serving my way to 4.5. good or bad?

[dominikk1985]

Karlovic served his way to 7.0.

you should take advantage of that serve but don't neglect other areas of your game because returns will get better as you move up.

[UCSF2012]

My personal thoughts, bring out your best during a match. During practice, put the ball in with 2nd serves so you get to practice your groundies. Who really cares if you lose during practice. Watch the pros practice. They go for random crap, for the sake of learning.

[RollTrackTake]

Originally Posted by UCSF2012

My personal thoughts, bring out your best during a match. During practice, put the ball in with 2nd serves so you get to practice your groundies. Who really cares if you lose during practice. Watch the pros practice. They go for random crap, for the sake of learning.

Didn't think of taking this approach. I like this idea. Thank you.

[Centerforward71]

Originally Posted by RollTrackTake

background, been playing tennis for 20+ years. never played high school because I preferred baseball and other sports. still play(ed) well and competed with guys who played organized tennis. flash forward, I played 4.0 usta (self rated) singles & dubs last season. Year before that played 4.0 dubs only. decided to take my tennis game more seriously and have been putting in a lot of practice time. where i find the practice has paid off the most is my serve. I was having to grind out wins and losing matches because I could only get my 1st serve in, on a good day, 50%. this past summer season I landed my first serve somewhere in the 75% range and won every match (12 matches). the captain of my clubs 4.5 team asked me to play as a sub (singles & dubs) on his team while still playing 4.0 full-time. I practiced with a few of the 4.5 guys and in just rallying these guys were controlling the play. played a practice tiebreak and I beat one of them lost by a point to the other because my serve was able to force them in to weak shots. Do you ever so knowledgeable posters of TT think it will help or hurt my game to play at a higher level when only one part of my game that works well on said level?

Play at 4.5. U can win a lot with a very good serve and play defense/counterpunch tennis. I've played up to 5.0 and if I am having an off day and play a player below me with what I described above I can and may lose. Now week serve and defensive game you got no chance. Lots of pros have made a living with big serve and sub par strokes

[RollTrackTake]

Originally Posted by Centerforward71

Play at 4.5. U can win a lot with a very good serve and play defense/counterpunch tennis. I've played up to 5.0 and if I am having an off day and play a player below me with what I described above I can and may lose. Now week serve and defensive game you got no chance. Lots of pros have made a living with big serve and sub par strokes

Thanks. I'll find out this upcoming Sunday if my serve will hold up at 4.5. I play 4.5 singles early then 4.0 dubs later. Should be interesting

[RollTrackTake]

Waited 2 matches before reporting. 1st match at 4.5 I lost 3-6, 5-7. Yesterday I went down 4-6, 3-6. If anything I know now what I need to work on to win at this level.....everything!