Finding my court sense after 20 years (practice set)

[bhallic24]

where'd you get the ball boy? Did you rent him or make him yourself?

[Greg G]

I have my doubles mojo back!

(me = near court in white shirt)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHCbBhYqqo

[Greg G]

Joined the local club tournament, B1 classification (somewhere between 3.5 and 4.0 I guess). Just wanted to see how I would respond to pressure situations. My first match was tonight, and as fate would have it, I was up against a pusher type player. My first thought during the warmup was "this should be easy"...and you'd think after all this time on the TT boards I'd know better!

Anyway, I soon discovered that the stroke that broke down was my serve! I did win eventually 6-2 6-3, but 4 of those games were practically gift wrapped by me with double faults. Video shows my toss went backwards...probably reverted due to nerves.

Strategy wise, I was lucky he didn't have much of a serve, so I could start off with an aggressive return. But pushers are sneaky how they work your mind, eh? I started with controlled aggression, then suddenly started going for dumb winners before building the point. At least I maintained the presence of mind to reel myself back in. It was quite an effort to maintain calmness despite mounting unforced errors due to fatigue and nerves. I suppressed thoughts like:

"I can't believe I missed that shot"
"I should have had that game already"
"What the hell is wrong with this serve?"

and my personal favorite...
"I will never live down a loss to this guy at Talk Tennis" haha

Plus I noticed my feet started to slow, playing to his pace, which contributed to the increased error rate.

Video (me in white shirt/navy shorts)

video loading
http://youtu.be/t_aFtsb20kk

Anyway, I'm happy to have won, but not that pleased at the level of play I displayed. Ah, I suppose I should expect some mental rust. Need to get the serve up and running (again) before the next match. Toss toss toss

[Greg G]

http://youtu.be/MXjGLDIKojU

(I'm in white shorts here)

Second match of the tournament was against a junior. More aggressive and consistent than my opponent in the first match. And had pretty good wheels, could run down most of my shots. I started out quite well, trying to be consistent with controlled aggression. Got out to a 4-1 lead, then started going for too much. Going for too much, too soon...and with no reason to! He levelled it 4-4, but I managed to get my head sorted and close out the first set 6-4.

Then, despite telling myself not to let up, I lost my serve to start the second set! Luckily the opponent did the same. I started mixing up the pace, and got the win 6-4, 6-2.

Forehand was nice and loose, backhand slice got a bit too floaty at times. Need to move my feet.

My serve is still MIA! First serve % was something like 30% in the first set, so I just ended up spinning it in to start the point. Luckily the opponent's serve was attackable, so I had quite a few breaks of serve. My return game was good today. Still, I will need my serve to improve soon. I can't keep depending on service breaks. Sooner or later, I'm gonna run into a guy with a better serve...

Still, it's quite interesting to work on my match toughness. Lots of stray thoughts to block out, but I mostly kept my head straight by telling myself to focus on the process.

[Greg G]

3rd match today in my bracket (round robin). Won 6-3, 6-2. Forgot to put a memory card in the camera

Anyway all the talk about the pat rafter serve must have inspired me today. Had a nice top/ slice serve and a few kickers. Wasn't at my best physically today- early on I was feeling a twinge in my left quadriceps, so movement was s bit impaired. Did a good job of hiding it from the opponent though. Just played a steady game, moving him around and not going for too much. Just cross court topspin rally balls, working on shot tolerance and building the point.

Almost got into trouble a few gsmes frim the end, when the thigh threatened to go into full blown cramps. Was able to gut it out and hide it from the opponent. So...yay me

[sunof tennis]

Originally Posted by Greg G

I have my doubles mojo back!

(me = near court in white shirt)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHCbBhYqqo

Nice playing. But for all that is holy, I never want to see your partner (the left hander) serve again. All I can say is that it was painful.

[TomT]

Enjoyed the vids Greg. I liked the doubles vid the most, because of the video perspective. Can you do your singles the same way, from behind and centered?

You looked especially good in the doubles vid. Pretty high level of play I would guess. Mojo is definitely there. Singles looked good too, lots of good shots, but the video perspective is just too far away.

[Greg G]

Thanks Tom! Still trying to figure out the best place to place the camera on that court.

[PrestigeDave45]

Hi Greg,
Watched your videos there. From my perspective you're doing real good for a guy just a few months back after a 20 year lay off.
I'm in pretty much the same position, hence my interest. Your progress has definately surpassed mine. You get better video on video.
Just wishing you the best of luck with it.
Take care

[Greg G]

Hey Dave,

Thanks for the kind words. Did you end up going with the coaching lessons? I ask because just last week, I met up with my old coach from ~30 years ago...the guy who taught me to play. Of course I grabbed the opportunity to ask him to fix my serve... Took him less than 5 minutes to make some corrections to my serve (wasn't projecting my hitting shoulder out and up, and keeping my weight back). Things which have been suggested/corrected here on my serve thread, but sometimes it really does take an on court lesson to drive the point home.

He was kind enough not to say "WTF happened to your serve?"


Greg

[5263]

Originally Posted by Greg G

I have my doubles mojo back!

(me = near court in white shirt)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmHCbBhYqqo

Some very good playing the and way to poach that middle!
Can't believe they didn't test you DTL more though, lol.

[Greg G]

Haha! Was I leaving it too open? I am trying to be more active at the net, instead of being too preoccupied guarding the DTL. Seems to be working well for me, I get burned maybe once or twice a set, but I cause much more trouble at the middle. Same with the lob, I try to close in more and not worry too much about the lob, I just (try to) read the play as it develops.

More doubles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODHJULo9O0

[5263]

Originally Posted by Greg G

Haha! Was I leaving it too open? I am trying to be more active at the net, instead of being too preoccupied guarding the DTL. Seems to be working well for me, I get burned maybe once or twice a set, but I cause much more trouble at the middle. Same with the lob, I try to close in more and not worry too much about the lob, I just (try to) read the play as it develops.

More doubles:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lODHJULo9O0

hey...you were looking all star with it!
I'm just saying I would have been testing you way more than they seemed to,

[Greg G]

Gotcha. Which reminds me, I need to work on that

Have you seen the singles matches? Trying to hit the smart targets...

[Greg G]

Well there went my 3 match winning streak. Lost pretty badly today. 6-2, 6-3. Every game was a dogfight, but I kept coming up short. Could not buy a forehand today. Everything went consistently 1 foot long, which drove me crazy. Why I was targeting the lines, I have no idea...

I will avoid calling the opponent a P_____, because he won fair and square and exposed the weaknesses in my game. I played his game and did not impose myself on the court early on, and by the time I woke up, it was too late. Maybe the 2 week break between matches worked against me, because I was thinking about the match the whole week, putting imaginary pressure on myself.

If you're the superstitious type, I discovered before the match that the maid had washed my tournament shoes which I had worn for the first 3 matches. They were sparkly clean when she brought them out Anyway, I didn't pay any mind to it, my wife just reminded me after I got home

I guess he was a master at the mental game too, because he pi$$ed me off during the warmup. He was going for winners on every feed, and not even trying to rally. I tried to shrug it off, maybe it didn't work.

Look at this warmup!
http://youtu.be/yJmRlxNu8Nk

Here's the footage, aka the good, the bad, and the ugly. I made a whole bunch more unforced errors which I edited out. He had pretty good wheels, good lobs...and apparently that's all it takes

I couldn't get in a groove until the second set. That's on me. The whole match was mentally fatiguing, and it showed in the end. I was playing so bad that I wanted to chalk it up as one of those days, but still, I feel that he contributed to it, which annoys the hell out of me. I didn't make him play enough balls.

I'd appreciate it if you guys chimed in, I need to figure this out. Or at least have someone to commiserate with...

http://youtu.be/PyWzmW2FFXA

[Velvet Ga el]

Originally Posted by Greg G

Well there went my 3 match winning streak. Lost pretty badly today. 6-2, 6-3. Every game was a dogfight, but I kept coming up short. Could not buy a forehand today. Everything went consistently 1 foot long, which drove me crazy. Why I was targeting the lines, I have no idea...

I will avoid calling the opponent a P_____, because he won fair and square and exposed the weaknesses in my game. I played his game and did not impose myself on the court early on, and by the time I woke up, it was too late. Maybe the 2 week break between matches worked against me, because I was thinking about the match the whole week, putting imaginary pressure on myself.

If you're the superstitious type, I discovered before the match that the maid had washed my tournament shoes which I had worn for the first 3 matches. They were sparkly clean when she brought them out Anyway, I didn't pay any mind to it, my wife just reminded me after I got home

I guess he was a master at the mental game too, because he pi$$ed me off during the warmup. He was going for winners on every feed, and not even trying to rally. I tried to shrug it off, maybe it didn't work.

Look at this warmup!
http://youtu.be/yJmRlxNu8Nk

Here's the footage, aka the good, the bad, and the ugly. I made a whole bunch more unforced errors which I edited out. He had pretty good wheels, good lobs...and apparently that's all it takes

I couldn't get in a groove until the second set. That's on me. The whole match was mentally fatiguing, and it showed in the end. I was playing so bad that I wanted to chalk it up as one of those days, but still, I feel that he contributed to it, which annoys the hell out of me. I didn't make him play enough balls.

I'd appreciate it if you guys chimed in, I need to figure this out. Or at least have someone to commiserate with...

http://youtu.be/PyWzmW2FFXA

Two things (with the caveat I didn't watch all of the video). First, come to the net more. He hit a couple of low percentage lobs and it looks like you got scared. Also, work on your split step; although you do stop and split your feet, you still land with a very stiff and upright stance. This is one of the reasons you had difficulty going back or changing directions, and it's also a cause of some of your errors on your volleys. Flex those knees and get into an athletic posture.

Second, you never really made him move off the baseline by testing him short. It's clear that he just wants to be a rabbit that is attached to the baseline; drop shot him, play short angles that require him to move up, etc. The few times he did come up by accident, you passed him or forced him to look uncomfortable up there. His soft *** serve is a perfect opportunity to hit a drop shot down the line or a short angle CC. Move him instead of letting him move you.

[Greg G]

My adjustment was to treat the 2nd serve return as an approach shot, which worked out better, but at that point I wasn't executing well anymore.

The other tactic which did work well was drawing him to the net. In this case should I have tried drawing him to the net like 80% of the time?

Looking back, my mental state was strange, hard to describe. Strangely enough, I was the one feeling rushed and not executing my patterns.

[Velvet Ga el]

Originally Posted by Greg G

My adjustment was to treat the 2nd serve return as an approach shot, which worked out better, but at that point I wasn't executing well anymore.

You were blasting those returns pretty good. Remember, although you want to hit an approach shot with pace, depth is more important. If you're trying to hit it hard and making errors, focus more on early preparation and getting the ball deep but safely inside the lines. I don't face too many guys these days with second serves that slow, but when I do, I almost always set up way inside the baseline to make preparation easier and will vary the deep approach, short angle CC, and drop shot DTL. To me, it looked like you started a bit too deep and then adopted a rush-and-attack approach game all the time. Start closer, get your feet underneath you, and vary the depth and angle of the return.

Originally Posted by Greg G

The other tactic which did work well was drawing him to the net. In this case should I have tried drawing him to the net like 80% of the time?

I don't know about 80% of the time, but I would have made him prove that he can beat you coming to the net. From what I saw, he couldn't execute up there and actually retreated a couple of times when he should have closed the net. You weren't winning the baseline exchanges, as the score shows, but without charting it, I thought it was clear you won a strong majority of the points when you did draw him up.

Your last paragraph perfectly explains what it's like to play a pusher's game. Because they're not going for anything and making you do all the work, you feel extra pressure to produce. And when you do, it generally leads to bigger shots than necessary and the resulting UEs as well. Your job playing a pusher is to make him uncomfortable, either by getting to the net and forcing him to pass/lob you or by drawing him off the baseline with angles and drop shots/slices.

Live and learn. You've got a solid game from the videos you posted here and I suspect you'll handle him easily the next time you play.

[Greg G]

Thanks man. I'm gonna work on the transition game- approach shots and volleys. Plug the leaks! Especially the one in the head

[TomT]

Hi Greg. Watched your WTFWarmup, and all I can say is,
....._
_ _|_|_ _
\_ ('o')_/ WTF!?
....\~/