Tennis - Steps to Success - Jim Brown

Tennis - Steps to Success

by Jim Brown

NEW, 176 pages

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About Tennis - Steps to Success

Learn and master all the essential skills of tennis to take your game to the next level. Tennis, Third Edition: Steps to Success provides in-depth, progressive instruction and accompanying illustrations for each stroke: the serve, return of serve, forehand, backhand, volley, lob, drop shot, and overhead smash. Practice and improve those techniques with 80 drills that feature a scoring system to gauge and accelerate your progress.

After building a strong skill base, add tactical knowledge to make the right shots in match situations, in both singles and doubles play. With a little work, you’ll be hitting winners in no time!

Become a complete player on the court. As part of the popular Steps to Success Series—-with more than 1.5 million copies sold—-Tennis, Third Edition: Steps to Success will take your performance level to new heights in all facets of the game

About Jim Brown

Jim Brown, PhD, has taught, coached, played, and written about tennis for over 40 years. He has served as the editor of Tennis Industry magazine and the Georgia Tech Sports Medicine & Performance Newsletter, and is now the executive editor of the Sports Performance Journal, an online publication of Athletes' Performance in Tempe, Arizona. Jim has represented the United States Tennis Association; the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance; and the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports in clinics throughout the United States and Mexico.

Dr. Brown has written, coauthored, or edited 11 books, two national newsletters, one magazine, and hundreds of articles on sports, sports medicine, health, and education. He writes columns for CBS Sportsline.com, USTA-Southern Section, and Senior Wire News Service. His work has appeared in such notable publications as Sports Illustrated for Women, Washington Post, Better Homes & Gardens, Raising Teens, and New York Post.

Jim and his wife, Arlene, live in Atlanta, Georgia.

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 - Steps to Success