Hello to all of our amazing League Tennis participants. Please allow me to introduce myself to you all. I am Coach Chris and I’ve been a tennis professional in the Atlanta area for over 20 years. During that time I’ve had the honor of working with amazing players of all ability levels. I have spent both my playing career and teaching career constantly looking for ways to help grow this amazing sport at all levels and at many capacities.
I have been working with League Tennis a little over a year now and have had the opportunity to watch so many of you at our tournaments. It is so much fun for me to see you all having a great time participating in the most amazing sport ever.
I’ve overheard many of your post match recaps and one of the most common things I hear is “I didn’t double fault once.”
While it is great to get through an entire match without double faulting, we all still need to keep in mind that taking chances on our serve occasionally, keeping the match score in mind, is actually a very good way to force play. Yes this means we may double fault once or twice, but the benefit can be very rewarding.
Keep in mind that your second serve will almost always be attacked with more vigor than your first, even if your first serve is actually weaker.
Throw in a second serve for your first serve from time to time to keep your opponent guessing and on their toes. Don’t forget to keep your racquet head speed up on your second serve.
When we are serving it is the only time that we are in complete control and we need to take advantage of that and not just think of our serve as merely putting the ball in play or just starting the point.
I hope that you all found this helpful and please look for more tips to come.
About Coach Chris Collins
Coach Chris Collins is a USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association) certified tennis professional and was named the GISA Division 1-AAA High School Tennis Coach of the Year in 2012. Coach Chris has worked in tennis at every level since age 16 and works with players of all ability levels with a focus on the individual. Coach Chris has worked in Atlanta as Head Tennis Professional at Chastain Park Tennis Center, Head Tennis Professional and tennis community liaison for PGA Tour Superstore Buckhead and as an independent tennis professional. Coach Chris has been running kid’s 10 and under tennis programs, developing junior talent or working with league tennis players for more than 20 years.
