Dreaded winter break...

[lawnchairtennis]

As the winter approaches, I fear that when spring comes around again, i'll have once more lost almost all my strokes and need to work on them all over again from the bottom up. I know its similar to riding a bike how you'll really never forget you'll just need to work at it a bit to get it back up. I just wanted some tips on how to keep my strokes a little more fresh. Assume that there are no indoor courts within reasonable distance to me...

 

[plumcrazy]

As the winter approaches, I fear that when spring comes around again, i'll have once more lost almost all my strokes and need to work on them all over again from the bottom up. I know its similar to riding a bike how you'll really never forget you'll just need to work at it a bit to get it back up. I just wanted some tips on how to keep my strokes a little more fresh. Assume that there are no indoor courts within reasonable distance to me...

I feel ya. I don't look forward to the winter either. I don't play nearly as much during the winter, obviously because of the weather, but even if it is cold I'll take the ball machine out or maybe find somebody as crazy as me to hit some when it's 35 degrees. During the winter I do try to work on two things: footwork and my fitness so I want be out of shape come spring time. I can work these in my garage. I know this doesn't answer the stroke question but this is how I get threw the winter months.

 

[Blake0]

Shadow strokes maybe? At home, swing your racket and go through all your motions (ex: forehand, backhand, serve, etc) for 5 mins a day.

 

[ForehandFiend]

I live in SoCal, so we don't have any of those problems. Maybe you could go stay somewhere warm over winter?

 

[dozu]

you bunch of sissies.... i tell ya, the low limit to play outside is about 10F, below 10F the ball doesn't bounce.

People are strange.. they can jog outside in 10F, but they never play tennis, although if you are 3.5 or better, tennis prolly produces more body heat than jogging.

yeah, the first 10 min is cold as hell and you may need gloves, but once you are warmed up, you don't feel nothing.

Living in Southeastern PA, this is just about borderline weather to play outside thru the winter...

in all fairness, once you get to the new england area, it becomes quite tough.

 

[tennisdad65]

c'mon.. be brave and play in the cold!

I keep playing when it is really cold down here in socal (55-65F) :twisted:

 

[revolutionary technique]

I have a indoor membership....

 

[revolutionary technique]

haha ,..........

 

[ClubHoUno]

I understand you. I play tennis & golf and just started to bike - and I also hate the winter break, but being from Scandinavia, I just have to adapt the best way possible to the climate.

I play 2 times a week for 1.5 hours indoor tennis, and this is almost as much as I play tennis during the summer season, so no big difference there for me. The same with golf. I play golf once a week during the summer and also play right down to 0 degrees Celcius/32 degress Fahrenheit in the winter - and also play in inddor golf simulators. You can also ride a (winter) bike during the winter season - unless ti snows heavily - in that case you're out of luck.

It only snows for like 3-4 weeks each winter here, so I can (have) to live with that.

But think about playing indoor tennis, even though it's expensive

 

[topher.juan]

I don't mind when it's cold, heck I'm always excited about playing in conditions others don't like.. but when you've got 4feet of snow it's pretty hard to play here. I'm not looking forward to the winter; no tennis?! How will I survive?!! I'll do a ton of training like I did last year, but sucks not being able to play.

 

[mtommer]

Once it reaches the 30's here the nets get taken down. With the snow, ice, no nets and temp I hang my racquets up for the winter. I usually don't have to adjust beyond a week or two when spring comes back around.

 

[Cody]

Poor Guys,

Over here spring is just beginning. yay

 

[TTMR]

Odd. I would love to play tennis outside in the winter (provided I could find a willing partner), but the municipalities take down the nets from November until May.

The only place one can play during winter is an indoor club, which is pricey when you factor in membership and court fees.

I think I might take up squash during the winter, though. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable.

 

[dozu]

Odd. I would love to play tennis outside in the winter (provided I could find a willing partner), but the municipalities take down the nets from November until May.

The only place one can play during winter is an indoor club, which is pricey when you factor in membership and court fees.

I think I might take up squash during the winter, though. Hopefully it will be as enjoyable.

those muni people are the same people who can jog in 10F weather but will never play tennis.

the same kind of people who never wear shorts or go to the beach before 5/30 or after 9/1

 

[Venetian]

you bunch of sissies.... i tell ya, the low limit to play outside is about 10F, below 10F the ball doesn't bounce.

People are strange.. they can jog outside in 10F, but they never play tennis, although if you are 3.5 or better, tennis prolly produces more body heat than jogging.

yeah, the first 10 min is cold as hell and you may need gloves, but once you are warmed up, you don't feel nothing.

Living in Southeastern PA, this is just about borderline weather to play outside thru the winter...

in all fairness, once you get to the new england area, it becomes quite tough.

My hands get cold too cold too play once it gets below 30 or 40F. Jogging is different. Your feet have shoes on for warmth and your toes don't have to grip and manipulate anything.

 

[ubermeyer]

I keep playing when it is really cold down here in socal (55-65F) :twisted:

That's hilarious. You think 65 is cold? I feel hot in 45 degrees... and I live in Texas! sucks to be me... maybe because my body doesn't know how to cool down

 

[ubermeyer]

you bunch of sissies.... i tell ya, the low limit to play outside is about 10F, below 10F the ball doesn't bounce.

People are strange.. they can jog outside in 10F, but they never play tennis, although if you are 3.5 or better, tennis prolly produces more body heat than jogging.

yeah, the first 10 min is cold as hell and you may need gloves, but once you are warmed up, you don't feel nothing.

Living in Southeastern PA, this is just about borderline weather to play outside thru the winter...

in all fairness, once you get to the new england area, it becomes quite tough.

he probably means that it rains in winter. obviously you can play in the cold but not in the rain.

 

[dozu]

he probably means that it rains in winter. obviously you can play in the cold but not in the rain.

well well - the keys to play in the rain -

use synthetic strings only - gut turns into marinated sausage, no good at all.
use grass/indoor balls that has less fluff... hardcourt balls double its size after 10 minutes.
have good looking strokes - so people walking dogs pass by and understand these are couple of devoted players who practise in the rain, like Tiger Woods does.... if you hack, playing in the rain looks really crazy.

 

[sando]

temperate never drops below 16 degrees in australia where i live.. only thing stops me playing is rain and a lack of hitting partners..

its about to come into summer here, temps will be over 30degrees. that is the real struggle. not the cold !

 

[Cody]

temperate never drops below 16 degrees in australia where i live.. only thing stops me playing is rain and a lack of hitting partners..

its about to come into summer here, temps will be over 30degrees. that is the real struggle. not the cold !

Yep, tennis all year round down here
The only thing stopping me at the moment is the courts are getting resurfaced yay

 

[Blake0]

I went to a newks camp during spring this year..and had to play in 30-40F weather...for the whole weekend..and i always happened to get icey cold showers..and the heater was broken..so..yeah..fun stuff. It wasn't all that bad though. We played like what..6-7 hours of tennis a day, then.

 

[sando]

nice, my ones got resurfaced but they changed the hardcourts to synthetic grass.. too bad im more of a fan of the fast hardcourts

where abouts in aus u from ?

 

[sando]

that was directed to Cody.. why is there no edit button on these forums

 

[montreal09]

What about a dome covering the outdoor tennis courts during winter?
Municipality may be involved.

 

[Cody]

nice, my ones got resurfaced but they changed the hardcourts to synthetic grass.. too bad im more of a fan of the fast hardcourts

where abouts in aus u from ?

Sydney, Northern Beaches

Yeh, these courts have always been grass and i suspect they will be staying that way.

But in the last couple of weeks i have been playing on hardcourts and i'm beginning to enjoy them.

PS: you get an edit button after a certain amount of posts (=

 

[Silore]

I've played in the cold. Not bad. After a while I started to freeze and, since I'm one handed on both sides (right handed), my left hand had gotten had gotten cold enough to freeze in the position I use to toss the ball.
I've also played in the rain...wouldn't recommend that. Ball dies if it hits a small puddle. I've slipped, fell and crushed my frame. It makes ball placement more interesting though.

 

[Nuke]

Buy some sweats.
Find a wall.
Bring your snow shovel.

 

[jrod]

you bunch of sissies.... i tell ya, the low limit to play outside is about 10F, below 10F the ball doesn't bounce.

People are strange.. they can jog outside in 10F, but they never play tennis, although if you are 3.5 or better, tennis prolly produces more body heat than jogging.

yeah, the first 10 min is cold as hell and you may need gloves, but once you are warmed up, you don't feel nothing.

Living in Southeastern PA, this is just about borderline weather to play outside thru the winter...

in all fairness, once you get to the new england area, it becomes quite tough.

Right...I really hate having to shovel the damn court before a 3 set match, especially after a heavy, wet snowfall.

 

[DownTheLine]

Get a membership at a club...

 

[lawnchairtennis]

like i said there is no indoor court within any reasonable distance of my home, I'm not of the driving age quite yet but even when I am i'd need to drive through an hour or 2 of perilous weather and icy roads to get someplace indoors. Our outdoor courts will have ice on them 90 percent of the winter and the other 10 percent i'll be involved with something different like school activities. I'm in nebraska iowa area. Our garage will always have a car in it. More specifics I know.