How an I play with more people

I have been constantly frustrated by the fact that it's always hard to find a good partner to play singles. It's not that I do not play well, it's not that I am introvert who's scared of seeing new people.... but when I want to play (which is usually 24/7), it's so hard to get somebody: the usual situation might be--

1) those who can play are so weak and it's sometimes hard to keep the ball rolling

2) the 6 or 7 tennis buddies who are at least 3.5 will either be too busy with something else, or find the weather too cold, or indoor is too expensive, or drive is too far

3) it’s hard to join a league because my job often requires overtime—when I finish the job at 10pm, I guess it’s almost impossible to get anybody to play

4) I used to wander into a tennis facility just hoping to find some casual matches—but now fewer and fewer people go to these courts.

What else can I go? Thanks for you suggestions.
(I am in Charlotte NC)

[tennismike33]

This can be a common problem to tennis junkies. Right now it is 5:56 am and I am preparing to leave to go and play.

A suggestion would be to contact local high schools and college coaches to see if there players on their teams that are addicted to tennis as you are. At the local tennis facilities post your information for others to find you. One last suggestion, ask every other tennis players that you know, who do they play with and get their information.

[BabolatFan]

Well you can go to your local club and give them your name, rating and so on for match arrangements. The only downside is you pay court fees if you're non-member.
I know sometimes it's hard to find players on public courts this time of year coz it's a little chilly now and people are busy with their own holiday plans.

[goober]

When I decided I wanted to start playing seriously I had the same problem- I did not know any good players.

Here are some suggestions.

Internet- join internet tennis ladders and leagues. Usually these have flexible schedules. Try Craigslist. Not a great way to meet people but I did meet one guy that was a 4.5 tourney player and we play every so often. People usually over rate themselves on these things sometimes by as much as 2 levels so just be aware.

Play Tournaments. You can meet a lot of serious players through this route.

Join a club and that has a playing matching service.

Do some clinics when you have time.

At all these situations, ask people for emails and see if they are interested in playing practice matches. I now have a database about 25 players and I can usually get somebody to play when I send out a mass email.

[bad_call]

in my experience i picked up a lot of games just going to the courts. first i would watch how someone was hitting and then asking them if they would like to play sometime. if yes then exchange phone numbers.

( you want to find someone close to your playing level and also plays the way you enjoy playing. chasing around moon balls doesn't excite me. )

sometimes the scheduling doesn't work out so i usually would have a few players to call. this worked for me for years and improved my skills. now that i'm back into playing i'm doing the same thing and it still works.

bottom line is if both players are getting enjoyment and achieving why they are playing then it will happen. if not then continue the search til you find a regular playing partner.

see ya at the courts.

[raiden031]

I'm in the same boat. At my clubs it costs $30/hour to use an indoor court, so there is no way I will reserve one without a partner just to practice serves, just hoping that someone will wander over and ask to play with me. Not to mention all of the courts during reasonable hours have been sold as permanent block time. The only time where courts are free is 6am or 9:30pm. I don't mind outdoor courts no matter what the temperature, but all the lighted courts have been taken down for the season. The only option is high schools and parks that are unlit, but it gets dark at 5pm, so I will never get there while its still light out.

I have the same problem where I have contact info for many people, but none of them are available when I am available. Most of them don't respond to their emails anyways. Its either too late, or too cold, or they already have a match scheduled with someone else.

[raiden031]

Originally Posted by bad_call

in my experience i picked up a lot of games just going to the courts. first i would watch how someone was hitting and then asking them if they would like to play sometime. if yes then exchange phone numbers.

( you want to find someone close to your playing level and also plays the way you enjoy playing. chasing around moon balls doesn't excite me. )

sometimes the scheduling doesn't work out so i usually would have a few players to call. this worked for me for years and improved my skills. now that i'm back into playing i'm doing the same thing and it still works.

bottom line is if both players are getting enjoyment and achieving why they are playing then it will happen. if not then continue the search til you find a regular playing partner.

see ya at the courts.

I feel like a stalker when I approach other people on the court. I will only approach them if they are alone practicing serves or something.

[d wayne]

What I did was join a local indoor club several years ago. I joined a singles league and met a few really nice guys that played at my level(4.0). Also, I got onto the substitute list for doubles at the club and eventually joined a group when an opening came up.
If you are a decent player and are willing to go with the flow of the doubles groups, you can play a lot of free tennis as a sub.

[bad_call]

Originally Posted by raiden031

I feel like a stalker when I approach other people on the court. I will only approach them if they are alone practicing serves or something.

well try not to look like a stalker. if u talk to other people and they see u play (and u play decent) then they may take u seriously. this has worked for me at the outdoor courts. indoor courts could be another matter since $ has to be factored.

[Joe Average]

I actually got to hit with a lot of interesting people by acting like a stalker. One of my favorite courts was one with a wall. I approached everyone: high school kids, grandmothers, college hotties, old guys who could barely walk, former college players. And they were all willing to hit (except for a couple of people. This one couple preferred to hit against the wall even when a court had opened up. I guess they wanted to play their version of racquetball) One of my favorite hitting partners was this guy with a ball machine. No one ever approached him to hit, but he was more than happy to do so. So, find a court with a wall ... or approach anyone practicing serves or hitting with a ball machine. I once hit with this one guy who had amazing strokes. He'd been playing for only for a few months (according to him. I'm a little skeptical), and what he did to achieve these strokes was to bring a hopper of balls to the court and bounce/hit them. He did this for an hour every day. I wouldn't recommend it. It looks kind of sad. But I can't argue with the results. He was really good.

In lieu of the stalker approach, I do recommend joining a club and participating in their drills. You can meet people that way. And usually these clubs have early riser programs when court time is cheaper. There are lots of people desperate enough to wake up early to hit.

[kurniadis]

I just made a thread in the TW comment section, proposing a new forum for TT that actually gathers people by their states/cities. This way, we can meet a lot more real people from TT that we know for a fact are tennis lovers who have insatiable appetite for hitting tennis. Please support this thread by replying there if you think this is a good idea.

[raiden031]

Originally Posted by Joe Average

I actually got to hit with a lot of interesting people by acting like a stalker. One of my favorite courts was one with a wall. I approached everyone: high school kids, grandmothers, college hotties, old guys who could barely walk, former college players. And they were all willing to hit (except for a couple of people. This one couple preferred to hit against the wall even when a court had opened up. I guess they wanted to play their version of racquetball) One of my favorite hitting partners was this guy with a ball machine. No one ever approached him to hit, but he was more than happy to do so. So, find a court with a wall ... or approach anyone practicing serves or hitting with a ball machine. I once hit with this one guy who had amazing strokes. He'd been playing for only for a few months (according to him. I'm a little skeptical), and what he did to achieve these strokes was to bring a hopper of balls to the court and bounce/hit them. He did this for an hour every day. I wouldn't recommend it. It looks kind of sad. But I can't argue with the results. He was really good.

In lieu of the stalker approach, I do recommend joining a club and participating in their drills. You can meet people that way. And usually these clubs have early riser programs when court time is cheaper. There are lots of people desperate enough to wake up early to hit.

I sometimes bring a hopper to a court and feed balls to myself. Its either that or nothing at all. I would prefer to improve my game in any way I can rather than waste a perfectly good day because I can't get anyone to play. I can't help it if nobody wants to play at my convenience. I will send a mass email to 20 people and one of them will respond with "sorry, I can't play for x-y-z reasons". The rest will not even respond. Unfortunately I don't know any players with the same goal that I have, which is becoming an advanced player.

If I had the means, I would build my own tennis court and pay people to play against me. That will give them some incentive.

[dman72]

Originally Posted by raiden031

I sometimes bring a hopper to a court and feed balls to myself. Its either that or nothing at all. I would prefer to improve my game in any way I can rather than waste a perfectly good day because I can't get anyone to play. I can't help it if nobody wants to play at my convenience. I will send a mass email to 20 people and one of them will respond with "sorry, I can't play for x-y-z reasons". The rest will not even respond. Unfortunately I don't know any players with the same goal that I have, which is becoming an advanced player.

If I had the means, I would build my own tennis court and pay people to play against me. That will give them some incentive.

Too bad you don't live on Long Island. I'd kill to find an intermediate person as obsessed with playing as I am.

When I was in my early to mid 20's, I had about 7 or 8 people I could get to play. On any given weekend and often on weeknights during warm weather, I could find SOMEONE to play. I beat all of these people regularly.
Most of them moved far away or into the city and stopped playing, a couple others got married and fat. Now I have to resort to craigslist and getting beaten by 4.0's who respond.

[gscone]

Originally Posted by dman72

Too bad you don't live on Long Island. I'd kill to find an intermediate person as obsessed with playing as I am.

When I was in my early to mid 20's, I had about 7 or 8 people I could get to play. On any given weekend and often on weeknights during warm weather, I could find SOMEONE to play. I beat all of these people regularly.
Most of them moved far away or into the city and stopped playing, a couple others got married and fat. Now I have to resort to craigslist and getting beaten by 4.0's who respond.

Dman- Where on the Island are you located? Surely, I'd like to hit with someone different.