tennis in mauritius

I am very happy to present two new tennis schools now managed by
advantage tennis.
The schools are located at the rose hill club which is a club that
exists for more than a century. It has 8 clay courts and is located in
Rose Hill.
The other club is at the legendary gymkhana club founded 1844. The
gymkhana has 8 grass courts and 2 clay courts.
I am very excited by both projects and I am sure that we are on the
way to train the next mauritian champions.
In hotels the things are a bit slow these days since it is the low
season and that the sugarbeach is being renovated.
But when the sugarbeach opens on the 1st of August it is going to be
absolutely beautiful with the new spa, restaurants, gym, and of course
the 5 brand new synthetic grass courts.

see you soon on the courts

--
Kamil Patel
Managing Director
Kamil Sports Management ltd
+230 7289343
www.advantage.mu

Santa Shumilina: a rising star

Santa Shunilina: a rising star

 

Last week I was very fortunate to have a few training sessions with 15 year old Santa Shumilina from Russia.

The fresh under 16’s champion of Russia was in Mauritius on holidays but she still came out and had a few practice sessions with me.

 

Santa has very good hands combined with simple and efficient technique. We had some beautiful rallies with over 50 hits at maximum speed.

She has the precious ability to take the ball early combined with a great physical resistance that enables her to be very consistent.

She also had a very sound technique on the volleys.

This girl has got a lot of qualities and she is on her way up to the top of the WTA rankings. She has one big thing to work on in order to get there fast: her serve.

As we saw with Maria Sharapova in Australia, a good serve makes a huge difference in big matches. Santa is tall, talented, intelligent and hard working. There is no reason why she cannot transform her serve into a weapon

The main problem she has on her serve is that she is trying to force it instead of focusing on rhythm and flexibility.

On her serves she has to check two things: her wrist has to be loose and her body has to be nicely balanced on her left foot.

 

As you can see on the picture of Tim Henman’s serve, Santa has to learn to snap her wrist. A loose wrist and good balance on the serve gives precision, speed, spin and power.

 

I would advise Santa to go out to the practice courts and hit a lot of serves thinking about being relaxed and focusing on precision. In a year from now, she should be able to hit topspin, slice and flat serves with the same ball toss so that the opponent cannot guess what is coming at her. This will help her win a lot of free points which is extremely precious when you are on your way up and facing new situations.

 

Good luck to you Santa!!

 

Santa Shumilina: a rising star

 

 

 

Kamil Patel

Managing Director

 

Kamil Sports Management Ltd.

Tel: +230 7289343

www.advantage.mu

 

Always stay positive

Always stay positive

 

Like Mickael LLodra that has just won the Adelaide Open this afternoon, you must always stay positive.

Mickael Llodra decided a bit more than a year ago that he would concentrate more on singles than doubles. Mickael Llodra is a great doubles player and with Fabrice Santoro he won his first grand slams.

Unfortunately, the 2007 season didn’t turn out as he had wished and he finished the year with only 13 wins.

But where Mickael has been great is that he has stayed positive all the way through, sticking to his training routine and discipline of a top athlete. He has managed to conquer his nerves in Adelaide and he is finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

In pursuing your tennis career always remember to stick to hard work, a healthy life style and a positive attitude. It will always pay off!!!

 

A lot of my clients at the sugar beach resort and la pirogue hotel can relate to that. They come to Mauritius to find peace, play tennis, live a healthy life in order to “feel new” again when they go back to their normal lives.

 

To find out more on how you can benefit from the healthy life style in Mauritius click on www.advantage.mu

 

Always stay positive

 

 

 

 

 

the key to a great two handed backhand: straighten your non dominant hand

Straighten your non-dominant hand for a great backhand

 

A lot of the clients who come on tennis holidays to Mauritius complain about two things on their two handed backhand:

1. all the balls are going crosscourt
2. they are unable to generate power

 

Both of these problems can be very easily cured by straightening the non-dominant arm.

 

For a right hander, the non-dominant hand is the left hand.  A right hander has to understand that left hand has to dominate on the two handed backhand. The right hand is only there to guide the racquet.

 

As you can see on the pictures of the David Nalbandian, his left arm stays straight all the way through the shot. The most important is for your left arm to straighten out and point towards your target after the contact. It is the only way to get power, precision and spin.

 

So when you are hitting your two handed backhand next time, think about straightening your non dominant arm out in frout.

 

Enjoy your game and see you soon in Mauritius

 

Straighten your non-dominant hand for a great backhand

 

 

 

Kamil Patel

Managing Director

Advantage tennis

+230 728 9343

www.advantage.mu

 

the contact point: the stepping stone to an attacking game

The contact point: the stepping stone to an attacking game

 

 

Modern tennis is dominated by players with closed (semi-western or western) grips. This trend was started by clay court specialists like Guillermo Vilas back in the 70’s. Since the change to graphite and composite racquets, all the players with big forehands like Marc Rosset, Jim Courrier, Sergi Bruguera, Andre Agassi, Carlos Moya, Gustavo Kuerten, Albert Costa, and Roger Federer play with closed grips. The only exception to this rule is Pete Sampras!

 Nowadays all top 10 players in the world play with a closed grip. You are only a couple of players in the top 100 who use an open (eastern or continental) grip.

The thing is that the semi-western and western grips enable the players to hit with more power and spin.

 

In the resorts in Mauritius where I work, a lot of players that come to see me forget one important point when they hit a closed grip forehand: your racquet face has to face the net at the point of impact. The common mistake is for the racquet face to stay closed. The result is a ball with no power that falls short or in the net…

Those same players come to see me and they ask me to teach them to attack.

 

The way to develop an attacking forehand is to have your racquet facing the net every time you make contact with the ball. The trick is to rotate your shoulders just before the point of impact so that your torso is also facing the net on contact. Just like Andy Roddick on the picture. This rotation will also add power and spin to your shot and you will deliver a high quality shot!

 

If your grip is extremely closed and you are still having trouble consider making corrections with the wrist so that you can get that racquet face at the right angle.

 

Enjoy and have fun on the court with your new forehand!!!

 

 

The contact point: the stepping stone to an attacking game

Become a tennis star: be dedicated and find a good coach

Become a tennis star

I love November because it is the time of the year where all the ATP tour players take a break and go on holidays. Those who are not on holidays are involved in the Masters Cup and the Davis Cup finals.

So in November, I get the visit of friends I don’t see much any more since I have stopped touring and am now living in Mauritius.

So this year, Julien Benetteau, Nicolas Mahut and Paul-Henri Mathieu came down to Mauritius to relax, spend some time with their girlfriends, play golf with me and soak in a bit of sun before they go back to training for next season.

All three of them had great 2007 seasons, finishing at career high rankings. Paul-Henri Mathieu was in the top 20 for the first time!

I am very happy for them since they all deserve it!

I would like to take the time today to explain the success of a guy like Paul-Henri. Too many kids believe tennis is all about talent and that the top guys just get there because of talent.

Becoming a tennis pro is amazing hard work. If you are not dedicated and you are not ready to suffer everyday on the court and in the gym you are not going to get anywhere it is that simple. The top guys spend up to seven hours a day on the court and in the gym in order to improve constantly.

If you want to become a pro, I give you this advice: you will never make it if you don’t work very hard. But not only you must work hard, you must work right! You need a good coach to guide you and have you do the right drills at the right time. All players are different so their practices are different.

If I didn’t make it to the same level as Paul-Henri Mathieu it is not because I didn’t work hard. It is because I never had a good coach…

Good luck to you and I hope you make it!

Become a tennis star

Prevent muscle cramps: have a chocolate bar!

Nutrition tips with Advantage tennis

You won’t win long matches without stores of energy. Balance is the key to success even top players can fall into “nutrition fads” these mistakes can seriously impact their playing ability.

One misconception amongst sportsmen and coaches is that a high protein meal goes directly into the muscle tissue, but it is not so simple.

If you eat too much protein combined with too many calories it actually gets turned into body fat. More importantly excess protein can’t be stored when it is being broken down and it places a high work load on the kidneys which can cause other substances to be lost in urine such as calcium. This is the main cause of muscle cramps during tennis matches.

Sports nutritionists have for years recommended a diet that emphasizes carbohydrates and a balance of protein and fats. This advice should be followed.

Protein intake should vary with the level of activity and should range between 15-20% of your total calorie intake.

So go ahead and consume fat in your diet, it enhances absorption of key vitamins, provides energy and it can make you feel fuller after a meal. But still make sure to keep fat consumption between 15 and 20% of calorie intake.

There is fair amount of fat burnt when you play tennis. So that occasional chocolate bar will do good to your game!

Nutrition tips with Advantage tennis