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Rafael Nadal didn’t let the much-hyped potential future star of Australian tennis stop him in his quest for a fourth consecutive major title.

Overcoming a mostly parochial crowd of 15,000 at Rod Laver Arena, the top-ranked Nadal had a 6-2, 7-5, 6-3 win over 18-year-old wild card Bernard Tomic in an Australian Open third-round match Saturday. Nadal advanced to a fourth-round match against Marin Cilic, and a continuing date with destiny.

A title at Melbourne Park would make the Spanish star the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four Grand Slam trophies at once, although Laver achieved the true Grand Slam by winning all four in a calendar year.

“I think I started playing well, but he’s the kind of player who can make you play bad,” Nadal said of Tomic. “I have to play a bit better if I want to get to the quarterfinals.”

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It wasn’t always easy — Nadal trailed 4-0 in the second set before giving Tomic a clinic in comeback tennis. At 5-5, he broke Tomic’s service, then held in the next game to clinch the set.

“I thought it was over at 4-love and that’s when he came back,” Tomic said. “You can’t afford to lose concentration. Physically-wise, he is a machine, he wears you down.”

He said Nadal gave him some words of encouragement at the end of the match.

“He said ‘You are a very good player, keep working hard for the future,’” Tomic said.

Tomic, who upset Fernando Lopez in the second round and is being touted as a replacement for Lleyton Hewitt in the lean tennis fortunes Down Under, tried his best but ultimately was no match for the polished and experienced Nadal.

Earlier Saturday, it was the first game of Andy Murray’s match against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, and the 2010 finalist was doing his best to get into the feel of the third-round match.

Hitting a high lob to the back of the court, he watched as Garcia-Lopez ran it down and, facing the back of the court, hit a between-the-legs shot that passed Murray for a winner.

“It was the first time someone passed me on a through-the-legs shot on the tour,” Murray said. “It was a very close one on the line.”

Instead of marveling too long at one of the more unusual shots in tennis — like Roger Federer’s similar crosscourt winner against Novak Djokovic at the 2009 U.S. Open — Murray broke the Spanish player’s serve and went on to beat Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

Garcia-Lopez might have had the most flamboyant shot of the match, but Murray had more of the most effective ones, putting him closer to his second straight Australian Open final.

“The first game doesn’t always dictate the way the match is going to go, but it definitely helped today,” said Murray, who lost the 2010 final to Federer. He’s only dropped 17 games through three rounds.

In other men’s results, No. 4 Robin Soderling advanced, as did Marin Cilic, who beat American John Isner in five sets.

U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters, meanwhile, beat Alize Cornet 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 of France, getting closer to win her second Grand Slam in a row.

Cornet, trying to celebrate her 21st birthday, provided a tougher challenge for Clijsters, who had only conceded four games in her first two rounds. The French player was presented with a birthday bouquet of flowers after the match, a small consolation for losing to one of the tournament favorites.

“It was tough. She’s a tricky player,” Clijsters said. “During the match I felt like I was playing two different persons. I had to constantly move my feet, and work harder.”

Cornet had trouble enough playing one.

“She plays great … she’s always fighting from the first point until the end, and she’s very consistent, very powerful,” Cornet said. “For me, she’s just the favorite of the tournament.”

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva kept alive her bid for a third consecutive Grand Slam final with a 6-3, 7-6 (11-9) win over Lucie Safarova.

Zvonareva, who lost the U.S. Open final to Clijsters, served for the match twice against Safarova but was extended to the tiebreaker. Safarova led 4-2 and 5-3 in the tiebreaker before Zvonareva finally sealed it on her fourth match point.

Zvonareva has a chance to move into the No. 1 ranking her by winning the title. Her priority now is getting past a fourth-round match against Iveta Benesova, who beat No. 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 1-6, 7-5.

French Open finalist Sam Stosur lost 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 to No. 25 Petra Kvitova, ending Australia’s hopes in the women’s draw.

No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska beat Simona Halep 6-1, 6-2 and will next play China’s Peng Shuai, who had a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 win over Japan’s Ayumi Morita. Peng, who saved seven break points in the seventh game of the deciding set, will make her first appearance in the fourth round of a Grand Slam.

No. 10 Shahar Peer was ousted, losing 3-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to No. 22 Flavia Pennetta.

Cilic had a 4-6, 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-2), 9-7 win over No. 20 Isner in 4 hours, 33 minutes. It was the first five-set match Isner had played since his epic encounter against Nicolas Mahut at Wimbledon last year which finished 70-68 in the fifth and was the longest tennis match in history measured by games and elapsed time.

Isner’s departure left Andy Roddick as the only American in the men’s or women’s draws.

Two former finalists also went out. Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 runnerup, retired from his third-round match due to a finger injury when he was trailing No. 11 Jurgen Melzer 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-1, 4-3.

“I don’t think it’s broken because I could push the ball, but whenever I hit it, it felt like electricity on the joint,” said the 25-year-old Baghdatis.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the 2008 finalist, lost 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 to Alexandr Dolgopolov.

Milos Raonic, a 20-year-old Canadian qualifier with the fastest serve in the first two rounds of the tournament at 143 mph, fired 31 aces while beating No. 10 Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.

“I knew the chances were in his favor, but I knew I was prepared to fight for every point, however long it took,” said Raonic, who was born in Montenegro and moved to Canada in 1994. “I can’t say I would be shocked if I wasn’t here. But I’m not really shocked I am here.”

He’ll play No. 7 David Ferrer, a 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 winner over Richard Berankis, in the next round.

Soderling, who beat Jan Hernych 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 and next plays Dolgopolov, hasn’t dropped a set and is on an eight-match winning streak with his three at Melbourne Park after winning the tuneup tournament at Brisbane.

Soderling’s match was delayed for about 10 minutes in the third set when a bubble seemed to appear on the court surface at Hisense Arena. A similar bubble delayed the start of a match on the same court the previous night.

Tournament organizers said moisture from recent rains had gathered under the court’s Plexicushion layer in the unseasonably cool conditions and evaporated as temperatures rose, causing a pocket of vapor that lifted part of the surface. Stadium staff repaired the problem quickly both times.

There was some heated moments in men’s doubles, with match officials stepping in to calm a heated exchange at the net.

Spain’s Feliciano Lopez accused India’s Leander Paes of trying to provoke him and his partner Juan Monaco of Argentina during their second-round match. Paes and partner Mahesh Bhupathi won 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

Television footage showed all four players arguing at the net, and Lopez claimed Paes had tried “to provoke us all the time.”

Finding gifts to give can already be a challenge in itself. You’d have to know the person well enough to ensure that the gift you’re giving will truly be appreciated (or used). How much more if you’re planning to buy something for the tennis enthusiast? Well if you’re on the lookout for perfect tennis gifts to give to that special person then don’t worry as this article will provide you with many possible ideas that you can consider.
So let’s get to it shall we?

Personalized tennis gifts: Personalized gifts can be great giveaways for any occasion. Calendars, shirts, magazine covers, figurines, paper weights, towels, etc. can be easily found and purchased online or offline.

Instructional videos: Instructional videos are good gifts to give regardless of whether the person you have in mind is only starting out or a bit more advanced. Videos will come very handy especially when the individual you’re giving it to is trying to establish or master a technique and will surely be appreciated.

Autographed tennis memorabilia: If your celebrant is a hardcore fan of any tennis player out there, then surely an autographed memorabilia is something that will blow them away. Be prepared to shell out a bit more though as signed products can be a bit expensive as compared to other gift ideas out there.

Tennis accessories: Tennis accessories like wrist bands, racquet grips, luggage tags, dampeners can also be great giveaways. They’re cheap, easy to find and will come in many varieties that can impress even the most hardcore tennis enthusiast.

Tennis ball machine: Now this really is an investment and is intended for real tennis lovers out there. Tennis ball machines can come in different, sizes, shapes and even styles. Prices tend to greatly vary between machines as well ranging from $200 and up. If you’re planning to get a tennis ball machine, it would be best that you do some research first though as there are so many options available.

There are so many more gift ideas that you can explore as well. Those mentioned above are just the tip of the iceberg so to speak. Perfect tennis gifs aren’t that difficult to find, the internet will be able to provide you with plenty of ideas that you will be able to use and it’s advised that you take advantage of them if you really want to come up with something that will suit the occasion and the individual perfectly.

To know more Tennis Gifts ideas, click the link. Tennis Ball Machine can also be given as gifts to tennis enthusiasts.

When you first learn to play tennis one of the most important tennis skills to master is the ability to control how high over the net you hit your shot. This can vary greatly depending on where you are hitting from, and what kind of shot you are trying to hit.

There are three main heights to master… The low drive over the net, the middle ball with moderate arc, and the high arcing lob. In order to hit these three shots, you must learn to change the path of your swing.

An easy way to do this is to visualize three different kinds of vehicles… the Race Car, the Airplane, and the Helicopter.

A Race car drives in a straight line and stays low to the ground. When you are trying to hit the ball low over the net, your racquet should travel straight and level, just like the race car.

When trying to hit a safer shot with medium arc, visualize the airplane and try to swing your racquet so it rises gently through impact with the ball… like an airplane rises gently off the runway during takeoff.

Finally, if you want to hit the ball very high over the net, visualize a helicopter taking off from the ground and lift your racquet almost straight up through the shot. This will make the ball travel over the net with very high arc.

Go out and practice varying the height of your shot by visualizing the race car, airplane, and helicopter… and watch your game go places fast!

Andreas Radermacher

http://www.InstantTennis.com

Learn how to play tennis at Instant Tennis! It’s the internet’s hottest tennis newsletter designed especially for people who want to improve their tennis skills. Subscribe now to receive the latest updates including how-to videos, expert audios, and other high quality content from Andreas and other top tennis teaching experts.

You’ll also get immediate access to The Instant Tennis Report: The Fastest and Easiest Way to Get Good at Tennis in 12 Simple Steps. (a $45 value)

Paddle tennis has a lot of similarities with lawn tennis. One exception is the size of the court in paddle tennis is smaller than the lawn tennis dimensions and it is not divided into lanes for doubles. While the tennis racket uses strings, paddle tennis uses a solid wooden paddle with perforations. Since the court is smaller, paddle tennis entails player agility and quicker reflexes. The next paragraphs discuss the difference between the rules of both games.

The dimensions of a paddle tennis court are fifty feet lengthwise by twenty feet crosswise. The distance from one service line to the opposite is 44 feet, which gives a three feet space each for the service spots on both sides. The paddles specified by the US Paddle Tennis Association should measure nine & a half inches wide by eighteen inches in length. The paddle is perforated with a number of holes. The net to be used is measured at twenty-two feet long by two point six feet wide. It should be set at thirty-one inches high from the court level and an extra length of eighteen inches from each sideline.

To start the game, a paddle is used as a pointer and spun; the “chosen” player gets to pick the side of the court and who serves first. Unlike lawn tennis, the serve is not done over the head but just about the level of the net, he can either hit the ball from the air or bounce it first. The serving player who serves a foul ball not only loses a point but also the turn to serve. Faults in service are when the server misses to hit the ball or when the serve hits the net.

Crossing or stepping on the baseline is considered a foot fault and causes you to lose a point. A ball that touches the lines (line ball) is still considered “in” or “good” and still earns a point.

The tallying of the score is the same as in lawn tennis, the 1st point garners the player fifteen, the 2nd point thirty, the 3rd point forty, and the 4th point lets him win the game. To win one set, a player should lead by two games against the opponent. After each odd game, the players change courts or sides, allowing sixty seconds of break. Ten-minute breaks are accorded between the second & third set. Tiebreakers are adjudged should the scores tie.

If you want to know more about platform tennis, visit us. We also have links to on how to build paddle tennis courts or where to buy paddle tennis racquet.