2023 GOALS

ChaelAZ

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
In continuation of the yearly goals thread, I will start with a review of last year's goals of mine and what I plan for this year. Probably some carry over...like the extra lbs every year after the holidays! But really, I was plump in October. :laughing:

Here is the link to the 2022 GOALS thread.

ChaelAZ said:
To pay Omage to MG's 2021 Goals thread, we are now presented with a 2022 Goals thread. We've already seen some players like J0lly posting changes and progress, so if'n ya feel like it, post up your 2022 goals here. Should include tennis and fitness, but anything beyond that is cool as well. Cheers all.

So my 2022 goals (some carry over)

#1 Maybe finally get down to 175lbs, but need to stay under 190lbs at least.
  • Trying to go 50/50 in 4.0 league this next seasons, matches already start this next Wednesday!
  • Play a few USTA league singles matches again (been dubs for this last year)
  • increase training and conditioning
  • Get my 5 mile run back down under 50 minutes, last attempt was over an hour.
  • Move one year closer to retirement
Click to expand...


Well, number one was going okay to start the year, but while I am sitting at 210-215 most weeks I will just reiterate weight management is still a priority. If I choose to do it is another story. Was a tough year for a lot of things and eating/drinking was a good self-medicating escape. But for point number two, I improved my last 4.0 season to going 50/50 in leagues playing mostly D1, some D2, and even getting in a singles match. Felt very solid playing and continued to improve on my transitioning (mid-court play and closing) in dubs, and just balance and set up in singles. I played a TON of non-league singles matches and was winning around 75% against very solid players. That wanned as weight went up, so don't expect I will be playing any singles for the January season but plan for more the later part of the year.

With some of the tough year stuff, I didn't get too much training in, did not run, but did get some good walks in. More on that for my 2023 goals below.

I mean, I hit my retirement date in October, but will continue to work as long as it serves my other personal goals, my family, and my wife and my retirement goals/dreams. Suffice to say we have been blessed there. We were also able to take in a few younger men and help give them a leg up where they were struggling, so I think that might be something we continue and I can work around that. And then, the market has not been kind this year so waiting surely is the smarter move. But I digress...

So my 2023 goals (and again, carry over)

#1 Continue to manage weight and reinforce healthy habits
  • Maintain at least a 50/50 win/loss percentage in 4.0 leagues
  • Play at least a couple single matches in leagues
  • No restrictions, but get back to running and hiking
  • Continue to help others where we can, but also look to transition back to focus on my wife and I
Easy peasy, right?

SO, WHAT ABOUT YOU?

 
1. 6min x 1mile... fitness metric
2. serve consistency (particularly first serves: deuceWideTopslice, deuceTeeFlat, adWideFlat, adTeeTopslice), and deeper kicker (prefer missing long!)
3. consistent aggressive fh (in the context of serve+1) - currently can't consistently dictate
4. 50y+ nationals in summer
 
1. Fitness (Maintain weight of 140 lbs +- 5lbs, able to easily do 10 reps of 155 bench, 255 deadlift, and 255 squat)
2. Maintain super high level of focus on all my matches. Lately bad habit of starting slow or not going for full aggressive swings in matches. Need to start playing matches annoyed/pissed. This might because all matches lately are not a competitive league. Non advancing.
3. If I can maintain high level of focus and starting off pissed, I want to reach my ultimate goal of 5.0 for 2024.
 
Injury free is the #1 goal, made it through 2022 without anything nagging, to my surprise. Also, avoided shoulder surgery late last year by figuring out bench press technique was hurting my shoulder and not tennis. Had to figure that out on my own, 8 weeks of PT didn't and the surgeon was very excited about going into my shoulder and shaving and cutting etc.
 
My goals for 2023 are as follows.

1). Lose another 10 LBS (will be back at my HS fighting weight)
2). Improve first serve percentage by 10%
3). Improve return of serve percentage by 20%
4). Finish spring season Win/Loss at 70% or better (including post season if applicable).
5). Remain injury free in 2023!
 
All I want is a single injury-free, emergency-surgery-free year.

If I can get that then everything that I have as a goal on the tennis court will probably happen!

I will add one: Play my aggressive tennis again instead of my attempt at "smart" (read timid) shot placement tennis. Therefore, stop slicing as much and hit my heavier ball instead.
 
ChaelAZ said:
In continuation of the yearly goals thread, I will start with a review of last year's goals of mine and what I plan for this year. Probably some carry over...like the extra lbs every year after the holidays! But really, I was plump in October. :laughing:

Here is the link to the 2022 GOALS thread.




Well, number one was going okay to start the year, but while I am sitting at 210-215 most weeks I will just reiterate weight management is still a priority. If I choose to do it is another story. Was a tough year for a lot of things and eating/drinking was a good self-medicating escape. But for point number two, I improved my last 4.0 season to going 50/50 in leagues playing mostly D1, some D2, and even getting in a singles match. Felt very solid playing and continued to improve on my transitioning (mid-court play and closing) in dubs, and just balance and set up in singles. I played a TON of non-league singles matches and was winning around 75% against very solid players. That wanned as weight went up, so don't expect I will be playing any singles for the January season but plan for more the later part of the year.

With some of the tough year stuff, I didn't get too much training in, did not run, but did get some good walks in. More on that for my 2023 goals below.

I mean, I hit my retirement date in October, but will continue to work as long as it serves my other personal goals, my family, and my wife and my retirement goals/dreams. Suffice to say we have been blessed there. We were also able to take in a few younger men and help give them a leg up where they were struggling, so I think that might be something we continue and I can work around that. And then, the market has not been kind this year so waiting surely is the smarter move. But I digress...

So my 2023 goals (and again, carry over)

#1 Continue to manage weight and reinforce healthy habits
  • Maintain at least a 50/50 win/loss percentage in 4.0 leagues
  • Play at least a couple single matches in leagues
  • No restrictions, but get back to running and hiking
  • Continue to help others where we can, but also look to transition back to focus on my wife and I
Easy peasy, right?

SO, WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Click to expand...
Complete rehab of lingering issues, including weight reduction
Up the hike game-Mt. Humphreys by Labor Day
Complete certification through PTR or PTA
Play in at least three tournaments
Widen the circle of people I regularly hit with
Begin trail running
Be a better high school coach
 
OnTheLine said:
I will add one: Play my aggressive tennis again instead of my attempt at "smart" (read timid) shot placement tennis. Therefore, stop slicing as much and hit my heavier ball instead.
Click to expand...

This is my goal. Now that I've gone back down a level, my goal is to just be more aggressive this time through. I know I can win by getting into a shell and playing safe, but it won't work against the best players. Time to just go assert myself.
 
2023 Goals

  1. Continue weekly lessons & play 3-4 times per week.
  2. Stay injury free
  3. Play USTA league: Singles and doubles
  4. Improve to the top of my 3.5 team.
    • I'm currently on the bottom of my 3.5 team.
    • Bumped to 3.5 on 12/1/2022.
  5. Improve my first serve.
 
Get back on court for light hitting in summer. Be 100% again before 2024

Learn physical conditioning and injury prevention

Learn advanced slice serve

Develop consistency for serve placement, lob, drop shot

Anything additional would be bonus, because of the long rehab ahead
 
My 2022 goals from 1/1/2022 post:

1) Be on a team that advances to postseason in each of 18+/40+ 4.0, 7.0 MXD, and 8.0 MXD [qualified for five of the six; missed out on 40+ 7.0 MXD postseason]
2) Be on a team that advances to Nationals [went to 18+ 4.0 and 40+ 8.0 MXD Nationals]
3) Win 75% of my regular season league matches [won 76.4% of regular season matches (84-26), with one match to go]
4) Win 60% of my postseason league matches [won 66.7% of postseason matches (8-4)]
5) Win one NTRP tournament [failed...oh-for-two, although my partner and I had a great shot to win a MXD tourney but I choked/ran out of energy]

My 2023 goals:
1) Be on a team that advances to postseason in each of 18+ 8.0 MXD and 40+ 8.0 MXD (not concerned with advancing in men's leagues anymore, and think my best 7.0 MXD seasons are behind me)
2) Be on a team that advances to Nationals
3) Be on a team that advances to TriLevel Sectionals
4) Be on a team that advances to MXD Combo Sectionals
5) Win 75% of my regular season league matches
6) Win 60% of my postseason league matches
 
Not break anything, broke my wrist and lost the last 6 weeks of 2022 on court and in the gym.

Continue to improve my footwork, it’s been remarkable how much it’s positivelyaffected my matches.

Not playing USTA league matches this year. I don’t have fun playing them, and tennis is just a game. Too many crazy personalities that shouldn’t compete in anything let alone tennis. …they just suck the fun out of any matches for me.

Once my wrist is completely healed will continue to work towards the 100x3/per day of the holy trinity. My goal is 100 push-ups per day (met and done over two years ago), 100 dips/day (was at 50) and 100 pull-ups/day (20 was my best). I don’t do them all at once 20 rep sets for push-ups, 10 for dips and a wing and a prayer for pull ups.

continue running for 3 miles+/day.

And keep going with my lifting split. All on hold until my wrist heals.

BTW I’m fully retired, that’s how I can do it.

if I was still working it would be half of that, at best.
 
Rattler said:
Not playing USTA league matches this year. I don’t have fun playing them, and tennis is just a game. Too many crazy personalities that shouldn’t compete in anything let alone tennis. …they just suck the fun out of any matches for me.
Click to expand...
Wow. Sorry to hear that.

I've had better luck with my USTA league matches, and I'm looking forward to playing again in January.
 
1) Get back on the court and practice on a regular basis (3x a week for 1.5 hours each).
2) Play 1 match every 7-10 days
3) Add a little more power to my first serve
 
Well, my 2022 was derailed by a torn meniscus and subsequent discovery that I need a partial knee replacement so I don't hit many of my goals. With knee surgery scheduled for February of 2023 I'm going to scale back my goals for this year:

1) Get back to playing after knee replacement (rehab properly)
2) Keep weight around 180
3) Play a 60 and over tournament by the fall
4) Improve sleep quality

That's about it, not aiming too high.
 
1. Enter tournaments and win at least 1.
2. Continue to be more methodical with learning the game to flatten the up and down cycles of my game.
3. Get the 1HBH to the point where I'm confident enough to use it in match play. I currently regress back to the slice too often regardless of match difficulty.
 
I want to continue to improve my flexibility and movement (somehow over the past 4 years my hips and lower back have gotten very tight and I am currently doing PT to recover range of motion), continue to work on my slice backhand and net game, improve my serve placement accuracy, and still be 3.5 at the end of the year despite all that.
 
1) Bench 225 @ 150 pds.

- I gave up lifting weights after training for ironman/tennis. I miss the feeling of being "strong." That plus I feel like I've gotten "smaller." Less filled. And yes I know bench press doesn't amount to much compared to deadlifts and squats etc...but it's was always my go-to lift equipment when I worked out.

2) Ironman 70.3 Goals:

19 MPH Pace
8:30 Min Pace
1:40 Swim Pace

3) Tennis Goals:

Develop a true kick serve.
Develop my net game.

4) Nutrition Goals:

DRINK MORE WATER.
 
If you have tennis related goals, try to set them in a way where they can be measured and monitored. Otherwise it will be very subjective on whether improvement happened. For instance if you want to develop a kick serve, find a way to metricize it in practice - kick height, certain % hitting to locations splitting service box into thirds etc.
 
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Been playing tennis for a year now. Went from a beginner to a solid 3.0 in 2022. My goal is to be a solid 4.0 by 2023, and to hand my dad (who's a 4.0) a loss for Christmas.

As a newer player, I feel like I'm mostly lacking in ball recognition, especially for faster balls. Hopefully, I can get better at this simply from playing more tennis.

Against bigger-hitting guys, I still feel like I'm getting battered back just from a friendly high-pace rally. In the short term, I'll work on being able to handle faster-pace groundstroke rallies (both FH and BH).

I need to get way better at the net. It's so bad that I say that my signature move at the net is sabotaging my teammate (in doubles). I just have so much trouble making clean contact against faster balls.

My serve is solid, probably even at the 4.0 level. It's currently my biggest weapon, and so I'd consider improving it lower priority. I can do 100+mph first serves that most people my level straight up can't return even if they get a racquet on it. Solid kick second serve that also gets me plenty of aces. Perhaps I'll work a bit more on tighter placement first serves. Currently, I can aim to the sides (DTL vs out wide), but will often miss wide/deep if I try too hard. Generally, I'll just aim fast body shots, since people my level have enough trouble with those as is.

I ordered a tennis ball machine and it just came in yesterday. My shounen manga training arc starts now.
 
Xen said:
I can do 100+mph first serves that most people my level straight up can't return even if they get a racquet on it. Solid kick second serve that also gets me plenty of aces.
Click to expand...
Did you get coaching? A 3.0 self-taught player with 100mph first serves and a solid kick serve is as rare as seeing an unicorn - you see that more at high 4.5/5.0+. Have you ever had your serve measured with radar to know that it is 100mph+?
 
Xen said:
Been playing tennis for a year now. Went from a beginner to a solid 3.0 in 2022.
Click to expand...
Sounds great. What kind of things have you done to improve your game? Do you have any weekly routines to share?
Xen said:
My goal is to be a solid 4.0 by 2023, and to hand my dad (who's a 4.0) a loss for Christmas.
Click to expand...
Wow, that is an impressive goal. I played USTA league starting in JAN 2022 and I got bump to 3.5 this past December. I feel like I'm back at the low end of the 3.5 band, and need to earn my way back up. One of my goals is to make it to the high end of 3.5 by the end of this year. I started playing tennis again in my late 40s (played 2 summers in middle school) and it has been a fun, but slow road to improvement.
 
Xen said:
I can do 100+mph first serves that most people my level straight up can't return even if they get a racquet on it. Solid kick second serve that also gets me plenty of aces. Perhaps I'll work a bit more on tighter placement first serves. Currently, I can aim to the sides (DTL vs out wide), but will often miss wide/deep if I try too hard. Generally, I'll just aim fast body shots, since people my level have enough trouble with those as is.
Click to expand...
Wow. Keep working on that.

I started working on flat serves, but found that I was unable to get much of an advantage with them, since I could not place them consistency wide or down the T. And my second serve was terrible. So I switched to using top spin serve for both my first and second serve. I found spin serves, while not getting me many aces, will get me unforced errors. And a point is a point.
 
socallefty said:
Did you get coaching? A 3.0 self-taught player with 100mph first serves and a solid kick serve is as rare as seeing an unicorn - you see that more at high 4.5/5.0+. Have you ever had your serve measured with radar to know that it is 100mph+?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know it's a bit of an oddity. Over the last year, I've taken my basket out and done 2-3 hour serve-only sessions about 2 to 4 times a week for several months. This was due to advice I got from one of my internet friends: "start off by learning a kick serve and use it for your first serve until you stop missing". Looking in hindsight, I think it was really bad advice, but he was played a bit of D2 or 3, so he seemed like he knew what he was talking about at the time. It took me until late summer/autumn before I could consistently stop double faulting.

No paid IRL coaching, but I get advice on occasion from a friend who coaches (mostly juniors, ~5.0 player himself). I'm learned pretty everything from watching a whole lot of youtube lessons. I haven't measured with a radar, but based on time from ball contact to ball bounce in videos like:
I think I'm easily past 100 on a good shot. I've taken multiple games off of 4.0s simply by hitting 4 aces (because that's the only way I'd beat them :p )

cks said:
Sounds great. What kind of things have you done to improve your game? Do you have any weekly routines to share?
Click to expand...

I play alot. ALOT. Currently playing 10+ matches a week, sometimes 3 or 4 in a a day. I gotta start driving to a match in 10 minutes. Honestly, I need to start turning down matches and get more practice hitting sessions in.
 
Survived the 3rd tournament of this month without an injury. Feels good. The real gauntlet was 5 straight hours of singles (I enter two divisions of singles to max out my matches and sometimes scheduling happens), survived without soreness, blisters, etc. So, my goal is intact.
 
ChaelAZ said:
Maintain at least a 50/50 win/loss percentage in 4.0 leagues
Click to expand...

Had our first match and played pretty bad. We were D1 and have been tearing it up, but I couldn't string anything together. Went down to a good team though 4/6 4/6. Wanted that W out of the gate.
 
  1. Quality exercise at least three times a week (usually tennis or run, but sometimes other)
  2. Win a tournament in doubles
  3. Improved winning percentage in spring mixed league (67%)
  4. Improved winning percentage in summer men's league (63%)
  5. Raise UTR singles to 6.5
  6. Raise UTR doubles to 6.0
 
Mid-year eval:
  1. Quality exercise at least three times a week (usually tennis or run, but sometimes other) -- :unsure: I think I'm doin pretty well so far
  2. Win a tournament in doubles -- :( came within a few points in a third set breaker in mixed. Running out of chances.
  3. Improved winning percentage in spring mixed league (67%) Yep!
  4. Improved winning percentage in summer men's league (63%) Yep!
  5. Raise UTR singles to 6.5 Yep! Rolling in singles this year
  6. Raise UTR doubles to 6.0 -- :( not looking good
Doubles is the challenge for me. I've been working on my doubles game this year, but it just seems like everything I work on automatically applies to singles but not doubles.
 
Been a good year for my game. I've been able to improve my movement both to my forehand and backhands when stretched out wide. My forehand in particular over added that Sinner shot where he plants his right foot and slides his left foot in order to get a balanced reply. I'll see if I can find a video but typically I'm out of the shot when I hit it.

Players have always picked on my backhand out wide and my movement to my left in general. Just started watching professionals to see how they countered this tactic and have had a lot of success implementing it into my game. Feels good to sure up a glaring weakness.

Now if I could get my second serve in order. I used to have a 90% reliable second. It's been a little more than unreliable as of late.

Would also like to lose 10 lbs. We'll see though. I work construction so if I can't sweat it off then idk. I love to eat. And drink beer.
 
Idaho MEP said:
Mid-year eval:
  1. Quality exercise at least three times a week (usually tennis or run, but sometimes other) -- :unsure: I think I'm doin pretty well so far
  2. Win a tournament in doubles -- :( came within a few points in a third set breaker in mixed. Running out of chances.
  3. Improved winning percentage in spring mixed league (67%) Yep!
  4. Improved winning percentage in summer men's league (63%) Yep!
  5. Raise UTR singles to 6.5 Yep! Rolling in singles this year
  6. Raise UTR doubles to 6.0 -- :( not looking good
Doubles is the challenge for me. I've been working on my doubles game this year, but it just seems like everything I work on automatically applies to singles but not doubles.
Click to expand...
Got the dubs tourney win at the 11th hour month, and then that was just enough to creep up to UTR 6.0 in doubles :D

Don't know whether my UTR will slide back down before the end of the year, but I'm counting it.
 
cks said:
2023 Goals

  1. Continue weekly lessons & play 3-4 times per week.
  2. Stay injury free
  3. Play USTA league: Singles and doubles
  4. Improve to the top of my 3.5 team.
    • I'm currently on the bottom of my 3.5 team.
    • Bumped to 3.5 on 12/1/2022.
  5. Improve my first serve.
Click to expand...

Update on my 2023 goals. 3 yes and 2 no.
1-3: Yes. completed
4: No, did not make it to the top of 3.5. I move up from low 3.5C to a mid-tier 3.5C. I will confirm with @schmke in January when our USTA league restarts for 40+.
5: No, first serve training done this year, but match play first serves are about the same.
 
ngoster said:
1. Enter tournaments and win at least 1.
2. Continue to be more methodical with learning the game to flatten the up and down cycles of my game.
3. Get the 1HBH to the point where I'm confident enough to use it in match play. I currently regress back to the slice too often regardless of match difficulty.
Click to expand...
End of 2023 update. I failed to accomplish any of my goals but managed to get bumped up from 3.5 to 4.0.

See everyone in 2024!
 
ChaelAZ said:
So my 2023 goals (and again, carry over)

#1 Continue to manage weight and reinforce healthy habits
  • Maintain at least a 50/50 win/loss percentage in 4.0 leagues
  • Play at least a couple single matches in leagues
  • No restrictions, but get back to running and hiking
  • Continue to help others where we can, but also look to transition back to focus on my wife and I
Easy peasy, right?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the bump on this thread. YE wrap up.

With some family matters and being spread VERY thin in life this whole year, I most certainly did NOT manage my weight or reinforce healthy habits. Pretty much ate and drank the stress and such. So failed #1 on its' face value, but really not to upset about it, given the circumstances.

  • Also didn't maintain a 50/50 4.0 record, but again had some pretty big distractions. Think I ended up going 1/4 w/l for the start of the year and bowed out to take care of things.
  • No singles matches that I recall in league, but plenty with teammates this year.
  • No running or much hiking, and not even daily walks I normally do.
  • Did continue to help others and did get a lot more focus on my wife and I, which actually is a grounding part of my life right now. So for all the loses above in tennis, I still have a lot of pride in what I have been able to accomplish as a person.
*EDIT TO ADD: I just looked back and I DID play a singles match, and got trounced. That was kind of at the peak of some family stuff. Around that, started the season bad and didn't get any better - start in January, had to bow out for February, but tried playing in March to help the team, but was no help and stopped playing the end of March.


2024 GOALS Thread started!
 
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BallBag said:
If I don't get bumped to 4.5 next year, I'm switching to pickleball.
Click to expand...

Ughhhh!

2016_0826corvallis.jpg
 
schmke said:
You were close! Did you try appealing up?
Click to expand...
I didn't, I don't want that 'A' looming over my rating like a scarlet letter. I didn't think I was close either, I had a rough season and then I lost my last match in a double bagel that suspiciously looks like a tank job.
 
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