Tennis Fixation: The Art Of Lawn Tennis

March 10, 2012

The Art Of Lawn Tennis - FREE For Your Kindle!

I got a Kindle Fire over the holidays and have been loving it. This was to replace the much more expensive much less feature-filled Kindle I previously had that was "accidentally" broken by one of my sweet children putting a knee to the screen and cracking it.

While that story is not on point, I've been looking for an opportunity to mention it.

Anyway, it turned out to be the perfect excuse to get the Kindle Fire. I wasn't sure how much I would care about all of the things this new Kindle can do. I mean, do I really need one more device to watch Netflix on? But I have been playing around on it (i.e., watched all three seasons of "Arrested Development" so checked that off my bucket list) and I absolutely LOVE it. Turns out I do need another place to access Netflix. And Twitter and Facebook. And the Internet. And to download music. And, thanks to my Kindle Fire, I now have yet one more e-mail address to use. Which I've actually used! So, for me, the Kindle Fire rocks.

Now, the good news for my Tennis Fixation Followers: while doing all of my Kindle "research," I came across some FREE tennis e-books that you can download to your own Kindle (or your device's Kindle app). And here's one that I find surprisingly current and useful despite the fact that it is FREE and was first published in the 1920s!

The Art of Lawn Tennis by William (Bill) Tatem Tilden is a fabulous book full of useful tennis info. If you don't know (and I certainly didn't), Bill Tilden was an American tennis player who dominated the sport during the 1920s and 30s. (Check out the photo of Tilden above - don't you love seeing pics of tennis players in whites with wooden racquets?) He was World No. 1 for seven years and won 14 Majors, including 10 Grand Slam tournaments. In 1920, he became the first American to win a Wimbledon singles title. He also led a very interesting life - hobnobbing with Hollywood celebrities, performing in plays and movies, financing Broadway shows and even engaging in some unsavory sexual liaisons resulting in jail time!

Anyway, while The Art of Lawn Tennis was published at least 90 years ago, it is amazing how current and useful it still is. Racquets, balls, courts - they've all changed. But the basic strokes, fundamental skills and techniques that Tilden used, and explains in his book, remain the same.

Here are just a few examples of what he has to say:

On equipment: "The best tennis equipment is not too good for the beginner who seeks really to succeed. It is a saving in the end, as good quality material so far outlasts the poor."
On errors: "About 85 per cent of the points in tennis are errors, and the remainder earned points. As the standard of play rises the perecentage of errors drops until, in the average high-class tournament match, 60 per cent are errors and 40 per cent aces. Any average superior to this is super-tennis."
On overheads: "Most missed overhead shots are due to the eye leaving the ball; but a second class of errors are due to lace of confidence that gives a cramped, half-hearted swing. Follow through your overhead shot to the limit of your swing."
On psychology: "Tennis is played primarily with the mind. The most perfect racquet technique in the world will not suffice if the directing mind is wandering."

I could go on and on quoting from this book as almost everything he says is something that I've heard in a lesson, a drill, a video or some much more recent book or magazine article.

My recommendation? Download The Art of Tennis as soon as you can and get some incredible FREE tennis instruction!

By the way, these are my own opinions about the Kindle Fire. I'm not getting paid and didn't receive anything like a free Kindle Fire for this post (I wish!).