Main stars pulling out from tourney

Well first it was Maria who has expressed that she will be withdrawing from the Dubai Open and then follow on by Roger Federer and now Rafael Nadal has also mentioned that he will be withdrawing from the tourney. All three were due to injury and needed some time to rest and then get back in shape. But usually it is kind of like that for sports athletes as they will always want to play their best and in the process stretching their limits and causes injury. Maybe there should be an award for the player who has consistently maintain the injury-free status and has always been participating in all the tourneys. Even though the three main stars are out, there are still exciting matches to be expected at the games. Perhaps at the next few tournaments, they will be recovering in time for them.

Return of serve

In any match almost half of the points are lost or won in the return of serve. If some said that the serve is the most important shot, then the return of second is a close second. Anticipation or rather having the intuition is highly required to know the movement of the ball early and to execute control by using simple but reliable strokes.

If you think about it, the basis of returning the serve is similar to the normal forehand and backhand but the playing situation is somewhat different. The opponent has complete control of the serve and is aiming to put you under as much pressure as possible. Return of serve can usually be categorized as offensive or defensive.

Offensive return is played when you are trying to take control of the point from this shot onward. It can be used against a weaker first or second serve, when you are in a position to put your opponent under pressure. Defensive return is played when the goal is to get the ball into play. It can be used equally against a hard powerful serve.

Another day of event is coming

Whenever I heard that Halloween is coming there will be some party preparation at somebody else's house. The idea for most people to dress up and to have fun with one another covered up in a mask sounds fun to many. Back in US that time, a group of people will just bring with them a crate of bottles and will knock on to every house to join in their party. The party is like spread out to the whole block of houses. Well anyway, if anyone is thinking of going for such a party this year, the costume can be a factor to make you cool maybe a count Dracula costume would be something that will often do the job. After all, there seems to be many movies about that like twilight and underworld.

Lob - something that will come in good use

What is a lob then? A lob is a shot that is most often used in a defensive situation. It is usually hit from an area deep behind the baseline when a player is in trouble and on the run.

Hitting a good high lob deep into the opponent's court will allow you enough time to get out of trouble and get back into a good ready position to continue the point. Many times a good lob will turn a defensive situation into an offensive situation. A lob can also be useful as an offensive shot by attempting to hit the ball just out of the opponent's reach when they are at the net.

This offensive lob attempt is made in an effort to win the point by not letting the opponent run back in time to return it. If the player is able to add topspin to the ball to make it come down quicker. It is also important to take note of the few main points of the topspin as it may not have an desirable effect if not done properly. Anyway, a good lob is important as it can come in handy in other techniques.

Fed Cup Serbia vs Japan

Happy Serbia team cheering for their team mates. Ana Ivanovic seems to be having fun playing with those cheering tools.


The joy of scoring and winning that can be seen from Ana Jovanovic's expression.

It is 4-1 for the score of the total of 5 games but anyway the most important thing in such tie is the experience gained for both sides. For the Japan's team it certainly will be a valuable lesson and in some ways a pleasure to play with the world no.3 player Jelena Jankovic and world no.8 Ana Ivanovic and other player.

Slice serve continues

In slice serve like any other serves there are the basic steps to follow with a slight twist in it.

1. Preparation

The stance should be the same for the flat serve.

2. Loading position

Toss the ball in front of your body and slightly to your right for a right handed player. Turn the upper body slightly sideways which you can see from the animation below and backwards, to get good shoulder rotation.


3. Contact point

Ensure your contact with the ball is in a sideways motion, across the ball. This will cause the sideways spin on the ball. One point to note is that the contact point should be further to the right than with the flat serve.

4. Follow through

Allow your upper body to the follow the path of the direction in the direction of the shot.

What will you do on a super hot day at the Australia Open?

Having a cool drink is definitely one that most will do. Imagine that cold water for quenching your thirst and keeping you cool.

It is good to have some rinse keeping your mind clear and focus again.

This is what one of the fans did during the hot weather dancing in the water splashed.

One thing about the Australia Open besides all the good games and unexpected results of the matches, is the super hot weather at the games. The heat certainly keeps both the players and spectators get tired easier and some just have to keep themselves really cool that day.

Slice serve

Another serve that a player should practice is the slice serve. To some maybe thinking what slice serve is? It is a kind of serve that forces your opponent to move out of the court area in order to return the ball, because the spin takes the ball to the side. This serve is very effective on fairly smooth surfaces where the impact of the sidespin is more pronunced. So in a nutshell a flat serve would make the ball go straight a slice serve will make the ball curl and therefore going into another direction.

What makes slice serve good is that it forces opponents to make weak returns. To correctly execute the slice serve, the first step of preparation is the same like flat serve and slightly different in the next few steps. The main thing is in the contact point where the ball in contact have to be in a sideways motion across the ball. This will inflict the sideways spin on the ball.