Hitting with John

It feels great to be back on the court. Had a nice rally session with John. We both has some rust, but really the only major issues with my game was the footwork. I was a bit lazy, and had trouble moving quickly on the court. My forehand was a bit underpowered but consistent and my when needed, I didn't have trouble turning up the power for winners. I did though have issues with high forehands, just had timing issues. Backhand wise I'm pretty happy, shoulder feels great and I can get some pace on it now. Slice is floating up a bit too much but I need to step in more instead of chop the ball.

Service wise... well my 2nd serve is getting better, but I'm having issues with my timing on my 1st serve. Need to put in alot of work on it this weekend. All in all, not bad for such a long layoff!

Hitting at UM

Not able to hit during the week, I manage to find time in between work and class to work on my serve for about an hour. I've been making unbelievable progress. My 2nd serve is really coming along. I still play it safe and spin them in, but I've been using my kick serve as a 1st serve as well by tossing more in front. I need to be more consistant on my ball toss though, b/c if I'm off a little the ball noticeably doesn't kick up as much. Ironically my serve on the Ad side of the court (particularly the 1st) is way more consistant. I think its the more closed stance I use on the Ad side. I might  go back to serving close stance on both sides to disguise my serve a little better but I find myself consistantly hitting up the middle too much and not being able to go out wide (unless I slice). Whatever, I'll take it, my service as been such a crutch with my game, I'm happy its finally working.

Funny thing, I saw someone waiting for their partner so I asked him to hit for a bit. I saw him warming up these silly looking chop shots so after I fed a shot to him, I was almost knocked out of my shoes by an extremely hard, extremely flat ballistic tennis ball. I think he's the flattest and one of the hardest hitting guy's I've played with. It was awesome, I was feeding off his pace and just ripping some really heavy forehands back and forth. Of course, my backhand was a bit lacking in umph but it held on. I wish I would of gotten his name, bc it's the first time I got to play with someone where I could comfortably stand way back on the baseline and just crush the ball. 

Hoping to find someone to hit some pick up tennis this sunday at 7 am... otherwise its just more serve practice.

Kick Serve! and rallying with John

While waiting for John to show up I finally had a break through with my kick serve. My issues were that I was trying to impart the spin with the pronation of my wrist at contact. I went out yesterday and just tried to hit up and over the ball and viola! I nailed 11 out of 12! I'm hoping to build off this... if I can develop a reliable 2nd serve, I can finally just open up on my 1st serve.

Despite not playing for a while me and John had one of our best hitting sessions today. Rallies were easily 7 balls and more and we had a lot of fun just chasing shots all over the court. Suprisingly enough was the appearance of a Net game for me. I wasn't flubbing up vollies but at times me and John had several net to net exchanges. I felt really good on the court today. I was really seeing the ball well and I've come to realize which forehands to hit in which situations. My backhand was also consistant. I flubbed up only when trying to rip one. My 2 hander on the run really lacks any depth though but I can hit my slice deep now to give myself time to recover. I hope this keeps up!

Tim v Puerta

Had a decent hitting session with Puerta again. My backhand is getting its power back as I was able to rip a few nice winners from that wing. I still need work on my timing but that will come with practice. My footwork was attrocious though. I was really sluggish on the court and just not feeling it. Maybe it has something to do with playing at 7 am in the morning, i dunno... I will say we were much more consistant than last time and I was able to gradually warm up, instead of going balls to the wall on the 1st hit like usual.

We even played a set. I lost of course... 6-2 (both points off breaks). My serve wasn't bad, just inconsistant (didn't do any serve warm ups). I even managed to rip a couple aces, and after adjusting my grip to an eastern backhand, my kicks were falling in a bit. I'm still slicing on the Ad side though... I'm finding I'm doing better dealing with the return of serve, but i'm still succeptible on down the line.

I think if I warm up my serve I would hold a few times and our games might get more competitive.

I Hate the Sun

I got to play a little bit of tennis this weekend. Actually played some matches with my friend Dave. It was about 2 pm in the afternoon and the heat was blistering. Dave hasn't picked up a racquet in quite some time but he has some excellent reflexes and motor skills and was able to block back about everything I gave him. We played a quick 10 pt tie breaker which I took 10 - 8 (after blowing a 6-1 lead). He insisted on some match play and thats about where I unraveled. I've been pretty bad with practicing my serve and coupled with serving with the sun in my eye. I was about 5% on my 1st serve. Just like my issues with Luis, when my opponent doesn't give me some pace to work with, I either overhit or hit into the net. And of course that led to frustration, swearing and just a loss both physically and mentally.

The left shoulder feels fine though, and I'm going to be bringing it back into the mix. This week I'm working on my serve, and next time we play, I'll practice some drop balls to calibrate myself on hitting balls with little or no pace.

Rallies and Match Play with Julio

I was with the ball machine, but got a great rally and match with Julio. Julio is a strong 4.0-4.5 who plays a Western FH and a one handed BH. He actually flattens out his forehand, and has great control. He plays pretty similar to Alex, in which he possess great control and can open up with some pace and hit some real winners. Oh and he plays varsity tennis at Felix Varela High school.

We had some really good rallies while I was playing with the APDC with the PHT at 54#. I'm really beginning to like the lower tension, especially since I'm using Poly's. I definitely need to hit more winners off my backhand wings. I don't want it to seem like a liability. We played a match and naturally he took it 6-1. I think we took a few points to deuce a few times. My only saving grace was my serve at times was really on fire and I was bringing the heat. That and I was able to rip a couple forehand winners.

I'm really getting the hang of disguising my forehand. Though I since I take such a huge cut on the ball, most of my forehands have both good pace and a ton of spin. I have been flattening out every so often and doing a straight flatter drive type forehand. I tend to aim for low clearance over the net anyways, so I'm not afraid anymore to open up on a flat shot.

Since I've found myself hitting the slice out of comfort, I've learned how to hit it correctly. I think I was just doing a chopshot before. Mostly its just footwork. If I can get in position early, I can get ready and just crack a nice 2 hander out.

Service wise I'm happy. I had to resort to hitting 2 first serves bc Julio was just abusing my weak 2nd serve. I put some work into my kick and slice serves but is coming along slowly since timing has never been a strong point of mine. Once I work back into my strength training routine, I'm pretty sure my 1st serves will be pretty devastating.

I look forward to more good games and hitting sessions with Julio. Considering I played one hell of an ultimate frisbee game and had a nice run in the morning, I think if I had my wheels with me, I could of gotten a few more points off him.

It's the Strings!

So I've been trying out these new strings from a company called Superstring. They feel good but the strings I'm using in the crosses are much stiffer than the Sensations I'm used to. I'm going to take down the tension to about 58 and see how it plays.

Played Monday with John and Anoop. With the stiffer string bed I was having trouble on softer shots. I played another APDC of mine with 54# PHT's and I was firing on all cylinders. Unfortunately with the leaves everywhere I lost my footing a bit and tweaked my achilles. Nothing too serious, but I do get a little twitch when I launch off a bit.

Had a match against Gottfried too. I got bageled real badly while trying to find my strokes with the Superstring. I decided to swap it out with the PHT APDC and I took the 2nd set 6-2. We decided to call it quits since I wasn't wearing tennis shoes and my Achilles was acting up again.

Service-wise, I was serving more consistent than usual. I wish I was serving as consistently as I did during warmups but that just takes time I guess. I'm really liking this open stance serve motion. I can't believe how I was serving before...



... following through on my right side... so high of a toss... so many things to go wrong. I really have to thank Alex Propman for fixing my serve. With a bit more practice I think I can really have a lethal 1st service. My second serve however is pathetic. I think this weekend if I'm going to work on my kick serve. That and my backhand. I need confidence with it and that will only happen if I go out with the ball machine and drill it.

New Year, New Goals

So I've been keeping this blog for almost a year now, and looking back, I've made some considerable leaps and bounds in my play. Earlier this week my monday hitting session with John was canceled but I was able to find a real quick 4.5 practice partner with Anoop. The dude is quick and can handle the pace I put on the ball so hopefully that pans out into some good hitting sessions. For a while I've been playign with some older balls in my basket, mainly bc I can unleash on them, without the fear of them flying long. Also bc BJs hasn't had the bulk packs of tennis balls on sale for a while now. I don't know, I just like extended rallies. Anoop and me hit with fresh balls and after adjustment I'm over my fear. I think this will translate into more confidence during match play where we use new springyier balls.

I think the best thing to come out of this week was my hitting session with a guy I met on tennisopolis, Alex Propman. He's actually a distributor/rep of a new string I've been trying out, SuperString Pure Control v8. On a side note, I'm pretty happy with them and I think I'm switching over from the kirschbaums.

Anyways, this guy was ridiculous. Massive serve, massive strokes. I think he was playing at half speed and still quickly bageled me 6-0. I will say he is an incredibly nice guy and gave me some really great pointers into my serve. Its amazing, with the amount of video reviews I do on my game, a trained eye catches much more in 15 minutes. I tried out a basket this morning and were hitting the 1st serves around 50% maybe higher. I'm really stoked about this. Just opening my stance up a bit and focusing on the shoulder turn and follow through did a lot for my serve. My previous motion was just unnecessarily complicated. I think I still will try a bit of a knee bend though, bc of my height, or lack thereof, to get some more clearance.

I've also resolved to play more matches this year. I'm pretty confident with my game now, and I guess its time to stop running around and rallying and focus on winning points. We'll see what this year has in store for me...

Match vs Alex

Wow, so I got spanked 6-2, 5-2 (before the lights went off). But I was way out classed by Alex who's a 4.5. Overall considering I'm about 15 lbs overweight, and rusty fron being vacation I was happy with my play.

Forehand
You know I'm fine with it. I'm still hitting a bit shallow, but when I open up, it flies hard, deep, and kicks like a motherf-cker. I need to realize I can hit with more clearance over the net since I spin it so much. My directional control is ok, but I'm still natively hitting to the center. If i'm conscious (ie: not scrambling) I can play it, and even hit a few nice DTL and cross court winners. The running forehand needs some work and my approach windshield wiper needs fine tuning. Hitting a few of those long.

Backhand
Problematic but what else is new. I'm still hitting the backhand off the backfoot which kills all power from that shot. I need to time the footwork right and take a more aggressive cut on the ball. If I'm in position I can kill it, I'll probably devote a weekend to the ball machine one of these days.

Serve/Returns
My service during warm ups are fine. In game they're terrible. My flat 1st serves are particularly bad. I can get power, but consistency first I guess. I'm about 20-30% on the deuce side... On the ad side, I'm ok since I hit a hard slice serve on the 1st serve. I'm reverting to a moderate slice serve on the 2nd serve. My kick serve is too unreliable. I'm rolling over, instead of brushing from the back. I'm working on adjusting the pronation of my wrist to see if that will help.

Service returns were good on forehand side. Backhand I'm hitting slices unless its a gimme serve.

Net Game
What net game? I don't think I botched a volley, but i rarely if ever came to the net. Even if I did, against Alex, with his control he can pass me easily.

Overall
I honestly think if I didn't serve so poorly I could of stole another game from the sets and made it 6-3. Groundstroke-wise I can keep up with Alex. I hit just as hard as he does if not harder with much more spin. His placement is just immaculate and he can definitely deal with my pace. Placement before power... I always have that backwards...

11/10/08 - Rallies with John

Finally new Videos!

Added a new hitting partner to the rotation. John is a solid 3.5 with excellent footwork and flat groundstrokes. You can see he has S & V tendencies, but hasn't felt comfortable deploying it yet. We're definitely well matched up and had some pretty good hitting sessions the past couple weeks.

John's Groundstrokes


I'm decently ok with my performance. A couple too many net balls but I know I didn't warm up before hitting and it shows with my lazy footwork. I'm tending to scooping those low forehands too much. Need to bend those knees. I'm also whipping my forehand, need to stop that and drive the ball deeper into the court. Backhand wise I'm getting there. I know what I need to do:

• Time my step and shoulder turn for more power
  
• Hit away from my body and in front of me
• Drop the racquethead

My service has just not been the same since the leg injury and that sucks bc i was serving so well. The timing is off and I'm not leaping into the court. I guess I just need more time. I'm actually plowing through the kick serve and I realize that some of my "kick" serves due to a bad toss actually ended up being slices.

And yes, I can't volley, not even to save my life...

At the end of it all, I'm just happy being out there. The weather has been excellent and Me and John really push the envelope with lots of running on our rallies. Its almost starting to feel like a workout.

Good Rallies, No Matches

Started off last week with some rallying with Aaron. He was about 1.5 hours late so I really got to work on my serve and I think I just still need to learn how to hit through my kick serve. My 2nd serve is still a liability.

Aaron really wanted to focus on control drills so we tried hitting crosscourt to crosscourt for a while. I realized that the degree of control I have is very fuzzy. Down the line and sharp angles cross court I'm fine with, but I'd say 50% of my inside out forehands landed center and for rallying purpose, hitting slightly left, or slightly right is a bit of a problem.

I tend to use alot of topspin to control my ball. I give my cross court forehands tons of spins to give it a massive topspin to have it land shallow and wide and my running forehand down the line has a mix of topspin and sidespin to reel the ball in. All in all a good session.

This weekend I got to hit with a good friend of mine. He's a rusty 4.5 - 5.0. A really knowledgeable guy when it comes to tennis. I finally got a taste of what I dish out to most people, bc Puerta hits with alot of topspin like I do. I was a tad off, netting more balls than I'd like, but considering the last time I hit with him 2 years ago, i was 1/20 on forehands, I'll take it.

We had a nice slugfest on the baseline, but Puerta's a very deliberate tennis player. He not only moved the ball left and right, but had a very good eye on the angles and depth. Definitely going to step up my game and do this again. I need to stop being so sluggish with the footwork. I seriously need to anticipate the ball bc I was getting my timing messed up when Puerta switched up the topspin and slice. My backhand was so-so, but it still needs lots of work. I can't have it be a liability.

Hitting Shallow

Yesterday I had a nice hitting session with Aaron, no match, just rallying. I thought I was hitting decently (maybe a few more net balls than usual) but I noticed that I wasn't hitting deep at all. My shots had loads of pace, and plenty of spin, but my shots were clearing the net by a couple inches (if not clipping) and landing mid court, instead of my usually 3/4ths ways back. It was a bit disturbing bc I haven't changed my shots or strings anytime soon. Man it was just weird, I'm usually driving my opponents very far back, and in fact the only time my balls land shallow is when i step up and take an approach shot with loads of topspin.

My backhand is failing me miserably. I need to work on the timing, I know its a timing issue. I'm not timing my footwork and racquet drop with the contact point correctly. I mean they either "ping over" or go long. I don't feel theres that much spin on the good ones I hit over either.

My serve at least is getting it's timing back. After the layoff, I thought my timing with the leg coiling and jumping was off, but I managed a few really nice blasts. I'm also getting the hang of kick serving with more pace, but sometimes bc of my toss, I end up slicing and going long.

We even did a net to net volley drill which i failed at miserably. I really need to get that mid court volley thing down. I mean usually my approach windshield wiper forehand is unreturnable, but as i play better opponents, I will be a sitting duck at the net.

Practice makes perfect, and lord knows I need more practice.

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?

State of the Union

Keeping up with this trend of how much I've progressed I think I should clearly define where I was, where I am and where I want to be as a player. I'll be rating them on an NTRP scale (1-7)

Quick Summary - Past, Present, Future
Forehand - 2.0, 4.0, 4.5
Backhand - 3.0, 3.0, 3.5
Serve - 2.0, 3.5, 3.5
Net/Approach - 2.0, 3.0, 3.5
Footwork - 2.5, 3.5, 4.0
Mental - 1.5, 2.0, 3.5
Overall NTRP - 2.2, 3.2, 3.8

Forehand
Before - 2.0

• Power - 3.5
• Control - 2.0
• Consistency - 1.5
• Spin - 2.0

Now - 4.0

• Power - 4.5
• Control - 3.0
• Consistency - 3.0
• Spin - 4.0

Year End - 4.5

• Power - 5.0
• Control - 4.0
• Consistency - 4.0
• Spin - 4.0

The forehand is like the bench press of tennis. Its pretty much a good litmus test of your ability as a player in my opinion. I've always been a strong guy and racquet and arm speed hasn't been a problem. As I've progress i've managed to Incorporate more shoulder turn and better foot work to plant and really unleash on the ball. From here I'd really like my consistency to be almost perfect, and be confident to take risks on down the line and inside out shots.

Backhand
Before - 3.0

• Power - 3.5
• Control - 2.0
• Consistency - 3.0
• Spin - 1.0

Now - 3.0

• Power - 3.0
• Control - 2.5
• Consistency - 2.0
• Spin - 2.5

Year End - 3.5

• Power - 4.0
• Control - 3.0
• Consistency - 3.05
• Spin - 3.0

If the forehand is the benchpress of tennis, the backhand is the Pull ups of tennis. You don't like doing them but you have to (well in my case I love pull ups...). Its funny I don't think my Backhand as gotten "better". My old 2 hand BH was very compact, and flat. It was actually my rock when my forehands were going all over the place. Problem with it was I wasn't able to hit very low shots with it. I'm trying more and more to Drop the head down and add spin. The biggest problem is that I really need to remember to step with the right leg and hit. If I don't do that, I lose all pace and the ball gets "pushed" over. If I can get a grasp on down the line and cross court shots, I'll be happy with it at years end.

Serve
Before - 2.0

• Power - 3.5
• 2nd Serve - 1.0
• Control - 1.0
• Consistency - 1.5
• Spin - 1.0

Now - 3.0

• Power - 4.0
• 2nd Serve - 3.0
• Control - 2.0
• Consistency - 2.5
• Spin - 2.5

Year End - 3.5

• Power - 4.5
• 2nd Serve - 3.0
• Control - 3.0
• Consistency - 3.0
• Spin - 3.0

My Serve is one of my biggest weapons I haven't been able to take advantage of. I've always had good head speed in the beginning but I wasn't priming the legs and jumping enough which I've been doing to negate my height disadvantage. My dink 2nd serve has finally become a decent 2nd serve. My control is nonexistent, I either go in or fault. My over all consistency needs to go up, i'm averaging about a 50%/80% split. I hope to develop my 1st serve consistency to 60% and be able to control it to go down the line or swing out wide. I want to get more power on my kick serve so I'm able to pull an ace every now and then with it.

Net/Approach
Before - 2.0

• Coverage - 2.0
• Consistency - 2.0
• Placement - 1.5
• Power (approach) - 2.0
• Angle (approach) - 2.0

Now - 3.0

• Coverage - 2.0
• Consistency - 2.5
• Placement - 2.0
• Power (approach) - 4.0
• Angle (approach) - 3.0

Year End 3.5

• Coverage - 2.5
• Consistency - 3.0
• Placement - 3.0
• Power (approach) - 4.0
• Angle (approach) - 4.0

I don't play at the net often but I do like to use my approach shot to shorten the court and put away balls. It took me awhile to get a hang of the windshield wiper but its become a staple of my game. Reflexes have always been a weak point for me, as soon as I can improve that, I can improve my coverage at the net. One of the biggest things I can do to improve is instinctively know which alleys to close off when approaching.

Footwork
Before - 2.5

• Footspeed - 3.5
• Split Step - 2.0
• Coverage - 3.0
• Agility - 2.0

Now - 3.5

• Footspeed - 4.0
• Split Step - 3.0
• Coverage - 3.5
• Agility - 3.0

Year End 4.0

• Footspeed - 4.5
• Split Step - 4.0
• Coverage - 4.0
• Agility - 3.5

I've always had quick feet but I definitely lack proper footwork. I did the split for just the sake of it, instead of using it to prime my legs to jump at the ball. I'm getting better with my court coverage and not being caught flat footed. The things to work on is perfecting my split step timing, coming back to the center of the court, and lateral movement agility.

Mental
Before - 1.5

• Focus - 2.0
• Temper - 1.0
• Strategy - 1.0

Now - 2.0

• Focus - 2.5
• Temper - 2.0
• Strategy - 2.0

Year End - 3.5

• Focus - 3.5
• Temper - 3.5
• Strategy - 3.5

Probably the most overlooked aspect in tennis. I have a very weak mental game. I get angered (incensed actually) very easily. If i'm fatiguing I make mental slips like not split stepping, footwork, etc... Strategy wasn't a factor early on b/c I didn't have the tools (like directional control) to employ them. I need to work on staying focused, I've played a few time where I was drained physically but I let that carry over into the mental realm and was just mentally sluggish and lazy.

Overall I'm pretty happy with my tennis game. I'm about a 3.0 - 3.5 NTRP. I know I can hang with players at the NTRP of 5.0 b/c of my raw physical ability. But its technique I need and I know I've been improving and I've identified points in my game that need improvement and I'm making attempts to fix them. I got a good 4 months left and I'm going to make the most of it. Mainly by playing against a high calibre of opponents. I'm getting a bit complacent playing around with lower skilled players (even though the games are fun) and I need to make a serious effort to challenge myself.

8-9-08 Groundstrokes and Serves

Its been a while but I've been playing some insane tennis. My forehand has become a consistent weapon with some good directional control. My backhand is becoming more reliable as well. I can slice from both wings and my service returns are much improved. My 1st serves are going in about 50% or more and my kick and 2nd serves are gimmes anymore. I still occasionally double fault but I think with some more work my service will be much better.

Groundstrokes! in Slow Mo


Serves! in Slow Mo


To work on:
Forehand
- Need some more knee bend on lower shots.
- I'm going to try finishing by my bicep and work on some depth control
- Going to see if i can sustain more higher powered rallies

Backhand
- Drop that racquet head and work on sharper angles with spin
- Consistency

Volley
- Need more time getting comfy at the net. Strategically learn which alleys to close on approach.

Serve
- must get up to 60-70% 1st serve and 90% 2nd serve.
- more Kick on the kick serve
- more knee bend and more jump

7/25/08 - I'm back

The last few outings (weather permitting) have been incredible. My forehand has really jumped in terms of power, consistency and spin. I thought the last few months, why forehand was getting a tad on the weak side but after I changed the strings and switched back to my old combo of kirschbaum and synth gut, I've been on fire. Really have the motion down for the windshield wiper shot which really helps against dink shots when i used to always hit long.

My service return has also gotten better. I'm timing my split step and cutting off the serve's angle instead of straight going out wide. My service has been reliable too. I'm consistantly using slice and kick serves for a huge improvement. The backhand is still a bit rough, but I'm finding my groove with the new longer stroke. I need to follow through a bit more to get some more spin before I'm confident with it.

Footwork has been excellent as well. I'm not getting passed and I'm not playing lazy. Hopefully I can take advantage of the next month and really do some damage on the court. If I can develop a decent net game, it might be tennis league time!

2nd serves?

As most of you know, my service is not my forte. In fact that was something my coach never really showed me how to do when I was a kid growing up. My 1st serve is a flat banger, I basically go for broke with power and I can usually land it about 40% of the time with that mentality. I have no 2nd serve and i'm embarrased to even call "it" a serve; I would refer to as a "Dink" serve. I know I should have a kick serve as a 2nd serve, but saying is easier than doing. I've been spending about an hour a day for a couple weeks working on it and thanks to Fuzzy Yellow Balls and some related threads on this forum, I'm starting to get the hang of it. I can land it in about 60-70% of the time now. It not great but its a start. My question is at what point do I begin to incorporate it as my 2nd serve. Crunching some numbers, at this current point with:

a 40% 1st serve and a 60% (worst case scenario) 2nd serve, I would be double faulting 24% of the time.

Assuming with due diligence I can get my 1st serve to about 50% and my kick serve into the 70% range that would yield only a 15% double fault %

...or should I wait until I hit a 60% 1st serve and a 80% 2nd serve for an 8% double fault %?

At what point should I be moving toward the kick serve as a 2nd serve? I understand most people will spout off things like "till your 2nd serve is 100%" or something but I'm a tad more realistic. I mean assuming I serving 5 times in a game (6-4 or 4-6) and each game has a mean of 7 points per game for a total of 35 serves in a set. with a:

double faulting 15%, I'd DF ~ 5 times in a set
double faulting 8%, I'd DF ~ 3 times in a set

The thought analysis is that if i'm serving 35 times in a set, should i give up 5 or 3 points automatically in order to have a better chance at winning the other 30-32 other serves (ie: not get crushed by throwing up a dink)?

Actually in the mean time I've toyed with the idea to do an underhanded topspin 2nd serve. I actually started doing these after seeing HR Kid's video of his drop ball forehands in his basement and I started doing the same on the courts to practice hitting against shots with no pace (which i sometimes have trouble with). I think that it would be a good replacement to my dink serve so my opponents don't crowd the service line and kill me on my 2nd serve.

These are just some thoughts and numbers I've crunched in my head since I get bored at work. Any comments and thoughts would be awesome. Thanks in advance.

5/10/08 Match Play

You know I'm pretty happy with the result. I've gotten the hang of my new racquet the Babolat Aeropro Drive. Started off slow which is my trademark but the next 4 straight points showcased alot of the finer points I've been working on. Despite the tired legs from Ultimate Frisbee in the morning, I had decent hustle in chasing down my some shots. The biggest improvement has to be my ability to hit that forehand slice. My reaction time is atrocious and when Luis can actually hit that 1st serve, I'm slow to react. I've never been able to hit a forehand slice, or any approach shot on my forehand side so that was a great improvement for me. When necessary I was able to hit DTL or cross court, but I was really more interest in keeping the ball in play so I could prolong the in game rallies. My 1st serve was better than on most days (even had a couple aces) but my 2nd serve is a joke. I'm putting learning the kick serve on hold until I can develop a decent 95% 2nd serve where my opponent isn't standing on the service line.

The biggest glaring weakness, which is where Luis started coming back was hitting shots with no pace. I'm overhitting, or overspinning. This has always been a big problem for me.

Serve
+ Some 1st serves actually got in!
+ Only 1 double fault!
- 2nd serve is a joke
- Need to still improve consistency on 1st serve.

Forehand
+ Good power, good control when employed
+ Consistent, not too many unforced errors after the 1st set (other than on junk balls)
+ Forehand slice was hit!

Backhand
+ It didn't unravel my game
+ Slice was very consistent
- No Backhand winners, need to rely on 2 hander not slice
- Not much directional control

Footwork
+ Able to hustle when needed
- Lazy, didn't get back to center, didn't have mental focus
- no lateral steps, all running, if he double backed me, i would of been stuck