Play Better Tennis in Two Hours

Oscar Wegner is a genius and this is the best book on tennis I've come across.By way of background: I'm a 4.0 NTRP (NorCal, if that matters) league player. I've been batting about .500 in league play, so I'd say that I'm your average league player (I played varsity a long time ago in High School -- and received "proper" high-end instruction from tennis pros when I was in elementary school, which is where I learned how to play).I'm always browsing for new material to improve my game. I own too many rackets. I've played with different string types and tensions. I've bought several books and subscribed to on-line instruction, some of which has been useful.This book came as a revelation -- I stayed up until the wee hours the day I bought it (kindle edition) since it all just "made sense". The very next day I went to hit against a wall, and my groundies were immediately better. I've never improved any aspect of my game from just reading -- I realize that my experiences sound like hyperbole, but it all clicked and it really did improve my game dramatically and immediately.There was a bit of a learning process the day after, when I played a match -- there was a lot going on in my head, and I was fighting my old tendencies, but after two sets the "new" forehand and backhand mechanics were grooved.I'm a better player thanks to this book, and this from one rushed reading!The amazing thing is that it's even affected my watching of professional tennis on TV -- I understand more clearly what's actually happening with their movement and preparation, and how they address the ball. It's like I finally really understand what they're doing with the ball.The fundamental truths (my wording) on how to effectively hit a ball translate regardless of minor details -- I'm sticking my to my old-school Eastern grips on both wings, but making the changes he recommends. Actually, his description of the backhand is identical to standard tennis-teaching dogma, but I did find his explanation on the forehand, which was different from what I was taught eye-opening, effective and true.I'm baffled by reviews who claim that this is only for beginners -- read the book and then watch the pros play -- he's synthesized the things that they all have in common! From Federer and his old-school Eastern forehand (yes, it's an Eastern forehand grip -- look it up - FuzzyYellowBalls did a study to finally put this myth to rest) to Nadal and his extreme "full" Western.I also tried his methods on my girlfriend, who had instruction as a child but hasn't really played much since. Even she's a believer now. She played the best tennis of her life, and the only "change" I helped her with was modifying her racket preparation along the lines of what Wegner recommends.PSAs an aside, for someone at my level, racket preparation is the key! But not the way I (and most of us, I'd wager) were taught. He is right, you have more time when you focus on "finding the ball" instead of "racket back first". He describes this quite well in the book.I found myself stepping into the court when receiving serve, and coming over the ball on the backhand more, as it now feels like I'm so less rushed.At any rate, I've read and borrowed more than my share of tennis books, and this is, hands-down, the best. It clearly applies to beginners and college-level players (in fact, do a google search of the MIT men's coach on the Wegner method. There's also an interview of MIT's top player and his experience with it -- which eerily echoed my own.) In fact, it has some streaks in commmon with the "Inner Game" (also a good book), in that it points out how inneffective traditional coaching in tennis is, and how more quickly learning happens when you focus on key elements and let as much as possible happen naturally.

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.

I’m a mid 60s traditional school player getting back into tennis. This book helped me embrace the open stance, which has helped me returning faster balls with extended timing and more efficient footwork for repositioning. It seems to underplay, though, the value of the neutral stance on shorter balls when you need to run up to get them. Overall glad I picked this up.

Great teaching and lots of practical tips. Oscar Wegner takes lots of pieces of 'established wisdom' (take your racquet back as soon as the ball leaves opponent's racquet, hit the ball early, step forward into the ball, move forward on your serve, etc., etc.) and provides a slight 'encompassing re-interpretation' for each which doesn't reject the advice but just makes much better and more intuitive sense about what's really going on and what you want to be aiming for (at least, to me he generally does). Wegner's video instruction series is great too. He comes across as very calm and centered, and not in the least arrogant or like he's pushing anything.Wegner is also terrific for learning what to focus on and what are only unnecessary complications / distractions. A master teacher, for sure.

Great book by Oscar Wagner concerning how to play tennis with all age groups. The book is very well done but one must have a qualified person to teach what Oscar is writing about and one must have a certified pro to do so. The book illustrates the best way to control the racket, the correct grips to use, show patience and to correct some false teaching techniques that have been used to teach. I believe it is revolutionary as I am being taught by a professional who shows me how to play correctly and correct my games. Thanks to MB for teaching me.

I started to play tennis at age 32, I was extremely bad. All the books were way too complicated but Oscar book was simply amazing.I really started to play tennis in no time, literally few hours. After struggling for a long long time.I bought his DVDs (classic edition) as well. They were really helpful.The way he simplified things, gave me hope and faith in myself and made complete sense to me.Trainers confused me while Oscar stuff made me love and play tennisIf you are an experience tennis player, you might find many things in his book that doesn't make sense, because its simply different. I would suggest buying it to have an idea about the Wegner method, give it a try.For me it was the best thing I did in tennis, I was about giving up and leaving tennis for good.

I'm not a great tennis player and I have tried some of the tips in this book which have improved my game a bit. But it's not a great book - it looks really old fashioned with black and white photos etc. and not that easy to follow. I would have preferred some diagrams and stuff like that. But on the other hand it was very cheap so I suppose I shouldn't complain.

I just wanted to let people know that along with 'Winning Ugly' by Brad Gilbert which is a great book for the mental side of tennis, this book has to be one of the best Tennis books ever written.Unlike Winning Ugly, this book is more focused on the technique of play rather than the mental and tactical game, and WOW does this book improve your game quickly.I was a little dubious about whether my game could be improved in just 2 hours as suggested by the title of the book, but how wrong I was.The techniques in this book throw a lot of conventional tennis coaching out of the window and instead focus on the way the pro's play and why they do what they do. Your stroke and body movement will improve quickly and if you are anything like me then within just a couple of days I was hitting more consistently and with more power than I have ever done previously, in fact just days after reading the book I played probably my most controlled game ever in an inter-club league match.This book doesn't just come up with unfounded new ideas, but instead explains why you should play the way it suggests and then demonstrates how the top pro's already do what the book suggests, and best of all at the time of writing, this book isn't one written years ago and talking about old techniques but is based around the current game and talks about such greats as Federer, Safin, Roddick and Agassi.If you never buy another Tennis Book then do yourself a huge favour and get this one because you won't regret it, loads of photos and written in a very easy to read style, oh yes and if you ever wondered why Tennis is scored in such a strange way (i.e 15,30,40, deuce, advantage etc.) then its worth buying the book just for the explanation, it seems so obvious once you know!Enjoy...

This book did help with my game and is good to reference, however, to read it in it's entirety is a stuggle and fairly dry.

Totally brilliant.I'm a keen club player and my game has been transformed by the information in this book. I'm now playing at a differant level and enjoying the game so much more

I agree with the other reviews that best for beginners - which is what I am. Have read certain chapters a couple of times and already my worst shot (singlehand backhand topsin)has improved to point that I don't feel the need to defend it. It's quick to read and gives some handy tips - like any book you won't want to try everything he says but enough in there to make it useful. My wife has also picked out a couple of different things she trying work on. Pictures are old looking but it's the techniques that will help.