Our Tennis Thread

by **jayl0ve** » Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:18

Yeah, I ask myself the same thing. That's why I'm trying to isolate it and get it to where it's automatic...what I've really been concentrating on is throwing the ball more into the court on my 1st serve, before I was tossing it way too close to my body and almost falling over to the left or right, off balance, a lot of the time. So I'm trying to get rid of that.

by **jayl0ve** » Fri, 15 Apr 2011 12:33

Good lord I don't think I've ever played as well as I have the past 2 weeks or so! I played last night for a few hours and I can honestly say I have never been so consistent in my entire life. It was literally like I couldn't miss- I bet I made 2-3 dozen errors the entire night (3 hours).

I truly think it's the fact that I have glasses now :lol:

I'm hitting most of my shots right on or near the sweet spot now and hardly missing at all.

Like Sherlock I just had to share with somebody

by **TomBs** » Sat, 14 May 2011 17:18

TomBs wrote:It's the Tecnifibre Duramix. Hoping to play with the in the next couple of days. Got him to string it on 26 kg (57.3 lbs) (racket says 23-27kg (50-60 lbs), 1 kg (2.2 lbs) heavier than I usually have.

Can't wait to play outside again. Just came back from the club to prepare the courts for the new season. We used to have really crap clay courts, but this year they hired someone else to do the dirty work, and now it looks way better.

Moralspain wrote:sounds great, keep us informed mate

Well, after playing league tennis 2 weeks ago (that was just crap, played a woeful singles match (4-6 2-6, but loads of errors) and a decent doubles match (lost 4-6 6-4 8-10) I just played my first 2 matches in a tournament this year.

Actually, given my lack of a proper serve (double faults galore in my matches usually) I practiced 1 hour of just serving, getting back to the complete basics. Got my racket that I hadn't used so far (and so still on 26 kg). And that paid off today.

Started of with a singles coincidentally against the guy I beat 6-0 6-2 in the 1st round last year. However then he was just back from a back injury. This time it was different, and with me being a diesel I was 0-3 down in minutes time. Then it suddenly started to cling together, with my forehand (my major weapon) warmed up I stormed to a 6-3 win.

Then in the 2nd set my level dropped a bit, and he found my weak spot: Slow balls, without pace for me to feed off. Lost the set 2-6..

3rd set another momentum change. I started serving and had to fight to hold, but so I did. Then I rushed to a 6-2 victory.

After 1 hour of rest I had to play my next match (1st round in a higher category), coincidentally against the neighbour of my first opponent, who coincidentally also is the neighbour of the tournament director :lol:

Anyway, that guy has a rating quite a bit ahead of mine, and already during the warmup I knew it would be extremely tough to beat him. His forehand was blistering, and I was really having trouble adjusting after the first match.

However..

I played the best I've ever played in my life. Everything clinged together (well, apart from the backhand, but still placement on it, and didn't really need it). Serve was perfect, forehand couldn't have been better. I just left my opponent wondering what on earth was going on, as I stormed to a 6-2 in the 1st set.

Then the 2nd set. I managed to keep my level as high as could be and stormed to a 4-0 lead. But as usual then it gets tough. My opponent started to play better, hitting fewer errors, and since I'm too much of a thinker I was afraid it would get into my head. He came back to 4-3. Then it was me too serve, and usually I'd hit like 4 double faults to give away the game

Not now though, as despite giving away a 40-15 lead to get back to deuce, I won the next two points to take the 5-3 lead.

Next game he held easily, as I hit three forehands wide. So 5-4, me serving for the match. The mental wreck that I am everyone was betting for 5-5, and that was just about to happen as it got to 0-40. With a forehand winner from me and two errors from him it was back to deuce though (no double faults on 3 consecutive breakpoints, a miracle!

). Yeah well, a double fault then handed him another breakpoint, but somehow I pulled of my second ace of the match. Then after another good serve it was matchpoint, and with an unreturned serve I took it straightaway: 6-2 6-4.

Quite a read this was

, but that 2nd match felt just so great, felt invincible on the court, as especially in the 1st set nearly everything I hit was perfect. Loads of forehand winners, good serves etc. Second set, despite playing slightly less good, still pulling of a lob off a smash, a backhand sliced lob off a short and very low ball etc.

Tomorrow another 2 matches though, as I have to play in the league for my team.

by **Sherlock 117** » Sun, 15 May 2011 05:24

Congratulations. Great performance.

I'm also playing a tournament this weekend. Won my R16 singles match 1-6 6-3 6-3 in just over 2 hours, and then lost my quarterfinal 3-6 6-3 6-1 in just under 3 hours :shock:

, it was a really really fun match with really no pushing at all going on. All in all I was pretty pleased, but I still frequently have my forehand and serve break down. My backhand is always as solid as a rock.

by **TomBs** » Sun, 15 May 2011 16:39

Nice, unlucky with your QF. It's tough to play 2 3-set matches in a day though. For me my serve and backhand can breakdown, whereas my forehand is always as solid as a rock.

Took my great form of yesterday into today's league matches, winning my singles 6-2 6-4 (after 0-2 down in 1st and 0-3 down in 2nd set :lol:

) and my doubles 7-5 6-3, hitting like 10 aces in the 5 service games I played in the doubles.

by **Vieira151** » Fri, 01 Jul 2011 23:31

Thought I'd just revive this thread, so let's forget Wimbledon.

Today during Men's doubles I hit a crosscourt lob tweener winner from behind the baseline at 6-1 0-0 30-40(their serve).

Was soo happy. :lol:

by **TomBs** » Sun, 10 Jul 2011 20:37

Great shot that

Have never been able to hit a good tweener myself.

Just won a tournament today. Got a new string just yesterday, Babolat Addiction. Felt the difference since my previous string was completely dead.

Had a rough 1st round earlier, surviving matchpoint before taking 3rd set tiebreak 8-6. Played an easy semifinal. Today final, had an easy 1st set, 6-2, but then my opponent started to play better, me hitting some errors. Ended up losing it 4-6. Rough start to 3rd set, 0-2 down, opponent chances for 0-3. Fought back to 2-2, after which we kept breaking each other to get to the tiebreak, with me ruining 2 matchpoints in the progress. Started off great in tiebreak, got the 4-0 lead. Somehow went down 4-5 though. Saved matchpoints at 5-6 and 6-7 before prevailing 9-7. A real final that was

by **Sherlock 117** » Mon, 11 Jul 2011 04:12

Serve is continuing to progress. I had a good day serving yesterday with 5 aces over 2 matches (that's a lot for me

) and a handful of unreturned serves. Lost both matches though. Played in my own tournament on artificial grass and something about that surface just doesn't fit well with my game. I don't really get what it is since I love how easy it is to slide on the surface.

by **Moralspain** » Tue, 13 Sep 2011 17:18

Last week i started, not a tournament, but a league (Round Robin), it's called the Autumn League (NTRP 5.5 to 6), we're 12 players, best of 3 sets.
And yesterday i lost my first match, against the finalist last year, very good player, but i don't mind because i had lot of fun, really, he won the 1st easily 6-2, but then i reacted, i started to return better, to hit winners with FH and BH, some volleys, super fun match, i got 2 sets points to win 6-4 but i missed them, and then we played a tight tie-break, we were 5-5 or 5-4 (can't remember well), and he had 2 straight aces, overall a good match.

Sometimes it's good to lose, yesterday i learnt a lot, i will probably lose many matches, we'll see, you know i'm 30 and most of the guys are in their 20s and practice almost every day. :lol:

by **jayl0ve** » Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:47

Got this racquet today to replace my cracked Aerogel 200...loving it so far

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpage-DB2HT.html

Sexy-looking, too.

Slightly head-heavier balance than the AG200 (which is good for me IMO), and a little bit heavier at 12.5 oz strung, which I really like. The feel is a little different than the AG200 because it is a different string pattern (16x18) but other than that it feels every bit as solid.

by **L Sanchez MD** » Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:09

Nice, similar to my Dunlop.
I might upgrade to something like that once the weather improves and I can get outside playing again. (Booking indoor courts is a pain here..)

Attached a random pic from my last practice.

by **jayl0ve** » Thu, 29 Dec 2011 08:25

Yeah it seems like a very nice racquet...I haven't got a chance to hit with it yet though, actually.

So I guess I am guilty of 'blindly' buying it, but it has almost the exact same specs as my old racquet, plus they don't make my old racquet anymore, so...

This is unrelated to tennis, but I got a gift card to a sporting goods store for Xmas, and bought a really nice wood baseball bat:

33 inch Lousiville slugger... all maplewood, hard as a freaking rock and heavy as a damn brick....I've taken it in the 80 mph cage a couple times already and I LOVE IT, I dunno if anybody else here plays baseball (PROBABLY NOT lol) but the feeling of hitting a ball with a wood bat is sooo much better than aluminum bats. The sound is amazing, too.

by **emate007** » Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:15

Nothing beats the *crack* of an extra solid line drive with a wood bat.

by **jayl0ve** » Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:11

Yeah that's gotta be one of the best sounds ever.

One of the best feelings, too.

It's definitely different than aluminum...harder to make solid contact at first until you get used to the bat. It's quite heavy too. Starting to feel lighter though with each time I use it.

by **Moralspain** » Thu, 29 Dec 2011 10:48

jayl0ve wrote: So I guess I am guilty of 'blind' buying

same here, i got a Yonex xi 98 for Christmas and after 10 minutes hitting with it i realized that it was not for me, i should've demoed before buying it but...., problem here is that every time that i lose 2-3 matches in a row i always blame the racquet and i start looking for a new stick to replace my Heads Prestige, but i've never found something better.

btw yep checking the specs it seems like a nice racquet that Dunlop, good luck Jon

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