Chasing The Plock!

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...