Help!!my game has left me!

[LuckyPierre]

I have been playing tennis for 5 years now. I have moved up in class every year. I started as a 2.5 and got bumped every year to a 4.0. I appealed this decision and got back to a 3.5 rating. This year has been rough for me at 3.5, Our league went to a ten point tie break format and I have lost 4 out of 5 ten point tie breakers.....I have now lost my confidence, but also my forehand, and backhand. I am struggling playing against 3.0s!! I lost my starting position on my mixed team. I cannot hit a high ball anymore. My backhand is a 2 hander, and I hitting everything flat with no topspin, If it is above my waist I hit it to the fence. Has anyone ever experienced this before???I'm contemplating on giving this game up, but I love it. How can I get my strokes back???aND Confidence? Any little advice will help. THanks

 

[Steady Eddy]

You mention that you've lost 4 of 5 tie-breakers. That's dissappointing, but in itself doesn't mean you do badly. One would expect to go 3-2 or 2-3 in 5 tie-breakers, but it's not that unlikely for it to be more lopsided purely by chance. But if you take it as a sign that something is wrong with your game, it can become a problem.

Since tennis is such a mental game, I'd suspect that your troubles come more from losing confidence than anything else. Next time you play, try to be a little more conservative than you usually are. Aim balls down the middle and deep. When you start staying in the points longer your confidence will come back along with your strokes. And for a while, don't worry about the results too much. Just hit the ball well and the results will take care of themselves.

 

[iambt21]

I have been playing tennis for 5 years now. I have moved up in class every year. I started as a 2.5 and got bumped every year to a 4.0. I appealed this decision and got back to a 3.5 rating. This year has been rough for me at 3.5, Our league went to a ten point tie break format and I have lost 4 out of 5 ten point tie breakers.....I have now lost my confidence, but also my forehand, and backhand. I am struggling playing against 3.0s!! I lost my starting position on my mixed team. I cannot hit a high ball anymore. My backhand is a 2 hander, and I hitting everything flat with no topspin, If it is above my waist I hit it to the fence. Has anyone ever experienced this before???I'm contemplating on giving this game up, but I love it. How can I get my strokes back???aND Confidence? Any little advice will help. THanks

If i were you i would get an hour lesson. go home and work on everything you learned for a week or so and then get another and work on it again. you will improve alot. Just make sure you play confident after the lessons when yo uare hitting from a ball machine or whatever.

 

[LuckyPierre]

I was wondering maybe if I was being too conservative??and maybe I needed to open up and try to hit harder to gain some confidence. The thing is I know I was pushing the ball too much when It got close. It's so hard for me not to focus on the score...If I'm winning its not by enough, or I'm worried they might come back and win the next set then I will be in the 10 point tie break. If I'm losing all I think about is how I used to be good, and now I suck. The thing is I only play once a week now, if that. I havent played in a month as of now. So I'm really having trouble gaining some confidence. I'm screwed up in the head!!

 

[LuckyPierre]

If i were you i would get an hour lesson. go home and work on everything you learned for a week or so and then get another and work on it again. you will improve alot. Just make sure you play confident after the lessons when yo uare hitting from a ball machine or whatever.

I think that is a good idea. I think I will do that. Thanks.

 

[skiracer55]

To begin with...

...stop playing matches for a while, and especially stop with the NTRP. Just go play tennis, preferably under the tutelage of a decent coach. You have some technical/tactical issues beyond lack of confidence that you are not going to fix in a hurry or with a silver bullet...just bite that bullet, do your homework, and it'll all come back...

 

[kevhen]

You need to play more than once a week or once a month if you want to maintain your game. Also try to stay relaxed and don't change your game during tiebreakers. Try to get your confidence back and keep it, but playing more will help your confidence since you currently aren't playing enough.

 

[VS_Power]

this happens to me a lot.

what you do is start playing high percentage tennis--meaning do all you can to get the ball in. first focus on getting the ball in play. then focus on hitting the ball with some directional control...basically left and right. then just focus on giving the ball some topspin. keep at it and eventually your strokes will come back. goodluck