<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Always losing? It might be in your head
Review: After being praised by pros and even attending adult tennis camp, I still found myself choking in matches. Although I'm a female who grew up pre-Title IX, I thought I could learn how to compete, but it just wasn't happening. No matter how much I learned about form and strategy, when it came to game time, I'd lose.This book has helped explain what's going on in my head and what I can do to either win or just plain enjoy tennis for fun. It's going to take some time to put Braden's tips to use, but his common-sense approach simple to understand and the data he uses to back it up convinces even the skeptics. Here's one tidbit that makes sense: get back one more ball, and you'll up your game-wining percentage by 33 percent. That's an amazing number and I find myself diving for balls now that I ordinarily consider hopeless. I'm going for that 33 percent! Recommended for all all levels of play. Only caveat: they could update this edition. Some of the players used as examples retired years ago. Lynn
Rating:
Summary: Great book, clear, concise, meaningful.
Review: As an adult new tennis player who is highly analytical, this book opened doors for me into the world of tennis. It explained real reasons coaches and pro's say to do certain things which are in actuality not really what they want at all. Vic explains the fundimentals in a way that you can immediately benefit and learn from. His book has made the game even more enjoyable to play.
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely Maybe
Review: Mr. Branden spends a large section of the book going over identifying the mental issues in playing tennis. This is done well however, actually finding solutions is not done clearly at all.
The best part of the book were the simple tips such as putting more height on the ball over the net, getting one more ball back and improving just one shot in your repertoire.
This isn't a bad book but there are better books out there that have worked out much better for me. I would recommend Total Tennis by Peter Burwash and Bill Tilden's How to play better Tennis. The subject matter is different and I feel they have more value.
Rating:
Summary: Perhaps a little eccentric
Review: When it comes to refining your mental approach to the game, you've got to hand it to Vic Braden! I've always had the physical talent, but never the mental capacity to outthink my opponent, even if it was only a girl. Vic taught me to write down useful acronyms of my strategies and reactions to my opponent's strategies and shots as well on an extended wrist band that I make reference to between points - and sometimes during points(not recommended for beginners or women). For example, GAN is oftentimes effective when my net-happy opponent arrogantly holds his racquet above chest level(go after nuts). For a female opponent, Vic calls it GAP. This helps to teach a lesson of humility, says Vic. Perhaps the only point of contention I have with Vic Braden is his affinity for the Aussie formation in doubles while putting down your racquet and using both hands via sign language to communicate cryptic codes while serving. It's just too bizzarre. One other bone of contention with Vic is his advocating to 'release your juices' before the match, and hence any bent-up sexual frustration, in order to 'fully become one with the tennis ball.' To each his own.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Bathroom Reading
Review: Yes, exactly that. Braden produces an easy-to-read book that dips into a bit of almost everything tennis except strokes. So he covers physics, genetics, statistics, psychology, great tennis personalities, finding a coach, tennis parents....ummm, yes, you got it. It's not so much about the mental side of tennis as a collection of tennis television commercials that every now and then touch upon the mental side of the game. So it goes alongside my people magazine (Vic is a marvelous rambler!) into the bathroom. And even when it covers the mental side, it is not very practical. There are other books that cover the mental game much better (e.g., Inner Game of Tennis, Zennis, Smart Tennis, etc). Still it is well-written and enjoyable and more decorative than potpourri by the bath.
<< 1 >>
| 
