Tennis

Fun, Friendship and Fair Play

by Becca Meurer

Tennis players got deep into playing Singles to carry us through the months when Doubles weren't possible. To help us all prepare for the return to Doubles, we chatted with Frank Bruisma from the Savitar Tennis Centre and convinced him to share his top tips with us. We couldn’t help throwing in one question about Singles for all of you with a newfound passion for it these past months. By the way, Savitar is AWA Tennis’s partner in many of our activities: Discover Tennis Clinics, Tennis Assessments, and the sponsor of our Doubles Cup tournament.

Belinda Barber and Elizabeth Butcher

Q: What's the best warm up drill before a Doubles match?

A: Start with Mini Tennis (service line to service line) cross court. This helps with getting the cross court mindset that is essential for Doubles. Then groundstrokes from the baseline, also cross court. Both players should then take a few minutes at the net to practice some volleys and possibly an overhead or two. Then end with serves and return of serves, focusing on returning into the opposite tram lines.

Q: If someone wants to step up her tennis game, what's the one thing she should concentrate on improving?

A: If you play mostly Doubles then I would highly recommend that you work on improving your volleys and overhead smashes. If you master these two shots, you will gain a lot of confidence up at the net. And that’s crucial for good Doubles.

Beth Llewellyn and Rachel Hind, Social Singles

Q: Lots of AWA tennis players have been forced out of their Doubles comfort zone into playing Singles in this Covid era. What “watch outs” are there for Doubles players when they switch to Singles? What should they be paying particular attention to or what could trip them up?

A: The main consideration when changing from Doubles to Singles is where you are standing on the court. There is something called “tactical positioning.” Basically this is in an area around the centre T on the baseline and it depends on where you hit your ball. For example, if you hit cross court with a right-handed forehand, then you would position yourself to the right-hand side of the center T to be able to cover both the cross court and down the line response by your opponent. However if you hit that forehand down the line, then your tactical position is on the left-hand side of the centre T. And if you hit down the middle, you stay in the middle. Remember, you have the whole court to cover.

Hope these tips help. Please reach out anytime to the coaches at Savitar (www.savitar.sg). They are happy to help improve your tennis. See you back on the courts with AWA Tennis soon. We have Assessments, Doubles Challenge, Social Doubles, Social Singles, Mixed Doubles, and Team Tennis plus two tournaments cued up for 2022!