Paralyzed by this difficult decision ‘-(‘_’)-‘

[travlerajm]

Update:
I walked to a hardware store, hoping to buy a small hacksaw. The only ones they had were kind of big. So I bought a single-hand pruning shears.

I really hate to maim one of my UTs, but one of them might get the treatment tonight.

 

[travlerajm]

Update:
The deed is done.

 

[18x20 ftw]

Update:
The deed is done.

lol...sounds kinda creepy. Did you wear the Jason mask?

 

[travlerajm]

lol...sounds kinda creepy. Did you wear the Jason mask?

The flesh came off easily, and the outer surface of the bone crushed ok. The center part of the bone was harder and I couldn’t get the blade through it.

But I could get the buttcap to seat all the way down after popping out the trap door. I used gorilla tape strips all the way across the butt and an inch along the pallet, and more gorilla wrapped tightly around that, to resecure the cap, covering up the exposed compound fracture.

 

[travlerajm]

Beefed up the upper hoop with extra gorilla.
Re-balanced and ready for testing tonight.
26.75” length, 363.5g, 32.5cm, 356sw

 

[georgeyew]

Beefed up the upper hoop with extra gorilla.
Re-balanced and ready for testing tonight.
26.75” length, 363.5g, 32.5cm, 356sw

Good luck.

 

[Slowtwitcher]

What wristband config?

 

[travlerajm]

What wristband config?

Good question. I snipped one of my 6” royal blue Willbond wrist bands into 2” length thirds. These only weigh 11g each dry, so hopefully they can perform the grip preservation function without the health risk of 100+ grams of inertia.

 

[mark b.]

Trav. I just read your entire saga here. We play with the same frame but I am much older than you. I play exclusively on clay and if nobody else told you this, then if you want more power on clay without messing with the racquet is to simply adjust your tension downward. Don't mess up your timing with different swingweights. When I travel to USTA events on hard courts, I restring 5-7 pounds tighter to control the incoming pace better.
Sorry to hear about your elbow. Yikes.

 

[taylor15]

Beefed up the upper hoop with extra gorilla.
Re-balanced and ready for testing tonight.
26.75” length, 363.5g, 32.5cm, 356sw

How are you measuring your swing weight on the fly? TWU method?

 

[travlerajm]

How are you measuring your swing weight on the fly? TWU method?

Yep. I packed an electronic kitchen scale and ruler with me. Turned out that my cheap plastic ruler (purchased down here on earlier trip) is not accurate as I calibrated against my metal yardstick, but I know it’s 1mm shorter per 30cm! So I factor that in.

 

[TheTennisNoob]

Leaving to head to South America next week.

I’ve been playing the best tennis of my life with my UT over the last month, set up at standard length and 363sw. And down south, I’ll get a chance to test my game against better players on red clay.

So I bought another UT as a back up.
But I can’t decide how I want to set it up?
I’ve narrowed down to 3 options:

A. Exactly like my first UT for continuity of good form. this is hoping my good form against lesser players will translate well against former world class talent, but I worry that I might need to tweak something to get an edge.

B. Same but bump up sw a bit more into the 370s to go all in on my heavy racquet advantage to even the playing field from the baseline. But I’ll probably be less able to use my serve offensively if I do this.

C. Same weighting as first UT, but extend to 27.25”. Go all in on getting free points on serve to even playing field. My newfound forehand confidence might suffer, and my net attacks, return game, and touch might drop a notch. Also not sure if I’ll be able to grip racquet well enough in high heat and humidity to fully weaponize serve.

I know I'm late but if you're worried about being able to grip in a high heat and humid environment maybe try a sweat absorption grip? Whatever kind you want really

 

[Slowtwitcher]

I know I'm late but if you're worried about being able to grip in a high heat and humid environment maybe try a sweat absorption grip? Whatever kind you want really

It's cool you're picking up this show by starting with the pilot, but you need to watch the latest episodes before you can contribute. It's a great show, sort of Red Oaks meets Breaking Bad.

 

[TheTennisNoob]

It's cool you're picking up this show by starting with the pilot, but you need to watch the latest episodes before you can contribute. It's a great show, sort of Red Oaks meets Breaking Bad.

Ah my bad I have a bad attention problem, it was the first thing I thought of

 

[travlerajm]

Ah my bad I have a bad attention problem, it was the first thing I thought of

I actually have two parallel spin-offs with crossover going:

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/let’s-talk-overgrip-strategy-for-hot-and-humid-climates.686886/

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/wrist-bands-causing-my-tennis-elbow.688712/

 

[TheTennisNoob]

I actually have two parallel spin-offs with crossover going:

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/let’s-talk-overgrip-strategy-for-hot-and-humid-climates.686886/

https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.php?threads/wrist-bands-causing-my-tennis-elbow.688712/

Oh I remember the wristband one don't know how I didn't recognize

 

[travlerajm]

Played with the shortened UT last night. Played a little better. But I’m really frustrated right now with my slowness to adjust to the conditions. My 5.0 opponent had solid claycourt fh that punished anything high, and I gave him too many weak balls. I blew many games points and was trailing 4-3 after the hour.

Last night’s court was in poor condition, with tough bounces. And the surface seemed to play really fast, with harder hit balls really scooting forward off the bounce. And the the soft pressureless balls that don’t spin very well - they tend to fly long easily - not as much margin for error on groundies. Even though we’re at low elevation, the balls make it seem like it’s at altitude.

I’m really struggling to find a forehand technique I can rely on. The Hewitt-style wrist lock technique that made me so confident this year on hard courts is just very difficult to execute when I can’t judge the bounce angle until after it hits the court. As a result, I find myself squeezing harder on the grip trying to focus and be ready to make micro adjustments.

Afterward, I couldn’t fully straighten my right arm without difficulty because my forearm muscles were so tight from the exertion.

I’m thinking of tweaking my specs to promote a different style of forehand that uses full lag at contact. Not sure if I will have time to re-mod before tonight.

 

[Anton]

Played with the shortened UT last night. Played a little better. But I’m really frustrated right now with my slowness to adjust to the conditions. My 5.0 opponent had solid claycourt fh that punished anything high, and I gave him too many weak balls. I blew many games points and was trailing 4-3 after the hour.

Last night’s court was in poor condition, with tough bounces. And the surface seemed to play really fast, with harder hit balls really scooting forward off the bounce. And the the soft pressureless balls that don’t spin very well - they tend to fly long easily - not as much margin for error on groundies. Even though we’re at low elevation, the balls make it seem like it’s at altitude.

I’m really struggling to find a forehand technique I can rely on. The Hewitt-style wrist lock technique that made me so confident this year on hard courts is just very difficult to execute when I can’t judge the bounce angle until after it hits the court. As a result, I find myself squeezing harder on the grip trying to focus and be ready to make micro adjustments.

Afterward, I couldn’t fully straighten my right arm without difficulty because my forearm muscles were so tight from the exertion.

I’m thinking of tweaking my specs to promote a different style of forehand that uses full lag at contact. Not sure if I will have time to re-mod before tonight.

Yea, def do not lock your wrist into impact - that's a recipe for inefficiency and pain.

 

[travlerajm]

Yea, def do not lock your wrist into impact - that's a recipe for inefficiency and pain.

Right. But when the alternative is wrestling with my history of epileptic forehand syndrome, I’m in a tough spot.

I might as well use this time for experimentation mode though, as my improved forehand that I debuted on hard court last year just isn’t translating as I hoped on the rougher surfaces here.

 

[Slowtwitcher]

Yea, def do not lock your wrist into impact - that's a recipe for inefficiency and pain.

Here's some footage of traveljam's FH in case you're wondering

Definitely looks like locked wrist to me.

 

[travlerajm]

Playing against the ex-WTA pro in a half hour. Bumped up the sw on my shorty from 355 to 360. Will give the neoforehand a crack at her before resorting to full on experimental mode with full-lag setups.

 

[travlerajm]

Lost 0-6, 2-4. Got bageled by a girl again.

But yesterday I was finally starting to feel a little more comfortable hitting my groundies on this Mars dirt.

I felt better physically, but mentally I needed to be better. I was still getting outclassed on fh wing.

I figured out too late that on her serve, my best strategy was to step inside the baseline and go offensive, as none of her groundstrokes landed as short as her serves.

And I figured out too late that my best strategy on my serve was to hit two hard topspin firsts.

Although I was hitting the ball cleaner, and I felt good weight of shot on groundies and serves, I needed more spin margin. I think the next thing I try is to keep specs the same (26.75”, 368g, 32.5cm, 360sw), but shift the hoop weight down closer to 3-and-9 to promote a spinner impact response.

 

[travlerajm]

Ok. Tweaked up my 26.75” UT with higher twistweight for a bit more spin margin, by shifting some weight from the 10:30-11 and 1-1:30 region to 2-3 and 9-10 zone.

Current spec: 372g, 32.5cm, 364sw

I will test it against the ex-top-1000 forehand monster this afternoon. Earlier time slot, so sun and heat might be a factor.

 

[travlerajm]

Ok. Tweaked up my 26.75” UT with higher twistweight for a bit more spin margin, by shifting some weight from the 10:30-11 and 1-1:30 region to 2-3 and 9-10 zone.

Current spec: 372g, 32.5cm, 364sw

I will test it against the ex-top-1000 forehand monster this afternoon. Earlier time slot, so sun and heat might be a factor.

Agreeing to the 4pm time slot in brutal blazing sun and 90-deg heat with humidity was a dubious decision.

Anyway, despite not having time to tune my fh, I felt like I was able to mount a little better fight with my racquet set up better for heavy spin serves to the backhand. I was getting a lot of free points with the explosive high bounce, and my opponent started to take a deeper return position.

I was also able to take advantage of an edge in the crosscourt bh rallies today - I got some easy points by changing direction and taking my bh DTL, with my opponent a little reluctant to expend energy in the heat chasing for the DTL ball.

My drive fh was a mess, I was late and laggy due to not tuning right, but I was able to get enough slice fh back to steal a few points. I got up 3-2 up a break to at least make him sweat, but then I totally wilted from heat stroke and fell to 3-5 by the end of the hour.

I feel like each day I’m making a little progress. My racquet served well for a few games, then felt too heavy when I started to overheat. I think if I dial down the sw a little bit, and get the fh tuned better, I might be able to stay in the match better against these players.

 

[graycrait]

@travlerajm , I enjoy your traveling tennis stories. I also enjoy the interest in gear "minutia." It took me a good while and I am not getting any younger but I am happy I have found these rackets: Wilson Ncode Nblade 106, Rad OS both orange and yellow themed, Babolat Pure Storm GT and Tour, Volkl Tour 10 Mid Quantum and even the ROK 93. I like the Prince 107G too. Everything else is in the rear view mirror.

 

[travlerajm]

Update:
I went with new spec last night on my shortened UT with less handle mass that promotes lag lock fh technique (as opposed to fixed wrist fh technique). I had interesting match result documented in my fh problem thread.

The new interesting detail is that I measured specs today: 361g 33cm 362sw

It turns out that this is about the same spec that I used back in 2019 for a few months down here on the red clay. It works on this stuff. I actually won a clay singles tourney using it, and was using it the only time I upset the ex-pro with huge fh in straight sets. So I’m going to stick with it a while and see how it goes.

 

[Anton]

Beefed up the upper hoop with extra gorilla.
Re-balanced and ready for testing tonight.
26.75” length, 363.5g, 32.5cm, 356sw

Meant to ask - what is that roll of duct tape doing on your throat? Why not just add lead?

 

[travlerajm]

Meant to ask - what is that roll of duct tape doing on your throat? Why not just add lead?

Gorilla tape is easier to get past the metal detectors at the airport.

They took my Raxx in Argentina!!! :(

I’ve been traveling all over the world, Europe, Asia, North and South America, racquets in tow, for many years now. Never had an issue before until today... Was leaving Buenos Aires from the smaller airport in El Palomar, and the security staff refused to allow my racquets through. They...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

 

[Anton]

Gorilla tape is easier to get past the metal detectors at the airport.

They took my Raxx in Argentina!!! :(

I’ve been traveling all over the world, Europe, Asia, North and South America, racquets in tow, for many years now. Never had an issue before until today... Was leaving Buenos Aires from the smaller airport in El Palomar, and the security staff refused to allow my racquets through. They...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

Tragic story but did they really took your rackets in Argentina because they had lead?

Couldn't you just take the lead off and be on your way?

Most rackets have a slab of metal in the handle anyway.

 

[travlerajm]

Update:
Added 2g more the upper hoop to push sw on my shortened UT to 367 and further promote the lag technique.

Matchup with the ex-top-1000 pro tomorrow in the brutal afternoon heat.

 

[AmericanTwist]

OP, when are you playing the ex WTA girl again? What was her highest ranking? How old now? Props to her for maintaining her skills... Thanks for sharing. Good luck and have fun!

 

[travlerajm]

OP, when are you playing the ex WTA girl again? What was her highest ranking? How old now? Props to her for maintaining her skills... Thanks for sharing. Good luck and have fun!

I had to cancel on her yesterday when I got tied up at work. She’s tough. Her best ranking is around 900, but having played against players as high as 150, I can say that she is as good at age 36 as any of those higher ranked players were at 19. So I don’t think her peak ranking is very representative of her talent level.

 

[travlerajm]

Today I played against big-fh guy again.

My two racquets were both new experimental weightings, and I didn’t have time to wall-tune before my match. This is not good guy to play against with untuned racquet.

I was kind of a mess, especially on forehands, switching racquets, tweaking, peeling off tape.
I feel like I’m just getting blitzed by his offensive onslaught. After getting down 0-3, I actually held next 3 times to lose set 3-6. But it didn’t feel close. I held only because my heavy spin serve was my best weapon, getting some free points with him taking overly big return cuts. I didn’t feel like I was close to breaking.

But then after first set, I finally peeled off the tape to reach the same spec is used on Monday and Wednesday. And suddenly I felt good control! I got broken first game, and we stopped on deuce on next game, but I had a 3 break points and I felt like I was finally ‘competing’ with solid returns and actually hitting solid controlled forehands.

So I guess I’ve stumbled back onto this spec that works best for me on the red dirt. 361g, 33cm, 362sw 26.75”. Promotes lag-lock fh, and my 2hb feels great. Even my serve felt pretty good.