Tennis Past 50 - Tony Trabert and Ronald Witchey

Tennis Past 50

by Tony Trabert and Ronald Witchey

NEW, 168 pages

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About Tennis Past 50

Tennis is indeed a true lifetime sport—just ask any tennis player over 50! However, as you get older you may need to adjust your stroke technique and strategy to stay on top of your game.

Tennis Past 50 is the only book to address mature players’ specific needs with proven strategies that adjust stroke technique, positioning, injuries, and equipment. Tennis Past 50 shows you how to

• modify your stroke to gain more power without sacrificing control;
  
• play smarter with adjustments to position on the court and style of play;
  
• improve your doubles and mixed doubles game;
  
• choose the right equipment for your style of play, ability, and fitness level;
  
• eat right for better performance on the court; and
  
• avoid injury and improve your conditioning for better performance.

About Tony Trabert

Now a 50-plus player himself, Tony Trabert has been playing tennis since he was six years old. He was the top-ranked player in the world in 1953 and 1955 and was just named president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Trabert won three of four grand slams, missing only the Australian Championships, and 10 majors in singles and doubles including Wimbledon and the U.S. and French Championships (now referred to as Opens). Trabert played for the Davis Cup team five times with one win and later served as Davis Cup captain for five years with the team winning twice.

He currently works as a television commentator for CBS Sports and Nine Network Australia. He has covered the U.S. Open since 1973 and Wimbledon since 1986, as well as the French Open at Roland Garros, and he's written two books on tennis. He knows many other players of renown who've continued playing into their 70s and 80s—some of whom are featured in this book.

Trabert and his wife, Vicki, are residents of Ponte Vedra, Florida.

About Ronald L. Witchey

Ronald L. Witchey is a biomechanist with a specialization in aging and tennis. His research on the benefits of tennis playing on functional fitness in older adults has been presented at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Teachers Conference, the annual meeting of the Society of Tennis Medicine and Science, and the National Strength and Conditioning Association's Sport-Specific Training Conference. He has also given numerous talks on circuit training, sports medicine, and biomechanics.

A lifetime member of USTA and a former member of the USTA Sport Science Committee, Witchey is the former head men's tennis coach at California State University at Fullerton, where he has been a professor in the division of kinesiology and health promotion for the past 37 years. He's currently the fitness director at SeaCliff Golf and Tennis Club, and he continues to teach biomechanics and anatomy at California State University.

Witchey holds a PhD in kinesiology from the University of Southern California. He lives in Placentia, California, with his wife, Ceci.

Reviews of this Book

"Our definition of great tennis changes as we grow older. Tony Trabert's book will teach you how to play your best tennis at any age and retain—or rekindle—your love for the sport."

Billie Jean King

"Aging doesn't have to mean losing your edge. Tony Trabert has been at or among the top throughout the years, and he will teach anyone how to play their best, not just past 50, but at any age."

Chris Evert

About Tennis

Tennis is a sport usually played between two players (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all ages. The sport can be played by anyone who can hold a racket, including people in wheelchairs.

The modern game of tennis originated in the United Kingdom in the late 19th century as "lawn tennis" which has close connections to various field/lawn games as well as to the ancient game of real tennis. Up to then, "tennis" referred to the latter sport: for example, in Disraeli's novel Sybil (1845), Lord Eugene De Vere announces that he will "go down to Hampton Court and play tennis. As it is the Derby [classic horse race], nobody will be there". After its creation, lawn tennis spread throughout the upper-class English-speaking population before spreading around the world.

The rules of tennis have not changed much since the 1890s. Two exceptions are that from 1908 to 1961 the server had to keep one foot on the ground at all times, and the adoption of the tie-break in the 1970s. A recent addition to professional tennis has been the adoption of electronic review technology coupled with a point challenge system, which allows a player to challenge the line (or chair) umpire's call of a point. Players have unlimited opportunity to challenge, but once three incorrect challenges are made in a set, they cannot challenge again until the next set. If the set goes to a tie break, players are given one additional opportunity to challenge the call. This electronic review, currently called Hawk-Eye, is available at a limited number of high-level ATP and WTA tournaments.

Tennis is enjoyed by millions of recreational players and is also a hugely popular worldwide spectator sport, especially the four Grand Slam tournaments (also referred to as the "Majors"): the Australian Open played on hard courts, the French Open played on red clay courts, Wimbledon played on grass courts, and the US Open played also on hard courts.

Tennis Past 50