Play Better Tennis in Two Hours [Paperback]

Oscar Wegner (Author), Steven Ferry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 24, 2004

Can tennis really be this simple?

Just ask the dozens of world-class players who have made it to the top using Oscar Wegner’s groundbreaking approach. But if playing tennis isn’t so easy for you, if you never seem to play up to your potential, don’t blame yourself—blame the coach who taught you a lot of uselessly complex techniques. Play Better Tennis in 2 Hours is your guide to tennis as the pros play it—more intuitive, more fluid, and more fun. World-renowned tennis coach and ESPN commentator Oscar Wegner shows you how to focus your efforts on one thing—hitting the ball correctly. Your own natural athleticism will take care of everything else. Follow the simple drills in this power-packed handbook, and you’ll learn how to:

• Move to the ball efficiently and fluidly
• Stop worrying about foot position and stance
• Hit every stroke harder and more accurately
• Put a wicked topspin on your forehand
• Master both one- and two-handed backhands
• Combine control and power on your volleys
• Put more speed and spin into your serve and more punch in your return

"Known and respected all around the world, Oscar has given us another great contribution to tennis with this book."—Gustavo Kuerten, three-time French Open champion

"Oscar has broken the mold, demystifying the modern tennis stroke. There's genius in his analysis of pro techniques—the dynamics of what the racquet does to the ball, how power and spin are added. He understands how top pros really stroke the ball, and always have, all the way back to Tilden."—Andy Rosenberg, Director for NBC Sports Wimbledon and French Open

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Oscar is a great coach. In a few days he helped me regain my strokes and my feel for the ball."-Bjorn Borg, 5 time Wimbledon Champion, 6 time French Open Champion."

From the Back Cover

Can tennis really be this simple?

Just ask the dozens of world-class players who have made it to the top using Oscar Wegner’s groundbreaking approach. But if playing tennis isn’t so easy for you, if you never seem to play up to your potential, don’t blame yourself—blame the coach who taught you a lot of uselessly complex techniques. Play Better Tennis in 2 Hours is your guide to tennis as the pros play it—more intuitive, more fluid, and more fun. World-renowned tennis coach and ESPN commentator Oscar Wegner shows you how to focus your efforts on one thing—hitting the ball correctly. Your own natural athleticism will take care of everything else. Follow the simple drills in this power-packed handbook, and you’ll learn how to:

• Move to the ball efficiently and fluidly
• Stop worrying about foot position and stance
• Hit every stroke harder and more accurately
• Put a wicked topspin on your forehand
• Master both one- and two-handed backhands
• Combine control and power on your volleys
• Put more speed and spin into your serve and more punch in your return

"Known and respected all around the world, Oscar has given us another great contribution to tennis with this book."—Gustavo Kuerten, three-time French Open champion

"Oscar has broken the mold, demystifying the modern tennis stroke. There's genius in his analysis of pro techniques—the dynamics of what the racquet does to the ball, how power and spin are added. He understands how top pros really stroke the ball, and always have, all the way back to Tilden."—Andy Rosenberg, Director for NBC Sports Wimbledon and the French Open

Oscar Wegner is an internationally known professional tennis coach, ESPN commentator, and former tour player. He was the first tennis coach to identify and document the staggering disparities between the simple, fluid game played by the pros and the rigid, overchoreographed techniques taught to new players. Oscar has dedicated himself for more than twenty years to sharing his proven techniques both with new players and with those whose natural abilities have been hobbled by poor instruction. He can be reached at www.tennisteacher.com.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press; 1 edition (November 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071437177
• ISBN-13: 978-0071437172
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #403,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Destroy false miths!, June 12, 2005

By 

TenArch (Seoul South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play Better Tennis in Two Hours (Paperback)

Many people think tennis is a very difficult game to get to the level of enjoying. The biggest reason is that most coaches teach the wrong way to play. When we see the tennis tournaments in TV, pros are playing differently from what most coaches tell amateurs to do. Stance, running, backswing, arm bending, weight transfer, follow-thru finish... This is the point where Oscar Wegner focuses on, and I totally agree with him.

Amateur golfers are taught the very similar way to what pros are trained by. Compared to tennis lovers, Weekend golfers are well aware of theories of swing technics and physics.
The harder you are trained with wrong method, the hardlier you can advance to high quality tennis. I have played tennis for 34 years and I believe that the right concept is 70%, training is 30%.

I examined many books and videos on tennis and many of them gave me useful but functionally limited tips.
Oscar's book and videos destroyed the shell of miths and made this lovely sport more lovable.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Summary Start, February 5, 2006

By 

R. Spell "raspell" (Memphis, TN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Play Better Tennis in Two Hours (Paperback)

I've played tennis for years and now play at a fairly high level. Always looking for the silver bullet to help my game I'm a sucker for any new books with a different angle. I would rate this book close to the tops of those but it still suffers from a significant issue: how to write a book for all levels of tennis.

The basic premise of this book is do what your body tells you and don't overanalyze or over-instruct. In this respect the book is very good and gives numerous examples including pros on why this works better. Also, it approaches the basic learning from this thought process. I would recommend this book highly for beginners as it has very simplistic initial tasks to help the beginner and they sound quite helpful.

Therefore I recommend this book but don't believe it to be the silver bullet that will make you a star.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!, October 15, 2005

By 

Celso Albuquerque (Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Play Better Tennis in Two Hours (Paperback)

I agree with Gustavo Kuerten, three-time french open champion.This book has given us another great contribution regarding to how to move to the ball efficiently and fluidly,stop worrying about foot position and stance,hit every stroke harder and more accurately, put a wicked topspin on your forehand, combine control and power on your volley and so on.

I have read the book two times!

The book works for beginners as well as advanced club players.It teaches the basics in a more natural way.