Chasing The Plock!

R ecreational tennis is as exciting as professional tennis I think, and I'd venture to guess it is actually more fun. There are many reasons we play this sport, at my age it is need to feel the satisfaction of self-improving in an area that is unrelated to work, career, or continuation of blood lines. When I first returned to tennis, I thought I had somewhat of a unique story of having played competitively during middle and high schools year, taking a sabbatical for 30+ years and now returning after age fifty. I am so amazed that my story is probably the most common story within the recreational circles. Nearly everyone I meet playing tennis has a very similar story. This means that many of us are probably seeking something that's been left unanswered in our lives, some nostalgia perhaps, slowing down our degrading health, or some other reason. I think they are all valid ways to enrich our lives, elevate our self-value and even gain a new place in our complex societies. ...

I enjoy playing doubles as much as singles. The dynamics are quite different, the shots are different with more variety, and you get to experience amazing back-and-forth plays within a single point covering the whole spectrum of fast, high, low and touch shots.  It can also get frustrating often, especially when played with by partners that have no synergy, coordination or expectations. One of the most important aspects of doubles team, in my opinion, is to match the skill and experience level of the partners close to one another. Doubles in tennis is one of those games that if one of the payers cannot perform, his/her partner cannot compensate for bad play. In this sense it is a chained game, and if one of the chain links is broken the entire chain falls apart. I am part of a team in a 3.0 league and play both singles and doubles. Although I admit my game is much more suited nowadays to 3.5 level, but the USTA NTRP ratings calculations have progressed slower than my game in t...

I read more than few times that a player needs to recognize their state of mind, state of looseness and deficiencies at a given moment to be able to correct the problem during a match. Although I have never disagreed with this approach, I don't think I quite understood it, that is until recently. For example, often I hear the phrase "s/he is very tight," or similar references about a player's game. I thought this means that the player is not playing with confidence and feels nervous. I experience the lack of confidence quite frequently, I just accept the fact that as a relatively new player that is normal and someday I will learn to manage my confidence better, particularly as my shot consistency increases. Few days ago I played two singles matches in which I could feel I was tight and I was missing some of the easiest forehands and even my feet were not moving around much. For some reason, all of my tennis playing principals were out of the window, such as p...

Spring season's first USTA 18 & Over League match was tonight, paired up with T.P. for #1 doubles court. I have to admit that I was nervous, much more so than any other match before. I think this was primarily because I wanted to win to improve my NTRP rating, I wish I did not want that as I put unnecessary pressure on me. Thankfully, T.P. game to the match pumped up, itching to get on court and confident, it helped me calm down and feel his confidence as well. I had been playing much more throughout the week than ever before, physically I was also a little weaker than normal, I was really hoping to play well, and I was mostly worried about my serves. When I am tired my serves are the first to go down hill and when my serves don't work, nothing else works. Thankfully, I had the best serving match ever. The pace and placement of my serves were eye opening, and our opponents took notice, waiting to return the serves 2-3 ft behind the baseline. The best parts were than I h...

I like playing against R.M., I like practicing with him too. He is a solid NTRP 4.0 level player, an impressive one at that as he has been playing only for 3 years. Self-admittedly he say he plays a tremendous amount of tennis; most mornings he tells me he hits with his spouse at 6 am, goes to work, then sometimes plays a match during lunch time, then most evenings he plays another match, all either singles or doubles, he probably plays at least ten or so times and 20 hours a week. So, he has probably squeezed 8 to 10 years of clinics, private coaching and match playing experience into those short three years. It is also notable that he is 60 years old and comes with an athleticism of a forty year old. He runs, gets to balls, never out of breath and knows the game very well. He has no apparent weaknesses; he has high-paced slice serves, flat and fast FHs and BHs, superb drop shots, and slices that will give you the finest salamis. Needless to say during the total two matches I played a...

The Highs and Lows It has been an amazing four weeks since my last post. I have had many highs and few really lows. The ups and downs bring up new questions for me, and the main one is what is it that I am looking to achieve while enjoy tennis as a fun hobby. It is a competitive sport at the end, and without movement forward, staying stagnant is not for me. Although I keep my competitiveness in check for the most extent - otherwise it get impractical and unhealthy - I still want to be competitive on court both in singles and doubles, and continue to improve. Let me get back to this later on. For the highs: I was invited into my club's 4.0+ singles group to play regularly for practice matches, my serves have gotten very good with nearly excellent placement and pace, my volleys are improving, my movement on court has also improved noticeably specifically in singles matches, I am cutting down on my unforced errors and playing matches more intelligently with strategy. All of this m...

Practice, Practice, Practice! There is no substitute for it, you know it. There needs to be a driver behind it though and an objective. The weakest attribute in game has been my serve since I started. As I explained in my previous postings, I have three different types of serves, but regardless of which I use, I had many double faults that resulted in too many games, sets and matches lost. Has to be fixed. I have been practicing off-matches, throwing 75-100 serves each time I get the chance; however, most of my practices have been during the round robin doubles matches. Believe me I had my share of nasty looks from my partners in abundance and I cannot blame them. At the same time I refused to back off from figuring it out, dropping my pace, or just putting my second serves in with a loopy. I keep trying and trying, hoping something will click. I think something did click this month. I cannot tell exactly what it is, I cannot pin point to a single mechanics, but I think few thing...

I had a singles match with someone I had played once before few months ago, at which time I lost 10-5 in proset format. I had taken some notes about his game, I hadn't played well at the time, but was looking forward to testing myself again. This time we played on 3-set format and I had my game plan. First few games were good, held my serve comfortably, he did so as well. I had good shots, but it was apparent his court coverage was going to cause me issues. As the games went on he kept breaking my serves and I only broke his serve once each set. He was always at the right place to respond to my shots, I used heavy topspin, flat shots, CC, DTL, drop shots, steak-knive slices, and my first serve % was never higher. Admittedly I could have played some shots better, but due to his excellent court positioning it just forced me to take more and more risks, and consequently I made more errors than I should have. I lost 6-2, 6-2. It is an amazing feeling to use everything you have in your ...

Not Focusing On The Win vs. Expecting Not To Win Last weekend I was scheduled to play in our club's mini tournament. I woke up Saturday morning with slight fever, still had to do some house work and had to head out to play first round as I had promised the tournament director that I would play. I wasn't in any condition to play frankly, but any day I get to play tennis, beats most other ordinary days, so off I went. My first opponent was a nice gentleman who played very irregularly and was coming off a 3-month break from tennis, his level was at 3.0 level. We were to play 8-game proset due to time constraints. We started and quickly it was 4-0 in my favor, but my energy was draining very rapidly. I really wasn't try to win, wasn't exploiting his apparent weaknesses, I just wanted to play while I lasted and hopefully pack my bags and get back to a hot shower and bed at home. I thought probably the quickest way to get home was to win the match and forfeit ...

Mental State Wins, Although I Didn't Quite I started playing a 4.0-4.5 singles group; it is primarily for practice, no points won or lost beyond the match score. So, it is not a ladder or league, just few guys filling in time playing similarly skilled players. So, the first question is what the heck am I doing in the group? My game improved enough that the club's perception is I can hang with this group to some degree. Also, they did not meet their participant quota :) Regardless, I am happy to have the chance to play with this tough group, and I had my first match recently. The gentleman was older by at least a decade, but he has been playing for over 20 years and clearly had a better overall game than mine. Strong forehand, a wicked slice backhand with occasional topspins, solid volleys and an effective serve with better than mediocre pace. More importantly he had better court coverage than me.  First few games we were testing ourselves and one another. I was r...

I have only few weapons at this time; forehand, serve and reflexes at the volley. My serve is not very reliable, but when it works, it really works. I have more chances to hit return a hard shot at the volley more often than not, which I am not sure how I do besides reading the body language of my opponent and not blinking while the ball is coming towards me. My forehand is my most reliable shot, and usually has very good pace with topspin, or I can use it to hide a slice floater or dropshot. Given this, I try to maximize the opportunities I get to my forehand and try to move around as much as I can while I am at the volley. I still have to learn to hit hard returns at the volley, currently my returns are moderately paced at best, and my overhead shots are weak. This past week two comments made me think of how I am perceived to play in doubles. First comment was something to the effect that "only if I could scale back the pace to 85%..." The second was during a match by m...

My match play is improving; during the last couple of weeks I won my last two USTA mixed doubles matches with my partners, and two of my singles ladder matches.  I am mostly winning with social matches as well playing just doubles. So, you'd think I should be satisfied, but I am not. Somethings are not quite right. I do have issues with my footwork, which creates timing issues, which in turn results in inconsistencies.  At least that is my own analysis. I try to address this by increasing my cardio performance as best as I can, work on my leg muscles and abdominals, etc. None have resulted in any tangible benefits. So, what else or other is wrong? It is an ongoing search... I have not experienced being in the zone yet. Although I know how to recognize it due to having experienced it quite often during my track days (HPDEs), I am yet to find that zone with tennis.  Part of it is experience, I think I need to play many more matches before I...

First Singles Win!!! Finally I won my first singles match, and the best part was coming back from behind. I signed up for my club's ladder and issued my first challenge to a player that is about my level, knowing from the clinics we both attend.  However, the match was much tougher than I thought it would be.  This is ladder played based on Super 10 Pro Sets. We started with my serve as I knew I would serve better with the initial energy I have, and when my energy drops my first serves suffer quite a bit. As expected I was serving well, but my opponent wasn't phased by my flat or kick serves, and lost on my serve. Then I broke his serve, then he broke mine again and that's how it continued until 2-2. After that he kept breaking on my serves, but held his, shortly thereafter it was 2-5. Part of the problem was even when my first serves were good, I stayed passive at the baseline and not take advantage of the weak return of my opponent. This is partly due to tr...

Plock Is Coming Along Well Month of September has been great, my improvement has kicked into one higher gear, subsequently my enjoyment of Tennis. I still have many issues to resolve, however, my consistency has improved dramatically, as well as spins and power I can deliver both with my backhand and forehand. First thing I tackled was my forehand, trying to find the factors that would give me good power in combination of topspin to make sure the shots do not go long, and at the same time better my technique in a way that does not put too much strain on my arm and elbow. Power is not the objective of course, I also worked on being able to hit forehands with medium pace and spin, while keeping the bounce within the last 5-6 ft portion of opposing court. It all boiled down to three things: (1) keeping my feet and legs mobilized, so I can position my body in the right place to be able to execute the next two items. I am doing much better with this, but there is plenty of room for im...

All Natural Gut Experience I initially did not like it much after my hybrid experience. After few hours of play I loved it, the feel and sound of it are addictive. I also got very good in managing my spins and flat shots, it seems to be the best compromise frankly.  Additionally, there is no guessing when the strings go bad; I felt a slight drop in tension 2-3 hours before the end, and then saw the filaments separating from certain spots, and then kaboom, string broke.  A total of 14 hours of play. On my backup racket I have VS Team natural gut on mains, and Luxilon 4G for crosses. Switching back to this setup, I am missing the all natural gut feel and sound, and I think my shots were more consistent, the only negative is I think my arm hurt more with all natural gut setup than the hybrid.  I will continue to play with this setup for another 14-18 hours and make a final decision then how I want both of my rackets strung and tensions.

1st Tournament I entered my first USTA tournament in Men's 3.5 Singles category last week. I was excited to play my first competitive match, I did not feel nervous.  Apparently I was nervous however; I lost the match 6-2/6-0 to a person I should have easily beaten.  My serve deserted me, my backhand was no where to be found, my drop shots all dropped to my own court and my forehand was below par at best. Although I was not feeling nervous, I was playing for points   consciously  for sure , and I think that impacted my touch and feel; I was really lousy. I feel very good however that I got at least one match under my belt, and hopefully I learned enough that I won't repeat the same mistakes next time around.  I am certainly lacking match experience at this point, my practice game does not translate on the match play, and that is something I have to fix.  I don't know exactly how to do that just yet, but I will condition myself mentally ...

First Practice Match I played a 4.0+ as part of a practice match last weekend, lost 6-2/6-0. I have to admit that I had a lot more fun that I thought I would. My forehand wasn't bad or good, my backhand was nearly non-existent, but my serves, volley and touch were... just superb! I think my 1st serves were nearly 50% and I was accurate to the point, wide or to the T. I had 4 aces, two in one game during first set, and returns were definitely not great during those serves. I also had 7 or 8 double faults, but I wasn't worried about those at all. Overall I was really pleased with my game, and now have a better idea on what to work on. First tournament is this coming weekend. I am not expecting to win any matches, but I sure will be having fun in the 3.5 Men's Single division.

Strings Of The Past, Getting On With The " Hybrids " Technology has changed certainly over last three decades. The new rackets and strings are such a huge improvement from the days I played seriously, I feel I am relearning tennis. Without understanding the best ways to use the technology available, it is no longer possible to be effective on court it seems. One of the changes that has caught me by surprise is the much closer link between racket type, composition, weight/balance to strings utilized. The sheer number of different rackets on the market is not possible for me to follow, and equally vast number of type of strings available. So, when you look at the possible permutations, it is mind boggling for me. So, I making it easy on myself: When I first picked my racket (Wilson ProStaff RF97A), I just went with the recommended string imprinted on the racket, Wilson Championship Duo string set with 59 lbs main string tension and 56 on the crosses. Incidentally, I had nev...