Seniors lounge (over 50) come on in.

TennisCJC

Legend
Wow. slicer-dicer. I'd hit exclusively to that forehand. His slice is very good. He prefers to lob off his backhand too. I'd hit forehands until I can rip one to his backhand and come to the net. I'm tired just watching this.

Yea, I would try to hit to the FH too. Come in and make him pass on FH too. The friend is a bit of an oddity because he has pretty good technique on the BH and serve but no topspin FH. Most players that learn to serve and slice the BH reasonably well have at least a reasonably topspin FH. Anyhow, good level of play from both players and looks like a fun match.
 

toby55555

Hall of Fame
Video today of me (58, black shorts) vs. my friend (62, white shorts) as he sliced and diced me almost to death, I did manage to split sets with him but his slice and drops shots drive me crazy, you only need to watch the first minute to get an idea of what I mean.
I've never played someone with a sliced forehand; as I play predominantly on clay I could imagine he'd be a bit of a handful even though i'm a more dynamic player. Don't your knees suffer from playing on acrylic, I avoid hard courts whenever possible.
 

Grinch

Rookie
Not green either, but cheap!

i was thinking, now that Lewis Hamilton never gonna drive other than civil electric million dollar Merc, not making any emissions, what could a poor retired fighter pilot do? I mean, his carb footprint is rather minor to mine, but no way, I ever gonna get me a fully electric Merc SUV...

Have doubts, If I shall ever become a good person.
Lawn darts, eagles or both? Don’t say warthogs or 117s (not fighters).
 

norcal

Legend
Still working from home and hitting a ton (played the last 5 days in a row, taking today off lol). Body is holding up reasonably well, I'm in the best shape I've been in in a decade at least.

Speaking of fh slices ( @atatu ) yesterday playing dubs against a new guy with a good kick serve I was having trouble controlling my drive returns (esp on fh) so the first time ever I moved in closer and chipped returns and followed them in. This frustrated my opponents who accused me of playing 'old man tennis'!
I took this to mean 'smart tennis'. I may start to embrace my oldness, lol what's next, lob returns?
laugh1.gif
 
Still working from home and hitting a ton (played the last 5 days in a row, taking today off lol). Body is holding up reasonably well, I'm in the best shape I've been in in a decade at least.

Speaking of fh slices ( @atatu ) yesterday playing dubs against a new guy with a good kick serve I was having trouble controlling my drive returns (esp on fh) so the first time ever I moved in closer and chipped returns and followed them in. This frustrated my opponents who accused me of playing 'old man tennis'!
I took this to mean 'smart tennis'. I may start to embrace my oldness, lol what's next, lob returns?
laugh1.gif

There's nothing "old man" about chip and charge. Old school maybe, but NOT old man. :) BHBH
 

Pete Player

Hall of Fame
What aircraft did you fly?

I was in the USAF, but not a pilot. Intel guy, with the PJ’s.

My brother was an F-4 Wild Weasel pilot.
Nice to hear!

Propellers with piston and jet powerplant later in my rut, not a success as one might imagine. But jets in the early years in the squad. Did some really crazy stuff, one cannot imagine. Was really on the loose in the cockpit, which is not good for your future. Hence, lived thru all that sheite, colliding a pine tree top at 900 kph and stuff - my sheite. Really don’t want to coraborate...

Humorous, you cannot use the S-word, people in the US use every day to draw an image of your own - owned happenings and stuff, but get ***** for it.
 

Pete Player

Hall of Fame
Got back onto the court by own release from claviculae reconstruction. Orthopedist check on friday. No pain on the bone area, while playing. Not quite sure, if there ever will be any feel, cause it is numb from levator scapulae down to my nipple. Hoping to get the feel back after the titanium insert’s been removed.

I just got out with people, I don’t know, and as I suspected. Old people out for an hour it is allways max 5 min warmup rallying and game on. First service four tries and that’s it.

Due the injury, I’d prefer a German rallye first to 10 points and game on after that. Now I was sooo late, I couldn’t return into the court. Luckily after the first set was done, I found away to serve. Really hard to toss, when you have injury related pain and movability issues lifting your arm. Anyway, managed to get straight points out the serve and easy put aways later in the hour.

Looking forward to lose on velour next weekend on a Division match. On velour, if I getmy serveworking, it is really deadly, so... My team is having an out game some 300 k away and I’ve put Myself on the roster!
 

toby55555

Hall of Fame
Got back onto the court by own release from claviculae reconstruction. Orthopedist check on friday. No pain on the bone area, while playing. Not quite sure, if there ever will be any feel, cause it is numb from levator scapulae down to my nipple. Hoping to get the feel back after the titanium insert’s been removed.

I just got out with people, I don’t know, and as I suspected. Old people out for an hour it is allways max 5 min warmup rallying and game on. First service four tries and that’s it.

Due the injury, I’d prefer a German rallye first to 10 points and game on after that. Now I was sooo late, I couldn’t return into the court. Luckily after the first set was done, I found away to serve. Really hard to toss, when you have injury related pain and movability issues lifting your arm. Anyway, managed to get straight points out the serve and easy put aways later in the hour.

Looking forward to lose on velour next weekend on a Division match. On velour, if I getmy serveworking, it is really deadly, so... My team is having an out game some 300 k away and I’ve put Myself on the roster!
300km, blimey I can’t imagine getting a team out for that. In our UK county leagues 50miles is considered a marathon journey.
 

Grinch

Rookie
Nice to hear!

Propellers with piston and jet powerplant later in my rut, not a success as one might imagine. But jets in the early years in the squad. Did some really crazy stuff, one cannot imagine. Was really on the loose in the cockpit, which is not good for your future. Hence, lived thru all that sheite, colliding a pine tree top at 900 kph and stuff - my sheite. Really don’t want to coraborate...

Humorous, you cannot use the S-word, people in the US use every day to draw an image of your own - owned happenings and stuff, but get ***** for it.
Very cool. Were you USAF or RAF? A-1 Skyraider or Hawker Tempest/SeaFury? Those were last piston fighters I recall.
 

Pete Player

Hall of Fame
Very cool. Were you USAF or RAF? A-1 Skyraider or Hawker Tempest/SeaFury? Those were last piston fighters I recall.

Neither, and really not that old yet, to have been an ace in the WWII or even a vet. Lucky enough never got onto a real mission.

Basic training on props and liasion flights towards the end. In between fighter training on BaE Hawks. That’s in the past now, trying to find even a fraction of the kicks, you get doing aerobatics with a jet and hard deck at 50 meters passing by the strip at 1000 kph and monouvering the aircraft head down on inverted moves with G-loads varying from -4 to +8.
 
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Vanhalen

Professional
How is everyone tonight? Sitting here with a glass of Cabernet watching tennis and surfing the web.
Reflecting on this year so far. Had 4, yes, 4 close buddies, all fit.....drop over suddenly to be gone forever. Completely shook me. One was my tennis instructor. One age 46, the rest in their early 50’s with college age kids. Devastating. I’m 65. So, I changed my diet, dropped off 30lbs since March.

Totally changed my game. Back to the more simple Connors/Evert classic strokes. Playing the new ProStaffs, Zoom Cage Nike shoes. Playing singles 4 days a week one and a half hours at a time. Praying, staying positive.
 

graycrait

Legend
Nearly 66 and after that TIA two years ago with no recurrence I am happy every time I walk off the court under my own power. Just bought a Wise electronic tension head for my NEOS 1000 so I can restring the dozens of rackets I have hanging on the wall just because I can. Got a ball machine too. I don't even know why they make them with the ability to shoot a ball 95mph. Had some fun with the machine the other day loading 175 balls with a couple of buddies and alternated hitting overheads. You can never get enough practice on that shot or short sitters. Believe me when I say don't have your senior hitting buddy standing at the net 30' away from the machine and then for fun turn the feed rate and speed to max. I was surprised how fast he got down on his hands and knees behind the net. That first shot to the gut left a mark! Just fired myself up to get to the courts after a cup of coffee, already walked the dog 4 miles.
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
How is everyone tonight? Sitting here with a glass of Cabernet watching tennis and surfing the web.

Wife has been all about Pinot Noir again, so I have a wine fridge full of Russian River and Willamette Valley Pinot's.

So just going to be hanging this weekend. Repainting the front room as well, so have all the cut-in work to do to finish priming (going from a dark burnt orange to white).
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
How is everyone tonight? Sitting here with a glass of Cabernet watching tennis and surfing the web.

Try a label called Pessimist [although they'll probably be out of stock :p]: very deep flavor and finish. I'm gonna have some tonight with homemade Ragu Bolognese.

Reflecting on this year so far. Had 4, yes, 4 close buddies, all fit.....drop over suddenly to be gone forever. Completely shook me. One was my tennis instructor. One age 46, the rest in their early 50’s with college age kids. Devastating. I’m 65. So, I changed my diet, dropped off 30lbs since March.

I lost 2 in the last year+ of very similar ailments. Makes one appreciate life. So enjoy that Cab!
 

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
Wife has been all about Pinot Noir again, so I have a wine fridge full of Russian River and Willamette Valley Pinot's.

So just going to be hanging this weekend. Repainting the front room as well, so have all the cut-in work to do to finish priming (going from a dark burnt orange to white).

While you are painting ... I will be spraying on acid stain on my old patio concrete. First time ... what could go wrong? o_O It took me two days with neighbors power washer to get off whatever that black crap was. :mad:
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
While you are painting ... I will be spraying on acid stain on my old patio concrete. First time ... what could go wrong? o_O It took me two days with neighbors power washer to get off whatever that black crap was. :mad:

I haveto do our back patio too. The thinset coating we have on it is chipping. Ughhh, don’t look forward to that.
 

movdqa

Talk Tennis Guru
This is why the parking lots at Home Depot are packed and lots of older people in the store - everyone is doing home remodeling.

I redid the basement and it's great. Lots more work to do.
 

atatu

Legend
Played doubles in a Super Seniors Tournament (55's draw) today and pulled out a three set win 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 after trailing 1-4 in the third. My partner was a 5.0 guy and I was definitely the worst player on the court, but I'll take the win. We play one of the best teams in the state tomorrow, should be a good experience at least !
 

ByeByePoly

G.O.A.T.
I haveto do our back patio too. The thinset coating we have on it is chipping. Ughhh, don’t look forward to that.

I wondered about a concrete topcoat and then staining. I have 20 feet of half inch crack that appears to go all the way through, so patio replacement will be the only option at some point. I just patched the cracks with Quikrete vinyl crack repair ... don't expect it to take the stain. I put 1/2 inch backer rod in the cracks ... which I have used before with self leveling caulk. I didn't think that was recommended with concrete patching, but guy I trust at Home Depot said it will work. All temporary fix ... replacement just a matter of time.

The joys of homeownership ... I am that guy @movdqa talked about in the Home Depot parking lot. 8-B
 

Bobs tennis

Semi-Pro
OK over 50 crew- In rec tennis for senior players how important is age. If you are in decent shape but regularly playing people 15 or 20 years younger should you be upset if you lose. I realize many older people are using walkers and in wheel chairs and at senior tournaments players are divided in 5 year increments and there is a reason for that. Do you play people atleast 10 years younger? Do you go into that feeling you can win? JUST WONDERING
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
OK over 50 crew- In rec tennis for senior players how important is age. If you are in decent shape but regularly playing people 15 or 20 years younger should you be upset if you lose. I realize many older people are using walkers and in wheel chairs and at senior tournaments players are divided in 5 year increments and there is a reason for that. Do you play people atleast 10 years younger? Do you go into that feeling you can win? JUST WONDERING

Most of my partners are 30-35 years younger and half my weight: hence my joke that they are four times more advantaged then me. Untill recently I had a feeling that I could win :)
Feeling shaken somewhat last week(after I got blown away in match by the one who is 30 years younger then me and a better tennis player to boot), but re-started jogging (maybe even plyometrics) and stopped sweets (to lose the weight I had recently gained) + doing other things technique wise and hopefully I'll do better in match situations (I am fine in rallies though).
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
I've played a reasonable number of young guns and they usually beat me. It's generally a speed and fitness thing as their strokes are often much the same. But I've lost a lot of speed in these old knees and my game was always one of fitness and speed. Now its gone and I'm prey to the younger generation.

I think if you have a power game it holds up longer. But if you are a counter puncher its a lot more challenging to keep up with young uns.
 

Toydy

Rookie
OK over 50 crew- In rec tennis for senior players how important is age. If you are in decent shape but regularly playing people 15 or 20 years younger should you be upset if you lose. I realize many older people are using walkers and in wheel chairs and at senior tournaments players are divided in 5 year increments and there is a reason for that. Do you play people atleast 10 years younger? Do you go into that feeling you can win? JUST WONDERING


Always upset if I lose. Younger means less experience
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
I've played a reasonable number of young guns and they usually beat me. It's generally a speed and fitness thing as their strokes are often much the same. But I've lost a lot of speed in these old knees and my game was always one of fitness and speed. Now its gone and I'm prey to the younger generation.

I think if you have a power game it holds up longer. But if you are a counter puncher its a lot more challenging to keep up with young uns.

Power game ftw! :)
 

Puyo

New User
I am 54 years old. I play tennis for more than 40 years, I am a club player and have participated in different categories of the interclub league.
One-handed backhand, my racket for several years is Yonex DR98.
In general I train in singles but I play and compite in doubles.
I live in Argentina (the years should be double counted, jajaja!), the good thing is that we have excellent red wines and champagne. Greetings.
 

Vanhalen

Professional
Age 65. Guys at our club anywhere from mid 20’s to late 70’s. My group of singles players are: 36,47,52, and another 65 year old. We rotate around. I’m right in the middle winning about 40% of the time. When I lose it’s still a tough match, close. I only play singles. Normally an hour and a half to 2 hours. And we are going full on. At 65, I am thankful for my health. Many people my age are in sad physical health.

I changed my life so to speak since March. Dropped 32 lbs. Knees rarely hurt anymore. I’m quicker and endurance is fine. However, it is recovery time that I need. My buddies are competitive and with 4 guys wanting to play ,,,,,,I am constantly getting texts to play every day. I try to play only every other day but cave in and play like 3 or 4 days in a row. It’s hard to say no. My mind and emotions say YES but my body is begging for rest. So, I’m constantly worn out, stiff, etc.
 

toth

Hall of Fame
I am just 50.
I play on clay, usually from behind the baseline.
But i strive to play more on the rise, it is difficoult to change my play becouse i usually play matches and i like winning more than lose with new experiences...
But i will always more on the rise , i think it is better as i getting older.
 

tlm

G.O.A.T.
Age 65. Guys at our club anywhere from mid 20’s to late 70’s. My group of singles players are: 36,47,52, and another 65 year old. We rotate around. I’m right in the middle winning about 40% of the time. When I lose it’s still a tough match, close. I only play singles. Normally an hour and a half to 2 hours. And we are going full on. At 65, I am thankful for my health. Many people my age are in sad physical health.

I changed my life so to speak since March. Dropped 32 lbs. Knees rarely hurt anymore. I’m quicker and endurance is fine. However, it is recovery time that I need. My buddies are competitive and with 4 guys wanting to play ,,,,,,I am constantly getting texts to play every day. I try to play only every other day but cave in and play like 3 or 4 days in a row. It’s hard to say no. My mind and emotions say YES but my body is begging for rest. So, I’m constantly worn out, stiff, etc.


I like playing at least 5 days a week. But playing tough matches too many days in a row can be hard on the body. Now that I am playing indoors we usually only play an hour and a half and some days are just practice so it’s not as tough to recover from compared to playing tough singles matches too many days in a row.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
However, it is recovery time that I need. My buddies are competitive and with 4 guys wanting to play ,,,,,,I am constantly getting texts to play every day. I try to play only every other day but cave in and play like 3 or 4 days in a row. It’s hard to say no. My mind and emotions say YES but my body is begging for rest. So, I’m constantly worn out, stiff, etc.

I rarely play two days in a row for recovery reasons, even if I'm feeling good: what I feel is subjective and won't necessarily warn me if I'm about to injure something. I accept that I can't play 6 days/week like back in HS and am confident that the off day are hugely beneficial to tennis longevity.
 

tlm

G.O.A.T.
I rarely play two days in a row for recovery reasons, even if I'm feeling good: what I feel is subjective and won't necessarily warn me if I'm about to injure something. I accept that I can't play 6 days/week like back in HS and am confident that the off day are hugely beneficial to tennis longevity.

It is safer to play every other day but not necessarily a must. I’ve been playing 5 days a week for years now and during good weather I play or practice in some way everyday with no injury problems. The body adapts to the stress you put on it and especially if you do off court training.

Ive found that off court training is the most important factor in avoiding injuries, not how many days in a row you play. But like I mentioned above hitting and practicing everyday is not the same as playing tough 3 set matches multiple days in a row. In that case it is safer to play every other day.
 

ChaelAZ

G.O.A.T.
I think I achieved codgy curmudgeon last night, putting out the "No Candy" sign and sitting in watching TV. Thinking of changing my username. :D
 

Rattler

Hall of Fame
I think I achieved codgy curmudgeon last night, putting out the "No Candy" sign and sitting in watching TV. Thinking of changing my username. :D

haha

give yourself a pass this year...we didn’t give out any candy either. Hardly anyone did in our community.
My wife had goodie bags for the neighbor kids. Mostly because every once in a while I attack them with my Nerf gun arsenal. Chase them around the cul de sac shooting them with whistling nerf bullets.
BTW I have a 50 round Nerf Machine gun which is excellent for this. Along with about ten other Nerf guns
 

Pete Player

Hall of Fame

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
It is safer to play every other day but not necessarily a must. I’ve been playing 5 days a week for years now and during good weather I play or practice in some way everyday with no injury problems. The body adapts to the stress you put on it and especially if you do off court training.

Ive found that off court training is the most important factor in avoiding injuries, not how many days in a row you play. But like I mentioned above hitting and practicing everyday is not the same as playing tough 3 set matches multiple days in a row. In that case it is safer to play every other day.

I do like you do, train/rally singles at least 5 times a week (usually with people half my age and at least as good as me technique wise), but except some core training, I had put off coart training on hold during the summer...Only now I've restarted running/jogging into the woods a bit, when there are no more mosquitoes/flies.
 

norcal

Legend
Well winter's here, sorta. Couple stormy days but other than that weather has been great for tennis so I've been hitting a lot. Pretty sure my hand/wrist will never be 100% but what're you gonna do?

Met a Asst Prof here at the local uni who grew up playing jr's then played on a smaller D1 team. Stopped playing for a while and now he's picking it back up. So nice to hit with someone who has lots of pace AND consistency. Really helping my game as I have been at the top of my tennis/team/group heap for a while now (since wfh = time to play and x-train) so it's good to have someone to push me around. Crazy to think I'm playing better in my mid 50's than I was 10 years ago. Movement is great, volleys are by far better than ever. Even my fh isn't sucking as much as usual.

Unfortunately covid is making a strong comeback so parks may be closed again soon. I'm hoping tennis will be allowed, I will get awfully depressed with the cold weather and nothing to do (not to whine, my wife's cousin is on a ventilator due to covid; so tragic - we're talking privileged tennis player problems here).

Hope y'all are staying safe and playing some tennis...
 

ubercat

Hall of Fame
We can play again TG but I ve just started new job. Jobs have been DOA here in Australia so my simple goal is to have worked for the year. Snuck a few cardio tennis sessions between gigs. Gonna keep going as they force us to volley. Humbling experience watching the tiny girl instructor hitting twice as hard as I ever could ...and she was holding back. Playing with a bloody truss for my hernia. Waiting on public list so that will come up sometime next year. Good luck to you all in US and Europe.
 

Dartagnan64

G.O.A.T.
But like I mentioned above hitting and practicing everyday is not the same as playing tough 3 set matches multiple days in a row. In that case it is safer to play every other day.

Yeah I think my days of heavy singles play are over.
I play 4-5 days per week but most of it is doubles or practice sessions with my wife where we hit then play one set singles and one set one on one doubles. All on clay. I can handle that routine.

But recently our club has been intermittently shutting down doubles in response to COVID spikes and we are limited to singles. This weekend I played 4 sets of "Fast 5" (first to 5 no ads) rotating with different players from my doubles group. After 2 and a half hours of singles I was trash. I went out to play on Sunday and Monday and at the end I was just completely done. Arm was exhausted, feet were sluggish. Need some recovery days if I'm going to be playing a lot of singles.

Or I need to learn to add "Too good" to my vocabulary.
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
Yeah I think my days of heavy singles play are over.
- Probably not, just practice longer rallies with good partners, half your age and even half your weight :)
Arm was exhausted, feet were sluggish.
- Do you use the whole kinetic chain? Relaxed arm, starting the FH with the hips/back foot?
- Do you work out at home? Chest expander, light weights? Plyometrics?
- Use full bed natural gut and/or play first strike tennis?
Need some recovery days if I'm going to be playing a lot of singles.
- While recovery days are reccomended, do you take a shower within 15 minutes of finishing exercising, massaging your big muscle and stretching? Vitamins? I think B1 is great for recovery. Even the multi vitamin seems to help.
- I do try to play 6 times a week singles and never with my wife (and rarely with women).
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Yeah I think my days of heavy singles play are over.
I play 4-5 days per week but most of it is doubles or practice sessions with my wife where we hit then play one set singles and one set one on one doubles. All on clay. I can handle that routine.

But recently our club has been intermittently shutting down doubles in response to COVID spikes and we are limited to singles. This weekend I played 4 sets of "Fast 5" (first to 5 no ads) rotating with different players from my doubles group. After 2 and a half hours of singles I was trash. I went out to play on Sunday and Monday and at the end I was just completely done. Arm was exhausted, feet were sluggish. Need some recovery days if I'm going to be playing a lot of singles.

Or I need to learn to add "Too good" to my vocabulary.

You'll probably adjust [as long as you don't get injured].
 

Fintft

G.O.A.T.
Those certainly would help. But I was referring to the body's amazing ability to adapt. Of course, it gets less amazing as one ages.

No, you are right, I also suspect that he will build his endurance as he plays more singles...Even without upping intensity it's a big difference from playing singles once a week, to 3 and afterwards to 5-6 times. Still 2.5 hours at a time, a couple of days in a row sounds like too much.
 

S&V-not_dead_yet

Talk Tennis Guru
Still 2.5 hours at a time, a couple of days in a row sounds like too much.

I like inserting rest days in between playing to give my body more time to recover. I tend to exert myself a lot so even if I feel fine the next day, I know there are a lot of minor things my body is taking care of in the healing process.
 
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