Tactical Tennis

Diving Into Forehand Evolution

52 – Fundamental Strength Training For Tennis

In this episode we talk about the basic exercises a tennis player should be doing to build strength for tennis.

51 – Sufficiently Good Returns

50 – How Strength Training Works

We can agree that strength training works, but have you ever wondered how? If you're not being trained by a skilled professional, a basic understanding of how strength training makes you stronger is critical for being able to put together...

Tactical Tennis 49 – When Being Stronger Helps You Win More

Our physical preparation affects the outcome of our matches. However sometimes it's easy to confuse the cause of a loss. Could your endurance issue actually be a strength problem? That's just one aspect of how being stronger helps you win...

Tactical Tennis #48 – A Framework For Return Of Serve

In recent episodes we've talked a lot about having a coherent strategy for your tennis game. Today we discuss the return of serve. What's your philosophy on what may be the most important part of your game? How much time...

Tactical Tennis #47 – Nick Kyrgios 2018

Mistakes were made. The wrong audio file was uploaded originally. Now that the right one is up, we talk about Nick Kyrgios – one of the if not the most polarizing figure in men’s tennis today. Love him or hate...

Tactical Tennis #46 – Packing For Match Readiness

It’s one thing to know how to hit a tennis ball, it’s another thing entirely to show up to your match completely prepared to play. Missing a critical piece of equipment? Problem. Today we talk about what kinds of things...

Tactical Tennis #45 – Getting Pumped Up (Or Pumped Down) To Play Your Best

Whether you’re the ice cold Stefan Edberg or red hot Jimmy Connors, you’ve got a state in which you play your best tennis. Today we talk about how to identify that state, and what you can do to achieve it...

Tactical Tennis #44 – Serving Strategy Beyond The Serve

So you’ve hit a smart serve. Now what? How does your serve and your serving strategy fit into the bigger picture of your game?

Tactical Tennis #43 – Serving Strategy Continued

In the previous episode we introduced the idea of a cohesive serving strategy. What we didn’t do was talk much about how the ‘second serve’ fits into this picture. So how does it? Listen in and find out!

Tactical Tennis #42 – Introduction To Serving Strategy

What are you thinking about when you step up to serve? Do you remember what you’ve done the last few points? Are you trying to remember? What are your goals with the serve and what are you doing to achieve them?...

Tactical Tennis #41 – Diving Deeper Into Patterns

If you’ve listened to the last two podcasts, hopefully you’ve done an accurate evaluation of your own strengths and weaknesses. Then you’ve decided on what philosophy you want to play with. Now what? Patterns! In today’s episode, we talk about...

Tactical Tennis #40 – Building a Philosophy and Introducing Patterns

So you listened to the last podcast, and you figured out your strengths and weaknesses. Now what? In today’s episode we tackle the idea of building a playing philosophy, and introduce the idea of patterns to help you implement that...

Tactical Tennis #39 – How to Evaluate Your Own Game

Tactical Tennis returns to the podcast arena after a tennis-travel-fueled hiatus! In today’s episode, Jacob and Glen talk about why your perception of your own game is probably wrong, and what you can do about it. Tune in and find...

Tactical Tennis #38 – Player Overview: Sascha Zverev (2017)

2017 was a breakthrough year for Sascha Zverev (otherwise known as Alexander Zverev Jr.). He won two Masters titles on the way to finishing the year ranked #4 in the world. But for all his good results, Sascha failed to...

Tactical Tennis #37 – Player Overview: Grigor Dimitrov

After years of underperforming, Grigor Dimitrov got it together enough to finish the year #3. Was his win at the World Tour Finals mere luck? Is “Baby Fed” finally all grown up? Listen in and find out!

Tactical Tennis #36 – Player Overview: Juan Martin del Potro

Today we look at Juan Martin del Potro – one time Slam winner and owner of one of the biggest forehands in the game. After two years rebuilding his ranking from injury, delPo sits on the verge of the top...

Tactical Tennis #35 – Player Overview: Dominic Thiem 2017

2017 has come to an end, and Dominic Thiem is the #5 ranked player in the world. But what makes him tick? What are his strengths and weaknesses, and what does 2018 hold for him? Listen in and find out!

Tactical Tennis #34 – 2017 ATP World Tour Finals

Professional tennis comes to a close for 2017 (with the exception of Davis Cup). Grigor Dimitrov takes the WTF finals in a fascinating and entertaining match with David Goffin. How did this match play out exactly? In today’s podcast we...

Tactical Tennis #33 – Why Not To Be On Your Toes

Anyone ever tell you to be on your toes? Want to find out why that’s bad advice (or how you should interpret it instead?). Listen in to today’s podcast to learn some secrets of movement on the tennis court, and...

Tactical Tennis #32 – Using Rituals For Better Tennis

Most top players have rituals around their tennis – whether it’s Sharapova adjusting her strings before a point, or Nadal lining his waterbottles up just-so before the match. In some cases, the player owns the ritual – it is a...

Tactical Tennis #31 – Workouts and Conditioning For Tennis Part 1

Training for tennis is tricky! Today we talk about the physical requirements of tennis, and the types of workouts people should be doing to get in shape for the sport. This is part 1, which means there will probably be...

Tactical Tennis #30 – The Ageing Top 100

The top 100 on the ATP tour is getting older, but the top 1000 is not! Why is that? Is it the prize money? Voodoo magic? This is the topic of discussion in today’s Tactical Tennis Podcast!   Note: This discussion was...

Tactical Tennis #29 – 2017 US Open Final and Davis Cup

Rafa closes the gap on Federer by taking #16 at the US Open over surprise finalist Kevin Anderson. In today’s episode we spend 20 minutes arguing over why Anderson served so poorly, as well as going into some of the...

Tactical Tennis #23 – Wimbledon 2017 Review and the State of the Big Four

Wimbledon 2017 is over. Federer is betterer. In today’s episode we talk about the tournament, as well as take a little time to review the state of the Big Four heading into the final stretch of the year.

Tactical Tennis #24 – Shapovalov and 2017 Rogers Cup Review

Shapovalov makes waves in Montreal and Zverev the Younger walks away with the title. Federer’s hurt, but how badly? All this and more in this week’s Tactical Tennis Podcast!

Tactical Tennis #25 – Dimitrov Wins Cincinnati and Murray Ruins The US Open Draw

Dimitrov won Cincinnati over Kyrgios, something we talk about in today’s episode. Then Andy Murray waited until the draw was out before withdrawing, which kinda ruined the US Open Men’s draw. Way to go Andy. But still we talk about...

Tactical Tennis #26 – Sharapova Wins and Early Round US Open Action

Sharapova makes a statement. Other people play tennis too! Early round US Open Action for 2017 and Tactical Tennis is right here to talk about it.

Tactical Tennis #27 – 2017 US Open Mens Quarterfinals Preview

It’s quarter finals time, and it’s the draw nobody saw coming. Some guy is playing some other guy. Then there’s that tall Argentinian. Federer and Nadal are still playing. Oh, and Sam Querry turned into an absolute monster. Listen and...

Tactical Tennis #28 – 2017 US Open Mens Quarters Review and Semis Preview

Federer falls, Kevin Anderson slays the giant Sam Querry, and Carreno Busta takes down Schwartzman. Oh and that Rafael Nadal guy is still hanging around too.

La Decima, Grass Court Season and Year End #1

In an historic moment Rafa gets La Decima at Roland Garros. In doing so he officially sends us into grass court season! In today’s episode we discuss these things, as well as the race to year end #1!

Tactical Tennis #28 – 2017 US Open Men’s Quarters Review and Semis Preview

The Men’s Quarter Finals are done, and there was some great tennis. And then there was the Nadal-Rublev beatdown. In today’s podcast we break down the quarter-final matches as they happened, and then make bold, bold predictions about who will...

Tactical Tennis #27 – 2017 US Open Men’s Quarterfinals Preview

It’s quarter finals time, and it’s the draw nobody saw coming. Some guy is playing some other guy. Then there’s that tall Argentinian. Federer and Nadal are still playing. Oh, and Sam Querry turned into an absolute monster. Listen and...

Tactical Tennis #26 – Sharapova Over Halep, and Other Early First Round Action

G’day everyone! Sharapova beat Halep in three sets and we reckon that’s worth talking about regardless of how you feel about Sharapova. In today’s episode we also touched on Cilic’s four set win over Tennys Sandgren, and Jordan Tompson’s five-set...

Tactical Tennis #25 – Dimitrov Wins Cincy And Murray Ruins The US Open Draw

Dimitrov won Cincinnati over Kyrgios, something we talk about in today’s episode. Then Andy Murray waited until the draw was out before withdrawing, which kinda ruined the US Open Men’s draw. Way to go Andy. But still we talk about...

Tactical Tennis #24 – Shapovalov and the 2017 Rogers Cup

Shapovalov makes waves in Montreal and Zverev the Younger walks away with the title. Federer’s hurt, but how badly? All this and more in this week’s Tactical Tennis Podcast!

Tactical Tennis #23 – Wimbledon 2017 Review And A Look At The Big Four

Another Wimbledon is in the books, and there’s a familiar name on the trophy. In today’s episode Glen and Jacob argue about how tough Cilic is compared to Michael Jordan (yeah really) and also talk about Djokovic, Murray, Nadal and...

Tactical Tennis #22 – Tomic, Wimbledon 4th Round Preview/Predictions

In today’s episode, Jacob and Glen argue about Tomic, and then also preview/predict the Wimbledon Men’s 4th Round matchups!

Tactical Tennis #21 – Early Wimbledon 2017 Review and Quarters Predictions

It’s Wimbledon time! In today’s episode Glen and Jacob talk about results across the first two days, and make their predictions for the quarter finals (as well as the finalists).

Tactical Tennis #20 – La Decima, Grass Court Season and Year End No. 1

G’day everyone. Podcast is back after a little break due to travel and the like. In this episode we talk about Nadal’s epic 10th title at Roland Garros – perhaps the greatest Grand Slam performance in tennis history. There’s talk...

Tactical Tennis #19 – Better Tennis Statistics!

Tennis stats are still stuck in the dark ages of modern sports. You know it. We know it. So we decided to talk about it for the better part of an hour. The good news is we actually give some...

Tactical Tennis #18 – Djokovic Hires Agassi, No French For Fed And Sharapova

Djokovic makes a surprise announcement that Agassi will be joining his team… sort of. Fed decides not to play Roland Garros, and the French Open denies Sharapova a wildcard while giving one to their own rule-breaker! All this and more...

Tactical Tennis 17 – Taking Your Game To The Clay

G’day everyone! In today’s episode Glen and Jacob discuss dirt. Specifically playing tennis on dirt without concrete laid on top of it. Having trouble transitioning your normal game to clay court tennis? This might be a good start.

Tactical Tennis 16 – Novak Djokovic, Pepe Imaz and High Level Coaching

Welcome to episode #16, where Jacob and Glen try to talk about high level coaching but somehow keep talking about Novak Djokovic instead. And Pepe Imaz, his… spiritual advisor?

Tactical Tennis 15 – The Importance Of Making Your Opponent Uncomfortable

Winning matches isn’t just about you playing well! Helping your opponent have an off day is just as important, and in today’s podcast episode Glen and Jacob discuss this idea, along with a few suggestions to help accomplish the incredibly...

Tactical Tennis 14 – The Lost Generation Of Men’s Tennis

Where did the next generation of tennis greats go? Why haven’t they taken over the rankings yet? Why aren’t they winning slams? Who are these old men still dominating the game? Find out in this week’s episode of the Tactical...

Tactical Tennis #13 – How To Have Better Practice

Science has put a robot on Mars, let us clone a sheep, and helped a paralyzed man play Guitar Hero. Why can’t science give us a better way to practice? Well the good news is, it can! Tune in to...

Tactical Tennis #12 – Fedal In Miami and Rowdy Crowds

In today’s episode we take the Miami crowds to task for acting like a bunch of yahoos. But that’s not all of folks. Of course there’s analysis of the Federer-Nadal final. Then we spend a good amount of time answering...

Tactical Tennis #11 – Indian Wells and Miami

In today’s podcast Jake and Glen talk about Indian Wells and Miami – well mostly Miami. And by Miami we mean mostly the Kyrgios-Zverev match, preview the Kyrgios-Federer match and also the Nadal-Fognini showdown. There might be some predictions in...