Somewhat-Less-Than-Excellent Adventures Of Topaz, Cindy & Alice: The 3 Racqueteers!

[oldhacker]

Cindy - if you are mainly playing doubles you don't want to be binning your closed stances forehand. Closed stance is by far the best position to move forward into the net from and the net is where you have got to be in doubles.

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

I've also been reviewing the horrific video of me hitting forehands. I think I've decided to make a major change -- I want to start hitting my FH open stance. My footwork currently is very confused, but the shots where I use open stance seem to have better . . . well, better everything. Especially shoulder turn. The transition isn't going to be easy, but I think it will really improve things long term.

[Cindysphinx]

Originally Posted by oldhacker

Cindy - if you are mainly playing doubles you don't want to be binning your closed stances forehand. Closed stance is by far the best position to move forward into the net from and the net is where you have got to be in doubles.

Aw, crap. You're right.

[Xisbum]

Originally Posted by Cindysphinx

I have one solid player out with bad tennis elbow. How bad is it? She got an injection, sat out a month, and arranged to take a lesson with my pro to see what about her technique is causing the problem, but she had to quit after hitting three balls in warm-up because of the pain.

Ask her if she's tried natural gut string, Cindy. I had bad tennis elbow in the early 90s, got the injection (which hurt almost as much as the TE) that didn't work and pretty much just laid off tennis for about 4 months. The pain was still in the background until someone convinced me to try natural gut; I did, and the pain just went away. I stayed with gut for about 10 years before going back to synthetics, and the pain has not returned.

Not a doctor, obviously, but it might be worth a shot - no pun intended.

[Cindysphinx]

I may mention it. I really need her back for Districts in October.

[Cindysphinx]

This story is so weird you are going to think I am making it up.

I met for doubles yesterday with two women I knew and one I didn't know. Before we started, we were chatting a bit. One lady said she was tired because she just mowed the lawn. Someone said she should get her son to do it. I said I had stopped mowing our lawn, and my husband wanted to make our 11-year-old son do it. I said I was opposed to this because our lawn is tricky and has three tiers. I said, "I don't want him handling a lawn mower. He'd probably lop off an arm or something."

My friend gave the newcomer a look. The newcomer paused and said, "Yeah, that happened to my sister-in-law when she was young. I don't know the details, but she was riding her bike, the neighbor was mowing the lawn, and she fell and he lost control of the mower and it cut her arm off. My husband says he remembers a lot of running and screaming, but no one would tell him what was going on. My husband doesn't like to talk about it."

Needless to say, this cast a bit of a pall over the proceedings.

No matter what I say, it seems I am always Stepping In It . . .

Oh, it turned out that this new lady is a wonderful person and awesome player. I hope she will join our new 7.5 combo team this fall. What a find!!

[Nellie]

That's not so bad. Last week, I was mocking chiropractors to a friend (I believe that I may have called them "quacks"), only to find out that her father is an instructor at a school for chiropractors.

[Topaz]

*clearing throat*

First of all, a disclaimer. This post will contain discussion of league tennis matches. If such discussion, with its ups/downs, ins/outs, good moments/bad moments, in some way offends you, then I suggest you go read something else (perhaps yet another thread on those evil pushers and how some men play womanly tennis and win). If you feel the need to insult me because of my discussion of league tennis, then be ready for my response, which may contain hostility and/or aggression. If you feel the need to judge me, again, be ready to be judged right back. And finally, do not assume, because I am a woman, that I don't know jack about tennis.

There now, glad we got that out of the way.

My match yesterday was one for the books. You know when you're standing around, waiting for your court time for your match to start, and the members of the opposing team walk in, and you 'size' them up a bit? Well, I was standing with two teammates when this *very* tall (well over six feet) woman walks in...and sure enough, there was my opponent!

She was a lovely woman, by the way, as have all (but one!) of my singles opponents have been so far (out of seven matches I think?). She had that kind of 'Steffi Graf' hook forehand, and was able to get a great angle off of that side. She was much weaker on her backhand, so after the first 3 games, with us on serve (2-1), I decided to attack that side.

She held for 2-all, and then we played a marathon game in which I *finally* held for 3-2. By this point, we were playing these ridiculously long points. And, if you lost one of those points, it was heartbreaking, because you put so much darn work into it! She was hitting flat and hard, and I was feeling physically over matched, but tried to adjust by shortening my loopy FH backswing.

I hit some ridiculous winners, and she, of course, was dominant any time she was at net (unless I had a look at a FH down the line, which is my favorite shot). I some trouble with her serve, too, just controlling my return...she hit is so hard, if I swung at all on my return, it went way out.

This match was the first time I felt it necessary to actually sit down on the changeovers. Again, by far, the most physical and tiring match I've played. And folks, I am not out of shape. I've worked my arse off over the 'off season', and work out no less than six times a week. But anyway (just trying to ward off any 'you should get in shape' comments)...

She ends up taking the first set 6-3. We were both slowing down a bit though, and it was hot and humid and just overall kinda gross (and this is indoor!). No ventilation at all. Ok, so, my strategy for the second set is to slow her down, and try to take some of the power out of her shots by looping some things back. Well, it didn't start off well, as she went up 3-0. Again, these insanely long points, and deuce in all of them, but I would make some stupid error at the exact wrong time!

Still, the idea was to slow things down, and after two more marathon games, I got it back to 2-3. Two more marathon games, she's up 5-2. I dug my heels in...even though, because of our timed format, there was no way for me to win the match. I fought tooth and nail, and won the next game. 3-5. She's serving. I win the first two points...and thinking, hey, maybe I could at least get this back on serve...and then *buzzzzzz*! So, I lost, 3-6, 3-5 (timed).

By far, again, I know I'm repeating myself, but I've never played such a hard hitting match with such long points before. The last time I played a match where I felt over powered had lots of short points. The hard hitting combined with the long points...whew...well, I was a hurting monkey by the end of that match. Some of my teammates and I had brought some after-match munchies, and it was a while before I even felt like I could eat, though it helped to finally get in some air conditioning.

The thing I'm taking from this...I need to come up with some strategies for when I feel physically overwhelmed and overmatched. I'm barely 5'4", and one of my captains said it best when she described my opponents' legs as 'stopping at Topaz's neck'!

[alice301]

^^^way to hang tuff, topaz! as i've said before, you're like the big sister i never had, being able to do things now--things that i can only hope to do one day. the timer thing is just heartbreaking. it's like being punished for doing the right thing, which in this case means grinding it out, point after point.

and honestly, i don't know how you can say that your were "physically overwhlemed and overmatched"! YOU were overwhleming and overmatching HER in the second set, chica!

[Xisbum]

Originally Posted by Topaz

My match yesterday was one for the books. You know when you're standing around, waiting for your court time for your match to start, and the members of the opposing team walk in, and you 'size' them up a bit? Well, I was standing with two teammates when this *very* tall (well over six feet) woman walks in...and sure enough, there was my opponent!

She was a lovely woman, by the way, as have all (but one!) of my singles opponents have been so far (out of seven matches I think?). She had that kind of 'Steffi Graf' hook forehand, and was able to get a great angle off of that side. She was much weaker on her backhand, so after the first 3 games, with us on serve (2-1), I decided to attack that side.

She held for 2-all, and then we played a marathon game in which I *finally* held for 3-2. By this point, we were playing these ridiculously long points. And, if you lost one of those points, it was heartbreaking, because you put so much darn work into it! She was hitting flat and hard, and I was feeling physically over matched, but tried to adjust by shortening my loopy FH backswing.

I hit some ridiculous winners, and she, of course, was dominant any time she was at net (unless I had a look at a FH down the line, which is my favorite shot). I some trouble with her serve, too, just controlling my return...she hit is so hard, if I swung at all on my return, it went way out.

This match was the first time I felt it necessary to actually sit down on the changeovers. Again, by far, the most physical and tiring match I've played. And folks, I am not out of shape. I've worked my arse off over the 'off season', and work out no less than six times a week. But anyway (just trying to ward off any 'you should get in shape' comments)...

She ends up taking the first set 6-3. We were both slowing down a bit though, and it was hot and humid and just overall kinda gross (and this is indoor!). No ventilation at all. Ok, so, my strategy for the second set is to slow her down, and try to take some of the power out of her shots by looping some things back. Well, it didn't start off well, as she went up 3-0. Again, these insanely long points, and deuce in all of them, but I would make some stupid error at the exact wrong time!

Still, the idea was to slow things down, and after two more marathon games, I got it back to 2-3. Two more marathon games, she's up 5-2. I dug my heels in...even though, because of our timed format, there was no way for me to win the match. I fought tooth and nail, and won the next game. 3-5. She's serving. I win the first two points...and thinking, hey, maybe I could at least get this back on serve...and then *buzzzzzz*! So, I lost, 3-6, 3-5 (timed).

By far, again, I know I'm repeating myself, but I've never played such a hard hitting match with such long points before. The last time I played a match where I felt over powered had lots of short points. The hard hitting combined with the long points...whew...well, I was a hurting monkey by the end of that match. Some of my teammates and I had brought some after-match munchies, and it was a while before I even felt like I could eat, though it helped to finally get in some air conditioning.

The thing I'm taking from this...I need to come up with some strategies for when I feel physically overwhelmed and overmatched. I'm barely 5'4", and one of my captains said it best when she described my opponents' legs as 'stopping at Topaz's neck'!

Nice job, Kiddo. You just need to turn around about a half dozen points in a match like that and you'll start winning 'em.

You're Black Mamba; you can do it.

P.S. Allie has almost reached edit status. Big hand for the little lady.

[Cindysphinx]

Ah, Topaz. Sorry about the loss. It sounds like you drew a really tough opponent. I mean, they say there are things you can do against tall opponents, but I simply don't have those shots yet.

The one thing I have done in singles when time is becoming a problem and I need to shorten the points is S&V. It actually works against some players because . . . because no one ever does it at our level! The other thing that can work is I will hit every FH as a slice DTL. This is a low shot to their BH. Plus, it has the advantage of being something no one has seen before at our level!

That said, I don't play much singles and certainly don't win at singles, so you're probably better off not listening to me!!

I play tomorrow, doubles. Tough opponent. Good partner, but we could take a beating if we draw the wrong type of opponent.

[Cindysphinx]

OK, now I'm getting discouraged.

In my last two matches, we lost but I felt I played really well. In particular, I had been able to S&V, which was both effective and fun. In my clinic on Sunday, I did really well in no-bounce doubles, so I was feeling good about my transition and net game.

Last night, I couldn't do a single thing right. I was playing Court One against one of the top teams. They sent their Big Fish out to Court One. My partner is a nice lady who just moved up from 3.0 this year, so she had never even seen opponents like this before.

I was awful. We were awful. I just couldn't seem to strike a good volley most of the time. I was intimidated, I admit it. Heck, I felt intimidated before I got out of my car! That left me not stepping into my shots, and you know where that leads.

I feel guilty for not supporting my partner better. I don't mean with my attitude, but with my play. I'm supposed to be the veteran, but I just wasn't doing anything helpful when she served. She was so bummed that her usual stuff wasn't working, but I couldn't seem to get in the points or do anything useful when I did. I did figure out in the second set that these opponents had very dodgy overheads and couldn't take balls on the rise or out of the air. I started lobbing like mad, and that was good for a few points (and quite a few laughs!), but it's hard to win a whole set that way.

I am starting to think this whole idea of making it to 4.0 is ridiculous.

Now to make matters worse, I may have to play my next match with the captain of my other team. That team is the competitive one, and we absolutely must win the team match. If I play like I did yesterday, she and I will lose, and it will be my fault because she wins a lot. Oh, ugh . . . .

[Xisbum]

Any of the Racqueteers up for some clay court tennis this weekend?

Doc did alright today, so I didn't fire him; said we would go through one more series of injections into the knee, and if it doesn't work, we will start exploring knee replacement. I might have a new knee by this time next year!

Meanwhile, I'm looking for some playing time; not going to let this old knee go gently into that good night.

[Cindysphinx]

Oh, man. I can't. I have a match on Saturday and a house guest.

Good luck with the knee, though. I know it has been a long and tough struggle.