Tennis Quote and Photo of the Day: Both flesh and light

"Federer is a creature whose body is both flesh, and somehow, light."
--- David Foster Wallace, Roger Federer as Religious Experience, New York Times (August 20, 2006) 

Tennis Topic of the Day: The First Four Shots in Tennis are Everything

Tennis Facts:
1. The first four shots in tennis are: the Serve, the Return of Serve, the Serve Plus One, the Return Plus One.
2. The most common rally length in tennis is: 1 shot!
3. 70% of all points at all levels of play end in the first four shots. 
4. That is only two shots for each player or side.
5. 91% of all winning points in matches are within 0 to 4 shots.
6. The psychological reason that this is not intuitive to us is because the human mind tends to remember the spectacular and lengthy rallies. 

What this means:
1. The top priority in practice should be the Serve and Return of Serve.
2. Of these, the quality of Return of Serve distinguishes the best from the rest.
3. The highest premium should be error-free tennis in the first two shots - Serve and Return of Serve.
4. Thus, the tennis athlete's primacy should be: perfect technique on the Serve and Return of Serve and attacking the Second Serve. 

-- Craig O'Shannessy, World-Class Coach and Analyst for ATP World Tour, New York Times, Wimbledon and Australian Open, BrainGameTennis.com (from U.S. Tennis Congress, October 2016) 

Tennis Topic of the Day: Only Two Types of Shots

There are only two types of shots in tennis:
the set-up shot and the finishing shot.
--- U.S. Tennis Congress, October 2016 

Tennis Topic of the Day: Doubles Communication

Tennis Topic of the Day: The Swag

Swag - (abbreviation for Swagger)

Noun - definition:

"a very confident and aggressive manner or gait" 

Article: Bjorn Borg's Timeless Tennis Swagger
(GQ Magazine, October 2016)

Tennis Topic of the Day: Business Lesson from Playing Tennis by Sir Richard Branson, Billionaire Entrepreneur

Click for Video: Richard Branson (Courtesy: CNBC)

Tennis Quote of the Day: Beliefs are Self-Chosen

Tennis Quote of the Day: Defeat is optional

Tennis Topic of the Day: U.S. Tennis Congress, October 2016

                           Courtesy: Tennis Congress

Tennis Quote of the Day: Tennis Rewards Footwork - Proper Spacing to the Ball

"Tennis, at its essence, is a footwork sport. It rewards small, precise steps and perfect balance." 

--- Tom Perrotta, "Why Tennis Players Can't Dance", Wall Street Journal, Sept. 05, 2013