Worst day since awhile

[TennisDawg]

I haven’t read this entire thread, but in response to being able to relate question by the OP. I just had a bad Tennis day last Saturday. It helps me if I can identify the why? I was a house sitter for 3 days before my match and tending whiney cats kept me up at nights. Like a timer every hour a whiney cat is a form of sleep deprivation. I know it sounds like an excuse for losing badly. But, I mainly blame it on a tweak in my continental service grip. I won’t go into the lengthy details, other than I read it on TTW. Anyway I went out and tried the grip and it felt great on flat, slice and topspin serves. But that was in practice when I played Saturday I couldn’t execute my serve with it. I realize too late that I was only focused on the grip and forgot everything else about serving fundamentals. Last night I played again but this time I went back to fundamentals I regain my serve technique. So, yes between lack of sleep and obsessing with my new grip over everything else I took myself out of the match. Poor serving for me leads to poor play in general:

 

[AndreDaGamer]

Well I’ve read through everything, what I noticed the most is how you have been talking a lot about your second serve, considering this was in November, hopefully you’ve fixed your serve by now, from experience, also in November, my second serve really sucked, it was not only attackable, but it was also inconsistent, I haven’t been blaming my losses on my serve anymore ever since I’ve fixed my second, however, I was too focused on the second that I let my groundstrokes go and now I am working on balancing my serve and my groundstrokes out so that I am less of a serve bot.

 

[FiReFTW]

Well I’ve read through everything, what I noticed the most is how you have been talking a lot about your second serve, considering this was in November, hopefully you’ve fixed your serve by now, from experience, also in November, my second serve really sucked, it was not only attackable, but it was also inconsistent, I haven’t been blaming my losses on my serve anymore ever since I’ve fixed my second, however, I was too focused on the second that I let my groundstrokes go and now I am working on balancing my serve and my groundstrokes out so that I am less of a serve bot.

No ive been injured and not playing at all, but I know 2nd serve is something I really need to focus on, its been a thorn in my side for a while.

 

[AndreDaGamer]

No ive been injured and not playing at all, but I know 2nd serve is something I really need to focus on, its been a thorn in my side for a while.

Well hopefully you come out of injury and learn how to hit a second serve, as my coach says, you’re only as good as your second serve

 

[hurworld]

No ive been injured and not playing at all, but I know 2nd serve is something I really need to focus on, its been a thorn in my side for a while.

What injury have you sustained?

 

[FiReFTW]

What injury have you sustained?

Back, but its completely my fault, ive been having issues with it since august/september, but continued playing, and as it got worse I started spraying with numbing things and taking painkillers, cuz I wanted to keep playing and thought it would go away its just a small issue, but then it started getting worse and suddenly one day it got so bad after I made a akward movement that I could barely walk even with painkillers etc...

 

[E46luver]

how is it doing now?
what did doctor say? disc?

 

[hurworld]

Back, but its completely my fault, ive been having issues with it since august/september, but continued playing, and as it got worse I started spraying with numbing things and taking painkillers, cuz I wanted to keep playing and thought it would go away its just a small issue, but then it started getting worse and suddenly one day it got so bad after I made a akward movement that I could barely walk even with painkillers etc...

Sorry to hear that. Are you on the road to recovery? Any physio therapy required?

 

[ubercat]

Got totally spanked last week. I've got a slight hernia at the moment diagnosed. it was feeling a bit sore on the night and back was feeling a bit sore and I just didn't want to go for it on the night.

Only positive was this guy had me floundering last time with his sidey shots on both wings. And this time I knew where his shots were. But I couldn't run flat out and I couldn't really go for my shots totally which is what I would need to beat this guy

 

[Shroud]

How do you mentally get over this quickly?

Ive had an absolutely horrible tennis performance today, in doubles and then singles, absolute travesty, missing tons of easy balls, shanking all over the place... after working hard this week on certain aspects of my game and really having some nice days in between where I felt like I really got better, today I feel like sh*t and feel like im much worse as a player than I was even 1 year ago after this performance.

Man its so tough mentally when you have such days, it really is, can someone else relate to this?

Yes I can. Easiest thing to do is to restring. Just blame the strings and fix it. Then you will automatically play better. Hey its new strings.

 

[Grip n Rip]

Back, but its completely my fault, ive been having issues with it since august/september, but continued playing, and as it got worse I started spraying with numbing things and taking painkillers, cuz I wanted to keep playing and thought it would go away its just a small issue, but then it started getting worse and suddenly one day it got so bad after I made a akward movement that I could barely walk even with painkillers etc...

I don't think I've seen a single person on this forum say "I'm going to work on my kick serve" without ending up injured a few months later. I think people obsess with the kick off the court and when not hitting it quite right try to make up for it with extra effort. 200+ of these a day and Bam!

 

[Dragy]

I don't think I've seen a single person on this forum say "I'm going to work on my kick serve" without ending up injured a few months later. I think people obsess with the kick off the court and when not hitting it quite right try to make up for it with extra effort. 200+ of these a day and Bam!

They tend to focus on wrong things practicing kick serve, and first of all, they don’t take into account that kick serve is based on good basic serve mechanics. You don’t learn kick serve based on pancake flat serve or even some carve-around slice serve. You can, however, get some reliable top-slice slowy spinny second serve, it’s just not going to magically explode off the court and jump over opponent’s head because you’ve been killing your back arcing.

 

[E46luver]

u can get a decent kick without arcing the back extreme
i get compliments on my kick all the time
toss at noon means little back bend, no need to toss behind you unless 5.0+

 

[FiReFTW]

I don't think I've seen a single person on this forum say "I'm going to work on my kick serve" without ending up injured a few months later. I think people obsess with the kick off the court and when not hitting it quite right try to make up for it with extra effort. 200+ of these a day and Bam!

I know exactly what im doing wrong with my kick.

The ball actually has a good kick and often kicks very sideway to the right after the bounce, I got alot of good mechanics.

But my two major problems I tend to do is:

1.Overrotate too much too early
2.Pull down too fast

So many times I tend to get a decent paced kick but more of a power kick with low clearance and less spin, it has the right bounce to the right but it also tends to hit the net at times or sometimes go long, its not consistent.

But its hard to fix these things, even tho I know that I do them, will need to focus hard on this once I start playing now.

 

[Dragy]

1.Overrotate too much too early
2.Pull down too fast

Hey Fire!
Toss a tad inside court and overhead.
Get under the ball to swing up.
Stay sideways.
Take the ball a bit lower, let it drop.

You know this stuff. We all know. Just need to dedicate some focused practice time to each and to assembled move. You’ll be good

 

[FiReFTW]

Hey Fire!
Toss a tad inside court and overhead.
Get under the ball to swing up.
Stay sideways.
Take the ball a bit lower, let it drop.

You know this stuff. We all know. Just need to dedicate some focused practice time to each and to assembled move. You’ll be good

Yeah I know but somehow its hard to do

 

[Curious]

it also tends to hit the net at times or sometimes go long, its not consistent.

Totally due to lack of repetition. Your serve has no technical flaws.
Easy to prove. Practice hitting a target with your kick serve only for 15 minutes a day for 3 weeks and see what happens. After you’ve recovered of course.
Side benefit: any repetitive action has a meditative effect.

 

[McGradey]

Got double bagelled by a teammate. We play doubles together/against each other a lot, but I've never played singles with him before and evidently he is much better than me. I have a much bigger serve and forehand, but otherwise he has me beat comfortably on the backhand, movement and at net. He does not make errors and runs everything down. It feels like you need to hit 2 or 3 winners in order to break his defence.

When I wasn’t being pinned in the backhand corner by his deep slice BH, I could dictate points with my forehand, but inevitably I'd make the error first because of his excellent defence and consistency. Or he’d get to net and finish the point there.

Despite the depressing score line, it was an enjoyable match with some good rallies.

My first serve % was garbage, I double faulted too much and I didn’t take my chances when they came. Many times I’d get to 30-0 up on my serve or 15-30 on his serve and then lose the game.

I figure I can get a better result if I can improve those things and use my backhand more confidently. I also need to up my shot tolerance while staying on the gas.

The beatdowns are good teaching devices.

 

[E46luver]

good for you to recognize you're the much worse player. big serve means nothing unless its 120mph. anyone can return a big rec serve. serve placement is everything. everyone has a big forehand. serve and fh do not win matches. weak bh and shot selection are what make the difference. player with a good slice is the stronger player every time. he found your weakness and crushed you. practice your bh and 2nd serve. big shots dont win tennis. lack of errors wins tennis. this is also why weak player can rally with player levels above and think he's same level. then he gets wake up call when player never gives him a comfortabble ball and bagels him. welcoem to real tennis

 

[ubercat]

I find it's giving short balls that kill me. It's annoying because I seldom miss long. So I could fix it in rallies by going for a bit more but never remember to in a match.

 

[E46luver]

giving short ball to weaker player is like winning the point. they are not trained in apprach shot drills. they try to hit baseline winner from mid court. short ball is great offensive error creator against weaker player. anything but rally ball

 

[ubercat]

Yeah I m around the 4.5 level. Anything just past the service line cops a big TS FH to a corner or a nasty fast skidding slice with plenty of side.

I totally agree that an on purpose short ball particularly if it's a low slice can be a good change up. In fact one of the things I really really want to work on is hitting much softer but higher short slices so there's more side and less bounce.

another point where I am mad with myself because I have the touch to do that but always over play it

 

[E46luver]

short ball not good strategy at your level except maybe dropshot as gas the opponent

 

[McGradey]

good for you to recognize you're the much worse player. big serve means nothing unless its 120mph. anyone can return a big rec serve. serve placement is everything. everyone has a big forehand. serve and fh do not win matches. weak bh and shot selection are what make the difference. player with a good slice is the stronger player every time. he found your weakness and crushed you. practice your bh and 2nd serve. big shots dont win tennis. lack of errors wins tennis. this is also why weak player can rally with player levels above and think he's same level. then he gets wake up call when player never gives him a comfortabble ball and bagels him. welcoem to real tennis

This post is like an analysis sandwich between two bits of scornful bread

Thanks, chief

 

[Grip n Rip]

I know exactly what im doing wrong with my kick.

......

And yet. here we are...

 

[ubercat]

short ball not good strategy at your level except maybe dropshot as gas the opponent

Sure if you just try it in the middle of rally. You have to hit wide and deep first.

 

[Fedinkum]

When I recognise I am having those crappy days, I switch to my fluffy cloud relax zen mode and aim to have fun rather than winning. Sometimes, that gets the racket flowing again and the strokes return.