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Tennis - General Discussion

MIMIC

Banned
Continental grip experiment: OVER

1) I injured my thumb by having it sit against the racket while trying to use a continental grip. I think I pinched a nerve and my thumb has been numb/tingly for the last 48 hours. It went numb back when I FIRST decided to try the grip out, and I had only been using it for 10 minutes! I thought it would go away :(

2) Went back to my normal grip. Beat the guy 6-1, 6-2 (same guy who beat me 6-1, 6-3 on Friday). We played a "best of 5". He won the 3rd set 7-5 and I won the 4th 6-1.

My game was SOOOO on point today. Not only did I serve incredibly well, but my return game was even better.

Serving: when I was down break point (30-40), I hit an ace OUT WIDE. Deuce: I tried to be fancy, and it worked....I hit another ace....OUT WIDE. lol It was hilarious. I was hitting all my spots. I think Federer does that a lot (tries to go out wide 2 consecutive times or down the middle two consecutive times).

Returning: I just realized that I am not the type of person to block or chip returns. I will take a full swing, no matter how fast the ball is coming. And I'm not talking about floating it, either. In one game, I hit THREE return winners. Then he realized that I am going to attack every serve, and he started double faulting (by trying to go for more).

And I hit a lot of circus passing shots, too (where I was way out of position, but managed to hit a forehand DTL)

And this was against this pusher guy. I figured out one of my problems is that all too often, I am out of position and I automacially hit the ball DOWN. When I'm in position, it keeps me on my toes and I'll hit a normal, penetrating shot.

Also, he was getting frustrated because I was kicking his ass so hard, so he started hitting the ball harder (lol). And since I love pace, it really just played right into my strengths.

And we got into an argument about "when" to call a ball out. It was so fucking stupid. I have never in my life debated WHEN to call a shot. What happened was: he hit a shot on the baseline, and I originally didn't know whether it was in or out, so I hesitated and thought about it for a second. But then since it was so close, I said it was in.

Then he goes all "you have to call it IMMEDIATELY; if you have to think about it, just give your opponent the point." And we went at it for like 15 minutes. So fucking annoying. I GAVE him the point and he still wants to argue.

Whenever he's losing, he gets all heated. It is NOT that fucking serious.
 
Then he goes all "you have to call it IMMEDIATELY; if you have to think about it, just give your opponent the point." And we went at it for like 15 minutes. So fucking annoying. I GAVE him the point and he still wants to argue.

Whenever he's losing, he gets all heated. It is NOT that fucking serious.

Tell your friend that's not true! If you are unsure whether a ball was in or out, then you give your opponent the point. If you hit a ball that your opponent out, you technically have until the ball lands again on your opponents side to make the call. Now if your opponent hits a ball passed you and you think it might have been out...what I do is run towards the spot I just saw the ball land, and if I see a mark and that mark is out then I can call it out. If I don't see a mark, then I must call it "in" because I was unsure in the first place. I have had some opponents get frustrated when I make a late call, but what I say in response is "I wanted to make sure I got the call right", and they're usually satisfied with that. In other words, even when I'm darn sure the ball was out, I want to make sure I stare down where I just saw the ball hit before calling it out.
 

Diamond

Member
But my serve is sooo bad when I have to serve out a set/match. Any ideas for mental training?

Well, you won that set so it wasn't that bad ! :)

My two cents would be to work on your serve technique first and foremost. After two years of tennis (don't know how often you play), it's probable you don't trust your serve enough, not because you're weak mentally but because your serve isn't a safe shot yet. Under pressure, your weaknesses become a lot more glaring. So from time to time, train only your serve during 30mn/1hour, learn the topspin serve (which, once mastered, is safer than the flat serve), and put a little pressure on yourself during training sessions by trying to serve 10, 15, 20 times in a row in the box. Maybe these are things you do already !

Continental grip experiment: OVER.

Changing a grip isn't something easy to do, especially if you expect immediate results. If you believe you'd play better with the continental long term, you should maybe practice it a little bit more, without the weird thumb placement ? Then again, I think your initial grip was more natural for a forehand, so that's not a bad thing you went back either. If your shots end up into the net too often, maybe working on your swings, instead of your grips, would be easier ? Hard to say just reading about it unfortunately !
 

MIMIC

Banned
Tell your friend that's not true! If you are unsure whether a ball was in or out, then you give your opponent the point. If you hit a ball that your opponent out, you technically have until the ball lands again on your opponents side to make the call. Now if your opponent hits a ball passed you and you think it might have been out...what I do is run towards the spot I just saw the ball land, and if I see a mark and that mark is out then I can call it out. If I don't see a mark, then I must call it "in" because I was unsure in the first place. I have had some opponents get frustrated when I make a late call, but what I say in response is "I wanted to make sure I got the call right", and they're usually satisfied with that. In other words, even when I'm darn sure the ball was out, I want to make sure I stare down where I just saw the ball hit before calling it out.

He's basically a jackass....especially when losing. I agree with all of this.

Changing a grip isn't something easy to do, especially if you expect immediate results. If you believe you'd play better with the continental long term, you should maybe practice it a little bit more, without the weird thumb placement ? Then again, I think your initial grip was more natural for a forehand, so that's not a bad thing you went back either. If your shots end up into the net too often, maybe working on your swings, instead of your grips, would be easier ? Hard to say just reading about it unfortunately !

It was basically this. After I went back to my regular grip and focused on getting in the correct position and making sure that I commit to my shots, I rarely hit the net today.

I think one of my main problems was that I didn't commit to the shot. I may have shortened my follow through or not measured it correctly or something.

And yeah, I'm gonna try to see if I can record a match. I don't have a camera and if I didn't strap it to a gate, I'd need a third person to record it. But I'm going home to see my family in April and I may get someone to record me playing against my brother.

But my serve is sooo bad when I have to serve out a set/match. Any ideas for mental training?

My advice would be to practice second serves. It'll become a "familiar" shot, rather than "omg, I hope it goes in this time".
 

Faith

Member
Thanks for the tips guys. As soon as the summer season starts I will work on my serve 1-2h/week.

@Diamond
I serve flat most of the time. I should learn to serve with kick for the second serve.
 

Diamond

Member
Thanks for the tips guys. As soon as the summer season starts I will work on my serve 1-2h/week.

@Diamond
I serve flat most of the time. I should learn to serve with kick for the second serve.

Even for the first serve if you need a higher percentage, or finding new angles ! :)
It needs work though. You have to accept to hit the ball as hard as you'd hit a flat first serve, which is not exactly instinctive on second serve. I'm not quite comfortable with it yet but when it works, you immediately see why it's a useful serve.

There are some pretty good tutorials on Youtube, just to know the basics before proper training.
 

Faith

Member
10003904_644713362248825_262831725_n.jpg


Hi everyone, here I am, still sore from the surgery. Luckily everything went well.
Thank you very much for the nice messages you are sending me. Here's a picture with Dr. Berger and Franco
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
was kind of hoping to see federer-ferrer to see if rogi could protect his perfect 14-0 head to head (assuming of course federer beats gasquet), but nishikori winning is nice too.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
What happened in this women's match? Was kind of sloppy but close from what I saw in the first, but Kvitova is getting crushed now.
 

Reyne

Member
This match was just awesome.

So Nishikori in semi finals after he beats Federer.

Doubt it. He barely won his 3 hour match against Ferrer and looked seriously tired at certain parts of the match. And this isn't 2013 Federer who could have lost to just about anyone. Good fight from Nishikori, though.

But hey, lets not get ahead of ourselves, there is still Federer/Gasquet to be played.
 

Faith

Member
Doubt it. He barely won his 3 hour match against Ferrer and looked seriously tired at certain parts of the match. And this isn't 2013 Federer who could have lost to just about anyone. Good fight from Nishikori, though. But hey, lets not get ahead of ourselves, there is still Federer/Gasquet to be played.
Last match between them was Madrid Masters and Nishikori won :p
 

Reyne

Member
Last match between them was Madrid Masters and Nishikori won :p

I know. Did you read my post? 2014 Federer > 2013 Federer by quite a lot or else you wouldn't have seen him win against Djokovic in Dubai or even reach the final of Indian Well and push Nole to a tie-breaker in the third. But if Nishikori does beat Federer now, good for him! But again, I sort of doubt that, simply because Federer is playing much better tennis than Nishikori is by quite the stretch at the moment.
 

Faith

Member
I know. Did you read my post? 2014 Federer > 2013 Federer by quite a lot or else you wouldn't have seen him win against Djokovic in Dubai or even reach the final of Indian Well and push Nole to a tie-breaker in the third. But if Nishikori does beat Federer now, good for him! But again, I sort of doubt that, simply because Federer is playing much better tennis than Nishikori is by quite the stretch at the moment.
I read your post and it's true that the Federer of 2014 is better than the Federer of 2013, but nobody knows how long it's going to last.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
I know. Did you read my post? 2014 Federer > 2013 Federer by quite a lot or else you wouldn't have seen him win against Djokovic in Dubai or even reach the final of Indian Well and push Nole to a tie-breaker in the third. But if Nishikori does beat Federer now, good for him! But again, I sort of doubt that, simply because Federer is playing much better tennis than Nishikori is by quite the stretch at the moment.

Plus, Federer's worst surface. He often has an unexpected loss or two during the clay season. Stepanek in '08. Stan in '09. Gulbis in '10. Melzer in '11. Etc.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Dolgopolov just won the first set against Stan. They said Dolgopolov was serving about 30% lol.

Edit: just checked. 28%. Wow.
 

Peru

Member
Kvitty finally gave Masha some confidence.. or at least a cheap win - although in fact her W/UE stats were better than MS but duelling hard her forced error count ended up much higher.
 

cdkee

Banned
Well, old man Fed can still hang with the very top of the game at 32, going 33. Been a pretty good tournament for him, and only a half a tie-break away from a win against an opponent that should arguably dominate him at this stage of their careers.
Miami should be interesting. Hoping for a break through for one of the young guns, preferably Dimitrov, though Gulbis ( not exactly a young gun, but still ) wouldn't be so bad either. You get the feeling that now is the most opportune moment to do it.

This is why I don't buy the "Federer was only good because his opponents sucked" notion. If they "sucked", that just means he was better..regardless, him being able to get this far in these recent tournaments at 33, against the likes of Djokovic/Murray prime, says a lot. Sure Nadal may have him beat but Nadal's play has always just been the antithesis to Roger's.
 

Peru

Member
Serena up next.... lol.

That's lol-worthy indeed but Masha desperately needed some match practice this year and semi-final in Miami is as good as we could hope for here. And she maintains a record, I think, of never losing outside of the final in Miami, except against Serena.
 

Peru

Member
Only watched from start of 2nd set but so far so fun. Cibulkova and A-Rad very different but very entertaining players.
 

Niraj

I shot people I like more for less.
Only watched from start of 2nd set but so far so fun. Cibulkova and A-Rad very different but very entertaining players.

There were some decent points in the last couple games of the first set as well, but the start was a mess.
 

Peru

Member
Cibulkova used to have a real loose cannon reputation but after reaching a slam final she's been more consistent deep in tournaments.

Normally I'd say her style clashes worse with this wind than A-rad's though.
 
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