NTRP 0 to 5 in a year? Is that possible?

[maggmaster]

Eeesh I don't know lee that serve looks pretty good, his racket is snapping through the power curve from dropping down behind the head through extension. Everyone is a bit different physiologically and if he were a kid in my clinic I would be giving him a lot of effort based praise. Looks good Stergio, you must have worked really hard

[HunterST]

Huge improvement on the serve! Looks like pace is pretty good. What's your consistency like?

[LeeD]

Looks like a first year serve taught almost very good. That hand that close to the right ear is a deathknell for power. He starts out pretty good, then bends too much.

[Avles]

Awesome that you can have daily lessons with an ATP pro-- hope you'll keep us posted on your progress!

[LeeD]

Another problem I see is that his body, arm, legs, all go forward, but his racket is lagging behind....almost like his racket is too heavy for his armstrength.
And if you look at his swingloop overall, he hits the ball before his rackethead achieves full speed.

[TomT]

Originally Posted by Stergios

Hi guys,

Here it is finally. That's how my serve looks at the moment. More strokes will come as we go on. I hope you like the video. And I'm VERY anxious to get your feedback!

As I posted earlier I will get to the questions of previous posts in tomorrows brake. Since then have fun and don't forget to smile .

Cheers,

Stergios

I gave you a thumbs up and subscribed to your channel. The serves you hit from 1:01 to 1:25 looked (and sounded) pretty good. A marked improvement from December. But still lots of room for improvement, as LeeD has already pointed out some things that need attention. I'm sure lots of others will also.

Also watched (and thumbs upped) the short video of your coach talking about your program.

Keep the videos coming as often as possible. Thanks. Very enjoyable.

[boramiNYC]

good improvement so far on your serve.

critique: as you jump your legs are pushing your whole body forward. instead think jumping up. and you want to push your pelvis forward more right before contact so it can snap back to counter balance the forward inertia of the upper body, so you won't be falling forward instead you should be well balanced when you are landing.

[AbsoluTennis]

nice Improvement!

if u want to get further u will have to try to chance to a continental or backhand grip to get spin/pronation on ur 2nd/1st serves. your 1st serve looks good because u can accelerate a flat serve well with a forehand grip.

i also recommend that u try to lag ur racket in the trophy position and than accelerate from this point on. at the moment u don t stop but swing thru and lag to late.

but watching ur improvement so far i m sure u can handle this.

btw.: where are these clay courts?

[tommyfr]

Stergios, Just a question on methodology. How do you know what level you would be at after 12 months. NTRP is as far as I know only fully used in the US and you are presently in Greece I guess.

You would need to win (like 6-2) over 4.5 level players and play even with 5.0 players. How to go about that?

[axel89]

you won't even make 4.0 ntrp gl though

[Venetian]

Wow I'm impressed. You've made some excellent progress. Definitely keep the videos coming.

[barringer97]

No freaking way. Not happening.

[goober]

Originally Posted by tommyfr

Stergios, Just a question on methodology. How do you know what level you would be at after 12 months. NTRP is as far as I know only fully used in the US and you are presently in Greece I guess.

You would need to win (like 6-2) over 4.5 level players and play even with 5.0 players. How to go about that?

He won't know. Just make an educated guess based on who he is playing. Since they won't have official ratings either it will be just a lot of conjecture and speculation. I doubt it really matters much though in the overall scheme of things. If he is still playing, improving and enjoying it a year from now or 5 years from now, that will be more important.

So far all of these "beginner to pro threads" I have seen. Most guys stop posting after they realize after an initial rapid ascent through the lower ratings, things get a lot harder at the upper levels.

[Avles]

Originally Posted by goober

So far all of these "beginner to pro threads" I have seen. Most guys stop posting after they realize after an initial rapid ascent through the lower ratings, things get a lot harder at the upper levels.

That's true--but this case is a little different because he seems to be getting world-class daily coaching. So if he sticks with it it'll be an interesting experiment.

[tommyfr]

Is his coach world class?
His coach is a 25 year old Futures player, but I never heard about his coaching merits and qualifications. I also took lessons from a Futures player once....not better than an experienced, trained coach at 5.0 playing level.

As to the 5.0 standard, I just hope it is not a guess or judgement related on the written NTRP description of 5.0 level as that is quite subjective, and a real 4.0 level could fit that verbal description as well.

[luvforty]

why is a Greek rating system not used here?

the whole thing is just odd.

[Stergios]

Originally Posted by WildVolley

I'd bet against the success of this experiment, but I find it interesting anyway, and I'd like to see you document your progress.

My small piece of advice is going to be to take recovery and injury prevention very seriously. For instance, I'd start doing the thrower's ten exercises to protect your shoulder right now. One serious or not so serious injury could derail this experiment very quickly. A positive thing is today you can get very good information and training advice online to keep yourself healthy and give yourself the best odds possible.

Good luck.

Hi WildVolley,

After all these feedback I'll try to do my best in documenting the process and as I mentioned before, and you're very right, I'm taking injury prevention very seriously.

I'll keep you posted,

Stergios

[Stergios]

Originally Posted by HunterST

So that comes out to about 15 hours per week. With that schedule, you'll definitely be a good player. Especially if you're hitting with a coach who has played at the pro level. Not sure about 5.0 by the end of the year, but a great jump start to getting there eventually. Don't forget to actually compete as much as possible!

At the very least, it looks like you'll be having a lot of fun with that schedule. Are you going to be working at all or living off of savings?

Hi HunterST,

Thanks for giving a thump up to the chosen schedule of mine.

I'm starting slowly to compete. I played more or less ten times before I started the project. Then I stopped since I changed all I've learnt by my self. Last friday I had my very first match after I started taking lessons.
I think by the end of the month I'll add two to three matches a week to my schedule (What do you think? More or less should I play?).

I'm having lots of fun. Although I had my first mental break down not long ago. I'll talk about that as it might be interesting to others too.

Currently I'm living on savings. I changed quite a few things in my lifestyle in order to afford it. I sold a few things and I moved to a tiny apartment in order to finance this project.

And to say no to work it's not always easy. But one has to make a choice .
Although I might be taking some small projects (2-3 days a month) from time to time as this project needs some pockets . Oh, in case you wondered, I was working as a film production co-ordinator mostly.

Cheers,

Stergios

[Stergios]

Originally Posted by eidolonshinobi

...Asked advice here, which is a double edge sword, a lot of the advice are good but take it in stride. Pick one or two things out and work on them per week.

It'll take time and a lot of dedication, but you can improve greatly if you're motivated. You have one resource I didn't have while learning, a coach. This will take you further faster than my journey. Self analyzing your strokes is really taxing, but having a good coach will really help you out...

Hi Eidolonshinobi,

I know what you mean.

I always ask for advice and always think it twice. At the end I'm making my own mind and keep the advice I got as reference to my failures and successes. And learning goes on...

You're right about being analytical it helps a lot me too. But as you said a coach is something much needed. Especially if part of your goal is to improve as fast as you possible can. And honestly in my case I don't know if I would have gone any further with this project with out Paris.

Cheers,

Stergios

[KineticChain]