tennis backhand tip 4
You need to start becoming a good friend with your backhand and be supportive with it. Talk to it like a good coach would to a young player who hasn't mastered a certain stroke.
Your backhand is not bad it just hasn’t developed yet. Are babies bad walkers? No, they just need to practice. Adopt this attitude towards your backhands and treat it like some part of you that hasn't developed yet.
Start seeing the good shots of your backhand too. We become so negative of our shots and abilities that even we hit good ones we tend to dismiss them as lucky.
Well that's how we always start in something new. At first we don't get it, then we get lucky a couple of times and later these lucky shots become so common that we change our perspective and decide that now we know this stuff.
The same will happen with your backhand shot too. Take a minute after each practice or match and remember and visualize your good backhand shots. Forget the misses, you don't need them.
Fill your head with solid consistent backhands and you'll be amazed how quickly your backhand will become your best friend!
If you are looking to improvement your backhand, speak to the coaches from Everton Tennis & Gear and also Shaw Park Tennis & Gear.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Tennis Pros Strings
The following is a list of popular and well known pro tennis players string setup specs from Wimbledon and the French Open. The list has been taken from Colin the Stringer and does not specify if the specs were from the French or Wimbledon. In any case it gives us a good indication of what the pros are usisng in their racquet.
The interesting thing to note is the extensive use of Luxilon and also the trend towards lower tensions. Tenions in racquets have been decreasing over time due to the wide use of co-polyester strings. The team from Tennis Gear can give you more information about finding the right string for your racquet.
Here are the strings the world’s top tennis players, (and a few recently retired players), are using in their rackets, together with the rackets they’re using, and the tensions, (in lbs), they most commonly string at. These tensions are known as ‘Reference Tensions’, and are the tensions the pros will hit with when they arrive at a tournament. Having seen how the racket feels at the Reference Tension, they’ll then, if necessary, take the tension up or down a couple of pounds at a time until the get the feel they’re looking for. Things such as court surface, temperature, altitude, as well as their next opponent, will all contribute to any change required, but everything will start from the Reference Tension.
Where two tensions are shown the first is the tension of the main strings, and the second is the tension of the cross strings.
Where hybrid stringing is shown, the first named string is used for the main strings, and the second named is used for the cross strings. For example, Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt uses Babolat VS Team for his main strings, and Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power for his cross strings, whereas Sweden’s Joachim Johansson uses Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power for his main strings, and Babolat VS Touch for his cross strings.
Latest Update: French Open/Wimbledon 2010
Mario Ancic Yonex RDS 002 Tour
Luxilon Big Banger Original 62lbs
Marcos Baghdatis Tecnifibre T-Flash 315 Speedflex
Tecnifibre X-One BiPhase 46/51lbs
Tomas Berdych Head YouTek Radical MP
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 55lbs
James Blake Wilson Six.One Tour BLX
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 68lbs
Bob Bryan Prince EXO3 Ignite Team
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough 49/53lbs
Mike Bryan Prince EXO3 Ignite Team
Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power Rough 50/53lbs
Guillermo Canas Wilson nPro nCode
Wilson Enduro Tour 55lbs
Jennifer Capriati Prince Tour Diablo
Babolat VS Touch/Luxilon Big Banger Alu Power 51/48lbs
Juan-Ignacio Chela Babolat Pure Storm Team
Tecnifibre Spinfire Maxi Power 58lbs
Marin Cilic Head YouTek Radical MP
Babolat VS Touch 58lbs
The team from Tennis Gear can give you more information about finding the right string for your racquet.
Tennis Racquet Grip Size
Manufactured tennis racquet grip sizes range from less than 4" for juniors to 4 7/8" for the largest adult hands. This might not seem like much of a range, but the difference even 1/8" makes is surprising. Prolonged use of too large or especially too small a grip can injure your hand, wrist, and elbow.Many consider that using a grip size that is too large can contribute to tennis elbow. In Australia, you can generally only purchase racquets to 4 1/2", however some manufacturers have been offering larger grip sizes up to 4 5/8th on some models (Babolat).
The most commonly used method for finding your exact grip size is as follows: On your dominant hand, note that your palm has three main creases. Hold your hand flat, with the fingers alongside one another. Measure from the middle crease of your palm, up the line between your middle and ring fingers, to a point equal to the height of the tip of your ring finger. For most women, this measurement will fall between 4 1/8" and 4 3/8", for most men between 4 3/8" and 4 5/8". Juniors will usually measure less than 4".
Generally, if you're between eighths when you measure and you're not growing, you'll be better off going with the smaller grip, as a slightly small grip can be fattened up by 1/16" easily with an overwrap, whereas a too-large grip would have to be shaved down at a pro shop, and some racquets can't be shaved down. Overwraps can't fatten a grip effectively more than 1/8" though, because each layer of overwrap adds to the rounding off of the bevel edges on your handle. At Tennis Gear we recommend using a grip buildup kit to increase the grip size as this will keep the bevel edges on your racquet.
Grip sizes between 4 1/8" and 4 5/8" are easy to find in adult racquets. Larger and smaller grips are made for some racquets, but not all. Players with unusually small or large hands often have their racquet handles custom-sized at a pro shop, which should cost between $5 and $15. You can also get a do-it-yourself grip enlargement kit.
For junior racquets, exact size matching can be difficult. Most junior racquets are quite inexpensive, and the manufacturers don't find it economical to produce a wide range of grip sizes. Often, the best you can do is to get a racquet that's fairly close. For juniors, grips slightly large are preferable to slightly small, because they will grow into them.
At Tennis Gear we offer a grip size selection fitting service absolutely free. We also offer a service that can build up your grip size by up to two grip sizes. For more information please call us on 617 3353 2018.
Tennis Split Step
At Everton Tennis Centre we have four synthetic grass courts. I think it essential that we teach players the proper use of the split step to ensure they are correctly balanced particularly when moving forward to volley.
The following video gives some great information about the split step.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Federer Kick Serve Practice
Watch this cool video on Federer practicing his Kick Serve. See he does practice!!!!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
How to Buy a Tennis Racquet
Great tips on what to consider when buying a tennis racket. I feel the most important factor is to "try before you buy". At Tennis Gear we have a demo racquet for every racquet we sell and with two huge store at Shaw Park Tennis Centre and Everton Tennis Centre we have courts available for you to use. Come in and see us for all your equipment needs.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Alu Power Review
Luxilon is the most widely used string on tour. Why? I hear you ask.
Luxilon Big Banger ALU Power comes in four different versions. ALU Power 1.25 mm is the original version and still one of the most popular. The composition is a copolymer with fluocarbon resin and aluminum fibers. ALU Power Rough 1.25 mm has the same composition, but is textured to generate more spin. One of the final processes is the string being crimped to give it the texture. ALU Power Spin 1.27 mm also has the same composition, but is in a pentagonal shape for added spin. The string is a little thicker than the others because of its shape, but still has about the same durability. The last version is ALU Power Fluoro 1.23- mm is enhanced with fluorofibre carbon during the extrusion process.
Why is Luxilon ALU Power the most popular string on the tour? The answer is control, power, and spin. Polyesters and co-polymers give players the ability to hit out on the ball and keep it in the court. What separates ALU Power from all of the other polys is the feel and comfort.
In conclusion, you can’t go wrong with any of the four versions. Just make sure you start of low and work your way up in tension. It may take some time to find the right setup, but when you do, I think you will stick with it. I can’t tell much difference between the different versions, but I use the ALU Power Rough. I feel like I get a little more spin on the ball than I do with the fluoro and the smooth. I also love the spin version. If you’re looking for more control, power, and spin try one of the Luxilon ALU Power strings. There is a reason over 60% of the ATP Top 100 players and approximately 30% of the WTA Top 100 players use Luxilon strings. The majority of them are playing with one of the ALU Power strings.
Tennis Gear have the full range o Luxilon strings including Alu Power. If you would like advice before your next restring, then give them a call on 3353 2018.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Box Pattern Stringing
Check out this great video that clealy shows how to string your racquet using the Box Pattern.
Tennis Gear use Wilson Baiardo Stringing Machines and han help you with all your tennis needs.
Tennis Pain
Nadal is the master when it comes to pushing his body. Look at this great YouTube Video showing Nadals feet at the end of a tournament. Ouch
Is Racquet Swingweight Important?
Checkout the racquet swingweight customisation tools at the following link. RacquetTech.
"Swingweight is the most important parameter to customize because it has the most influence on how the racquet feels and plays most of the time -- i.e., when you are swinging and hitting the ball. But good players want all their racquets to feel the same at all times -- holding it still vertically, holding it still horizontally, swinging in a straight line, or swinging it in a circle about some axis. Holding the racquet by the handle with the head pointing to the ground, all you feel is the weight. If you hold the racquet horizontal to the ground, you feel the "pickup weight," which is defined as the weight times the balance point. If you swing in a short straight line as in a punch volley, you are primarily pushing a weight, not rotating it around in a swing, so you feel its weight and balance. When you swing in a full stroke, you are rotating the racquet around an axis (at your wrist, elbow, or shoulder) and what you feel is swingweight.
Using this calculator, you can determine where and how much weight to add in order to match two or more racquets in weight, balance, and swingweight. This is the ultimate equipment service that a coach or racquet technician can provide for a player."
Tennis Gear offer a service that measures swingweight and allows players to customise their racquet weight.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Hewitt may be Right!!!.
Hewitt may have got it right on Commonwealth chaos
9/22/10 2:51 PM | Johan Lindahl
Tennis Gear has Hewitts racquet on sale for only $199
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