Got whooped by a 13 year old girl!

[DreamingNeon]

went to my (mixed) singles league last night looking for my opponent, when this lady shows up there with her daughter and i was like "no way".. so we were warming up and she was hitting alright, nothing powerful by any means. so we started the match up and her serve was pretty weak (shes like 95 or 100 lbs) but she was consistent in not double faulting and she won her serve game. so when it came to my first serve (my best shot and only reason i started getting into tennis) i took like 20% off to see how she done with it and she was hit or miss, sometimes sending it back barely and other times shanking it across the court.

But heres the thing.. if she got the ball back into play on her return she almost always won the point! no matter where i hit the ball she would always top spin in back in haha.. with not a lot of pace but good placement. i found myself well inside the court which is where im really weak, i find i cant generate any accurate power without sending the ball behind the baseline.. so i ended up having to cut the ball back to her, giving her an easy passing shot.. or end up hitting the net or firing it out of play.

so i quickly had to put the other 20% back on my serve, which helped a bit because her racket was twisting around in her hand on the return, and then she stepped back way behind the baseline and resumed doing what i mentioned earlier!

everyone else i play with usually hits with a bit of power so i dont have to generate my own and i do fine.. but this little girl had me feeling like i was a bull in a chinaware store! i was half steamed about it when it happend but now i cant stop laughing...

ego: deflated

 

[rdis10093]

what is ntrp?

 

[DreamingNeon]

not sure, 3 maybe?

 

[beernutz]

So the issue is that you didn't know before now that there are 13 year old girls that can beat you?

 

[DreamingNeon]

precisely, when i can beat people who hit harder than her

 

[beernutz]

precisely, when i can beat people who hit harder than her

Well now you've also learned that the hardest hitter isn't always the winner.

 

[JRstriker12]

precisely, when i can beat people who hit harder than her

Anyone can hit hard. "Hitting Hard" is rarely a total indicator of skill. Problem is hitting hard consistently and/or beating someone who isn't put off by pace and moves well.

You may also want to think about working on the short ball. If your first serve is your best shot, but you have trouble finishing points inside the court, you will be in trouble if the return lands short off a weak return.

Anyway, chalk it up to a learning experience. This 13 year old probably puts in hours and hours of tennis training and may have being taking lessons for several years, which would make her a very good player.

 

[mucat]

My suggestion is to never play against 13 year old girl. You are not going to win either ways.

 

[goober]

not sure, 3 maybe?

A lot of 3.0s can be beaten easily by a junior who get everything back and you could easily lose to a 70+ year old too. Tennis at the lower level is ruled by consistency more than anything else. Power rarely comes into the equation at this level except as a negative.

BTW are you a man or a woman?

 

[tennis tom]

Since I'm truly competitive, I have to top that. I was beat by a 10 year old kid a couple of weeks ago (and I'm a dinosauer 4.0--not that I'm remotely aware of my rating). I've got an appointment with my therapist shortly, so I will have to leave you'll in suspense until later with the details.

 

[gregor.b]

Dude I lost to a 15 year old girl named Monica Wejnert like 2 years ago.She was one of these prodigies and got to top 5 or 10 in the country.I had no idea who she was cos we mere playing Men's 5-5.5. Unless I hit a winner,she would rally until I missed.It was the longest match I have had in my life. Never again! She played in the Oz open as a wild card playoff winner(last year?).Lol!

 

[gameboy]

There are plenty of early teen girls at my club who give 4.0 men a hard time. There is no shame in losing to someone better than you, no matter how young or what gender.

 

[Timbo's hopeless slice]

There are plenty of 11 - 13 year olds who will win easily against 4.0 men, even higher levels. They just play good tennis, that's more than enough to win at those levels without power...

 

[sureshs]

Their fundamentals are solid, as they learned tennis earlier.

 

[subban]

Not too mention kids that age have so much more stamina and fitness then an adult 30 yrs old plus. I remember when I was that age I was running 6 minute a mile easily without training for gym class. Just natural endurance from being a kid and playing outside. Now I can't even run a mile in 9-10 minutes without actually having to spend time running to build my stamina.

 

[Fuji]

My suggestion is to never play against 13 year old girl. You are not going to win either ways.

Bahahaha best advice in this thread!

-Fuji

 

[Staarr]

Not too mention kids that age have so much more stamina and fitness then an adult 30 yrs old plus. I remember when I was that age I was running 6 minute a mile easily without training for gym class. Just natural endurance from being a kid and playing outside. Now I can't even run a mile in 9-10 minutes without actually having to spend time running to build my stamina.

Yes, this is so true! My 17 year old granddaughter has played tennis for less than a year and can get to some amazing shots because of her quickness. As much as I love her, it still hurts when she wins. The competitive streak comes out!

 

[precision2b]

Well now you've also learned that the hardest hitter isn't always the winner.

BINGO...

Anyone can hit hard. "Hitting Hard" is rarely a total indicator of skill. Problem is hitting hard consistently and/or beating someone who isn't put off by pace and moves well.

You may also want to think about working on the short ball. If your first serve is your best shot, but you have trouble finishing points inside the court, you will be in trouble if the return lands short off a weak return.

AND BINGO... GOOD TECHNIQUE AND A SMOOTH STROKE IS HARD TO BEAT…

 

[LuckyR]

But heres the thing.. if she got the ball back into play on her return she almost always won the point! no matter where i hit the ball she would always top spin in back in haha.. with not a lot of pace but good placement. i found myself well inside the court which is where im really weak, i find i cant generate any accurate power without sending the ball behind the baseline.. so i ended up having to cut the ball back to her, giving her an easy passing shot.. or end up hitting the net or firing it out of play.

Where was your netman on these no pace shots of hers? True she would kill you in singles (as she is better than you) but in doubles you guys could have cleaned house.

 

[DreamingNeon]

it was singles son


and yeah i've realized now that hitting a scorcher dtl but losing the rest of the points is still losing! took me a while to learn that haha

 

[Sakkijarvi]

Hey I got a chance to play an 11 year old junior, male. I beat him but the kid could flat out play, was super competitive. Pumped himself up, pumped his fist at me. It was a lot of fun and I respected his game.

 

[LeeD]

Youngsters can play very well.
About 5 years ago, I lost 2 and 2 to a 14 year old. Naturally, he was
#2 junior 16's in Peru, was checking out UCBerkeley for a full scholarship, got the full blown freebie exploratory trip to Berkeley all paid including both his parents, was 6' tall and maybe 175 lbs., should have been able to hang with most 5.0's, and I'm sure, I would have lost to him when he was 12.
No, he did not take our match seriously, but neither did I.

 

[Fugazi]

Really good 13 yo girls (national/international level) can comfortably beat 4.0s and probably 4.5s.

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

Youngsters can play very well.
About 5 years ago, I lost 2 and 2 to a 14 year old. Naturally, he was
#2 junior 16's in Peru, was checking out UCBerkeley for a full scholarship, got the full blown freebie exploratory trip to Berkeley all paid including both his parents, was 6' tall and maybe 175 lbs., should have been able to hang with most 5.0's, and I'm sure, I would have lost to him when he was 12.
No, he did not take our match seriously, but neither did I.

Not sure who told you he had a fully paid for exploratory trip at his age.....that is illegal and schools are crazy about not breaking NCAA rules, especially tennis which does not pay the bills like football does. Someone was blowing smoke at you.

Unless he was a 14 year old who was in his senor academic year...but I highly doubt that.

 

[LeeD]

Well, I know little about recruiting rules and all that but....
Said kid and parents stayed at a really high end house near the top of UCBerk campus, probably worth over 2 mil, for 3 weeks. Dad was driving a black SUV that seemed brand new. Kid wore caps and hoodies with the UCBerk label on them. Kid wore old cheap tennis shoes, but brand new Bab rackets and bag. Kid wore odd old clothes, as did both parents. I saw them together twice, and played with said kid maybe 5 times, 4 doubles.
He kept saying how impressed he was by Berkeley, the houses, the cars, the sights, the cleanliness, and the attitude. He kept asking if everyone here lived like that. As one example, he noted all the cars parked around the tennis courts were newer than 4 years, or expensive Mercedes, Audi's and Beemers.
He didn't see my '79 Ford Van.
Sponsor?

 

[TennisCoachFLA]

Well, I know little about recruiting rules and all that but....
Said kid and parents stayed at a really high end house near the top of UCBerk campus, probably worth over 2 mil, for 3 weeks. Dad was driving a black SUV that seemed brand new. Kid wore caps and hoodies with the UCBerk label on them. Kid wore old cheap tennis shoes, but brand new Bab rackets and bag. Kid wore odd old clothes, as did both parents. I saw them together twice, and played with said kid maybe 5 times, 4 doubles.
He kept saying how impressed he was by Berkeley, the houses, the cars, the sights, the cleanliness, and the attitude. He kept asking if everyone here lived like that. As one example, he noted all the cars parked around the tennis courts were newer than 4 years, or expensive Mercedes, Audi's and Beemers.
He didn't see my '79 Ford Van.
Sponsor?

Strange stuff no doubt. Sounds like there was something besides tennis going on. Tennis does not produce revenue, so UC Berk would certainly not shell out that kind of coin to recruit a player, especially underage, not even for the next Federer.

 

[LeeD]

When I was living in SanRafael, I sometimes played a student from DomincanCollege, and he was from France. He said he visited DomincanCollege several times as a high schooler in France, always with a smile and a wink in his eye. Nice kid, I heard, not from him, that he was a finalist at the WimbledonJunior tourney, but I never asked him about it or his ranking in France (because he smoked me anyways, and I wasn't in the mood for chit chat).
That was '91 or '92.
Seems some things go on behind the scenes.

 

[LeeD]

Now that I think about it...
As an 11th grader at LincomHigh in SF, and scouted for 3 years from playing football and basketball (talking since 9th grade), several scouts from local colleges (not CCSF or SFState), came by and gave speeches to a select group of athletes, and separated us by our interest in which colleges we were planning to attend. There, we got further speeches in smaller groups, I noticed that there were also student'/atheletes from Lowell and WashingtonHighs, and we submitted written text on our lives, hopes, goals, and aspirations, then left with a .."we'll be contacting you soon"....
I was an average basketball player, but started varsity at 2 guard, which in those days (1964) not the shooting guard, but the defender/"tough" guy. I kinda sucked at football, because I was tiny, but I was the kicker, who was very good.
No, I never heard from them. I broke my leg, required surgery and pins, and barely made it back for the last 2 games of the season.
Our starting right wideout and QB got free 3 day trips to campus out of state.