2.5 to 5.5: Is It Possible?
- Thread starter Gal3rm
- Start date
Bender
G.O.A.T.
I still can't get over how hilarious your username is.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
So it's possible whether 1 in 100 or 1000. We don't really know the OP, how ambitious and dedicated or even obsessed he is about this game. That most of us haven't been able to achieve it cannot be the basis to say outright ' No, you can't do it'.
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
Yeah sometimes I wish I found the game about 4 or 5 years sooner than I did, or even played in high school. It's like when I think of all the time I spend dicking around in high school, I could be a millionaire today.
I think we were talking about starting at 4 or 5 yrs old, not finding it 4 or 5 years earlier. Haha. But make the best of the situation!
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
tennis_ocd
Hall of Fame
Amusing that majority poll currently believes it doable although. The basis for my *no way, no how* is that there likely exists today no real 5.5 player* that picked up a racket for the first time at 26.
*real 5.5 @26 is D1 level stuff; top 25 nationally; top 25 DII level player, etc. Not going to happen. At 26 the physical aspects of tennis are already in decline and will be in free-fall (5.5 speaking) in just another couple years.
Cobaine
Semi-Pro
I don't get it.
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
It's basically Chinese for "crazy a** m*f*".
It IS doable though. If you stack the deck ridiculously.
(1) Find world class athlete who is top ten in world at squash/badminton/ping-pong/baseball.. Must have world class athleticism and no lingering injuries.(Tennis needs excellent hand eye - so sports like hoops might not be enough)..
(2) Get them $1million dollars worth of coaching.
(3) Promise them some amazing reward for hitting 5.5..like a return to their sport..or 10 million dollars - wife released from ISIS etc.
And it might happen.
So its possible - not probable. I agree that its likely in the entire world there is no 5.5 who has picked up a racquet at 26..
SystemicAnomaly
Bionic Poster
Wondering how much of that majority answered the poll w/o reading the OP and seeing that 26 is the starting age. Most of those who actually replied to the thread, however, have indicated that it is HIGHLY unlikely (or not possible).
That said, my tennis peak actually came fairly late. Late starter to sports. Note sure exactly when I was at my physical prime but my athletic skills appeared to peak between my late 20s to late 30s. My peak as badminton competitor was in my mid-to-late 30s. My peak tennis didn't happen til my 40s.
Yep. The whole convo left me several posts ago. lol
I'm good with shooting for 4.0 or 4.5 max. It'll be fun.
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
Some folks answered the Poll Question which was "Can someone go from 2.5 to 5.5?" That's a simple "yes" since all 5.5's started out at 2.5 early on. If h'ed phrased the poll question as "Can I go from 2.5 to 5.5 at age 26?" then we'd all be answering "not bloody likely" OP should have worded his poll better if he wanted it to refer specifically to him.
I'm still getting better at tennis and I'm 51. But I'm playing 3-4 times a week now rather than 10-15 times a year. And my semi-realistic goal is to try to reach 4.0 before 55. Which I think is pretty good since I was told after my shoulder surgery at age 19 I'd never play football, baseball or racket sports again.
pushing_wins
Hall of Fame
how much are you willing to spend?
Obviously possible since people have done it (I'm thinking about good players). It doesn't matter how big of a "leap" it is, since you can only improve incrementally. Yes the bigger the leap the more effort and practice necessary, that's not a surprise. Just keep working on it. Because how will you know if you've reached a limiting factor that's possible or impossible to overcome unless you try?
Noah made USTA 5.0 last year, playing tennis for less than 5 years, starting at 27 or so, now 34.
Seth made USTA 5.0 last year, playing maybe 8 years, now around 30. He's almost 6'6" tall.
If I know TWO player's who started as adults, made USTA 5.0, then there must be plenty of player's I don't know who made 5.5.
Seth made USTA 5.0 last year, playing maybe 8 years, now around 30. He's almost 6'6" tall.
If I know TWO player's who started as adults, made USTA 5.0, then there must be plenty of player's I don't know who made 5.5.
I voted no. If you are 27 yo, athletic, take lessons, play leagues and tournaments, work hard on court and study the game off court; you can probably get to a minimum of very strong 4.0 and you might go as high as very strong 4.5. Very, very small chance to reach 5.0. Practically impossible to reach 5.5 but keep in mind, almost all leagues are between 3.5 and 4.5. Lots of teaching pros play 4.5 so it is a decent level of tennis. Have fun, enjoy the game, play hard and I think a good short term goal would be to have a winning record at 4.0 level. If you can do that, the next goal would be to earn a bump to 4.5. A strong winning record at 4.5 earns you the title "legit tennis player".
If I can beat Seth in singles, which I have, he's not a 5.0. Doubles maybe, but really just a 4.5. That was with gout.
Problem is, what IS 5.0?
If a guy makes USTA 5.0, is he a 5.0 level player? Probably, yes.
Can someone UNranked beat that guy? Of course.
Can that guy have one bad day and play a match well below his new level? I'd think so.
Noah played Seth ONCE. 2-4 for Noah. He doesn't expect it to happen like that again.
My tennis world is very small. I know TWO guys who started tennis after the age of 24, and made USTA 5.0. How many other's I don't know have made a higher level?
If a guy makes USTA 5.0, is he a 5.0 level player? Probably, yes.
Can someone UNranked beat that guy? Of course.
Can that guy have one bad day and play a match well below his new level? I'd think so.
Noah played Seth ONCE. 2-4 for Noah. He doesn't expect it to happen like that again.
My tennis world is very small. I know TWO guys who started tennis after the age of 24, and made USTA 5.0. How many other's I don't know have made a higher level?
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
Somewhat falacious reasoning as it assumes there isn't a significant uptick in difficulty going from 5.0 to 5.5 vs going from 4.5 to 5.0. I would expect given the very low numbers of 5.5 people I've ever seen in this world, that it's a ginormous leap.
It's like me saying I know 2 people that smoked all their lives and made it to age 90, so obviously there must be lots of smokers I don't know that made it to 100.
Dartagnan64
G.O.A.T.
Exactly. Although I think a good athlete could get to 4.0 in a couple years.
The only 5.5 I know of at our club, is a Div 2 college player that is the son of a tennis pro and Doctor and grew up with a tennis court in his backyard. That's it. Bunch of 4.5s and 5.0s but 5.5 is a giant leap that few seem to make unless they started early and were coached their whole life.
Rusty Shackleford
G.O.A.T.
Big_Dangerous
Talk Tennis Guru
Say Chi Sin Lo
G.O.A.T.
Wait, I thought it had the opposite effect?
Rusty Shackleford
G.O.A.T.
tennis_ocd
Hall of Fame
If they confined their smoking to the San Pablo Park courts they may live forever. It's a magical place. 2.5 to 5.0 after just one afternoon spraying balls wouldn't be unheard of.
Noah is a 6'2" former D-1 volleyball player who took up tennis in the late 2000's and made USTA 5.0. Not self rated, USTA rated.
Seth is a 6'5"+ 38 year old who made USTA 5.0 last year.
Real player's with a real USTA rating, who started tennis at well over 24.
ReopeningWed
Professional
Can't agree more with the second part, come back when you reach your goals and post progression videos. But seriously, it's not too difficult to keep improving if you stay humble and love the sport. The last part is the most important part, because when you love tennis, hard work doesn't feel like hard work, all of the drilling and repetition is going to feel like playtime.
ReopeningWed
Professional
I think if you're a world class athlete, you might have a pretty good shot of reaching the 5.5 equivalent of any sport.
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
Yes but OP is starting at age 26. Sports like golf and tennis are not easy to reach 5.5+ equivalent even if you are super athletic, esp. when you start at 26. Case in point: Charles Barkley
I know that the 10,000 hours rule is a pop psychology thing, but the underlying principle is solid. Outside of having some unexpected talent, you'll simply have to put in a lot of hours on task.
Gal3rm, you simply need to "play catchup" and spend a lot of time learning the sport and doing it efficiently and effectively. This means dedicating a significant amount of time to training, education, fitness, diet, etc... every factor that goes into making a complete player.
For example, if your strokes are dynamite, but you only have energy for 30 minutes of intense play then your strokes fall apart, then that's a fitness issue. Fitness alone takes months and years to establish.
Let's say your strokes and fitness are great, but your "game sense" or self-coaching during matches are awful. You don't know how to ID an opponents weakness, play away from their strengths (don't feed the rocket forehand), overcome adversity, find your lost groove, etc... then that takes years.
So, you have to work on all of that starting now.
Trial and error works. That's how most club players operate. Effective long-term coaching is a great (but expensive) shortcut.
Gal3rm, you simply need to "play catchup" and spend a lot of time learning the sport and doing it efficiently and effectively. This means dedicating a significant amount of time to training, education, fitness, diet, etc... every factor that goes into making a complete player.
For example, if your strokes are dynamite, but you only have energy for 30 minutes of intense play then your strokes fall apart, then that's a fitness issue. Fitness alone takes months and years to establish.
Let's say your strokes and fitness are great, but your "game sense" or self-coaching during matches are awful. You don't know how to ID an opponents weakness, play away from their strengths (don't feed the rocket forehand), overcome adversity, find your lost groove, etc... then that takes years.
So, you have to work on all of that starting now.
Trial and error works. That's how most club players operate. Effective long-term coaching is a great (but expensive) shortcut.
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Booger
Hall of Fame
Barkley has some mental condition that interferes with his swing. They are a number of former NBA/NFL players who can swing a club. I read that John Elway took it up after retiring from the NFL and was an open level golfer within 5 years. Talk about way out there on the bell curve.
I think the #1 thing that helps high-level athletes learn unrelated sports quickly is their:
- Understanding of how coaching helps.
- Being coachable.
- Faith in and willingness to follow a training plan (summed up as "dedication").
- Better-than-most athletic ability.
- Mental fortitude. Know how to overcome setbacks and work through them to achieve as opposed to falling apart...then sulking for a week.
I've even seen elite athletes switch sports in the middle of their careers and go from being world-class in 1 sport to being world-class in another. Rebecca Romero (GBR) won a world championship and olympic silver in rowing then switched to track cycling and won world championships and olympic gold.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Romero
There are several stories like this.
Todd Hicks
Rookie
Don't set limits on going as far as you want. You can do anything you want but if you never reach the 5.5 level, don't feel like a failure.
movdqa
Talk Tennis Guru
The problem with starting out as an adult is time. I played a ton of hours of tennis as a teen and in college and those are the times in your life when you may have a lot of time to improve your game. Adults typically have far less time to devote to an activity. If you were an athlete in your teens and in good shape with good coordination, then I think that the odds go up a lot.
bitcoinoperated
Hall of Fame
Respectfully, and I say this as a rower, rowing and cycling are at their core tests of strength, endurance and physical prowess - they have nothing of the extremely high technical skill levels needed in tennis and say alpine skiing where unless you have pro coaching from 3/4 years old it is impossible to make it. If someone has the physique and a strong athletic base from another sport, they can see success quickly - switching between cycling or rowing is probably the easiest switch too.
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
If OP has John Elway athleticism and coordination, then yes he can reach 5.5.
D
Deleted member 23235
Guest
I wish someone would start a thread: "Picked up racquet first time at 25, 10yrs later got bumped from 5.0 to 5.5, here's how I did it"
Or even: "Started as legit 3.5,... took me X years to get bumped to 5.0, here's how I did it.."
I'm still working on it
Or even: "Started as legit 3.5,... took me X years to get bumped to 5.0, here's how I did it.."
I'm still working on it
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
you can become a legit 4.5 tho
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
I wish someone would start a thread: "Picked up racquet first time at 25, 10yrs later got bumped from 5.0 to 5.5, here's how I did it"
Or even: "Started as legit 3.5,... took me X years to get bumped to 5.0, here's how I did it.."
I'm still working on it
I think you are much more likely to see "Picked up racket first time at 5, 50 years later got bumped from 5.0 to 3.5, here's my tragic story"
M
maxxy777
Guest
Its possible only for talents like Dmitrov.
BlueB
Legend
The question is, why do you even need to get to 5.5? At that level you'll have very few people to play with, while it would take hell of the effort and lots of money to get there. At level 4 you'll have lots of quality opponents and it's achievable at a reasonable pace. When and if I ever get to 4.5, I'd be spanking the butt of pretty much every player I know. At 5 it would be very lonely...
The thing is, tennis is a journey, it should be played, learned and enjoyed without worrying too much about the level. That is, unless you do it for living or a scolarship...
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
The thing is, tennis is a journey, it should be played, learned and enjoyed without worrying too much about the level. That is, unless you do it for living or a scolarship...
Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk
zalive
Hall of Fame
So true, and it should be so easy to understand. But there's a difference between enjoying the tennis and enjoying your ambition and ego accomplishments 'I am da man' type. There's little in common between the two.
I actually find out that not just from the competitors point of view, tennis is actually more fun at lower levels. Now, why? Because you can play completely relaxed at lower levels. You can go for some crazy shot which you don't have a slightest idea will it go in and what are the chances for that, yet it's fun when it somehow goes in. It may be even fun if it doesn't. And if you blow it nevermind, because you know that your opponent will give you couple of points back anyway, so no matter if you don't play it much safe in any moment it will still be competitive, it will still be fun.
While reaching some more serious level, every mistake counts. One mistake is responsible for the game loss, one game loss may be responsible for the set loss etc. There's no room for fooling around. You must be fully concentrated to give your best, otherwise you're not competitive (unless you play against a significantly weaker opponent).
So, when you drop your ego away from the game, lower (or average) level tennis is pretty fun. No one can tell me that some higher level tennis player has more fun playing tennis than me, because his level is higher.
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Booger
Hall of Fame
Strong coping skills. Low level tennis is just tapping the ball back and forth until someone misses. It's like watching Djokovic vs. Murray. Tennis is much more enjoyable once you get to at least 4.5 and can hit with a variety of spin, pace, and control.
heninfan99
Talk Tennis Guru
Well you can find more partners in free environments like the park for sure.
It's like guitar playing. It's way more fun when you can actually play well but there's not need to be Jimi Hendrix to enjoy it but being a total hack isn't that fun.
It's like guitar playing. It's way more fun when you can actually play well but there's not need to be Jimi Hendrix to enjoy it but being a total hack isn't that fun.
D
Deleted member 23235
Guest
zalive
Hall of Fame
It's what you consider as fun, all is in the head. I know I'm having lot of fun, because it's fun to play tennis.
I don't remember that it was ever less fun when I was playing worse than now (at my beginnings). And I don't remember that it was more fun when I played better than now (younger, healthier knee so better footwork, but also better baseline strokes than currently). It's all the same to me, it was fun, and it is fun.
I don't remember that it was ever less fun when I was playing worse than now (at my beginnings). And I don't remember that it was more fun when I played better than now (younger, healthier knee so better footwork, but also better baseline strokes than currently). It's all the same to me, it was fun, and it is fun.
I started as a 3.0 when I was 28 (based on pure athletic ability from player other sports the teaching pro said their was no way I was a 2.5)
I was 3.0 for 1 year-
Bumped to 3.5 at age 29
3.5 from 29 to 33 (last two season at 3.5 went undefeated in singles with the last season not having dropped a set)
34 started to play up at 4.0 (still ranked 3.5) had a winning record of 5-3 that season
35 bumped to 4.0
turning 36 in June and I can easily say I am playing the best tennis I ever have - mostly my serve it's not an atomic bomb but I can go down the T or out wide with decent speed at a pretty high percentage and my poaching prowess in doubles is pretty much what I am know for by other local players.
not sure if I will reach 4.5 (but I have hit with a few and can maintain a rally) mostly get beat on them jamming me and forcing a weak return for them to put away- need to learn to read the serves better I guess.
I play 1 night a week practice (2 hours) go to a teaching pro about once every 2 months for a lesson and 1 match a week normally. maybe more court time I could improve quicker but I would say reaching 5.0 and 5.5 will be near to impossible for me for two main reasons.
I know no 5.0 or 5.5 players in my area and I know we have no 5.0 leagues so I would never find the competition to make me have to play at that level to improve.
4.5 is as high at it gets for us and you can kinda play yourself out of tennis... and with me starting to work toward 40 I would much rather just become a strong 4.0 in the next 2-3 years and hold onto that as long as I can.
I was 3.0 for 1 year-
Bumped to 3.5 at age 29
3.5 from 29 to 33 (last two season at 3.5 went undefeated in singles with the last season not having dropped a set)
34 started to play up at 4.0 (still ranked 3.5) had a winning record of 5-3 that season
35 bumped to 4.0
turning 36 in June and I can easily say I am playing the best tennis I ever have - mostly my serve it's not an atomic bomb but I can go down the T or out wide with decent speed at a pretty high percentage and my poaching prowess in doubles is pretty much what I am know for by other local players.
not sure if I will reach 4.5 (but I have hit with a few and can maintain a rally) mostly get beat on them jamming me and forcing a weak return for them to put away- need to learn to read the serves better I guess.
I play 1 night a week practice (2 hours) go to a teaching pro about once every 2 months for a lesson and 1 match a week normally. maybe more court time I could improve quicker but I would say reaching 5.0 and 5.5 will be near to impossible for me for two main reasons.
I know no 5.0 or 5.5 players in my area and I know we have no 5.0 leagues so I would never find the competition to make me have to play at that level to improve.
4.5 is as high at it gets for us and you can kinda play yourself out of tennis... and with me starting to work toward 40 I would much rather just become a strong 4.0 in the next 2-3 years and hold onto that as long as I can.
