Author: Bob Brooker

US Open – Muguruza Through to Third Round

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

The Spanish third seed Garbiñe Muguruza continued her powerful start to the US Open in Flushing Meadows by defeating Duan Yingying in straight sets on Wednesday. It is the first time in her career that Muguruza has reached the third round of the US Open. Duan provided a strong challenge in the first set but Wimbledon champion Muguruza dominated the second set to win 6-4, 6-0 on Wednesday.

In the first set Muguruza was slow to get going and had to defend a break point against her in the sixth game. As she found her rhythm, she gradually increased the tempo and finally won the set after breaking Duan’s serve for a 5-4 lead.

Muguruza was completely dominant on the second set breaking three times to take the set 6-0.

 

Jeannie in Royal Tennis Club Tournament

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

Jeannieross Barcia was a finalist at the 12 and under tennis tournament held at the Royal Tennis Club Marbella. It was an exciting tournament.

In her first round match Jeannie managed a relatively easy win 6-1 6-0.

The semi-final was against a good steady player but Jeannie came through with a 6-0 6-0 win.

The final was a tough, hard fought match although the final result was 3-6 3-6 against Jeannie.

For your tennis coach in Marbella you can do no better than Orlando Barcia.

Alexander Zverev Takes the Montreal ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Title

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

In a somewhat unexpected result 20 year old Alexander Zverev took the Montreal ATP World Masters 1000 title. This was Alexander’s second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy, adding to his maiden title in Rome, he is just the second current player other than the Big Four to win more than one Masters 1000 crown. The Big Four of course being Andy Murray, Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.

With Nadal losing against Shapalova and Federer losing against Zverev, the up and coming young guns are beginning to make their mark.

It’s never too young to start having Marbella tennis lessons and making your plans for the future.

Muguruza wins her first match since Wimbledon

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

Ranked number four in the WTA rankings, Garbine Muguruza returned to action following her second major triumph at Wimbledon three weeks ago. Muguruza, 23, convincingly beat the 17-year-old American Kayla Day 6-2 6-0.

After the match at the Stanford, USA, Bank of the West Classic WTA tournament, Mugaruza commented:

“I know it might sound weird – because of course winning it gives me confidence – but it doesn’t mean that I’m going to come here and because I just won Wimbledon I think it’s going to be easier to win matches. It’s not at all.

“I’m just working on trying to forget what happened and just starting Stanford. Stanford is my goal, and that’s it.”

 

Eight Spanish Female Players in WTA Top 100

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

Following her Wimbledon champion success Garbiñe Muguruza is currently ranked number four in the world. There are currently four female Spanish players in the WTA top 100 rankings, the oldest tennis female player is 28 and the youngest is just 20.

PlayerAgePointsRanking
Garbiñe Muguruza234,9904
Carla Suárez Navarro281,55530
Lara Arruabarrena2593566
Sara Sorribes Tormo2069286

If your goal is to get into the top 100 then take a look at the kind of marbella tennis lesson that are offered by qualified freelance tennis coach Orlando Barcia.

Eight Spanish Players in ATP Top 100

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

There are currently eight Spanish players in the ATP top 100 rankings. The oldest tennis players are 35 and the youngest is 26.

PlayerAgePointsRanking
Rafa Nadal317,4652
Pablo Carreno Busta262,35015
Roberto Bautista Agut292,24518
Albert Ramos-Vinolas291,72524
Feliciano Lopez351,39027
David Ferrer351,21033
Fernando Verdasco331,11537
Nicolas Almagro3163878

If your goal is to get into the top 100 then contact Orlando for a Marbella tennis lesson and improve your tennis skills.

Rafa Nadal Selects His Service Balls

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

Have you ever noticed that often, when a professional player is about serve, he will collect three balls, examine them and then throw one away. So what is happening here? It all comes down to hair. New tennis balls tends to have hair which is smoothed flat, whilst a ball that has had more play will be fluffy.

Tennis players may check three or more balls before serving so that they can select one smooth ball and one fluffy ball. They like to use a smooth ball for the first serve because the hairs are flattened down and therefore the ball should travel faster than an older ball. If the first serve goes astray, the player will use the fluffier ball for their second serve. Although these move more slowly, they are easier to control and so the player is less likely to concede a double fault.

Here you can see Rafa Nadal selecting the balls ready for his serve

If you have a Marbella tennis lesson you will be able to learn other techniques for improving your service game.

Using a Tennis Wall or Backboard

by Bob Brooker Comment Closed

An excellent way to try to practise your tennis strokes is to use a tennis wall, also know as a backboard. There are three things you should think about when you come to practise using a tennis wall:

  1. Mark a target on the wall so that you have something to aim at with every stroke and always attempt to hit the ball onto the target. It’s important that you mark the target using something that can easily be removed when you have finished your practice session, for example some decorator’s masking tape.
  2. Decide on the number of bounces that you allow the ball to make before you return it. This forces you to use your feet to go forwards or backwards to get into position for the return.  A good idea is return the ball after two bounces which will give a more realistic time delay between the time the ball is hit and when you need to return it. It is important not to stay stationary and wait for the ball to reach you.
  3. Set yourself a goal for each practice session. The goal could be anything, for example, to hit twenty forehand shots in a row that are on target, followed by twenty backhand shots on target.

Jeannieross Barcia practises using a tennis wall