MisterP
Hall of Fame
“You have 5.0 qualities!”
Road to 5.0 - Groundstrokes (video)
- Thread starter FiReFTW
- Start date
CT-Topspin
Rookie
I would like to open a discussion but first want to say that I have absolutely no ill intention against Fire who is a nice young excited man and we like him to be here. Now I will make some bold and very honest claims. And the idea is to help him although he may not find this believable.By the way these are based only on observation, gut feeling and feedback from some other posters here. They may not be true, it might be me being wrong and delusional and I would accept it if I didn't get support from others and the case will be closed.
Now lean back and take a deep breath Fire
Yes, I believe you're delusional and out of touch with reality or to put it less extremely, you're like in a dream. You overrate your talent and level, you think you have extreme potential in tennis, you probably think you would even make a pro tennis player if you had started a little earlier like a few years!
Now again, as harsh as it seems I am no way trying to be antagonistic and hurt you although I apologise for doing so in the end.
So how do we test this? I would like other posters here to be honest and come up with what they think about this and tell everyone here. If it's me being delusional, paranoid or whatever I promise I will shut up and continue following your progress and support all the way.
I'll be honest, I have a fantasy every day of making it big while I'm working my crappy office job that I thought would make me happy after slaving through 4 years of college.
Some people just want to find their place.
FiReFTW
Legend
@Curious
Your opinion is much apreciated, and the fact that you dont believe that I will reach my goal means nothing, nor what anyone else thinks or believes, it just matters what I believe, there are alot of doubters in every segment of life and people who say something is not possible, but thats just their opinion.
Good thing is that these kind of things motivate me even more to work hard (even tho my motivation is high already), so thats good.
Your opinion is much apreciated, and the fact that you dont believe that I will reach my goal means nothing, nor what anyone else thinks or believes, it just matters what I believe, there are alot of doubters in every segment of life and people who say something is not possible, but thats just their opinion.
Good thing is that these kind of things motivate me even more to work hard (even tho my motivation is high already), so thats good.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I
I didnt say I didnt believe you would reach your goals and I dont really know what exactly your goals are. Dont miss the point.
StringSnapper
Hall of Fame
'watching it on a bigger screen now. your forehand technique does look pretty good fire!! Hows your serve return btw?
rogerroger917
Hall of Fame
He is already better than you lol. Dude played for under 2 years.I would like to open a discussion but first want to say that I have absolutely no ill intention against Fire who is a nice young excited man and we like him to be here. Now I will make some bold and very honest claims. And the idea is to help him although he may not find this believable.
Now lean back and take a deep breath Fire
Yes, I believe you're delusional and out of touch with reality or to put it less extremely, you're like in a dream. You overrate your talent and level, you think you have extreme potential in tennis, you probably think you would even make a pro tennis player if you had started a little earlier like a few years!
Now again, as harsh as it seems I am no way trying to be antagonistic and hurt you although I apologise for doing so in the end.
So how do we test this? I would like other posters here to be honest and come up with what they think about this and tell everyone here. If it's me being delusional, paranoid or whatever I promise I will shut up and continue following your progress and support all the way.
Curious
G.O.A.T.
Could be but how do you know without seeing no match play? I'm fine with it anyway, I'm his dad's age!
Do you have anything else to say about the content of my post?!
MisterP
Hall of Fame
Those are 4.5 forehands at least. Anyone who disagrees needs to recalibrate their eyes. If you can hit those shots consistently, 5.0 is a perfectly realistic goal. No idea what your serve is like but given the speed with which you have gotten where you are, I’d say it’s probably pretty good.
Keep doing what you’re doing, but most importantly keep having fun.
Keep doing what you’re doing, but most importantly keep having fun.
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Which is fine if they say they just like hitting the ball and do it for exercise.
It's when they start telling you how good they are that it's a problem.
J
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I would love to do that regardless of the result. I may actually travel to Europe in the next 6 months.
rogerroger917
Hall of Fame
He is not defensive or arrogant. His 5.0 goal is realistic given his progress and age. You are wrong.
C
Chadillac
Guest
Looking great. Your teeing off on her feed, bad manners. Keep that leg back.
You look like wawa
Its hard to say but your topsin is landing in the middle, you need to flatten it out to make it lower or loop it more to get height. Its kind of in the middle atm, it looks good but isnt as effective unless open court.
Very nice boom though
Curious
G.O.A.T.
I agree that's possible. Didn't say the opposite anyway. I still have doubt about the rest though. Waiting for others to share their opinion as well.
C
Chadillac
Guest
ByeByePoly
G.O.A.T.
I would like to open a discussion but first want to say that I have absolutely no ill intention against Fire who is a nice young excited man and we like him to be here. Now I will make some bold and very honest claims. And the idea is to help him although he may not find this believable.
Now lean back and take a deep breath Fire
Yes, I believe you're delusional and out of touch with reality or to put it less extremely, you're like in a dream. You overrate your talent and level, you think you have extreme potential in tennis, you probably think you would even make a pro tennis player if you had started a little earlier like a few years!
Now again, as harsh as it seems I am no way trying to be antagonistic and hurt you although I apologise for doing so in the end.
So how do we test this? I would like other posters here to be honest and come up with what they think about this and tell everyone here. If it's me being delusional, paranoid or whatever I promise I will shut up and continue following your progress and support all the way.
Whoa ... I am dreaming vicariously through the young guns ... @Bender, @StringSnapper , @FiReFTW. If you pee on their dream I get wet also.
D
Deleted member 120290
Guest
As a famous poet once said, "Get to 5.0 or Die Tryin'."
C
Chadillac
Guest
mad dog1
G.O.A.T.
Those are only 4.5 forehands IF you can hit them consistently.
OP’s shot tolerance is very low at the moment. 4.5 is far away still.
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S&V-not_dead_yet
Talk Tennis Guru
That was some IO FH at 2:40!
A lot of people never can achieve that kind of GS skill; to have progressed that far in < 2 years is incredible. Keep it up!
FiReFTW
Legend
Well I started really working on my serve return in the last 2 weeks or so, forehand one is good, but sometimes I try to go for too much (too flat and low arc).
Backhand one is quite erratic and I tend to slice alot unless the serve is not fast.
FiReFTW
Legend
That would be amazing dude, what countries are u planning to visit? If you come id be thrilled to play!
FiReFTW
Legend
Looking great. Your teeing off on her feed, bad manners. Keep that leg back.
You look like wawa
Its hard to say but your topsin is landing in the middle, you need to flatten it out to make it lower or loop it more to get height. Its kind of in the middle atm, it looks good but isnt as effective unless open court.
Very nice boom though
Wawa, tnx haha, im working on leaning out a bit tho, get more agile and better movement.
FiReFTW
Legend
Yea I quite went for that one, flattened the arc a bit and went for a winner.
What does GS mean?
FiReFTW
Legend
Tnx man, I got a lot of passion for tennis, so il keep doing it and working hard!
FiReFTW
Legend
Those are only 4.5 forehands IF you can hit them consistently.
OP’s shot tolerance is very low at the moment. 4.5 is far away still.
True, I mean I can hit them quite consistently when my forehand is on, it was rly off that day, not making stuff up.
But thats during practice, when I do play a match or something I get quite tight alot of times, I have some moments where I loosen up and I might have a game or two when I play consistent and hit it well, then I might miss one and my confidence drops and for a while im tight and miss alot.
Its quite different in a match with nerves and pressure, im getting better but it does take alot of time to improve this aspect, match experience is a big part, you can have a good serve or a good fh or whatever, but if you havent played alot of matches so you are comfortable in those situations amd confident in your shots, your going to be very tentative and your technique will change and break down very easily, specialy when u do miss and ur confidence in ur shot drops fast.
C
Chadillac
Guest
You strike naturally, i dont see any hesistation in your stroke. When you make a decision the racket is executing.
You cant always try to get what you want, if your serious about playing for only 2yrs, 5.0 will be limited to your physical.
Unless you break down in matches. I tend to see natural more than taught, you actually understand what your doing
FiReFTW
Legend
Thanks, I always did feel I had some good natural feel for shotmaking and strokes, coach also said after first training if im playing for what 8-10 years? And couldnt believe when I said 1.5 years, but its true that this is just a small part of tennis, there are many more, physical, mental, fitness, footwork, positioning etc!!
C
Chadillac
Guest
Footwork? I take that back, 4.5 but great at aerobics and line dancing since thats your focus
You get to the ball or not, no curtsey split step to look goodA predator doesnt say to himself 3steps to prey, they know it instinctively
2good4U
Professional
Good at hitting and good at playing are 2 different things.
But if you can't hit for sh*t, then your play stinks anyway.
FiReFTW
Legend
I think one underrated aspect that is important is also tactics and shot selection, I think thats huge, and one of the reasons why players like Federer beat players who hit much harder and faster.
Hitting big gives you an advantage, but having big shots means little if you don't know how to use them properly, now having decent enough shots but also variety (arc, spin, flat etc) and using those shots to open up the court in order to win points, or hit into opponents weak shots or force him into shots he doesn't like etc... thats HUGE, and im willing to bet that the majority of players don't have much of an understanding of that, they basically just hit, and thats it, without any intention, they just hit and try to outhit someone.
Dolgopolov85
G.O.A.T.
Nice slice drop at the 0:50 or so mark. On low balls, get down on a knee if time permits and also let the racquet go up more on the follow through rather than going right across. That might help you avoid netting them.
Fintft
G.O.A.T.
Btw to people talking about consistency, im usually much more consistent than in this vid, I really was off today, I can actualy hit 4-5 balls in a row
But overall, its true that I need to be MUCH more consistent than I currently am, but I think it will come in time, I can't expect to be 100% consistent and hit everything in while hitting with decent pace, cmon guys ive been playing for a short amount of time.
I agree with you, your FH is great (especially for such a short time playing!) and the only ones you miss (i.e. into the net), I think are the FH where you don't do any weight transfer.
Do not listen, right away to anyone who tells you not to hit with decent pace, imho...You are a natural, fluid attacker and keep working on developing your weapons and use them, hopefully, in matches.
It saddens me to agree with TimetoPlaySets lol, but can you drive your 1HBH at all? Or just slice it? Anyhow you also do a great job running around your BH, so that might be a bit of a mute point.
J011yroger
Talk Tennis Guru
Having the greatest forehand in the history of the sport helped him out too.
Not like Fred is throwing softballs out there.
J
FiReFTW
Legend
Oh yes I can drive my backhand hard, sometimes it feels even harder than my FH, I can also spin it alot, its quite versatile, I will try to make a vid in the coming weeks where im not slicing this much.
The only difference between my FH and my BH is that ive probably hit like 20 forehands to 1 backhand so far in my whole play time, and as such its much less stable of a shot.
With my FH when its really on I can do anything, place it anywhere and arc it and shape it how I want, place it deeper, short angles, more arc and spin, flatten it.
With my BH drive even when its on I don't feel the same amount of control, its more of like I may hit 2 shots about where im aiming and then the 3rd will just spray quite a bit off.
Working on it tho!
edit, I went through the vid to see if I could show any topspin backhands at least from drills but nah, we did mostly forehand work all training long, probably why I sliced alot in point play, because I was not feeling confident in my BH drive since didnt rly hit during training, but il make a vid as soon as possible!
True man, his FH is great, im just saying that a great forehand without using it properly is much weaker than if you use it and maximize it to its full potential.
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S&V-not_dead_yet
Talk Tennis Guru
Groundstroke.
Just remember the your improvements wont be linear, meaning that playing and practicing more wont automatically get u to a higher level. i.e. if u got to a certain level in your first two years of play, that u will get twice as good in the next two years. What it usually will get u is more injuries. Thats usually is the number one factor preventing u from getting to a 5.0 level.
leojramirez
Rookie
You can simultaneously improve your stroke technique and match skills, it takes a lot of match play to learn to be competitive. I think if you only rally or train with a coach you will not train the mental part of the game which is as important as technique. I vote for you to play some competitive matches, ideally a league.
mad dog1
G.O.A.T.
True. But if for example you haven’t developed a serviceable topspin backhand yet, however you have a better slice backhand, in a match situation you will most likely not practice the topspin bh and automatically rely on the slice for fear of losing the point and match. This is the reason my coach says to not play matches until you have serviceable groundstrokes and a real 2nd serve first.
FiReFTW
Legend
Thats true, for example I made huge progress on my topspin backhand in the past weeks, but im still not 100% confident in it, and when I have an off day with it and miss 2 shots I lose confidence and start doubting miself, and then subconsciously I start slicing all backhands, just like in this video.
mad dog1
G.O.A.T.
Then you’d better get to work on improving that slice bh.
CT-Topspin
Rookie
You can get pretty far with a slice backhand. Doubles is less forgiving to that shot but I don't think you need a topspin BH to be successful in matches. Granted, I am working very hard to incorporate the topspin BH into my game but there is just so much to learn and practice in matches that drilling with a coach won't teach you. I wouldn't leave matches out just because of that.
I agree with the 2nd serve tip, though. I have spent a lot of time working on my serve and now it's a pretty formidable weapon in matches. I am really happy I developed it early.
FiReFTW
Legend
Then you’d better get to work on improving that slice bh.
I have to improve both!
mad dog1
G.O.A.T.
I was just using that as an example. If you have a really cr@ppy serve, you will resort to the pancake dink serve. My coach’s point is that you won’t continue to work on hitting the stroke you need to work on in match situations
mad dog1
G.O.A.T.
Yes, but a good slice can give lots of players serious fits and is easier to learn.
CT-Topspin
Rookie
You just need to have the discipline to go for your shots in matches even if it means missing them. You can only really develop this confidence by playing a ton of matches.
FiReFTW
Legend
I think you have a point here, I kind of thought about what you said "confidence" and I can completely relate.
I mean my topspin backhand was erratic and horrible 6 months ago, but now its actually decent, not close to my forehand, but its quite decent, and when im hitting it well im confident and keep at it, tho I do slice from time to time for variety, but whenever I miss 1 topspin backhand, or god forbid 2 in a short amount of time, I completely lose confidence in it, because I know not long ago it was a huge weakness, and my mind goes back then and then I lose complete confidence and then I start slicing alot subconsciously, even tho I know its not the right thing to do.
I need to somehow make a shift in my mind regarding this, its similar for my 2nd serve, im hitting it really well and improved it alot, but as soon as I double fault, I lose confidence in it, and then I get tight everytime I serve my 2nd serve, and sometimes may even resort to hitting 2nd serve 2 times to kind of give miself more margin and to hit 2 or 3 good ones and give miself confidence again and then its again fine...
Confidence is so huge, trusting ur shot..at least in my case.
FiReFTW
Legend
Yes, but a good slice can give lots of players serious fits and is easier to learn.
Really? I found slice harder to learn, I mean my topspin backhand is improving at a quite nice pace, but slice.. well I feel more confident with it and I feel like I can get it in almost without fault, but only if I hit it with a big higher net clearance, not really that bitting low skid slice, thats quite hard, I mean I know how to hit it, but its not easy to hit 3 in a row, if I try to hit 5 in a row almost guaranted to net 1 of them..
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