travlerajm
Talk Tennis Guru
Haven’t we all heard that before?
I played a set against a guy a couple of weeks ago, and that’s what he said to me after we finished.
I had showed up for a hitting session against a local teaching pro. He started out feeding me a few balls, and seemed surprised when I told him I wanted to play a match.
He was a short, stocky, a bit overweight, 22 years old. We start playing the match, and he is taking pretty big cuts. I wasn’t playing particularly well, but I was being scrappy, getting a lots a balls back in play, mixing in some serve and volley. I got a break in the opening game, and then we both were holding serve after that for the next 7 straight games.
Throughout the set, he was displaying ‘I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy’ body language. I had a break point to go up 5-2, but of course blew it. My opponent cleaned up his game a bit after that, and my level got a little sloppier, resulting in him winning the last 4 games to take the set.
Afterward, he gave me the ‘I usually play better’ line. I didn’t think much of it.
I assumed he was a strong 5.0 player. I was wrong.
A week and a half later, I got a chance to play him again. He backed up his ‘I usually play better’ comment and then some. It seemed like he was totally in the zone. I was not playing that well, so I got blitzed 6-0, 6-2. His forehand was really good. So was his serve. And his backhand. And his touch. And his overhead.
The day after that, I played him again. This time was more of the same. I was struggling just to win a point or two. I won a game in the second set just because he got bored.
Then I played him again today, the third day in a row. Again this guy was really, really good. And his forehand was not just good - it was supernatural. He could hit winners to the corners from anywhere on the court with it, even on low balls from knee high. And he is blasting these with explosive heavy spin. It was so good that I am certain there are not more than 100 players on the planet that can hit a forehand as good as his.
And even though he’s 5’8” or so, his serve has perfect textbook technique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better serve from soneone his height.
Turns out he was ranked top 1000 in the world after playing a few futures tournaments back when he was 16 years old. He didn’t have enough funds to continue to pursue his pro tennis career after that, but it’s clear that this guy has the talent skills-wise to be a top 100 ATP singles player if he got himself back into shape and had the resources to train and travel.
After another quick 6-1 set today (I serve-and-volleyed to his backhand well enough to steal a game, but was hopelessly overmatched from the baseline on points started any other way), I stopped and said, ‘hold on... Please teach me how to hit a forehand!”
I figured I should take advantage of being on the same court as someone with a truly world class forehand. If I can pick his brain, maybe some of his forehand awesomeness can be transferred to me to help me overcome my abominably ugly, shovel-shot, self-taught weaker wing?
He offered that next time we play, he doesn’t mind if I spend the first few minutes adjusting the weight on my frame before we start the match, as he said he understands how much difference that can make to controlling the ball. First time a teaching pro ever offered that.
We working a little on getting better spacing. Making sure that I throw my whole body forward into the court on balls that I have time to set up and attack. Extending forward further beyond contact. Following through on the high ball outward and across the chest.
I’m determined to take advantage of this opportunity.
I played a set against a guy a couple of weeks ago, and that’s what he said to me after we finished.
I had showed up for a hitting session against a local teaching pro. He started out feeding me a few balls, and seemed surprised when I told him I wanted to play a match.
He was a short, stocky, a bit overweight, 22 years old. We start playing the match, and he is taking pretty big cuts. I wasn’t playing particularly well, but I was being scrappy, getting a lots a balls back in play, mixing in some serve and volley. I got a break in the opening game, and then we both were holding serve after that for the next 7 straight games.
Throughout the set, he was displaying ‘I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy’ body language. I had a break point to go up 5-2, but of course blew it. My opponent cleaned up his game a bit after that, and my level got a little sloppier, resulting in him winning the last 4 games to take the set.
Afterward, he gave me the ‘I usually play better’ line. I didn’t think much of it.
I assumed he was a strong 5.0 player. I was wrong.
A week and a half later, I got a chance to play him again. He backed up his ‘I usually play better’ comment and then some. It seemed like he was totally in the zone. I was not playing that well, so I got blitzed 6-0, 6-2. His forehand was really good. So was his serve. And his backhand. And his touch. And his overhead.
The day after that, I played him again. This time was more of the same. I was struggling just to win a point or two. I won a game in the second set just because he got bored.
Then I played him again today, the third day in a row. Again this guy was really, really good. And his forehand was not just good - it was supernatural. He could hit winners to the corners from anywhere on the court with it, even on low balls from knee high. And he is blasting these with explosive heavy spin. It was so good that I am certain there are not more than 100 players on the planet that can hit a forehand as good as his.
And even though he’s 5’8” or so, his serve has perfect textbook technique. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better serve from soneone his height.
Turns out he was ranked top 1000 in the world after playing a few futures tournaments back when he was 16 years old. He didn’t have enough funds to continue to pursue his pro tennis career after that, but it’s clear that this guy has the talent skills-wise to be a top 100 ATP singles player if he got himself back into shape and had the resources to train and travel.
After another quick 6-1 set today (I serve-and-volleyed to his backhand well enough to steal a game, but was hopelessly overmatched from the baseline on points started any other way), I stopped and said, ‘hold on... Please teach me how to hit a forehand!”
I figured I should take advantage of being on the same court as someone with a truly world class forehand. If I can pick his brain, maybe some of his forehand awesomeness can be transferred to me to help me overcome my abominably ugly, shovel-shot, self-taught weaker wing?
He offered that next time we play, he doesn’t mind if I spend the first few minutes adjusting the weight on my frame before we start the match, as he said he understands how much difference that can make to controlling the ball. First time a teaching pro ever offered that.
We working a little on getting better spacing. Making sure that I throw my whole body forward into the court on balls that I have time to set up and attack. Extending forward further beyond contact. Following through on the high ball outward and across the chest.
I’m determined to take advantage of this opportunity.
