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!

More Rallies

So had another good pair of hitting sessions with John and Aaron respectively. Had an especially good couple rallies with John. We're both getting better with our consistency and I'm actually coming to the net more and actually winning a point here and there. I just need to remember to keep the racquet in front of me. I notice I'm just sitting there at the net waiting to be passed most of the time. I need to work on close avenues but whatever, it felt really natural coming to the net at times and its not like I'm forcing it.

My forehands seems like I'm miss hitting a bit bc I'm noticing I'm not getting a clean sound from the hit. The backhand is also getting more reliable and not a liability.



Aaron's been out sick for a few weeks so it took him a bit to get his bearings. It was tough getting some good rallies going bc of the amount of net balls (hey I'm partially guilty too I guess). Still though, every hitting session is a good session in my book.



For some reason youtube is making all my vids look darker than they really are. Its kind of annoying.

Rallies with Franco, the Spin Doctor

Yeah, hit around with a guy from work, Franco. He's a very strong 4.0. I usually have no issues hitting with guys higher than me, bc I have no problems dealing with their power and giving it right back. Franco's a different case, he has pinpoint accuracy, impeccable reflexes, killer net game and some crazy spins.

No, its not like my heavy topspin shots, Franco gave me a ton of dropshots, slices, side spins, he basically threw the kitchen sink at me. It really forced me to stay on top of my footwork, bc predicting the ball was impossible and I was rarely in position to fire off one of my kill shots...

... and in the event that I did, he had to problem, blocking/slicing them back to me. Franco is exactly the type of I need to exploit some of my biggest glaring weaknesses. I wish I hadn't left the memory card in the laptop or there would be some hilarious footage of me being caught flatfooted and passed.

The one good thing would be he knew to bring me to the net, and luckily I only botched 60% of my vollies (as opposed to 90%). Looking forward to some interesting games.

Rallies at Winston Park

Had a nice rally session today and I've appeared to fix my shallow hitting problem. It seems when I return shots with little pace I tend to hit shallow. Luckily my hitting partner hits fairly flat and deep and I was able to plow through the ball. It was especially good to hear that the amount of topspin from my shots were borderline annoying. My backhand looked alot better as I'm just taking a bigger swing at the ball. Couple mishits but I think in a few more sessions it'll be back to normal.

My deficiency at the net was jsut too apparent. I think I'm going to have to make join a clinic or something to fix that. Maybe I'll check out some video tutorials on volleying bc mine are really just that bad. I think its bc I tend to step back instead of into the volley, but its just like a reflex.

Hopefully I should get a few good games out this weekend as i'm home for the my dad's Bday. Will try to cram in as much tennis as possible.

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.