Serveitup Tennis Magazine #25

Issue#25 March 2018 

Knights 

in shining armour 

Serveitup March 2018 1

Tennis Talk 

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2 Serveitup March 2018

All digital 


The only real junior tennis magazine! 

Age Restrictions 

adults 

Juniors Only 

4 

Serveitup March 2018 

serveituptennismagazine.com

Comments 

of last issue 

from the publisher desk 

02/15/18 

Tell us who you are! 

It brings us nothing but joy and fulfillment that our viewers 

appreciate the work we do. We at Serveitup have one goal in 

mind... to publish the best online junior tennis magazine, that 

will deliver the most relevant resources to educate, motivate, 

empower, showcase and interact with all junior tennis players 

everywhere. 

If our readers are happy, that makes us happy. Even if our 

readership is satisified, we will nwver be satisfied, because we 

will always be pushing the boundaries for you our readers. 

@ Bill Patton 

Follow ServeItUpMagazine 

on FB, share it, tweet it, 

like it follow it, share with 

junior players. This is one 

way to really be in touch 

with what is NOW. 

Totally loved the article on 

playing every point. Also 

the photo also shows the 

player giving the effort to 

win the point. 

So thank you for all your comments and likes and follows and 

shares... Please keep them coming, they really mean a lot to us. 

And most of all, keep sending in your stories, your photos and 

videos, because without it we won’t have a magazine. Like we 

say, “we can’t tell your story until you tell us who you are”. 

@Fransua Rachmann 

There should be a magazine 

like this here in Canada. 

These articles are really 

to the point. And even 

though they are directed 

to junior tennis players, it 

will benefit tennis players 

at any level. 

wesley@serveituptennismagazine.com 

Stay Connected 

Follow,like & share us 

@serveituptennismagazine 

@serveitup10smag 

serveitup_tennismagazine 

ServeItUp TennisMagazine


Our Credo 

Serveitup is the quintessential junior tennis magazine. We intend 

to promote and showcase only junior tennis players 18 and under. 

Serveitup lays claim to the fact that we are real junior tennis. 

Serveitup is the most unique, dynamic, cutting-edge junior tennis 

publication on the planet. Our vision at Serveitup, is to transport 

you every month, on an exciting journey into the remarkable lives 

of real junior tennis players. We will tell their stories and reveal 

who they are. You will know about their Lifestyles, Fashion, Tournaments, 

Health & Fitness, Achievements, Equipment, Instructions, 

Goals, Passions, Training Methods, Travel and much more, before 

they become the next tennis superstars. 

We will strive for excellence in every issue. Every publication will 

be specifically designed to deliver the most relevant resources to 

educate, motivate, empower, showcase and interact with all junior 

tennis players. We will chronicle the lives of the junior players, as 

they begin their pursuit into that elite world of tennis stardom. 

For this reason Serveitup is totally free and 100% juniors. We will 

promote junior tennis players, whether they play the junior circuit 

or the pro level. We intend to affect junior tennis globally by getting 

Serveitup into the hands of current and future junior tennis 

players. That makes Serveitup a must read for every player... and 

their parents? So get all your photos and content ready, and send 

them to info@serveituptennismagazine.com 


March 2018 

Cover Story: 

Who Is Matt Knights 

in this issue 

#25 

Hit Deep 

11 

Be Your Own Cheerleader 

12 

32 

Body Language 

9 

11 

12 

15 

16 

Aces and 

Faults. 

Hit Deep Down The 

Middle. 

Be Your Own 

Cheerleader. 

This Won’t Do. 

16 

22 

24 

29 

32 

Cover Story: Who Is 

Matt Knights. 

Fix It Even If It’s 

Not Broken. 

KeepYour Chin Up. 

How Can You Own 

Your Game? 

Footwork. 

32 

34 

36 

Body Language. 

Health Benefits Of 

Pumpkin Seeds. 

Footwork. 

40 Photo Of The 

Month. 

30 Photo 


8 

Serveitup March 2018

Aces and Faults 

Playing indoors tennis outdoors! 

That lovely cloud cover. It’s gives 

you such an awesome feeling, like if 

you are royalty or as if you are the most 

important person in the world, when 

on a hot sunny day, a cloud comes over 

your tennis court alone, and provides 

you with all the shade you need during 

your match. 

Relaxing with friends. Just being 

able to get away from everything, and 

being able to totally unwind and relax 

in the fresh open air, while enjoying the 

camaraderie of my friends. 

Ball prices and lifespan. The prices 

of tennis balls continue to increase, 

while the lifespan of those same balls 

is at an all time low. Even for weekend 

players, a new can of balls don’t even 

last through their match. 

The rain delay nightmare. There 

is nothing worse than starting a match, 

and then three games into it, you have 

to stop for a rain delay. Then you begin 

to play again, and the same thing happens 

all over again, and the match lasts 

through the entire day, when playing a 

tournament. 




Hit Deep!!! 

down the middle 

Have a goal in 

mind when you 

are playing. Let that 

goal be to keep your 

opponent 

pinned 

way behind the baseline, 

so they won’t be 

able to attack you. 

The only way to get 

that accomplish is by 

not hitting any short 

balls, but keeping the 

ball deep down the 

middle of the court 

during the rallies. The 

type of shots doesn’t 

matter, whether it’s 

flat or topspin. 


12 


Be your own 

Cheerleader 

When you feel the pressure! 

You need to constantly encourage 

yourself when you’re on the 

court. There comes a time when 

every player feels the pressure. 

That the time when you have 

to dig really deep. Just imagine 

that you are sitting on the 

bench watching ‘you‘ play. What 

would you say to yourself... ‘you 

can do it‘ ‘don’t give up‘. Well 

your opponent is never going 

to cheer you on, you’ve got to 

be you own best cheerleader. 


13

14 


This won’t do! 

is that all you got? 

If you are a competitive junior tennis 

player, and your workout and 

training only consists of some running, 

some stretching and some 

bands, that won’t do. Tennis at a 

high competitive junior level, is a 

very physical sport. The phsciality 

of tennis is so demanding, that if 

you are lacking in your conditioning, 

you will not make it. You need 

full time fitness and conditioning 

alongside your tennis regiment. 

Being on the tennis court training 

5-6 days weekly, and only doing 

some token fitness and bands, 

is a recipe for losing in the early 

rounds of any tournament. You 

need to get serious about your fitness, 

and knowledgeable about 

the physicality of tennis. 


M 

Feature 

16 

Knigh 


Cover Story 

From England with love 

att 

ts 

Sponsors 

Pro Direct Tennis 

Alien Pros 

Bidi Badu 

Qlipp 


Matt 

Knights 

Influencing & Inspiring 

I started tennis 

when I was 5 years 

old and was influenced 

into tennis 

by my dad. 

My close coach 

who was a family 

friend at the time 

started coaching 

me from there on. 

As I grew older 

and older I started 

progressing better 

and enjoyed 

the sport with passion. 

I would enter 

Hampshire competitions 

on a regular 

basis with my 

team. Now that I 

am 19 I have my 

coaching certificate 

and I coach 

and train as much 

as I can. I am a 

Brand ambassador 

for Pro direct 

Tennis which is 

the world’s largest 

online Sports 

store and also 

supported by 4 

other brands and 

organisations. I 

have matches every 

weekend and 

I have to travel 

across the solent 

to compete. Tennis 

has inspired me 

so much and I aim 

to get higher and 

to influence thousands 

of others 

around the world. 


So Basically my main aim 

and goal is to inspire thousands 

of other people who 

also enjoy our sport. In addition 

to achieving higher 

in the tennis world. 

With teaming up with Pro 

direct and my other sponsors, 

I hope to show and 

produce content so that 

others can see and be inspired. 

I have already received 

so much support and I am 

grateful that I have managed 

to inspire many already. 

This year has only 

just started and the journey 

is still yet to come! 

One great feeling about 

being an influencer is the 

given positive feedback. 

Knowing you help others 

to become motivated is a 

way forward for everyone. 

Instagram: @_matty_k_ 

Facebook: @Mattyktennis 

YouTube: @ Matt Knights 

20 



High Tennis Performance 

Talk 

Fix it 

even if it’s not 

Broken 


Always look to keep improving. Don’t 

just settle for the strokes you have. 

Even if your strokes are reliable, keep 

working on them, to make them even 

better, so they can become automatic 

weapons. 


Advanced Instructions 

Keep you 

24 


When it comes to serving, many times 

you’ve been told things like keep your 

head up, or keep your eyes up, and keep 

the tossing arm up. While all this can give 

a small degree of help, the real solution 

is to keep your chin up. If you keep your 

chin up, it’s practically impossible to drop 

your tossing arm, your eyes and your 

head when you are serving. 

r chin up! 


26 



Contributing Editor 

Bill Patton 

Bill Patton is a 30 year Tennis Coach He is a certified USPTA 

Elite Pro, and Professional with PTR and MTM. He is also 

the author of 11 easy to read Tennis books. 


How Can You 

Own Your 

Game? 

Coaches and parents often 

want to see players 

‘own’ their own game. 

They want to see you become 

a player who gets 

up for practice on their 

own, and shows up everyday, 

even if you don’t 

feel like it. One of the 

best ways to keep yourself 

motivated is to play 

how you want to play. 

One of the ways you own 

your game is when you 

have your favorite strategies, 

and the skills to 

use them, and you apply 

them to your match. 

Be wise, if you are very 

fast, then you probably 

want to incorporate your 

speed into your strategy, 

and if you are very slow, 

then you will need to become 

faster, if you want 

to play a speed game. 

Otherwise, you will be 

best advised to play a 

strategy that does not 

rely on speed. Also, if 

you are naturally powerful, 

you will want to learn 

some control so that 

you can use your power. 

If you are not naturally 

powerful, either you will 

have to build yourself up, 

or learn a strategy that 

does not rely so much on 

power. 

When you find the strategy 

that fits your personality, 

physical traits and 

skills, that can lead to 

some great results. The 

good news is that you 

don’t have to be exceptionally 

fast, or exceptionally 

powerful to be a 

very good tennis player. 

You can use skills, and 

your mind to win matches, 

to beat faster or more 

powerful players than 

you. You can pick ONE 

strategy, and mid match 

you can switch, but if you 

have to switch twice in 

one match that will be 

pretty hard. 


29

Over Power the Opponent 

Power tennis is cool, because 

you can win matches more 

quickly and use less energy. 

Serena Williams plays this way, 

so does Tomas Berdych. That 

comes in handy when you have 

two matches in a day. Basically, 

you hit the ball as hard as 

you can while keeping it in the 

court, and hit so that the other 

player can’t handle your ball. 

Of course, mixing in some other 

shots like a drop shot here 

or there, and some other kinds 

of shots to set up your power 

game is helpful. Mostly you 

have to play without fear of 

missing a few shots, but you 

will be hitting the ball very hard 

most all the time. 

Pressure Time and Space 

Roger Federer more and more 

pressures his opponent’s time 

and space. The way he steps 

forward into the court to take 

the ball early, and puts pressure 

on his opponents by pinning 

them into corners of the 

court, means he gets more 

time, and his opponent’s get 

less. You can pressure time 

and space in your opponent 

by coming to the net, because 

you come closer and you pressure 

their time because they 

have to hit a good shot NOW! 

Drop shots also work, lobs, and 

hitting the ball directly at the 

opponent, so that they have 

30 


to get out of the way. Ask your 

coach, there are many ways 

to do this. My friend Styrling 

Strother calls a ball up the middle 

a ‘cage’ ball, because once 

you hit a ball right to someone 

or at them, they have a hard 

time moving for the next ball. 

Work on different spins, and 

the accuracy of your shots so 

you can do this. 

Pressure Movement 

This is a good thing to do if you 

are a faster player, since you 

will also need to run. Using this 

strategy means you will want 

to hit crosscourt to set up your 

points, and then go for some 

more aggressive angles. A skill 

you will need is great timing 

on your shots, because one 

of the best ways to pressure 

movement is when you change 

the direction of the ball, and 

wisely hit down the line at the 

right time. A drop shot / lob 

combination is a great way 

to pressure your opponent’s 

movement. Also, hitting a short 

angled topspin shot that lands 

near the service line, followed 

by a deep shot in the court to 

the opposite side, can make 

your opponent move along diagonals 

on the court. Some 

players never practice that, so 

you can really take advantage. 

Again, work with your coach in 

developing spins and placement. 

Disrupt Rhythm 

Do you enjoy messing 

er player up? Do you 

when they think they m 

because they played a 

shot, but really it was y 

made them miss? You 

play this way sometim 

short while until you g 

dence, or to reduce th 

dence, or play it all ma 

Don’t play any two sho 

same way. One ball is 

one lower, one faster, 

er, more spin, less spin 

spin, cross court, down 

down the middle, you 

point. This can take pla 

of their rhythm and th 

begin to make mistake 

don’t normally make. I 

seen some of the bigg 

sets in tennis when a l 

ranked player uses thi 

against a higher ranke 

er, and win the match. 

my players ranked #66 

this in our Sectional C 

ships to beat a player 

#12 and no one gave 

er a chance of winning 

thought the opponent 

too good. Not after ha 

rhythm disrupted. 

Retriever and Consiste 

Run around and hit on 

ball back. This one reli 

speed. But play smartl 

hit the ball to the oppo 

offensive strength. Thi

the othlike 

it 

issed 

bad 

ou who 

can 

es for a 

ain confieir 

confitch 

long. 

ts the 

higher, 

one slow- 

, backthe 

line, 

get the 

yers out 

ey will 

s they 

have 

est upower 

s strategy 

d play- 

One of 

used 

hampionranked 

my play- 

. They 

was just 

ving his 

nt Play 

is also very tiring and if all your 

matches are very long, then 

you will have a harder time 

when you have two matches 

in a day, or many matches in a 

week. Your physical fitness will 

have to be superior to all of 

your opponents. You will be at 

a disadvantage to all the styles 

above, because you will always 

be reacting to what your opponent 

is doing. However, if your 

reactions are great, and you 

can keep your opponent from 

playing a smarter offensive 

game against you, then you 

can win in this style. The staple 

of this style of play is to keep 

the ball very deep crosscourt 

or up the middle, which will 

make you very difficult to beat. 

I tell my players that if nothing 

else is working, play this way. 

Whichever is your Plan A, it’s 

also good to have a Plan B or C 

to use on days when the match 

up is against you. Smart players 

have more ways to win, and 

when two players are equal in 

many ways, the smarter player 

usually wins. In fact, you can 

beat players who are slightly 

better athletes with slightly 

better strokes, when you play 

a game plan that fits with who 

you are, and the skills you have. 

e more 

es on 

y, do not 

nent’s 

s strategy

Body 

language 

shows your m 


Competition 

Will Expose 

You! 

There’s no 

place to hide! 

Competition exposes everything... 

both the good and the bad. Whatever 

you think you are hiding and no one 

knows, will be totally exposed during 

competition. So if you are pretending 

you know how to hit certain shots, 

competition will not only expose it, 

but will show how weak you really 

are. It will totally embarass you. What 

is your body language showing... the 

good or the bad. 

ental state 


Pu 

Healthy Snacks 

The 

34 


health benefits of 

mpkin 

Seeds 

From Magnesium to Manganese, Iron, 

Copper, Zinc, Protien, Potassium, antioxidants 

and so much more, pumpkin 

seeds are one of the healthiest snacks 

for junior tennis players. 


Fitness 

footwork! 

footwork never stands 

still. 



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Photo 


of the 

Month 

Tennis is always 

on the menu 



42

Serveitup Tennis Magazine #25

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