Pro Tennis: #1 in the World – Serena Williams & Victoria Azarenka

The title of 2012 World #1 Player actually goes to different women depending on your source. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) gives the title to Serena Williams and the Women's Tennis Association (WTF) gives it to Victoria Azarenka.

What's the difference? The ITF ranks performances throughout the year, including Grand Slam tournaments, the ATP World Tour Finals, the Davis Cup, and weekly tour events. The WTF ranks performance on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. But let's not squabble over details, and talk about how amazing these women are.

Serena Williams, USA

Williams' record basically speaks for itself: 30 Grand Slam titles, 4 Olympic gold medals. She's been named the World No. 1 Female Player in Singles six times. She's also the oldest player, at 31 years old, to receive the honor.

My favorite stat about Serena Williams? She's the only player ever to achieve a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles! (A Career Golden Slam means Williams has won all four grand slam tournaments and an Olympic gold medal over the course of her career. And she did that in singles and doubles. Amazing!)

Williams' is mostly a baseline player and her serve is considered "the greatest serve in the history of women's tennis" by many tennis experts. Her serve has been recorded at 128mph. Her powerful and consistent serve supports her aggressive playing style.

Victoria Azarenka, Belarus

Azarenka has won two Australian Open singles titles, one US Open mixed doubles title, French Open mixed doubles, gold medal in mixed doubles and a bronze medal in singles at the 2012 Olympics. Azarenka debuted at the junior tennis level in 2003.

"You don’t expect to be smiling when you’re in a tough battle," says Azarenka.

Azarenka is fluent in Belarusian, Russian, English and has some handling of French and Ukrainian. She regards her grandmother as a source of inspiration for her continued development and play in the sport.

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There's a mild rivalry between Azarenka and Williams. They've gone head to head 14 times, and of those matches, Williams has a win-loss record of 12-2.

Both women are playing in the French Open, happening now until June 9!

The French Open - The 2nd Grand Slam

On Sunday, tennis fans around the world will tune in to focus on Paris for the French Open, tennis' 2nd Grand Slam of the year. The year consists of 4 Grand Slam tournaments played on three different surfaces: Australian Open (Hard), French Open (Clay), Wimbledon (Grass) and the U.S. Open (Hard) where men and women compete for tennis' biggest prizes on their biggest stages. While most of will watch a match from one of these tournaments at some point in our lives, not many of us are aware of the deep history of some of these tournaments and today, we will focus on the history of the French Open.

The French Open is also referred to as "Roland Garros", the name of the famous French World War I aviator and the name of the facility where the tournament takes place (Stade Roland Garros). It is played on "red clay" (red brick dust) but the interesting fact is that the "clay" isn't really clay but is white limestone that is 3 inches thick that is then covered with the red brick dust then watered down to create a coat that gives the clay the look it has.

Rafael Nadal returns the ball during the 2012 French Open tennis tournament in Paris. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

The tournament began in 1891 as a national amateur men's tournament for players who belonged to a French tennis club. The original name of the tournament was Championnat de France or The French Championships. The ironic thing is the first winner, H. Briggs, was a Brit but a Paris resident. Women were added to the championships in 1897 and the tournament continued to develop and by 1907, had categories similar to a current tennis tournament format (Men's Singles/Doubles, Women's Singles/Doubles and Mixed Doubles). In 1925, the French Open was open to international amateur players and was recognized as a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

Ana Ivanovic, French Open final, 2008.

Although we are used to the French being the 2nd Grand Slam and Wimbledon being the 3rd Grand Slam, in 1946 and 1947, they swapped places, making Wimbledon 2nd and the French 3rd. The French Open was also the 1st Grand Slam tournament to take the leap of making the tournament "open" or allowing both professionals and amateurs to compete for the same title.

While the French Open was held in a number of facilities between 1891 and 1927, in 1928, the current Stade Roland Garros facility was built on 21 acres of land.

While Wimbledon is regularly praised for their tradition and long-standing history, the French Open was willing to take risks that other tournaments did not. Time and time again, the French Open made changes that changed modern-day tennis that has barely been recognized. When you tune in during the tournament next week or next time you play, think about how some of the advantages tennis players have now were started at the French Open.

VIDEOS: Fancy Footwork

With all the different types of strokes and stroke variations, it's easy to forget that tennis is a game of footwork too! Fancy footwork is very important when it comes to moving around the court, being able to move from side to side, forward and back without getting tripped up. Below are two videos that show helpful drills for footwork that can be done during class or on a student's own time.

For the Younger Athletes
Tennis Drills for Kids - Pyramid Suicide Drill: What I particularly like about this drill is the placement of tennis balls on each line, so the youth athlete has to bend down to grab the ball (no fake grabs here.) Suicide drills build up explosive leg motion, improve balance and promotes fitness.

For the Older Athletes
Sveto's Tennis Footwork Drills (Part III): I particularly like the "Triangle Drill" at the 2:00 mark. The forward, backward and side to side motion reflect actual movements that occur during a game. Also, learning to change directions mid-stride will improve your footwork and ultimately your tennis game.

Class Recap: Rain Out

Well, the season is going great thus far, except for the lack of cooperation from the weather. After about 40 minutes, class at all four sites was cancelled due to rain this past Saturday. Nevertheless, we had a great turn out of volunteers and of enthusiastic kids for the first part of class. Let's keep our fingers crossed for sunny skies this coming Saturday.

Pro Tennis: #1 in the World - Novak Djokovic

We're starting a series here on the KCTL blog about professional tennis players, as a way to encourage our youth athletes not only to enjoy playing the game, but also to recognize that the love of the game is shared by many, many people - players and enthusiasts - across the globe.

This week, what better place to start then with the 2012 #1 World Ranked Tennis Players in Men Singles: Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Djokovic is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He has won six Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013 Australian Open; the 2011 Wimbledon Championships; and the 2011 US Open. He was the year-end World No. 1 for both 2011 and 2012 according to both the International Federation of Tennis (IFT) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP).

Fun Facts:

• Surname pronounced DJO-ko-vich.
• Djokovic began playing tennis at the age of four.
• Djokovic was known for his often humorous off-court impersonations of his fellow players, many of whom are his friends.
• Andre Agassi considers that Federer, Nadal and Djokovic "may very well be the greatest three players to ever play tennis."
• Djokovic is an all-court player with emphasis on aggressive baseline play.

For more information, check his Wikipedia page.

VIDEOS: The Forehand

Last week's class and this upcoming Saturday class are both focused on the basic forehand swing. Here are a few videos to teach and inspire. If you follow along with the videos, and are wondering, KCTL mainly teaches kids the Eastern forehand grip which is the name for when the player "shakes hands" with the racquet.

Tennis Tips: Forehand - Rafael Nadal and Caroline Wozniacki
Watch how the professionals swing, includes explanation of different grips and the overall motion of the move.

Tennis Drills for Kids - Evan Tennis
Watch this little boy complete a running forehand similar to Roger Federer's modern take on the swing.

Tennis Forehand- Basic Technique
This video goes over the basics, grip and swing and recovery. Also explains the forehand for left-handed players. Important: "It's best to add power when you can control contact and direction."

Class Recap: KCTL Begins 4th Season

It was perfect Saturday for tennis, sunny with a cool breeze. We had a good number of kids come out for the first day of tennis at each of the four sites. We went over a few new rules -- youth athletes who show up late will have "consequences," such as running extra laps, and for those kids that show up after the first 30 minutes, they'll be denied entry into class completely. Lesson learned? Be on time! Class always starts at 1pm.

At Tompkins, the first part of class was spent getting to know each other's names and playing fun games like relay races. Then we moved into the proper way to hold your racquet and the correct motion of a forehand. We focused on swinging from the middle of the hip and following through so the racquet ends above the shoulder. The youth athletes caught on very quickly. We broke them up into three groups each with a different game that focused on the forehand technique. Class ended with a group game of frogger.

It was a really great time and we're all looking forward to next week as well as seeing the final results of the kids' hard work at the end of the season. It's going to be a great year! Check out some more photos from the season opener on Facebook.