February 21, 2011

Happy President's Day!

With people off work today, I'm off to coach this morning, something I rarely do - nearly all of my coaching is afternoons and nights.

Clinic in Lancaster, PA

Barney J. Reed will run a three-hour clinic just before the Manor Open, in Lancaster, PA, on Friday, March 4, 6-9 PM. $55/player, maximum ten players. For info, contact Assistant Coach Rich Burnside, 717-968-2713.

The 2011 U.S. Open Entry Form...

...is up!

It's in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, June 30 - July 4. Note that this year it's five days long, Thur-Mon, unlike recent years when it's been four days, Wed-Sat. There's also been some rescheduling of events, so check it over carefully. I'll be there, but other than some hardbat events (I normally use sponge), I'll just be coaching and probably attending some meetings.

Playing the Wide Forehand

I played a practice match with cadet star Nathan Hsu (rated 2208, but recently as high as 2278. He's a two-winged looper who can seemingly loop anything, often off the bounce. When he's in position, standing in his backhand corner ready to attack from either wing, he can be a terror. I finally figured out that the only way I could battle with him was to get him out of position. (It's not easy playing lightning-fast juniors when you're a week away from 51 and still trying to play a mostly forehand attack game!) So I returned nearly every serve out to his wide forehand. If I did so aggressively, he'd almost always loop crosscourt, and then I could have him on the run. Even when my receive was predictable, it mostly worked. The match went into the fifth game. Starting at 5-5, I pretty much returned every single serve to the wide forehand. Did it work? Alas, I had many match points (two of them I should have won, grumble grumble), but he won 20-18 in the fifth! But we had some nice rallies.

***

Send us your own coaching news!