FiReFTW
Legend
Was reflecting back on my tennis journey so far and thinking it would be interesting to share and even hear other people's views.
I find it quite crazy now when I reflect back at it, and I also have a better understanding that someone who just starts playing or someone who doesn't play but is a friend of someone that plays (me for example) can't even comprehend the depth and nuances of everything it takes and how much time and effort and everything it takes for small improvements, they just can't possibly comprehend it.
A funny thing was now when I started playing league this year I told my friend that people here play for 10+ years so she shouldn't be expecting many wins if any yet, because she said I need to kill it, and she was like nah cmon uve been playing for a while now cmon you know how to play your gonna kill them.. and I just thought in my head.. oh if only you knew what it takes (mileage, match experience, stroke development etc..)
Only someone who has been in the journey can comprehend, but even they can only comprehend it depending on how long they have been on the journey.
I can have a good understanding of everything up to 2.5years of playing, but compared to someone who has played seriously for 5 or 10 years I still don't have the experience and can't really comprehend all the depth and nuances that come after.
When I started playing 2.5 years ago I thought 1x per week on average (sometimes with a friend sometimes some coaching) aswell as some solo serve practice on court in the summer would be a decent amount of tennis and I will improve alot in some months and play good level tennis after few months, goes to show what most people probably think before starting.
I was playing like that for a whole 1st year and I did improve a decent amount, but it was the first taste I got of the reality of how slow this process is, before starting I thought I would play very good tennis in some months, but now after 1 year I had some better understanding exactly how slow this process is and how slow the improvements are.. and even tho I made some solid improvements my tennis level is not even close to being good or even decent.. and its also then when I realized that to reach a good tennis level 1x per week is not nearly enough, its not even close to being enough.
Its then that I started to increase my volume and had 1 coaching lesson per week where it would be me and a girl playing and drilling under coach supervision and also playing with a friend sometimes, so it was more like 2x per week then and sometimes 3x with some group clinics for a good 5-6 months.
I noticed that this volume increase was benefitial and that my level didn't drop much from previous time as opposed to when I played 1x per week when the next time my timing and everything was off and needed 30 mins to get back or so because of so many off days inbetween.
And I noticed more improvements as opposed to before when I played less.
The girl I played with in those coaching sessions also plays tennis for 15 years (shes 42) and was decent and when we started she was overwhelming me heavily, but after those months I was getting slowly better than her and she also did alot of breaks between which I found annoying.
Then last year in June me and coach decided to really take a more individual aproach and I started working directly with coach and increased my volume by quite alot, 3x per week 1 hour lessons aswell as some group clinics and playing with friends sometimes, and some solo court practicing serves.. so I would say probably around 5-7hours per week of court time with alot of coaching aswell, and did it for the whole summer for around 4 months or so, and I made really a lot of improvements in this time span, it goes to show that you do need court time and you do need to play and practice alot.
Then during this winter I started decent amount of tennis then between I had some issues and stuff and didn't play alot, now for the past month I again started more...
But anyway I played quite a good amount of tennis since 1 year and it shows because I made a ton more improvements than in the 1.5 year before and it feels like overall I have quite alot of mileage and have hit thousands of thousands of shots and forehands and everything (at least compared to an average not so serious tennis player who goes to play 1x per week or not even that) and yet I know exactly what kind of level each of my strokes are at and I know exactly how much more my strokes need to reach certain levels, and I know that even tho I made alot of improvements in this 1 year that I have SOOOOO SOOOOO much to improve in basically every stroke and shot.. but of course some strokes way more than others...
Now as June is coming along, im ready for yet another intense summer of 4-5 months of heavy tennis, this summer will be even more intense than last year with more court time.
Idealy (if weather is nice) 3-4hours of coaching per week 3-4hours of sparring and a league match that can take 1-3hours. Including some tournaments every month aswell as some solo court serve practice and especially a lot of fitness work with a fitness coach that my tennis coach is bringing in now for her junior players, but im going to be attending those fitness trainings aswell.
So again, there will be alot of work and alot of effort put into this summer, and I know again that I will probably make some decent improvements over the course of the summer, but yet I realize that im sooo sooo far away still from reaching even close to what I want to reach, based on how my strokes are now (power, spin, consistency, placement etc...).
It will take many summers more and many winters more, and my game will be more and more complete and my strokes will be better and better, but yet I will still have so much more to improve heavily.
Tennis really is an extremely difficult sport, and the longer and more you play it and practice (if your serious about it) the more you realize just how much depth it has, the sheer depth and nuances of each strokes and how many strokes and how many different situations of these strokes and your fitness, balance, coordination and everything... whooh... its mind bogling.
Anyway I hope you guys enjoy this read from a vivid tennis player reflecting on his 2.5 year journey so far, maybe you can relate in some parts, maybe you have your own stories and thoughts regarding this, share it!
I find it quite crazy now when I reflect back at it, and I also have a better understanding that someone who just starts playing or someone who doesn't play but is a friend of someone that plays (me for example) can't even comprehend the depth and nuances of everything it takes and how much time and effort and everything it takes for small improvements, they just can't possibly comprehend it.
A funny thing was now when I started playing league this year I told my friend that people here play for 10+ years so she shouldn't be expecting many wins if any yet, because she said I need to kill it, and she was like nah cmon uve been playing for a while now cmon you know how to play your gonna kill them.. and I just thought in my head.. oh if only you knew what it takes (mileage, match experience, stroke development etc..)
Only someone who has been in the journey can comprehend, but even they can only comprehend it depending on how long they have been on the journey.
I can have a good understanding of everything up to 2.5years of playing, but compared to someone who has played seriously for 5 or 10 years I still don't have the experience and can't really comprehend all the depth and nuances that come after.
When I started playing 2.5 years ago I thought 1x per week on average (sometimes with a friend sometimes some coaching) aswell as some solo serve practice on court in the summer would be a decent amount of tennis and I will improve alot in some months and play good level tennis after few months, goes to show what most people probably think before starting.
I was playing like that for a whole 1st year and I did improve a decent amount, but it was the first taste I got of the reality of how slow this process is, before starting I thought I would play very good tennis in some months, but now after 1 year I had some better understanding exactly how slow this process is and how slow the improvements are.. and even tho I made some solid improvements my tennis level is not even close to being good or even decent.. and its also then when I realized that to reach a good tennis level 1x per week is not nearly enough, its not even close to being enough.
Its then that I started to increase my volume and had 1 coaching lesson per week where it would be me and a girl playing and drilling under coach supervision and also playing with a friend sometimes, so it was more like 2x per week then and sometimes 3x with some group clinics for a good 5-6 months.
I noticed that this volume increase was benefitial and that my level didn't drop much from previous time as opposed to when I played 1x per week when the next time my timing and everything was off and needed 30 mins to get back or so because of so many off days inbetween.
And I noticed more improvements as opposed to before when I played less.
The girl I played with in those coaching sessions also plays tennis for 15 years (shes 42) and was decent and when we started she was overwhelming me heavily, but after those months I was getting slowly better than her and she also did alot of breaks between which I found annoying.
Then last year in June me and coach decided to really take a more individual aproach and I started working directly with coach and increased my volume by quite alot, 3x per week 1 hour lessons aswell as some group clinics and playing with friends sometimes, and some solo court practicing serves.. so I would say probably around 5-7hours per week of court time with alot of coaching aswell, and did it for the whole summer for around 4 months or so, and I made really a lot of improvements in this time span, it goes to show that you do need court time and you do need to play and practice alot.
Then during this winter I started decent amount of tennis then between I had some issues and stuff and didn't play alot, now for the past month I again started more...
But anyway I played quite a good amount of tennis since 1 year and it shows because I made a ton more improvements than in the 1.5 year before and it feels like overall I have quite alot of mileage and have hit thousands of thousands of shots and forehands and everything (at least compared to an average not so serious tennis player who goes to play 1x per week or not even that) and yet I know exactly what kind of level each of my strokes are at and I know exactly how much more my strokes need to reach certain levels, and I know that even tho I made alot of improvements in this 1 year that I have SOOOOO SOOOOO much to improve in basically every stroke and shot.. but of course some strokes way more than others...
Now as June is coming along, im ready for yet another intense summer of 4-5 months of heavy tennis, this summer will be even more intense than last year with more court time.
Idealy (if weather is nice) 3-4hours of coaching per week 3-4hours of sparring and a league match that can take 1-3hours. Including some tournaments every month aswell as some solo court serve practice and especially a lot of fitness work with a fitness coach that my tennis coach is bringing in now for her junior players, but im going to be attending those fitness trainings aswell.
So again, there will be alot of work and alot of effort put into this summer, and I know again that I will probably make some decent improvements over the course of the summer, but yet I realize that im sooo sooo far away still from reaching even close to what I want to reach, based on how my strokes are now (power, spin, consistency, placement etc...).
It will take many summers more and many winters more, and my game will be more and more complete and my strokes will be better and better, but yet I will still have so much more to improve heavily.
Tennis really is an extremely difficult sport, and the longer and more you play it and practice (if your serious about it) the more you realize just how much depth it has, the sheer depth and nuances of each strokes and how many strokes and how many different situations of these strokes and your fitness, balance, coordination and everything... whooh... its mind bogling.
Anyway I hope you guys enjoy this read from a vivid tennis player reflecting on his 2.5 year journey so far, maybe you can relate in some parts, maybe you have your own stories and thoughts regarding this, share it!
