Coaches corner: March 10
This season, Texas men's tennis head coach Michael Center and Texas women's tennis head coach Jeff Moore, two of the top coaches in collegiate tennis, will take turns sharing a variety of tennis tips which are based on the training programs of both University of Texas tennis teams. Additionally, the coaches are eager to answer any specific questions you might have about your own game. If you have any questions for Coach Center or Coach Moore, feel free to submit them and check back with TexasSports.com for the coaches' response. Pete Rispoli from Florida Pete - Obviously, people will expose your weaknesses more at the higher levels. However, with that being said, the answer to your second question is "yes." The guys that are mentally tough and always fight can still be successful. That does not mean you should not to try to improve your backhand or get quicker, but I have seen many players who were a little slow or weak on a particular side be very good players in college. Keep working hard, stay tough and you will be just fine. Bob from Beaumont, Texas Bob - Keeping the players healthy is obviously a big concern. We have a strength and conditioning coach who does a great job working with the team on their nutrition and overall fitness. We also work on stretching to try to prevent injury. We will lighten the workouts when we appear to be fatigued. Overall, the players and coaches work hard to best prepare for a tough season and hope that no one suffers a serious injury. Robert from Burbank, Calif. Robert - That is quite a compliment for Roger. The biggest difference between Roddick and most players is his powerful serve and forehand. Roger hits a very good ball, but does not come close to matching the power that Andy has with his serve. Roddick plays offense off of his serve more than any player in the world. They are both good friends and when you watch them play together, Roger can rally with him, but you can also see that Andy just hits the ball harder and with more action. Roger is a great player, but Roddick is one of the best in the world. Jeff from Austin Jeff - The racquet, in my opinion, does not make a huge difference. It is the person swinging the racquet that counts. Some racquets give you more power and some a little more control. In the end, the person who takes the time to work on their game will improve the most. Find the racquet that you like and stick with it. Practice will make you better and don't worry about switching. If you become a professional player then some fine tuning can help, but for the most part I am not sold on spending a lot of money to find the perfect racquet. Best of luck.
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