Stephen Mallory - Tennis Magic: 150 Magic Tricks Designed To Supercharge Your Game

TENNIS MAGIC

150 Magic Tricks Designed To
Supercharge Your Game!

STEVE MALLORY

Copyright 2005 Stephen Mallory.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Note for Librarians: a cataloguing record for this book that includes Dewey Decimal Classification and US Library of Congress numbers is available from the Library and Archives of Canada. The complete cataloguing record can be obtained from their online database at: www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4120-4202-x

ISBN: 978-1-4122-2961-6 (eBook)

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To Gayatri Devi Ma, with appreciation and love

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First and foremost, my profound gratitude to my editor and friend, Marlene Holland, for her inestimable contribution toward the completion of this project. No words can adequately describe her patience and nonpareil generosity of spirit. But above all I thank her for her propensity and willingness to challenge virtually every aspect of this work, from concept to presentation. Her keen critique and unflinching demand for clarification have indelibly shaped the final resultand always for the better.

Also, my thanks to the thousands of students who over the years have trusted my judgment and ability to help them grow their games. This book could not exist but for our mutual adventuring toward improvements both subtle and profoundand the learning has almost always been mutual. I am honored and humbled by their gracious trust.

My great gratitude as well to those who nurtured me lovingly: My mother, Gloria Malloryeducator, poet and artist; and John and Edna Mack, Thomas and Elizabeth Pollard, and Moses E. Wood, who welcomed me into their hearts and homes.

For early encouragement, Kevin Madera, Dr. Richard Balvin, Peter Burwash, Dr. Mark Henry, Neal Breier, Jr., and Don and Liz Coots. And for their great help in realizing the vision for the cover, Tanya Moler and Jeremiah Fluent.

Finally, to all the mentors who have touched my life personallyor simply served as shining examples of our limitless possibilitiesagain, a profound thank you.

Contents

If youre crazy about tennis, one things for certainyoure in a crowded club! Legions of fans on every continent share your passion, and with so many reasons to love the game its easy to understand why. Whether youre seeking a great physical workout, social interaction, competitive opportunities, or a framework for measuring personal achievement, tennis offers all that and more. Theres just one teeny wrinkle

Millions of players around the world are trapped in a vicious cycle as they attempt to learn this wonderful game for a lifetime. Its euphoria/frustration, euphoria/frustrationin a never-ending loop.

WELL, TENNIS MAGIC IS HERE TO SAY
IT DOESNT HAVE TO BE THAT WAY!

Slow progress and constant frustration are not intrinsic parts of the learning curve. It just seems that way because tennis has almost always been taught as a progression of increasingly difficult skills.

Although you can learn to play great tennis that way, progress is often tortuously slow, and hard earned advances can vanish mysteriously in the blink of an eye. Obviously, thats an intimidating prospect for any student to face. So if Big fungood gamesooner! is the objective, then a major change is both desperately needed and long overdue.

Tennis Magic offers a radical new approach toward achieving that goal:

Here, everything that has traditionally been taught as a skill is distilled into a simple, easy to learn trick!

And why is that cause for celebration? Well, its a matter of time and place

Skills live in a hypothetical, indeterminate futurein the forbidding land of Maybe Someday.

Tricks, on the other hand, live in the present in that friendliest of lands, Right Here, Right Now!

Needless to say, every student Ive had the pleasure of working with through the years has opted for the friendlier destinationand for good reason.

The payoff is huge. Once you learn a trick, youve got it! Sure, youll continue to polish itbut in every important aspect, you own it in present time.

OK so much for the riddle of Time and Place: Now we can tackle the Big Question! When beginners watch advanced players in action, their initial reaction is almost always the same: How the heck do they do that?

A particularly outstanding shot might elicit a specific question such as, How can I return serve like Andre Agassi or Serena Williams? or How can I volley like Justine Henin-Hardenne or Roger Federer? But whatever the shape or form, those questions are just an abbreviated version of the Big Question. What they really want to know is this:

How can I play like a Pro?

Although the words might look shockingly ambitious on the printed page, dont be intimidated. The query is neither naive, audacious, nor unreasonable. You deserve a fair answer to a fair question, and thats why I wrote this book.

With the help of Tennis Magic, players around the world are breaking free of their old limitationsand improving their games like never before. So if youre ready to take your game to the next level sooner rather than later, youre in for an exciting ride. In Part 1-Getting Started, youll learn exactly how to use these tricks to help you play like a Pro today!

TENNIS
MAGIC

PART I
GETTING STARTED

1
THE MAGIC

Whether youre a lifelong aficionado or a total newbie, the gift is right there, beckoning. Every ball that heads your way is both a challenge and an opportunity to respond brilliantlyall rolled up in a fuzzy two-ounce sphere.

Can tennis be a maddeningly frustrating sport? You bet! Can it be incredibly exhilarating? Ditto! Can it also be more fun than you ever dreamed possible? Well, to borrow a phrase from the Stylistics, You Betcha By Golly, Wow!

BRING ON THE FUN!

Assuming you can get within hitting range of the ball, theres only one thing standing between you and the kind of tennis youd like to playand Im not talking about the net!

You either know the correction that will give you the results you want, or you dont!

Sure, physical assets and limitations play a role: Everybody has them, and they are whatever they are. But once youre in position to put your strings on the ball, knowing the correction or solution you need to apply makes all the difference.

Knowledge is powerand as you learned in the preface, tricks are magic shortcuts for converting your knowledge into results!