Customer Reviews

Breakthrough Tennis: A Revolutionary Approach to the Game

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a great book to have if you have the basics down and want to improve your game. In my case, I was being stymied by a lot of "tips" that I had collected. Based on the suggestions in the book, I began becoming more aware of balance and timing -- and trusting my awareness more than all those tips. The book uses the great imagery of a pendulum for improving your swing.

The book could have more on the serve, which is a strange and unnatural stroke. But I am happy with what I was able to get from this book.

Breakthrough Tennis made me think in a more simplified way, and aided me in seeing and hitting the ball better. Phenomenal!

As an intermediate player with a good grasp of technique but less than successful implementation I found this book very refreshing. I just wish it had been available when I was a learning junior many years ago. The book does not deal in detail with technique, and therefore may not be the best for an absolute beginner. It rather concentrates on some basics of the game that are not usually the focus of tennis teaching, which concentrates mostly on "proper" technique and stroke mechanics. The author argues that pros usually don't have problems with the basic elements of the game with which other mortals, like myself, have to struggle with: balance, timing. In my experience this is soooo true. These basics and how to address them may seem obvious...once you've read the book. Clearly, for advanced players this may not be so useful, but most of your average tennis club players (and buyers of tennis books) will fall in the intermediate category. For them, I think this is a very good buy.

The instruction the author has written is very easy to get a mental picture of whats going on. He describes the elements of the strokes as a fluid motion. He gives you excellent mental cues to help focus on, for example, having the butt of the racquet faced towards the oncoming ball.

As suggested by the preceding reviews, this book offers some "irrational" techniques (from a teaching pro's point of view). From my perspective, there is much that can be gained by reading this book which, when added to basic fundamentals, can produce excellent results - if the reader is willing to experiment with their game a bit. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking to improve their game and has not been able to take the next step via conventional methods.

It is my considered opinion that this little book offers much to gain and little to lose. 'Breakthrough Tennis' provided for me several new insights and renewed hope for my game. It imparts ideas in warm, good humor to boot.

I decided to read this book as one of a handful of last-ditch efforts to improve my game, and without very specific expectations. The material recalled for me truly useful past tennis lessons that integrated thoughts on movement and balance in much the same manner. Having just completed the book for the first time, I am practicing the recommended approaches (both literal and figurative). The material has also inspired me to develop a new awareness of my inner attitudes both on and off the court.

As result of growing up in a large family of wordsmiths, I easily lose interest in much of today's written material. This book conveys useful information in a manner that greatly appeals to me.

A friend, to whom I spoke of Breakthrough Tennis during the first few chapters, asked me to pass it on to her. I have decided she will have to buy her own. I look forward to referencing my copy well into my own tennis-playing future. I smile and look forward to both playing and rereading this book soon.

Margaret Anne

A revolution it claims and a revolution it is, but not all revolutions are good things. The author rejects nearly all the distilled conventional wisdom of the game and replaces it with obviousities about concentration. I don't usually begrudge the small purchases I make to improve my game. This book is an exception. I want my money back! This 153 page book can be distilled, without much loss of content, into about 7 pages in two distinct sections: Obvious advice, perhaps two pages. Actually bad advice, perhaps 5 pages. A few kernals of wisdom are present, they need to be taken with a glacier of salt however.

The author recommends that players concentrate on hitting the ball to the exclusion of almost every other element of the game. He holds that tactics and even simply attempting to aim are pretty much beyond the abilities of all but the pros. (I'm not making this up. Spend $15 and see if you doubt me.) The book goes on and on hypnotically but with almost no actual content on the subjects of balance, timing and concentration. These are to be sure extremely important elements of the game, the author describes learning them, or I should say "exploring" them, in tender, new age, psycho-babble terms. Some pages of, I guess, the deepest insights into learning, er, exploring, are written in very large type as if the reader was very old, very young or easily impressed by anything in large type. Following the author's "breakthrough" he became a ranked senior in his region. Hmmmmm. Apparently this is possible in his region without the use of tactics, aiming, getting the raquet back early, turning sideways on groundstrokes or many of the other items of the distilled wisdom normally passed on by tennis pros which the author debunks as bad advice. Hmmm. Also throughout the book are many hokey anecdotes of players who, after speaking with the author for 5 minutes or so about balance or timing, acheived incredible breakthroughs in their games. Hmmmm. Didactic personality this Rolf Clark. False Profoundity!!

The biggest breakthrough in tennis most likely involved with this book was the improvement of the author's financial circumstances at $15/book. I also believe that in several cases Mr. Clark misapplies his physics to the tennis swing (e.g. the movement of the arm in a tennis stroke is NOT analogous to the periodic motion of a pendulum driven by gravity and therefor it is NOT true that early preparation is a bad thing as Clark claims it is) Finally, Clark confuses cause with effect throughout the book, although he would claim that it is the conventional wisdom of teaching pros that does this. Sorry, World 1, Clark 0.

Most amateur atheletes who are looking for a breakthrough are stuck at an intermediate plateau and want to get to an advanced level. This book won't help someone like that. The book might possibly help a frustrated beginner become less frustrated. The book would be best appreciated perhaps by seniors and by people who don't play for points but just to get some exercise knocking the ball around. Some of the advice in this book would be harmful to a beginner who is serious and wants to progress to a strong game. I was disappointed in the book, I found it repetitive and simple minded and just plain wrong in places.