Today I got a tennis tip for you and it has to do with starting the match and getting an upper hand or you might say, "Renting a little space in the opponent's head".

First off let me tell you how I came upon this tip. I was in a tournament about a year ago. My good friend Jack and I were playing in the semi-finals. We were warming up and when we spun the racket to see who would serve, Jack won and instead of accepting the serve, he gave it to me and then picked his side to receive the serve. Geesh, I lost the match that second because I was thinking why the heck did he do that? It threw me way off mentally. So the other week I was playing Jack again. We play every week for the fun of it and I brought up that match and told him how it threw me off and we both got a good laugh out of it. Then he went on to tell me how to use that strategy to my advantage. So here it is, hope you all can use it sometime.

When you win the serve, make the other player serve.
1) He might not be warmed up yet.
2) You get early break and that can put him on the ropes so to speak.
3) Gives you time to get more looser and ready.

Another strategy is picking what side you will receive serve.
1) Put opponent facing opposite direction to what he was warming up at. If he was warming up facing the curtain, then make him play the first game facing the side that's open or facing the spectators.
2) Make him hit with the wind at his back starting out.
3) And like always, you make him wonder why you did those things and now you have just rented space in his head for a game or two or maybe even the whole match.

Well, that's my tip for this month. Hope it works for you. See ya on the courts and don't forget, if you're not sweating, you're not playing hard enough!!!

Tommie Ray

If you have any questions or comments please email me :-)