Rain Rain Go Away

Man, sunshine state my @ss... it literally rains right when I get off campus to screw up my evening games. Doesn't even matter anyways with everyone being injured with back injuries, capsizing boats... Finally got out to hit this week and only a little bit of rust, thank goodness...

Monday

Don't drink beer and play tennis... me and Luis decided to celebrate with some beers at the courts. My groundstrokes were ok, but I had to really focus on the points I wanted to improve on. I was playing pretty lazily, but Luis being out of practice had trouble dealing with anything with pace. To make up for it I decided to chip and charge to work on my nonexistent net game. Not bad actually, just closed the crosscourt alley he always used and I was in good position.

Wednesday

Finally got some real playing time today. Played against a new player, a solid 3.5. He had some good angles on me and kept me on my toes. I was worried I was going to get rained out again but the weather held (unlike me on service... haha).  Nah, for being a bit out of practice I was happy to be out and hitting. As usually I'm just so slow to warm up and start. The consistency issues were still prevalent but it was mostly alot of mental mistakes. My windshield wiper FH was just off and I just kept running around my backhand again. Happy with the footwork, I timed most of my split steps right but I'm still lazy on the backhand side. I find myself hitting off the back foot too much. Had a couple good serve holds when my serve was on, I need to work my serve consistency back up and get some semblance of a kick serve back. I think I tried too hard to beat him with big forehands but he was usually able to chip most of them back. I should of approached more, and use my approch forehand but after an embarassing missed overhead, I just stayed back. I think my best improvement was my service returns. I actually broke more than I held which is rare. I used to have so many problems with the return of serve bc of the angle but I think I'm doing better. Man once those serves start dropping in, I'll be really happy.

Forehand

+ The power was ok, not too spinny, and I actually had a few good inside out FH which I usually don't hit well

+ Spin was definitely still there and pulled in some shots that would of definitely of sailed long.

- When on the run I need to get that timing down. I actually need to work on timing in general bc I got thrown off when I didn't anticipate the spin of the ball.

Backhand

+ Surprisingly I wasn't picked on with my backhand. I hit 1 or 2 winners from that wing, which is more I can say for it usually.

- Hitting off that back foot. I need to step in to drive the power, I need to prep early, shoot I need to do alot of things.

- Too close to the body, unlike my FH where I use my left arm to gauge the ball, I'm shanking too many BH's

Serve

+ Tried dropping the shoulder more but it felt too awkward. I still can get some good pace so its just a matter of consistency.

- %'s too low on the 1st serve and WAYYY too many 2nd serves. 

- I kept forgetting to mix up some flat serves with some slices. Especially on the ad side.

- I need a more consistent toss, and I have to stop hitting serves with a bad toss. Just mental mistakes...

- Kick serve is like gone. I'm whipping up too much, then hitting to light, I just need practice.

Oh well, thats the fun of the game, getting better and working up a good sweat. Maybe I should go back to the wall and drill the backhand a bit, and maybe work on the serves and some wall volleying drills. Well should be another rematch in 2 weeks or so. Need to find someone to play M-F next week. Anyone for some Tennis?