My Game on Camera - Losing the V-Card

[SuperDuy]

Weren't your parents from China or something LeeD? Did they play tennis too?

[CptnRiceKrispy]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Thank you for that. I've just seen a bunch of bad serving Asians post recently, and it's really getting to me.
Oh oh....one of my buds I play with, a GaryLee, now from Oakland, serves about a 24mph underspin/side component serve in matches. He could easily play in 4.0 doubles, if the other team lost patience just a little. Great lobber, retriever, volleyer, and a powerful overhead, he serves short and wide because his shoulders get sore, and he likes defensive tennis. I used to see his name in the 3rd round of ChineseNationals, and wondered who he was.

Haha Thanks for that...and yeah are serves are probably not our greatest asset. But no all asians are like that LOL. My older cousin is quite an established player and hes been clocked in the 120's (mph) numerous times.

[Jonny S&V]

Originally Posted by CptnRiceKrispy

Haha Thanks for that...and yeah are serves are probably not our greatest asset. But no all asians are like that LOL. My older cousin is quite an established player and hes been clocked in the 120's (mph) numerous times.

The guy you are playing in the vid? He's been clocked in the 120's? That I seriously doubt...

[LeeD]

Most Asians are first or second generation, so parents from homeland, yes.
Dad was a mountain hideout rat kid (in his words), stealing from the Viets and making do with barely anything. No tennis or sports, except fighting.
CRP, copy your older cousins service motion EXACTLY!

[Zachol82]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Thank you for that. I've just seen a bunch of bad serving Asians post recently, and it's really getting to me.
Oh oh....one of my buds I play with, a GaryLee, now from Oakland, serves about a 24mph underspin/side component serve in matches. He could easily play in 4.0 doubles, if the other team lost patience just a little. Great lobber, retriever, volleyer, and a powerful overhead, he serves short and wide because his shoulders get sore, and he likes defensive tennis. I used to see his name in the 3rd round of ChineseNationals, and wondered who he was.

I'm Asian and I would have to agree with LeeD here on having "seen a bunch of bad serving Asians" recently. I definitely don't approve of the wimpy serves but maybe I can attempt to understand their mindsets here.

Asians prioritize fluidity, smoothness, elegance and anything along the line of the flow of the wind, the flow of the water, the flow of chi...etc. The reason for this is that MOST of us Asians have a smaller, more slender and slimmer body type in general. Even martial arts that originated in Asia, such as Kung Fu, prioritizes fluidity and smoothness; where we lack in brute strength, we make up for in speed and agility to achieve "power." Now, if we look at martial arts originated in the West, we can see how Boxing and Wrestling shows off more brute strength; you don't try to use your opponents' power against him, you just fight strength with more strength (speaking in the most general way here, I know it's not ALL about brute strength).

Back on the topic of Tennis. No, I don't know why these Asians are serving this way, I'm sure it's because they're somewhat new to the game of Tennis and eventually they would want faster, more powerful strokes. I would recommend focusing on form, maintain your fluidity/smoothness and add more racquet-head speed, more burst into your strokes.

From another point of view, I've also seen a lot of "white" people just smash the ball...recklessly, even when they're out of position, it seems the answer to everything is MORE POWER!! Again, it goes back to what I was talking about in my second paragraph.

[SuperDuy]

I saw cir2ca had a good serve. Did you hit with him yet Mr. Lee?

[LeeD]

No, is he in the SFBayArea?
I've only played once with Focus42, and returned some of Kiteboard's serves about 4-5 years ago. The serves, a good combination of OK speed with lots of spin.

[SuperDuy]

Yeah he wrote something you replied, did he contact you?

Originally Posted by ci2ca

I didn't want to start a new thread for this but if anybody is in the norcal area that wants to hit just respond to this thread and we'll work something out!

Originally Posted by LeeD

I'm in NorCal, just north of Berkeley by 6 miles. Will be free to hit or play starting end of the week. Leave message, 510-965-2055. Falling to maybe high 3.5 now, playing once every two weeks since April.

[LeeD]

Not yet.
NorCal can be a really big area, and I know some posters from the RedwoodCity area, but that's 30 miles away.
I can only post my phone # (which SocialSecurity won't accept as real) and see what happens.

[CptnRiceKrispy]

Well...I've only just started "playing" tennis about 2 years ago and started taking it more seriously this last year. and the guy im playing with is in his first year of university but has been playing for a very very long time. He's not the most gifted athlete but he has been competitive with some of the true 'high level" juniors in our city.

My other cousin im referring too with the 120mph serve is a very good player. He could have played at a college level but is more focused on school and receiving a good education. Mind you he's about 6 inches shorter than i am and about 205 lbs of pure muscle.

As for myself I would really like to play a higher level of tennis when im older. I have no idea if its possible but I would like to think it is.

[LeeD]

CRK...
You hit good, but lack strategy.
You seem to mindlessly hit the ball near your partner, but don't delineate between forehand or back, just down the center. REALLY try to have a preset target for every stroke.
You can get good, but you need much more time on court. My first 2 years, more than 6 days a week, 4 hours a day.
Then I started to hit with A women, but limited to no drops, no short angles, and limited serves.
This snowballed to 6 days a week, more than 8 hours AT the courts, but probably closer to 4 hours actual court time for a couple more years before things started to "click".
And JonnyS/V, he meant his older cousin, not that 120 KM serving dude.

[dozu]

I am Asian and my serve sucks, because in pingpong and badminton we serve underhanded!

but seriously, LeeD you fell into a typical statistical fallacy with small sample size.... whimpy serve aint got nothing to do with being Asian, but more with being a beginner LOL.

[LeeD]

I just didn't like the idea of all these Asians posting their serves here who had wierd motions and wimpy serves. Makes one wonder, that's all.
MichaelChang and ParadornSchrichipan had OK serves, but not good ones.

[Jonny S&V]

Originally Posted by LeeD

I just didn't like the idea of all these Asians posting their serves here who had wierd motions and wimpy serves. Makes one wonder, that's all.
MichaelChang and ParadornSchrichipan had OK serves, but not good ones.

I put that more towards the Indian players (note: I'm not racist in the least). Look at two of the top Indian players on tour now: Bhupathi and Bhambri. They both have absolute horrid looking motions, but they obviously work (Bhambri's was a LOT worse, but I think he's been working on it). See examples one and two:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E9z02l0ads

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6-4r...eature=related

[LeeD]

Yeah, but after the serve, there's a 6.5 player lurking in the dark, waiting to use his groundies and volleys.
VijayAmritri had one of the smoother, PanchoG looking motions ever.
Anon and Asshook were jerkier, smaller, and not quite as accomplished.
Must have something to do with the throwing balls when younger thing.

[Jonny S&V]

Originally Posted by LeeD

Yeah, but after the serve, there's a 6.5 player lurking in the dark, waiting to use his groundies and volleys.
VijayAmritri had one of the smoother, PanchoG looking motions ever.
Anon and Asshook were jerkier, smaller, and not quite as accomplished.
Must have something to do with the throwing balls when younger thing.

6.5? Just say an ATP pro, that's what they are, not a rating.

[CptnRiceKrispy]

How about this guy?

Ben Huang, hes a member here and posted this video awhile back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SfqRalc0V8

Hes hitting some pretty big serves.

[LeeD]

He looks all around to be the No.1 on his team. Seems maybe quickness and forehand is stronger than his serves.
Nice motion, for sure, but is it good enough for more than Div111 singles. When he's going for spots, his ball wanders quite a bit.
Can he keep grounded on his high backhand volleys?. Too many mishits.
He will soon be facing bigger and stronger opponent's.
He really should find a hard hitting GUY to hit against in the beginning, but possibly one doesn't exist at the time and place of filming.
And remember, a 5.0 female matches only to a 4.0 mens.

Originally Posted by CptnRiceKrispy

I've never had the opportunity to see myself play before and this past Christmas I got a new video camera so i decided to take it out for a spin and see how I looked. Honestly I was quite surprised when I saw myself and I couldn't stop laughing. But it was good and they say a picture is worth a thousand words...so a video should be worth like a million?

I've already gotten some feedback from my tennis friends/authorities and their thoughts but I thought it would be fun to see what the community at Talk Tennis has to say! So feel free leave a comment, or post a reply, be honest!, be positive!, be harsh! I'm open to everything.

Thanks for watching and if you can sit through the 11minutes enjoy!
=)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFAru8TvJ-c

On the forehand, there is a hitch, or pause at the bottom of your backswing. This destroys fluidity, and eliminates the downward momentum of the drop.

[Jonny S&V]

Originally Posted by LeeD

He looks all around to be the No.1 on his team. Seems maybe quickness and forehand is stronger than his serves.
Nice motion, for sure, but is it good enough for more than Div111 singles. When he's going for spots, his ball wanders quite a bit.
Can he keep grounded on his high backhand volleys?. Too many mishits.
He will soon be facing bigger and stronger opponent's.
He really should find a hard hitting GUY to hit against in the beginning, but possibly one doesn't exist at the time and place of filming.
And remember, a 5.0 female matches only to a 4.0 mens.

Although TRN isn't the best option for, Ben is only a 1-star on it, with some losses to no-star players. He has good strokes, but he must be missing something in matches.