To become a professional tennis player requires dedication, expert coaching and playing in as many tournaments as possible. By gradually increasing your ranking you can enter more challenging tournaments, gain experience and build up your skills. Jeannie has been coached by her father Orlando Barcia since she was a young child, her current ladies ranking in the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (at December 31, 2019) is 981.
Category: Tennis Tips
New Specialist Racket Stringing Service
Need a racket stringer urgently? I provide a fast, reliable professional stringing service for all racket types, but particularly tennis. I offer a very flexible service, I can pick up and deliver in the Marbella area or you can drop off and pick up at your convenience.
Using my extensive knowledge gained over many years as a player and coach, I can give advice on rackets requirements and string specification for different level of players, from beginner (including children), intermediate, advanced and competition level. This specialist stringing service will help you play like a pro.
If you play three or more times per week I recommend that you restring your racket at least three times a year to ensure optimum performance. With time strings lose their elasticity, and even if you’re playing less frequently you should ideally still restring your racket at least a couple of times a year
Prices are from 25 Euros including a standard level string.
Babolat Rackets and Accessories
If you are looking for a new racket I can also give advice and offer discounted prices for new model Babolat rackets including accessories.
Rafa Nadal Selects His Service Balls
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
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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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