kittycattennis
New User
There are many threads seeking advice to improve at tennis but I am in a bit of a rough patch right now so any help would be appreciated.
I am a rising sophomore in HS, female, and been playing for 6-7 years but I only have about a 4.7 utr.
From the age of 11 to beginning of freshman year I had around 2 utr and I constantly beat myself up for it now because how little progress I made in those 2 years and if I had worked harder back then I would maybe have a higher Utr currently.
Early freshman year to end of freshman year, I made some improvements and jumped from around 2.5 to 4.5 utr. But this summer my growth has only been about 0.2 points as I am currently a 4.7. (So I’m kind of plateau-in right now)
My goal is to play D1 college tennis, but I have quite disappointing stats so I anticipate that many people will tell me D1 college tennis is probably unattainable.
But my coaches and my dad tell me my biggest barrier as of now is not my technical or physical, but my mental. Before that, some background:
Around the same time I made a considerable jump in utr, I was training pretty heavily and am still motivated to train hard and as much as possible to improve: around 3 hours a day depending on my schedule, sometimes way more, sometimes less, I do conditioning and fitness for tennis twice a week and also jump rope at least 10 min every day, 30 min max, the usual fitness things, and tournaments nearly every weekend. I definitely don’t train as heavy as 6 utr but I think my tennis training is adequate enough to be improving at a steady rate, but my tennis hasn’t been improving as fast as I’d like for me to play college tennis.
Reason why I am really desperate for advice and guidance right now is because I want to play college tennis D1 but I am certainly not at the level at the moment and I don’t see myself reaching it soon, but I am working really hard to get there anyway and the hard work isn’t paying off fast enough to reach my goal.
My coaches have told me that I am already at the around 5-6 utr level, but I keep being beaten by utr 5 to 6 pretty easily except for a few tightly contested matches between high utr though that doesnt happen often. And my coach also told me that at this rate reaching a 7.3 utr shouldn’t be too unattainable of a goal, so I am aware that I can make this happen.
But with all this talk and “praise“ from coaches i am seemingly doing the opposite of what they say I should be able to accomplish because I am stuck at this 4 utr level and can’t seem to get over the hump. Sometimes I get mad at myself for it because I hear talk all the time that utr 1-5 should be a low-hanging fruit and yet I am working hard as my schedule allows and yet I dont Have the results to show for it and I don’t see myself hitting 5 anytime soon.
I want to improve really bad and I’m going to tell myself to keep believing - but I am doubting myself more and more after each match and disappointing result, will I ever make it anyways? Maybe I don’t have it in me because everyone else around me play Tennis for less years than me and already at 6-7 utr.. am I doing something wrong? what do I need to change to get better?
Do you have any tips to improve faster and what part of my tennis do I need to intensify or change to reach the next level? do I need to practice more? Have a better mentality? I am afraid because I want to reach my goal so bad but I think maybe I’ll never be able to do it.
I am a rising sophomore in HS, female, and been playing for 6-7 years but I only have about a 4.7 utr.
From the age of 11 to beginning of freshman year I had around 2 utr and I constantly beat myself up for it now because how little progress I made in those 2 years and if I had worked harder back then I would maybe have a higher Utr currently.
Early freshman year to end of freshman year, I made some improvements and jumped from around 2.5 to 4.5 utr. But this summer my growth has only been about 0.2 points as I am currently a 4.7. (So I’m kind of plateau-in right now)
My goal is to play D1 college tennis, but I have quite disappointing stats so I anticipate that many people will tell me D1 college tennis is probably unattainable.
But my coaches and my dad tell me my biggest barrier as of now is not my technical or physical, but my mental. Before that, some background:
Around the same time I made a considerable jump in utr, I was training pretty heavily and am still motivated to train hard and as much as possible to improve: around 3 hours a day depending on my schedule, sometimes way more, sometimes less, I do conditioning and fitness for tennis twice a week and also jump rope at least 10 min every day, 30 min max, the usual fitness things, and tournaments nearly every weekend. I definitely don’t train as heavy as 6 utr but I think my tennis training is adequate enough to be improving at a steady rate, but my tennis hasn’t been improving as fast as I’d like for me to play college tennis.
Reason why I am really desperate for advice and guidance right now is because I want to play college tennis D1 but I am certainly not at the level at the moment and I don’t see myself reaching it soon, but I am working really hard to get there anyway and the hard work isn’t paying off fast enough to reach my goal.
My coaches have told me that I am already at the around 5-6 utr level, but I keep being beaten by utr 5 to 6 pretty easily except for a few tightly contested matches between high utr though that doesnt happen often. And my coach also told me that at this rate reaching a 7.3 utr shouldn’t be too unattainable of a goal, so I am aware that I can make this happen.
But with all this talk and “praise“ from coaches i am seemingly doing the opposite of what they say I should be able to accomplish because I am stuck at this 4 utr level and can’t seem to get over the hump. Sometimes I get mad at myself for it because I hear talk all the time that utr 1-5 should be a low-hanging fruit and yet I am working hard as my schedule allows and yet I dont Have the results to show for it and I don’t see myself hitting 5 anytime soon.
I want to improve really bad and I’m going to tell myself to keep believing - but I am doubting myself more and more after each match and disappointing result, will I ever make it anyways? Maybe I don’t have it in me because everyone else around me play Tennis for less years than me and already at 6-7 utr.. am I doing something wrong? what do I need to change to get better?
Do you have any tips to improve faster and what part of my tennis do I need to intensify or change to reach the next level? do I need to practice more? Have a better mentality? I am afraid because I want to reach my goal so bad but I think maybe I’ll never be able to do it.