Our Tennis Thread

[KluddKalle]

Hope you get your training started soon, you seem really pumped for it.

I will probably film myself alot of times, just by watching the ones from today I've learned alot. But I'll wait with uploading and letting everyone see it...

One interesting fact I picked up from one of my videos from today was that I played a tie break and didn't miss one first serve!

My serve has been really stable for a while now, but I didn't realize that I nailed all the first serves.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

I am SO pumped the last time I actually played was around Christmas time in Italy (Arezzo I believe...). I'm itching to play cuz I been working on my footwork (stayin on my toes takin little steps to adjust) and form, shortening up my forehand swing so it's more direct and less loopy, and bending my knees to help stay low on shots. It also helps me not to bend my back which throws my balance off.

Definitely fix ur game up as much as you can tho before you upload. I got ripped on by some of the guys but I appreciate it now because it made me better. Criticism is a hard pill to swallow, but it helps if u can take it in and make adjustments.

Compliments on ur 100% serve percentage lol (in a tiebreak but hey gotta start somewhere ). Would you consider your serve a weapon? Mine is when it's working properly

First day is Monday 2-4 indoors. I have the perfect place for my cam setup lol I sound like such a tennis geek it's ridiculous

[KluddKalle]

Yeah, my serve is definately a weapon. But not in the sense that it's extremely hard or well placed. It's extremely stable. I play alot of kick serves on both first and second serves, so I rarely make double faults. I played a regular match the other day and my first serve percentage was about 80%.

I'm not sure I'll ever upload. I'm 33 and I've played my entire life but at a recreational (although ambitious) level. So I don't know the reason I would have to upload anything...

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Oooh since u put it that way lol... I guess there isn't a reason to upload. I just do it for fun (the uploading), and I'm looking into playing at a school pretty soon so some vids of my progression wouldn't hurt. I'm 23 (not quite a kid anymore ) but I'm working out a lot and trying to keep my body in the best shape it can be so I can be competitive wherever I decide to take my game (college, USTA Tourneys, or even a ladder or league somewhere...).

I really love the game and I'm tryin my best to get better at it, play some lower level tourneys and if my results are good enough I'll keep moving up difficulties. My ultimate goal is to play at least 1 Futures tournament though, but I have to train my BUTT off to make it even a remote reality. College tennis is looking like the way to go so I can finish my degree and enjoy some competitive team play there.

...didn't really mean to say all that much lol but hey!

[KluddKalle]

Hope you get to play a future some time! You seem to be ambitious enough!

I'm editing the clips now (and applying special effects), so maybe I'll upload something to my blog.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Thanks I hope I do too!! I'm really training hard.

Is that Swedish? ur blog that is. Definitely keep me posted on the video's status. I'd like to see.

[KluddKalle]

Yeah, it's swedish. I run a site called (translated) The Tennisnet. It's basically a search function that helps tennis players on all levels to find someone to play with. But we also have a blog, forum, national and local rankings and other stuff. That's how far my tennis interest has taken me...

At the moment we only exist in Sweden and Norway but we are about to put up a site in english aswell later this year.

[jayl0ve]

Honestly I would make playing on your college team more of a priority. Futures are the lowest rung of the pro ladder but it's still pro tennis ....the only real difference between them and ATP Tour players are 1) their serves and 2) mental toughness/experience. At least that's what it seems like to me...you'll see Futures and Challengers players hit some corny ass serves, lots of slice and kick serves as 1st serves. But other than that there really doesn't seem to be much difference they all have pretty damn technically sound strokes and movement, it's just that very very very few players ever 'put it all together' and make a ATP tour level career out of it.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

Jay no worries... playing on my college team IS my priority. I want to finish my program at Stony Brook and play there. Or if I can transfer to another good Tennis college (preferably DI but I'll settle for DII if I get enough financial aid and stuff) I'd play there.

I've spoken to coaches and teaching pro's who have traveled on the futures circuit and I know a lot more about what it takes. But yeah I have my priorities lined up nicely. I'm not gonna try to play a futures tournament tomorrow I'm gonna train and improve and who knows in a year from now my level should be good enough to play a Futures. Like I said, I just want to play ONE futures tourney. Going full on pro right now doesn't look realistic, but when my training kicks in by the end of the summer or by the end of this year my game's gonna look completely different than the way it looks now, and I can make a realistic decision as to how many I want to play.

That's another reason why I want to upload another video soon to show my progression. That other video had MONTHS of rust caked on it lol.

But yeah I still want to play one or two futures events... and trust me I know how hard it's gonna be, but leave it up to me to get there.

@KluddKalle - That's awesome!! And you're in two countries?!? lol kind of a big deal... I'm very impressed.

[Sherlock 117]

Jay no worries... playing on my college team IS my priority. I want to finish my program at Stony Brook and play there. Or if I can transfer to another good Tennis college (preferably DI but I'll settle for DII if I get enough financial aid and stuff) I'd play there.

Ah, you're at Stony Brook! That was one of the schools I was accepted to for graduate school. I was seriously considering going there. On the other hand, if I had gone there I never would have started taking tennis lessons and I'd be far worse than I already am

[KluddKalle]

@KluddKalle - That's awesome!! And you're in two countries?!? lol kind of a big deal... I'm very impressed.

Hmmm...I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not? If not, thanks! If you are...why?

I might add that we're the only service of its kind over here. I know there are sites like these, especially in the states and Britain, but there weren't any here. So I created one and have almost 700 members, and that's without any advertising or marketing at all.

[JJ_DUBZ_87]

@sherlock - good thing you decided against it

@Kluddkalle - I'm not being sarcastic at all honestly. I am seriously impressed that you have a solid thing going with Tennis and it's in Sweden and Norway. lol I'm not making fun of you at all. I would have read the website if I knew Swedish but for real it's a good thing you got going.

Just imagine when the word starts getting around!

[Sherlock 117]

@KluddKalle - That's awesome!! And you're in two countries?!? lol kind of a big deal... I'm very impressed.

Hmmm...I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic or not? If not, thanks! If you are...why?

I might add that we're the only service of its kind over here. I know there are sites like these, especially in the states and Britain, but there weren't any here. So I created one and have almost 700 members, and that's without any advertising or marketing at all.

That's very interesting you have started a site like this. I am currently working on a project like this as well in the US. Right now we're just going to have local tennis news, include all the local ladders, leagues, tournaments, etc. Eventially we want to turn it into a social networking site especially for tennis. Unfortunately it would cost too much right now for us to develop it, but if we can generate enough advertising revenue on our current site that is our plan down the road.

@JJ: Yeah, in the end, the place just wasn't me. It felt a little wierd for me.

[KluddKalle]

JJ: It's hard to know sometimes if written text is supposed to be sarcastic or sincere. So thanks again!

Sherlock: I don't know how it is where you live but here there is almost no organized tournaments, games, ladders etc for recreational players. Clubs may have ladders and such but the waiting lists are long. So that's one reason I started this, to organize tennis for rec players all over the country.

Our goal is to be the number one online tennis community over here and we are well on our way.

You should definately start the site. If you use wordpress or something like it there is alot ove plug-ins that can be used to make a great site. Who knows maybe in the future we'll cooperate.

[Q. Reese]

Guys,

Tell me why on last Friday I was hitting the tennis ball against the wall right. Now, Mr. Man comes and sees me badly hit a backhand.

So, he was beginning to offer some tips but asked me if I am playing tennis "for real or for fun." I then said to him I play for fun after I injured my ankle and foot in 2006 during my 4-1 intramural season in the Fall. He then said okay and walked away, offering no tips.

He left me alone but criticized my backhand. Little did he know, I hit all my backhands really good and with much power on a consistent basis. Yet, I said nothing and let him criticize my one shot.

So, I hit against the wall more. Then, this older guy came to hit against the other side of the wall. He then decided to play with me. I played. Sadly, he left in 30 minutes but liked and commented on my power game.

I am stuck on the court and decide to work on my serves (first time in 2011 and it showed)! The moment I finally hit a serve right with some pace, Mr. Man walks on the court like some action figure with a mean pimp, "Let's go. Show me what you got! Come on!"

I am thinking . . . "Oh no. I am fried." Ball feeding started with the both of us. Believe it or not, I did significantly better than him. I can see he has some shots that look more professional than mine. Yet, it was going out and or dumped into the net.

So, he starts serving. I was up 30-40. He refused to serve again after double faulting and started feeding the ball to me. He started to hit out back-to-back!!

I was like . . . you are the same guy who criticized the one backhand that I hit badly? Who know? Of course, I kept that to myself.

He wanted me to come out the next day to play. That Saturday, it was 40 degrees with a windchill of 50 m.p.h. The real feel tempatures was around 25 degrees F.

Have you had someone that did this to you? Lastly, did you allow such talk to affect your game?