What I learnt today in my match

[Hardserve]

I won 1-6 6-2 6-2 today in my singles but i learnt that it could've been a 1-6 1-6
loss today if my forehand went south on me.

What did I learn from playing this match?

I played the match in hot sticky humid conditions. That is probably the worst kind of conditions to try to play a match in. The White Wilson Pro overwraps do not protect the player from hot humid conditions unfortunately...

Unfortunately in order to play good tennis, the swings must be all fluid and smooth, which means there must be no hitching issues happening while the racquet needs to turn in the hand when doing the pronation serves, or doing groundstrokes, ect.

But I found playing in Hot humid conditions however make these wraps become super extra clingy in the hand, combine that with sticky hot fingers and that causes HITCHING problems in the hand while the racquet is trying to turn and that then causes a nasty snowball effect, causing the swings to crash or become unstable from the hitching or completely derailing them and also derails the serve in the pronation causing
poor incomplete pronation leading to strings of double faults down
into the net and spraying the ball long wildly, causes all sorts of
troubles.
serve and stroke breakdown crashes in the match..

How do we solve this humidity clingy problem with the hands?

 

[jdubbs]

Sawdust

10 chars

 

[TheBoom]

Use a different grip lol

 

[SFrazeur]

For me, Wilson Pro Overgrips get "soggy" very quickly. I use Tourna Grip, XXL.

-SF

 

[DeShaun]

Wilson Pro Overgrips don't seem to excel under very wet conditions. What do, for me, are the Yonnex SuperGraps. Then of course there's Tournagrip which offers great absorption but not much cushioning.

 

[Dreamer]

Learned or Learnt?
That's the real question.

Actually there shouldn't be a problem with sticky grip because you don't want your racquet moving around when you make contact.

The only issue I would see is when you are trying to change grips and your are gripping too hard initially. The gripping hand should be very loose at resting state. Make sure to use your non-dominant on the throat of the racquet to help facilitate grip change. On returns you can even "shake off" the gripping hand to make sure you have a loose grip on the dominant hand.
This should become easier in time.

Another idea is bringing spare grips in your bag that is less sticky.

Other than that. You shouldn't weather affect you, this is the same type of conditions your opponent is playing in. You should exercise a winning attitude, sometimes we make small problems bigger than they really are, and they take over our minds and affect our games more than they should.

 

[Hardserve]

Wilson Pro Overgrips don't seem to excel under very wet conditions. What do, for me, are the Yonnex SuperGraps. Then of course there's Tournagrip which offers great absorption but not much cushioning.

They are good to use in conditions where you are not feeling gluey in the hands but when the hands are nice and dry. I think sticky grip is one factor.

I also have to look also at another issue going on.

SORENESS IN THE ARMS.

I don't know how to solve this soreness problem yet. I have been drinking alot of water the day before playing or training.

My Arms feel fine on thursday, coach makes me train on that day. I have to do 3-4 hours of continual swinging at the
ball in training. Next day my arms are all feeling pretty sore and stiff shoulders and back cause he worked me hard in the training.

So after a day of rest by Saturday my arms are feeling a little bit better, but I still have to play 4 hours of Interclub tennis on that day. So my body is not feeling normal.. There's still a degree of sore stiffness from thursday.

So I Play the doubles, serve holds ok, faults a little bit because arms feel a bit sore and stiff from thursday but able to hold serve and also hit my swings. So the tennis
holds in doubles for about half an hour. Then the tennis
starts to slowly but very gradually deteriorate but still play well enough to win my doubles.

By the time I start singles and start all the swinging
10 minutes later trouble soon hits the body, the arms, the soreness increases quickly and everything starts to all slowly break down. Starting with the serve double faulting into the net or spraying wildly, then the backhand going south, can't even hit consistent no more, and finally the forehand is the last thing to start to break down.

And find my tennis all starting to deteriorate (hitting more and more loose balls out of the court that I normally
don't hit) and go downhill slowly like a leaky tyre.

By the time I finished playing my interclub, my body is
hurting, all sore and stiff afterwards and it takes nearly a week for me to recover my body all back to normal again, and then I play 4 hours of high level tennis again on
thursday in training.

Meanwhile the coach in our club, who is one of the country's top tennis geniuses scratches his head, for he knows
everything all about tennis yet he can't even figure out why I hit the ball so brilliantly with him in the training on thursdays and says I should beable to play in my matches like I do in my training, but when it comes to matchplay on saturdays I produce tennis instead like a slow leaky flat tyre. It starts off at a High Level and then just slowly all peaks downhill from there until I end up playing terrible low level of tennis in
singles and struggle.

Does anyone know how to solve the sore arms problem? Can't swing fluid when arms are not feeling right.

 

[Dreamer]

^ for the arm problem I would actually post a video. We don't know whether it's fitness or perhaps technique. Soreness could be from relying too much on certain muscle groups.

 

[Hardserve]

Learned or Learnt?
That's the real question.

Actually there shouldn't be a problem with sticky grip because you don't want your racquet moving around when you make contact. The only issue I would see is when you are trying to change grips and your are gripping too hard initially. The gripping hand should be very loose at resting state. Make sure to use your non-dominant on the throat of the racquet to help facilitate grip change. On returns you can even "shake off" the gripping hand to make sure you have a loose grip on the dominant hand. This should become easier in time.

You're incorrect about the way i hold my grip. for I don't use any arm tension when I hit the ball. That's why I need
some freedom of wrist movement with the butt to do the
whippy swing.

 

[Hardserve]

^ for the arm problem I would actually post a video. We don't know whether it's fitness or perhaps technique. Soreness could be from relying too much on certain muscle groups.

I'm a bit concerned about this soreness setting in my single games because its affecting the games on saturdays in a negative way and causing me to struggle.

But the tennis Coach (who is a national level coach) has already looked at my forehand on thursday and tells me my forehand was going beautiful. not a single flaw that he can find that's technically wrong with it otherwise he would've told me so if there was a technical fault for he always pulling players up as soon as he sees any technical fault in their swings or strokes.

What's this you say about fitness and muscle groups?

Could heavy spinning on the forehand be causing me sore arms even though I drive the ball with my leg?

 

[jdubbs]

On your days off, you need to incorporate several arm exercises to strengthen that region. Light weight (never heavy) with tons of reps.

Strings can also make a difference. Try synthetic or natural gut vs poly, which is much harder on your arm.

 

[Hardserve]

On your days off, you need to incorporate several arm exercises to strengthen that region. Light weight (never heavy) with tons of reps.

Strings can also make a difference. Try synthetic or natural gut vs poly, which is much harder on your arm.

My coach put me on the Ktour 95. And he dosen't want me putting any lead tape on it to make it heavier. Because that top heavy 10.2 oz frame tends to hit the kick serves long and I might need a heavier frame like 12 oz..

For the Ktour 95 frame has got great benefits in it yes, but because of the unsual swing weight balance in the frame. It produces great spin
and depth and so on form the baseline, but I have to put in alot extra hard work on the ball with this frame than you do with other frames

That's what I don't like about it.

 

[Dreamer]

You're incorrect about the way i hold my grip. for I don't use any arm tension when I hit the ball. That's why I need
some freedom of wrist movement with the butt to do the
whippy swing.

Okay I believe I am miss understanding you. I thought the sticky grip gave you problems with grip changing when switching forehand to backhand, vice versa. However you are saying that you want the racquet to TURN during your stroke?? Turning of the racquet during the stroke is not something you would want. It means it's unstable.

What's this you say about fitness and muscle groups?

Could heavy spinning on the forehand be causing me sore arms even though I drive the ball with my leg?

Improper technique can make certain muscle groups sore if you rely on them too much.

Shanking or missing the sweet spot can also do this and I think this is the case.
I believe you are miss hitting a lot of these shots because you are describing a turning of the racquet during the stroke. Not only that kt95 has a very small sweet spot and is very unforgiving.

Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something. I would discuss this turning of the racquet with your coach.

 

[Hardserve]

"I believe you are miss hitting a lot of these shots because you are describing a turning of the racquet during the stroke. Not only that kt95 has a very small sweet spot and is very unforgiving." Correct me if I'm misunderstanding something. I would discuss this turning of the racquet with your coach.

Why do you want oversized frames for? I used to use them, broke too many strings as a result, I was sending the racquet back to the coach every 2-3 weeks for restringing. So I got the KTour smaller
frame pattern and that string breaking all stopped. Last time I neded a restring was 4 months ago and I'm using Babolat Hurricane Pro.

As for my forehand, well it wasn't my forehand giving me any trouble but but was my backhand mishitting the contact point because my backhand (one hander) only works well if I contact the ball way out in front, but when its a blustery gusty day its harder to time the contact because the wind tries to yank or shove the ball straight into you without any warning and that stuffs up the contact point because I can't hit late on the ball with my backhand. So I had to use my forehand as that's alot more forgiving.
The coach might beable to make the backhand more forgiving.

CHANGING GRIPS TO TURN THE RACQUET FACE? No. You're incorrect about that you know, because I use a special aerodynamic swing.

 

[Dreamer]

^Okay wait. I was talking about changing grips for switching backhand, forehand. Do you not do this?

And also I was asking if you actually want the racquet to turn in your hand during the stroke? That's what I'm not understanding.

Also I never said to use oversized. Kt95 just happens to be extremely small, if not the smallest(someone correct me?). Even a few inches makes a big difference. Especially since you are using Babolat Hurricane Pro, which is polyester. If you mishit often the vibration will hurt your arm.

If you can't fix the mishits. I suggest trying a more midsized racquet or switching the strings to something softer, maybe a hybrid. 4 months of strings not breaking is not necessarily a good thing. Polyester are more durable, but also go dead. The rule of thumb is to replace them as many times in a year as you play in a week.

 

[kimbahpnam]

i'd rather play in hot and sticky than cold and windy

 

[Hardserve]

^Okay wait. I was talking about changing grips for switching backhand, forehand. Do you not do this?

And also I was asking if you actually want the racquet to turn in your hand during the stroke? That's what I'm not understanding..

Yes I do change from backhand to forehand side with the racquet. NO, I don't want the racquet to turn in my hand when swinging the racquet, I just want to turn my hand instead.