Effect of the wind on your NTRP?

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Today, the wind was predicted to be a constant 20 mph and Weather.com indicated gusts in the area up to 35 mph. When I showed up for the match I was a few minutes early and I was waiting in the car watching a couple courts warm up while I was listening to the radio. I felt like these courts were either very strong 3.5s or weakish 4.0s.

When I finally got out of the car and walked onto the court I realized how bad the wind was. I later found out that the courts I was watching were infact good 4.5s. I am a 4.0 and really felt like if I were watching a film of my match I would have easily thought my match to be a 3.0 level event. Everybody suxed today.

So the question is when you are playing in gusting wind how much worse do think your game would appear to the oblivious to the wind observer.

 

[Fuji]

I actually play better in the wind! Last year when I played in really, really heavy wind for my last doubles match of the season, my slices were so stupidly deadly it was sickening. I play with a lot of side spin off my serve and backhand, so heavy wind really benefits my shots to jump away from people. I hit a slice backhand that went out of the court, came back in dead on the baseline, and spun very fast AWAY from the person's backhand I was playing against into the fence.

Wind is a very beautiful condition to play tennis in!

-Fuji

 

[AlpineCadet]

I suddenly become a 3.0 when the winds kick up.

 

[li0scc0]

My NTRP drops 1 full point in the wind. I live in a WINDY state, but am not from here. Where I grew up...no wind. Now, tons of wind. I have never adjusted, which is my own fault. Indoors I play as a solid 4.5, outdoors I can lose to 3.5's. Truthfully, it is a factor of the wind and sun. I have issues with bright lights (bad vision) and sun glare is tough on me.
Excuses, I know.
Some people are not affected when they move outdoors. Guys I trounce indoors suddenly run me ragged outdoors. I am impressed.

 

[maggmaster]

No one could play today or yesterday. I played one match outdoors and one in and felt 100% different, the only serve that went in outdoors was flat, indoors I couldn't buy a flat serve.

 

[sphinx780]

First week out after winter, wow, ugly is the only defining qualithy of my game, a few weeks into the outdoor season my level is pretty even either way.

 

[StanW]

Tryouts were fun with the wind today. BH sliced a ball back into my court 3 times. Same with lobs.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

I am shocked that anyone thinks their game appears better in the wind. I almost did not put that option in.

I could believe that relative to your opponents your game is not hindered as much so you get better results. however, how does it actually improve as compared to an 80 degree, overcast, still day (or indoors for that matter)?

 

[J_R_B]

I am generally relatively less affected in the wind, but my level is definitely lower. I generally try to play heavy topspin in the wind either with or against to keep the ball in the middle of the court and let the other person make the errors, and that generally works pretty well at this level.

The winds yesterday were crazy, at least 30-40 mph where we were playing. There were several serves where I tossed the ball and had no idea where I was going to have to swing at it. I was glad we put up 3 points quickly and didn't have to sweat out the last two matches. My 2nd singles guy was done in about 15 mins. I'd say he may be even better in the wind. It looks like you guys struggled a bit with it.

 

[NoSkillzAndy]

Anyone who watched the singles final of the US Men's Clay Court Championships last weekend can tell you that heavy wind can even affect the pros. Nishikori and Sweeting were both really struggling at times and honestly it looked more like a men's open final than the final of a pro tourny.

My "observed" level in singles probably drops .5 to 1 depending on my fitness and how much I've been playing. Perception, footwork, and shot selection are all much better when I'm in shape and playing a lot, so that helps counteract the wind. But if I'm a little rusty or out of shape... yikes! It seriously looks like 3.5 tennis out there with all the pushing, moon-balling and slicing

In doubles, it's not nearly as bad. Probably a .5 drop on a really windy day.

 

[mlktennis]

Played in swirling 20+mph winds yesterday and it was just horrendous. Easily .5-.75 lower quality. No rallies. It was hard to even return the ball off 2nd serves. I thought I was gonna lose an eye off all my frame shots.

The only thing that was working were some low spinny slices that just died or spun all over the place---probably should have reverted to pusher/ slice and dicer mode but it was a social outing and just didn't seem right. I took my beating like a gentleman.

 

[dizzlmcwizzl]

It looks like you guys struggled a bit with it.

It is hard to say since I did not know anyone on either team on any court. that is what you get when you agree to play enough matches to qualify for possible playoffs in a league 90 minutes from your house.

I will say that I generally find that wind makes matches seem closer than I think they should be. We played the Asian fellow and the Russian dude ... I think inside or on a calm day the Russian would be a little better than he showed but the Asian fellow would not be noticeably better. I think he could be overpowered if I felt comfortable enough to hit out.

As far as the rest of the scores are concerned you would be a better judge of how we should have handled them ... we won 4-1 and we won our court so I guess it worked out ... but if this team we played was supposed to be a doormat then we are probably in trouble.

 

[J_R_B]

It is hard to say since I did not know anyone on either team on any court. that is what you get when you agree to play enough matches to qualify for possible playoffs in a league 90 minutes from your house.

I will say that I generally find that wind makes matches seem closer than I think they should be. We played the Asian fellow and the Russian dude ... I think inside or on a calm day the Russian would be a little better than he showed but the Asian fellow would not be noticeably better. I think he could be overpowered if I felt comfortable enough to hit out.

As far as the rest of the scores are concerned you would be a better judge of how we should have handled them ... we won 4-1 and we won our court so I guess it worked out ... but if this team we played was supposed to be a doormat then we are probably in trouble.

That core of that team is a rising 3.5 team, so I'm actually not familiar with a lot of the players, but I don't think Sean considered them a real threat. We play them next, so I guess we'll find out (we have to consider EVERY team a real threat...). I do know the two guys that you played. I also know Dave very well and actually played a couple years with him as a partner on a team in PA about 5 years ago. He's a very nice doubles player, although stylistically nearly the opposite of you. The "Russian guy" played for us a couple years ago. Showed up at the first match and played like gangbusters, and we thought we had something. Showed up at the second match chain smoking and looking like he was coming off a 48 hour vodka bender. He lost badly and we never saw or heard from him again. The "Asian guy" I played in singles last year. He is a decent steady player so he was not an easy out, but you are right that he didn't have the game to really threaten me, either.

As for your team, it looks like your "B" or even "C" level singles players, but a pretty strong doubles lineup. The problem with Sean's doubles teams is that he lost one guy from all of his regular pairs (including Terry). He's left with a bunch of good doubles players but no established teams, so I'm sure he's experimenting with his doubles right now to find the right combos.

PRC just posted a pretty dominating win this weekend, too, although the team they played did not have their top two players in the lineup. You guys play PRC next, so that will be a real test for you. I expect a better singles lineup from you guys, but their #1 singles guy has been a top 4.0 in this league for years and has been to nationals in the past, so you'll need it. We'll see if Sean is ready to roll out the ringers yet or not.

 

[eidolonshinobi]

I actually play better in the wind! Last year when I played in really, really heavy wind for my last doubles match of the season, my slices were so stupidly deadly it was sickening. I play with a lot of side spin off my serve and backhand, so heavy wind really benefits my shots to jump away from people. I hit a slice backhand that went out of the court, came back in dead on the baseline, and spun very fast AWAY from the person's backhand I was playing against into the fence.

Wind is a very beautiful condition to play tennis in!

-Fuji

That's because you need it for Hakugei... the white whale amirite?

 

[Totai]

I would be at least a 6.5 if there wasn't any wind. But I am only a 4.0 now because of the evil wind

 

[Cindysphinx]

I have a theory about how wind affects people at my level: the more tools you have in the box, the less the wind will affect you.

Take the serve. Most women at my level have exactly two serves. A flat hard serve and a slower/push version of same.

In the wind, the flat serve goes long when serving withthe wind, and the slow serve goes wherever the wind takes it.

Say you have the flat serve, but you also have slice and topspin as options. Then you can tailor the serve to the situation. I had a windy match recently, and I was dealing with a diagonal head wind blowing from my left to right. The serve that worked best was a slice into the wind. It went wide to opponent's FH. If she tried to go sharply crosscourt, it would be blown out. If she tried to go more up the middle, my partner's FH volley was there.

 

[Fuji]

I have a theory about how wind affects people at my level: the more tools you have in the box, the less the wind will affect you.

Take the serve. Most women at my level have exactly two serves. A flat hard serve and a slower/push version of same.

In the wind, the flat serve goes long when serving with the wind, and the slow serve goes wherever the wind takes it.

Say you have the flat serve, but you also have slice and topspin as options. Then you can tailor the serve to the situation. I had a windy match recently, and I was dealing with a diagonal head wind blowing from my left to right. The serve that worked best was a slice into the wind. It went wide to opponent's FH. If she tried to go sharply crosscourt, it would be blown out. If she tried to go more up the middle, my partner's FH volley was there.

@eidolonshinobi: Yes, of course!

Cindy, I totally agree with you. Myself having a ridiculous arsenal of shots, wind is a great condition for me to play in. But I could see for people who really rely on just a few shots, to have a HUGE amount of problem if any of them is screwed up. I know a guy I play with, relies on a very high ball toss, and in the wind, he has to lower it by about a foot and he double faults about twice more then normal!

It's all about being able to pull out all the stops in wind, I think!

-Fuji

 

[Angle Queen]

I remember in years past, I've hated playing in wind. This season, it seems, I'm not minding it so much. It's all about the adjustments. We had a fairly stiff diagonal/cross-wind too today but I thought I took good advantage of it, especially in my singles match. Sure, a few balls got caught up in the swirl, but a bit added concentration and staying on the balls of my feet (rather than my heels, where I seem to find myself all to often)....made most of them returnable if not outright good setup shots. Luckily, my opponent had a good sense of humor and we had some good laughs over some funny bounces.

Still, I think our match probably looked like a middle-of-the-pack 3.0 venture rather than the higher-end 3.5 match it was. So, I'll vote for the 0.5 lower rating.

Good question for this time of year!

 

[GRANITECHIEF]

I agree with dropping a 0.5 rating level, same as when you are on video.

 

[eidolonshinobi]

I agree with dropping a 0.5 rating level, same as when you are on video.

Yeah pretty much.

 

[NLBwell]

Depends on how strong the wind is. I've had 2 matches in my life where the wind was so bad that neither I nor my opponent could do any more than bunt the ball in order to actually contact the ball with the racket. 40 to 70 mph winds that were coming off the buildings next to the courts so that the ball could move left, right, upwards or downwards in the span of one service toss. It could move enough to make you actually whiff the serve on occasion. These were nominally 4.5 matches - so in that case, I guess about 2.5 points. Hey, it was USTA league, got to play the match.

 

[ilikephobo]

my serve used to suffer because of the wind... but that was only because i had a pretty high ball toss. Since then i've developed a dramatically lower ball toss with no loss of power ( it actually feels a bit faster ) so wind is no longer an issue. On a windy day for some reason i feel like i can really go for broke on my 2nd serves because the wind always seems to pull the ball into the service box..

 

[Gimmick]

I always have an easier time winning in windy conditions. People I lose 4-6 to regularly indoors become people I can beat 6-3 in windy conditions. I can't recall an opponent who has enjoyed the wind more than me.

The best thing about wind is that it forces me to pay closer attention to the basics, like watching the ball. Indoors my tendency is to take the basics for granted and go for too much like a poor example of James Blake. Outside its all about limiting my errors and creating opportunities for the opponent to fail like Wozniacki.