Did you play today?

[ponchi101]

Only to say that I was able to play today.
Despite the months of gym, there is no way you can train for tennis other than on court. My hand was fine for about 20 minutes but, after that, I simply lost strength on my grip. Which, of course, cascades into all the shots.
Good news: my elbow was fine. I gather that 8 months of rest will cure everything.
I nearly cried of happiness.

[ashkor87]

had a couple of new players join us today.. one test I apply to tell how much court sense someone has, is to lob over their head if they are at the net, to see if they realize their partner is now out of position and they need to adjust.. it never fails.. the novices stay put, the seasoned ones quickly adjust their own position without having to turn and look. ..

[ponchi101]

As a singles player, it was always a problem for me because regardless of if they were lobbing over me or over my partner, I would start tracking the lob. Ended out of position 1/2 of the times

[meganfernandez]

had a couple of new players join us today.. one test I apply to tell how much court sense someone has, is to lob over their head if they are at the net, to see if they realize their partner is now out of position and they need to adjust.. it never fails.. the novices stay put, the seasoned ones quickly adjust their own position without having to turn and look. ..

What exactly do you mean by "adjusting their position"? How exactly? There are only two ways to adjust your position - you backpedal and take it as a lob, or you call "you" to your partner and switch sides (without looking back, ideally) while your partner retrieves the lob behind you. Right?

My test is similar, or maybe the same thing. If both partners are at the net, does the one cross-court from the ball (on the opponent's side) realize they are defending the lob over their partner and adjust their position back a bit to the service line? You can't close the net if the ball is cross-court from you, depending on the opponent's court position.

[ashkor87]

Right, that is what I mean...

[ashkor87]

The US OPen is interfering seriously with my tennis! Because of the 10 hour time difference, I can only watch the 7 pm matches, which are right about the time I go off to play myself.. decisions decisions...

[ponchi101]

Never for me.
You can go play OR watch some tennis?
I am off to the court

[meganfernandez]

The US OPen is interfering seriously with my tennis! Because of the 10 hour time difference, I can only watch the 7 pm matches, which are right about the time I go off to play myself.. decisions decisions...

That is tough. I’d play except for the best matches, but maybe not play as long. Split the difference.


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[ponchi101]

I played last Friday and was trying to do this.
As I have a 1 handed BH, hitting high balls is always tough. But I recently noticed Stan doing this: he DOES NOT try to bring his racquet to the level of the ball in the regular fashion, but instead he keeps the wrist locked and hits the ball with the racquet vertically. Sort of like he slaps it.
It works, but you can only doing for a little while. His strength is too much, so I gather I need to hit the gym a bit more.

[ashkor87]

Wawrinka is so strong...best not to emulate him...

[ponchi101]

I also think you need to hit it even farther ahead than a regular BH. And, of course, because the racquet is not extended so much, you need to adjust a bit more with your feet.

[ashkor87]

The US OPen is interfering seriously with my tennis! Because of the 10 hour time difference, I can only watch the 7 pm matches, which are right about the time I go off to play myself.. decisions decisions...

That is tough. I’d play except for the best matches, but maybe not play as long. Split the difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, that is my plan....

[ashkor87]

The US OPen is interfering seriously with my tennis! Because of the 10 hour time difference, I can only watch the 7 pm matches, which are right about the time I go off to play myself.. decisions decisions...

That is tough. I’d play except for the best matches, but maybe not play as long. Split the difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yup, that is my plan....

[ponchi101]

I went to play on Tuesday, and my regular sparring partner could not show up. So, they arranged for me to play with a younger kid. About 17, and, of course, with all the legs in the world.
He was just a bit too much. FH to FH I was able to stay in the rallies, but the moment he started making me visit some parts of the court I had not been to in a few years, my legs were simply not enough. I was able to rope a few winners towards his FH, but not too many.
The problem was my beloved BH. When he went inside out, his pace was too much and I was unable to release my stroke in time; I was routinely late, meaning my racquet face was aiming down and I was not able to clear the net. Showed me that my preparation was a bit late, and I needed to start my swing earlier.
So, today I told my partner about it. We started hitting a bit harder than usual (we usually start rallying with a 50% ball; today we started at 75%). And, I asked him to move me a bit more to my BH, so I had to work a bit harder with my legs but also had to turn faster and release my BH faster.
I was able to hit two clean winners, one down the line, another crosscourt. I have also started serving a bit lately, trying to control my toss better, and I was able to do a small slam-dunk (can't jump like before). And I closed the hour with a huge FH down the line. I decided it was good enough to stop there and leave the court satisfied.
At least one of the FH's was good enough to make Roger raise an eyebrow.
Best session I have had since I came back on court. But, man, do I need my Friday Cuba Libre!!!!

[meganfernandez]

I went to play on Tuesday, and my regular sparring partner could not show up. So, they arranged for me to play with a younger kid. About 17, and, of course, with all the legs in the world.
He was just a bit too much. FH to FH I was able to stay in the rallies, but the moment he started making me visit some parts of the court I had not been to in a few years, my legs were simply not enough. I was able to rope a few winners towards his FH, but not too many.
The problem was my beloved BH. When he went inside out, his pace was too much and I was unable to release my stroke in time; I was routinely late, meaning my racquet face was aiming down and I was not able to clear the net. Showed me that my preparation was a bit late, and I needed to start my swing earlier.
So, today I told my partner about it. We started hitting a bit harder than usual (we usually start rallying with a 50% ball; today we started at 75%). And, I asked him to move me a bit more to my BH, so I had to work a bit harder with my legs but also had to turn faster and release my BH faster.
I was able to hit two clean winners, one down the line, another crosscourt. I have also started serving a bit lately, trying to control my toss better, and I was able to do a small slam-dunk (can't jump like before). And I closed the hour with a huge FH down the line. I decided it was good enough to stop there and leave the court satisfied.
At least one of the FH's was good enough to make Roger raise an eyebrow.
Best session I have had since I came back on court. But, man, do I need my Friday Cuba Libre!!!!

So happy for you, to get a good and satisfying workout on court. That FH should keep you smiling all weekend. I love how you an diagnose the issues with your strokes. I'm not so good at that. Recently figured out that my prep is lazy on both sizes, and an earlier backswing made some instant improvement.