"So you only play 5.0?"
 

Hey all, just wanted to relay a funny story that happened yesterday for me!

Yesterday I was a junior camp from U16-U18 and these kids were amazing to watch! I got to play a couple games with some of them and it was a total blast. Perfect technique and they hit the cover off the ball. (They had a radar gun set up, and the fastest serves out of the juniors was 78MPH. Take this into consideration!)

We were discussing game play and just general tennis experiences, and I heard the funniest thing from the lot of them. "Oh, so you struggle to play against 5.0 opponents?" These kids were from the ages of 14-17 and they scoffed at what I personally think is a pretty high level. A lot of these juniors are winning 5.0 and doing quite well in Open, so it doesn't really come as a surprise to me, but still a pretty funny comment when you look at the grand scheme of things.

I was equally amazed at the radar gun they had set up. These young adults really weren't hitting amazingly hard on their serve or anything. Their top speed was 78MPH on a first serve, and as low as 45 on a second, (gun was at the centre tape on the opposite side to read speed) and they are doing well in Open's. It just goes to show that power definitely isn't everything when it comes to serving!

Any who, just wanted to share, that no matter how good you think you are, there is a 14 year old girl who is probably better then you at it! :lol:

-Fuji

This has always been my personal philosophy

Awesome story! What was the highest ranked player in the camp?

Haha thanks! I'm not sure exactly, but a few of them are "high ranked national players" according to the coach that facilitated the event!

-Fuji

Bahahaha! It's a good one to live by! I'll probably adopt it!

-Fuji

Ye, that is spot on, the Open tournaments I play these days are full of kids from 15 up and very few older players.

Mind you, that sevice speed is taken from a very unusual place, mostly it is taken from the baseline so reads way higher..

First off, let me just say that the juniors around here regularly kick my lowly 4.5-level ***. However, they typically hit 100+ serves on a regular basis.

Honestly, a 45-mph serve would be crushed by me for a winner at least 80% of the time. That's just pathetic. I can't believe a junior that regularly cleans up at 5.0 level would be able to survive with a 45 mph serve. I don't care how good the rest of their game is. When they have to start EVERY service point on defense, they can't possibly win very often.

There is probably something wrong with that radar gun. 45 mph is ridiculous. Honestly, even 78 mph is absurd for an open-level first serve. That would be crushed around here, and my area is actually pretty weak.

Definitely!

My first read at 88, and my second at 63-70 at the highest. Definitely a far cry from the last time I had it measured! The highest recorded was one of the university players, his was 111 LOL! (It looked to be well over 125!)

-Fuji

so fun to eat it against kids like that.

It was actually insane! A lot of these kids were like 5 feet tall, and just absolutely ripping ground strokes better then 95% of the adults I've played against hahaha!

-Fuji

It's funny when you're playing a 12 and under player and you have to hit "higher" than normal because they're short. I've never moonballed a junior before but I have hit more "roll shots" to their backhands than I would a regular sized person.

I've been aced by a 70 mph serve that painted the T because I was standing way too inside the baseline not knowing what I was getting myself into playing this kid.

His dad is a 5.0 and his son was going to the Bollettieri academy last I heard. He wanted me to "hit" with his son (probably for his entertainment). I told his dad I have to beat him now while I can, because when he's like 14 or 15 ill have no chance lol. He was probably 10 or 11 at the time.

That was incredibly fun, sobering, and a little humiliating. But I beat him. And as long as I never play him again he'll never beat me!

A friend of mine has beaten Berdych as a junior. I think Thomas was 11 and my friend was 16. He's a retired pro now.

The gun's off or misplaced, just ran into that last week, best I could do was 86, last year did 106 at same event and my serve's improved over the year.

yep. friend of mine has a winning career record against Lleyton Hewitt.

(beat him in 16s when he was 15 and Lleyton was about 12!)

My new goal is to play the best 10 year olds in the world to hopefully say I have a winning record against the number 1 player in the world

Hmmm... I might personally need to find the best 4 year olds to play to make a plan like this work.... Do they have 4 and under rankings? :shock::lol:

I don't know why you are surprised. A nationally ranked junior in just about any sport is going to be vastly superior to any adult recreational player. A nationally ranked 14-15 year old recruit in basketball would absolutely run circles around middle aged adult at your local YMCA league. For the most part adult rec. tennis players were never elite tennis players to begin with so why would they as older adults suddenly want to compare themselves to elite younger players?

As I understand it, the serve speed number seen on TV and at pro tournaments are taken as the ball leaves the racquet. When you place the 'gun' at the center strap of the net, you have to (1) hit it "up the tee" (e.g., right over the gun) to get an accurate reading, and (2) add 10-15 MPH in order to get equivalent numbers, because it reads the speed as it passes over the net.

Every year when I went to my hometown for Xmas I set up a match play session with one kid who I had worked with a little bit back when I taught tennis. When he was 9, we was one of the top players in the nation. Every year he has improved immensely. When he was 14 he took a set off of me. He had very little power in his game, in fact he was starting to fall behind some of the other top juniors in the country because of his size. His consistency, placement, and timing were flawless. After the first set my legs were ready to quit. He could routinely angle his forehand so far off the court that I was constantly hitting shots from outside the doubles alley. It was pretty amazing. I'm a fairly strong 5.0 player, but all the pace I have in my game he was able to use against me because he timed his shots so well it stole all my pace. There is no way his serves were above 100mph, while mine easily break 100mph, but that didn't phase him at all.

Unfortunately I haven't been back the last two years, but I'm pretty sure now I wouldn't stand a chance now.

Do most juniors even know about NTRP ratings? I find it strange that any of them would make fun of 5.0s. Adults are usually not on their radar screen at all. The juniors I have played with have always been super respectful to me.