20141226: Singles Play

So I played and lost a set with Suri today and wanted to share the learning from today's defeat

1. My first serve consistency keeps dropping as the games become longer
2. Similarly my first serve percentage decreases profoundly after the second service game. Maybe this is a hint about improving fitness or maybe it's the technique fallout issue when I start to get tired
3. On a positive front, I can decrease the speed of my first serve and use that as my second serve as well
4. I don't attack the ball that often. I'm usually content playing lobs and peddling the ball back. I need to be more assertive with my play and start chasing the baselines.
5. Also need to improve my net play. I need to pick up the balls where I can rush to the net. Also I need to stop just inside the serve line when I'm rushing across
6. I'm struggling with first serve from the backhand side.
7. Missing punch even when I'm taking the racket back on the backhand.

I'll think more about these things and how to improve in these areas before I go for weekend play. Also I'll start early over the weekend - Will reach the court around 6:30 and play till at least 9:30. Will also take the new racket for a spin when I'm concentrating on baseline play.


The coach mentioned something very interesting today. He said that you play the ball and not any specific player. This is a wonderful advice since it cuts through both complacency - when playing lower seeded players and nervousness - when playing higher seeded players. I'll surely take each ball on merit.

Another thing I need to work at is to be chase each and every ball. From now onwards I just refuse to give easy points - either at my serve or the opponent's serve. This is the fundamental mentality I'm going with on each point, on each game, on each set. Basically my tennis belief for life - NO EASY POINTS.

20141220: Sore Loser

I realize that I'm such a sore loser. I don't react kindly to losing in sports. For example I got really all pissed up losing to Tilla today and was throwing all kind of angry tantrums. I was shouting, mouthing obscenities, berating myself and reacting angrily to my strategies not working. I really need to control my anger well. I owe it to myself.
Here's how I'm gonna do that
1. The moment you thing that you're losing control, step back and take a few deep breaths
2. Focus more intently on the game and not the person
3. Be grateful that you're able to play tennis this regularly.

20141215: Practice Perfect

Another great day of tennis. I hoarded the winner side of the court in singles and lost just one game along with Srinath when we were playing doubles. I did lose my serve in the extended session but I was able to break back and hold my second serve game at 40-0. I think the serve drills that I do before going to the tennis court are helping a lot. I just need to work a bit more on the forehand and backhand from the baseline.

An interesting observation today was the wind. The wind was directly on our back. This meant that my first serve wasn't as effective as it usually is. Also our opponents were easily fetching all the lobs. I found a way out by playing longer points and following up the lob with a fast forehand passing shot or a volley at the body. It helped and the match was still on serve when I had to bail out.

20141210: Comeback day

Was an awesome day of tennis today. I and Hyder were playing in the after coaching session and were staying at a certain defeat at 0-5. From that point applied ourselves better and won the match in the tie breaker. Just unbelievable stuff

I started with my new racket today. It is just so well balanced. I'm able to generate more topspin and the balls stay in. I was able to serve a few aces and  body serves as well. I just need a damper and I can totally go to war with this racket.

Didn't practice before going to the court today and it showed. Will make it a point to be regular with that.

20141210: External Factors

A difficult day of tennis today. I was impacted a lot due to external factors like weather and chill in the air and couldn't either serve or play ground strokes properly. I will dress accordingly tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to regain form.

In other news I'm going out to buy a used racket today. The specs look great. I'll update you if I happen to like and buy the racket.

20141206: Super Serve Saturday

Had an awesome tennis session today. My serve was working like a charm even when I wasn't going full throttle. I was serving in the T on the forehand side and the opponents were having trouble dealing with a fast serve on their backhand. On the backhand side, I was serving to the far corner and opponents were feeling it on their body though I think it could've been attempted on the backhand. When I wasn't getting the first serve, I was getting the second serve around the T and getting aces since the opponents were expecting it in the  corner. I won a lot of serve games.

Forehand still need a bit of work since I wasn't able to be aggressive there. I'll work on forehand and serve tomorrow.

20141209: Splendid Day

Another splendid day of tennis. My first serve working like magic yet again. And this time folks on the other side of the net were telling me that the leg doesn't move. This is awesome

What I'm also doing in the background is that I'm doing a serve, forehand, backhand and overhead drill at home. Do I'm more warmed up than the other folks. Not cheating but tilting the balance in my favor.

I want to keep consolidating this and work at footwork and balance next. I'll take kick serve after that.

20141205: Aggressive forehands and slight serve footwork correction

Back after a quick break..

I'm trying to concentrate on staying aggressive these days. I'm attacking balls on the forehand side and completing the motion fully instead of leaving it in midway. And this seems to be paying a lot! On footwork side, I'm trying to reach the ball early and be steady and balanced (vertical) when hitting the shots. This is making the shots go in the direction I want and adding more pace to these strokes.

On serve side, I'm trying to stay sideways longer. I life the left leg only at the point of impact. I've temporarily lost a bit of pace on the first serve but the control is just awesome. I make it a point to try at least 100 empty serves at home before I step on to the tennis court.

I'll try to stick to these basics for the weekend sessions as well.

20141106

Today was a great day of tennis. I was able to get my first serve in after two entire weeks. Also the coach corrected my forehand. The trouble I wax having with my forehand was that I wasn't getting any topspin or power in it. If I was putting power into it, the forehand was ending at the net. So I was just toggling it back - not like the weapon I envision my forehand to be. The two main things that the coal mentioned were
1. I wasn't getting the setting right. I was starting my sing right but was ending it in a motion that was taking the racket down instead of up. This was having the impact that the shots were going in the net
2. Second thing that he mentioned was to catch the racket after the s wing on the other side. This will make me understand how I was swinging the racket
3. Another imp thing that he mentioned Sri I've the left hand as pivot. I wasn't able to put it in practice since  both my hands go back together. I still need to work on it.
Because of these minor changes my forehand is like never before. I can actually see and feel the ball going with a lot of topspin when I connect on this manner. This is awesome - I will focus on backhand after I master the forehand and the serve.

20141128: On Song

Was an awesome day of tennis today. I got a lot of aces with my first serve and my second serve was also pretty consistent. And Suri mentioned that I played well overall. I was able to extend points that I generally lose. Overall a brilliant start to the weekend

The only minor change that I've made is to toss the ball in slight left direction and hitting the ball at my max extended vertical position. This is even causing my second serve to work better.

Another minor adjustment is that I'm observing the ball much more. The volley drills got me in that habit and I'm consciously  applying  it from that point onwards.

20141127: Great day today

Had lots of fun at the tennis court today. Firstly my serve was working pretty well. I was able to land my first and second serves consistently. I even tried a variation of the first serve where I don't go full out. Great to have another weapon in the arsenal! 

On learning front, the coach observed that I was letting the ball drop a lot on attacking forehand shots. I need to make sure that I take the ball at optimal level. Also I was just running around when the opponent has lots of time. I stopped today until the opponent played his shot and was able to reach the ball every time. I need to do this consistently. The final learning was about volleys today. I'm taking a lot of volleys on the run and that's why I'm not able to land them properly. I've decided to stop when I reach the serve box and prepare for volleys. This will hopefully reduce the errors. 

Another important learning for today was how to develop the points. The coach played this point against Manoj - he was feeding high balls to his backhand - the most difficult shot. Manoj was able to return a couple of them back. However on the third one he faltered slightly and hit a weak return. The coach took full advantage of this and hit a winner. The lesson here is to patiently wait for the opportunity and closing it once you get it.

20141125: First serve working!

So I got my first serve to work again. And I'm super happy about the same. I thought about the changes I made and here's a smallish list
1. Changed grip. 
The previous one was torn and my hand was slipping during the serve motion
2. Practiced tossing the ball more to the left.  I was getting a feeling that I was more bend than straight at the point of impact
3. Tried to get to my full height at the point of impact. This is in conjunction with the toss.

These tips worked well for me and hopefully they'll work for you in case you're struggling with the first serve too.

20141123: Weekend log

Woke up late and it was already 8 AM when I reached the tennis court. One of the courts was already full. So I promptly took the other court to practice my serves.

I moved a bit back and started spinning the ball more as well as making sure that I was going through the entire motion and not leaving the swing in between. I realized yesterday that I was not letting the racket swing completely on my forehand and this half stop was making the balls go out. I tried to apply the same learning to my serves. These two changes helped and I was able to get top spin serves to work again.

I wanted to try my first serve too but Vikas came and we started with some practice drills. I realized that I'm maintaining a good control of I catch the racket with the other hand. I also realized that the racket goes down when I jump and take the ball on the rise. I need to work on that.

We played doubles when some kids from morning class came. I lost my serve but we won 6-1.

20141121: Strategy day

Started the day with the normal practice and drills. We did volleys after that and I realized that I was getting way off balance when hitting overhead volleys. I need to work at this. We did serve after that that and I tried to put Suri's tip about making sure that I land the racket on other side in practice even when I was hitting from serve box. It worked well. Then we started with group game and I focused on my forehand - specifically catching the racket after hitting forehand.  It seems a bit forced currently but the effect is just awesome. I was also making sure that I saw rotating the racket properly when going from forehand to backhand and vice versa.
I and Suri played singles after that and it was a great learning experience. I realized that the balls were dying around net  - so I started coming to the net and I was immediately able to break Suri twice. I haven't seen an idea work so fast. Also I was holding my head steady and waiting for the ball when hitting forehand and that have me the balance and the ability to direct ball with pace in any corner. That also helped a lot. Finally I realized that Suri tends to hit to the backhand dogs when at the net. That helped win some points too.

An excellent way to kick start the weekend

20141119: Lost Again...

So I and Hyder lost again in the extended time today but it is getting better. Firstly today we lost by just a single game. We were able to break Suri today and the match was much closer than yesterday. I lost a serve and won one. Hyder win 2 serve games and lost one. And we were able to get one break back. And we came  back after being 5-2 down. Lots of positives from the game. Also I was able to keep my temper in check and that certainly allowed me to enjoy the game much more. In fact I was thinking of this yesterday in the car. The idea is to be as effortlessly focused so driving the car. That allows you to react  better to the opportunities. Similar to how you can spot an opening when you're driving and that helps you to overtake. The key thing is to be calm inside.
The first part of the tennis class was also pretty good. I was able to hit some good forehand, backhand and learned an effective way to slice better today. The idea of a good slice is to let the racket go on the direction of where you want the ball to end. Also an effective slice should be flat so that the  ball doesn't jump up and give the opponent an opening.
Loved the way today's day turned up and hopefully I'll be able to proactively develop the calm demeanor.

20141115: Weekend log

Was a great day today. I was able to apply the ideas of past few days. Was able to serve without a lot of double faults and win big points.

I and Praveen from N block played against Manoj and Nithin. We won 6-4. The most important idea of the day is to watch the opponent's racket head to learn where exactly is he planning to hit the ball. I was able to predict the ball direction and speed and that helped my game.

I served mostly top spin serves today. The first serve was a bit aggressive while the second serve had more kick to it. In between I was sneaking in flat fast serve when we were ahead. I like this strategy though I need to have more consistent first serve too.

The weekend has set the context for another awesome week ahead.

20141105: Chin Up solves first serve issue

Solved the problem of failing first serve. The main problem was that I was not keeping my head/chin up for longer duration. This may have been because I was over anxious to try out the new stance and forgot to concentrate on this. In any case the coach observed and let me know this yesterday and I was able to put this in practice in the extended session today. And it worked pretty well. The moral of the story is to concentrate on basics and then keep making minor adjustments.

I played good tennis today. I was able to persuade Raj to stop before hitting forehands, hit some rallies with coach before the game start, was able to get some good second serves in and not lose my temper. So things were awesome today.

Score: 3-1 with Vikas Salota (Lost my serve here though)

20141114: Attacking kick serve

A great day of tennis after 2 mediocre days.. I was able to concentrate well in the practice sessions. Even though I wasn't able to land my first serve consistently - I was able to pick up good points with my topspin second serve. I did a single double fault in the entire session. Another good learning for the day was that I was able to consistently attack the best kick serves by taking the ball on the rise. I was initially just backhand-slicing the kick serve and it was giving my opponents an inordinate amount of time to play the ball. Taking the ball on the rise helped since I was able to cut the time that my opponent was getting.

After the play I practiced a bit with Manoj. And I learned a few things about him as well during this practice. First thing I learned was that Manoj is very balanced when taking the ball on the forehand and he is able to whip the ball to either side with relative ease. So far I wasn't able to figure out which direction the ball is going by just watching his stance and feet. He does like hitting the ball to opponent's backhand since he thinks that the backhand is generally a weaker side. Expecting the ball to land on backhand side allowed me to prepare better. The second thing I learned about my forehand was that I'm not able to engage my shoulder properly when the ball is very near to me or when I'm taking it on the rise. This is limited only to the forcing shots. The alternative is to just hit a normal top-spin forehand. This keeps the ball in play and I can happily wait for another ball that I can attack.

Catching the racket with the left hand is a good way of determining the flight of the racket.

When you've done the hard work about running around to get the ball, you must relax and try to place the ball. I'm noticing that I get a good running return in only to flop an easy volley later. This is especially useful when you're playing long rallies.

My backhand is working pretty well. I was able to handle both fast and deep forehands and backhands on my side properly.

Finally I started reading "The Inner Game Of Tennis" and learning new tricks about improving the mental game associated with Tennis.

20141112: Playing and losing to the pushers

Had a partial day today as I woke up late. I did OK in the practice rounds but I wasn't able to deliver in the extension round. I and the new guy lost 0-4 including a loss of serve on my part. I was able to get my second serve working so that was  good. However the thing that I learned was that I need to develop more match temperament when dealing with pushers like Suri. We lost the second game after leading 15-40. Similarly we let Tilla escape after we forced a deuce after trailing 0-40 in the final game. So we definitely need to work at the mental aspect of things. And of course losing our serve is a crime. Lots of things to work on then.

20141108: Serve Toss issues

Had an ok day of tennis. I was able to hold my serve in first 2 games and list of in the third game. And started losing it consistently in the next couple of games until Suri mentioned that the racket s just coming flat. That helped me do some correction and I able to have some decent games. I got tired towards end of session and Susan and Tilla were able to win both games out of the two played.
The good part was understanding that I was planting the foot but accommodating bad tosses. Once I made that change folks weren't able to even return serves that I thought were not that fast. I'll work on this.

20141108: Weekend Practice Log

Today was a great day of tennis. I woke up late since there was a late night phone call that I needed to take. I was at the court by 9. Was able to sneak in a couple of games with Salota. After he left I thought that it will be better to concentrate on drills.
And that is what I did for the next 2 boys or so. I did serve drills followed by forehand drills and finally the backhand drills. I was very surprised to learn that I have better backhand than forehand. So I did one additional forehand drill to wind up the practice session.
The main learning for the days were
1. The reason my serve was ending at the  net was because my head was doing early.
2. The other thing I need work at is to make sure that I get a consistent toss.
3. It is possible to toss even when the wind is blowing hard - the main thing to take care of is the direction of the wind and serve accordingly.
4. Sometimes my serve doesn't fall in our go out because I don't plant my foot or I move foot to accommodate an invalid toss. This is  by far the most imp problem that I have.
5. Need to dig deeper to play low balls. This is same for both forehand and backhand.
6. Have to catch the racket in the left hand after hitting the shot. This will also tell you how much topspin are you putting on the  ball
7. It is possible to take both the hands back, hit with the forehand and let the left hand catch the racket by throat.
8. Backhand is really easy since you don't have to catch the racket either. But you do have to take both the hands back, bend low and take the ball at correct height.
9. Forehand on the rise is very easy and very rewarding.  Similarly backhand on the rise seems very difficult but it is real easy on practice.
10. I have the kind of serve - regular fast, topspin winner and topspin stay in the game serve. Use them appropriately.

20141107: More problems with Serves and Net Play

Not such a good day at the tennis court. I wasn't able to get first serve in as consistently as I would like. Also my forehand wasn't working as I wanted it to be

I think that the problem I'm chasing is two-fold. I need more consistency but I also want to attack more. The solution will be to adopt a sort of middle path between them. On certain points I will go full out and will not lose sleep over whether or not I was able to land the serve consistently in or not. On other points, I will play a consistent game where I will place the ball and look for opportunities before unleashing fury.

Here is what I need to develop such a game. Have a super consistent second serve. I'm hoping to have a second serve that lands 90% of time. Also I'll make sure that my first serve falls in at least 60% of time. Along with this I will need the support of consistent backhand and forehand. Currently my forehand is just functional  but with the drills that I'm doing these days, it is looking like I'm getting really close to that top-spin forehand that I crave. I need to develop similar consistency for my backhand too. Having a couple of drills every morning before the 7 AM class will definitely help here. I want to turn both my forehand and backhand into weapons. I should be able to defend as well as attack on both sides using either my forehand and backhand.

The last thing that I need to work on is my net play. I do good volleys in practice but I need to be able to have good volleys in game too. The secret is to be more alive at the net. I want to be able to kill slow, bouncing balls at the net. Also need to be able to absorb fast returns on either backhand or forehand side. I should also work at running in after a good return.

20141106: Forehand and Serve fixes

Today was a great day of tennis. I was able to get my first serve in after two entire weeks. Also the coach corrected my forehand. The trouble I was having with my forehand was that I wasn't getting any topspin or power in it. If I was putting power into it, the forehand was ending at the net. So I was just toggling it back - not like the weapon I envision my forehand to be. The two main things that the coal mentioned were
1. I wasn't getting the setting right. I was starting my swing right but was ending it in a motion that was taking the racket down instead of up. This was having the impact that the shots were going in the net
2. Second thing that he mentioned was to catch the racket after the s wing on the other side. This will make me understand how I was swinging the racket
3. Another imp thing that he mentioned was that I should use the left hand as pivot. I wasn't able to put it in practice since both my hands go back together. I still need to work on it.

Because of these minor changes my forehand is like never before. I can actually see and feel the ball going with a lot of topspin when I connect on this manner. This is awesome - I will focus on backhand after I master the forehand and the serve.

20141104: Two new serve ideas

The coach finally figured out what was wrong with my first serve. It looks like that I'm rotating the tennis grip after I start serving - I start with a continental grip and end up with the forehand grip as part of my serve. No wonder all my serves are ending up in the net.

Another interesting thing that the coach mentioned  today was that I will be able to get much more depth in my second serve and much more power in my first serve if I just take the racket back to touch my back slightly. This is very awesome find and I can instantaneously feel the awesome effect that this will have. I tried it but wasn't able to get the timing correct - Something I will work at later tonight.

20141031

Had an ok day..I practiced a lot of backhands but I wasn't able to put it in practice today

Have started counting the games that I play everyday. After I started counting, I played 1 game and 2 sets. I won the game and the next set 6-2. I lost the last set 3-6. So in total I won 10 games and lost 8 games. An average day in that respect. The big learning for today are
1. Smile more even when you're losing the points
2. I need to develop a better second serve. I get into tremendous pressure when my first serve doesn't fall.
3. I lose a lot of games on my serve because I double fault a lot. This may be rectified because of second serve issue.
4. I need to play bigger points better. A mixture of caution and aggression. If you get the opening then attack
5. I play a bigger forehand when I start the racket a bit lower. I need to analyze this and work on this a bit more.

20141030

Crazy day today..
I served well in the practice rounds but I wasn't able to have a good first serve percentage in the first couple of games. I used slice serve as my second serve and was able to get good mileage out of it

In the extended session, I and Srinath lost 6-4 after we had the match in our grasp. We had 2 chances to break Suri and were able to break Manoj once. However Srinath lost an important game and I missed a sitter forehand while trying to force the issue. Moral of the story is to keep it easy and not let emotions get the better of you.

Another learning from today was that anger impacts the losing team much more.

20141030

Okeyish day..

I did well at the serve front but I wasn't able to cobble the games together And I and Hyder lost 6-2 in extra time. I need more game practice to know when to take risk and what amount of aggression do I need to close the games and like. I will get this practice over the weekend..Started doing topspin serve again and I like it much better than the kick serve

The coach also mentioned that kick serves should be taken on full. Will try this again tomorrow.

Was able to put some good forehands and good serves in. Body is pronating well. So we're happy on that front.

20141029

I was finally able to get pronation to work!! I started from the serve box and was able to get pronation working there. And the serve seemed so effortless. I wasn't able to completely move this to the baseline but I'm at the right track

Was also able to hit some killer forehands in the extended time. And also held on to my serve. So things are looking up

The only minor problem about today was the fact that I wasn't able to attack the dibbly dobbly balls that the coach was serving in the morning game. I tried waiting behind and I tried attacking the ball. Will try taking these balls on the rise tomorrow and see if that helps.

20141026

Had a nice relaxing hr long tennis session today. I woke up at the usual time - 6:15'ish and took a peek outside and the entire court was wet after a marathon rain session yesterday night. Tried to sleep again but I couldn't - So I got out of bed and thought about taking a morning walk. However I noticed that both the courts were occupied now and folks were playing. So I made a quick cup of tea and dashed out to the tennis court

I was chasing the same demons today - Wanted to plant my front foot and work on the killer first serve and follow up with good forehand backhands. Also wanted to stay aggressive and jump to net if the opportunity presented itself. As usual I managed to lose the first few service games due to double faults but then I dig deeper and was able to concentrate better and finish off both the serve games and the return games. I did lose the last serve game of the day but did manage to win 2-3 serve games in the middle. So overall a good day's tennis

One minor thing I realized that I was focusing too much on the front foot today and my toss was going back to the right hand side. Hence I was chasing wide balls and the serve was ending at the net. I think I'll keep concentrating on the toss and pronation and make the best effort job with the front foot but won't lose any sleep on it. Also I'm hitting good forehand strokes but I need to trace the ball more. Will be working on forehand and serve tomorrow as well.

Gudnite then..

20141022

Played awesome tennis yet again..

I was serving beautifully from forehand side - same as yesterday
Tossing the ball to the left ear side seems such a minor adjustment but it's having such a pronounced effect
On the backhand side, I started gingerly but I knew what had to be done and I stuck to the same. This was where I was erring y'day and I was able to introspect and rectify the same.
As a result I was able to it some nice serves on the backhand side too. On the forehand side I was just unplayable today :)

The other thing that's having a super effect is attaching the ball.
Since attacking the ball is such a loaded concept, I've simplified it tojust taking the ball on the rise and rushing to the net when the opportunity presents itself.
This has really helped

The other thing that is really helping is the forehand grip - Now I wait on the forehand grip on my serve returns and 90% of serves are to my forehand
This is such an eye opening detail

I'm also hitting very well on the forehand side. This is also primarily due to grip change
Another innocuous change that is having such a pronounced effect on my game

Also noticed that I can up the ante on per demand basis now.
I was trailing 40-0 on Suri's serve and I upped the ante and was able to push it to Game-30
In his last service game I won 0-40 by just attacking the ball more.
Just the simple posture of taking the ball early and goingwith the forehand grip is working like magic since the rteurns are much deeper and the opponent has trouble handling the same
Enjoying tennis more and more because of that.

Here are the things that I learned yesterday but didn't write here

Forehand
1. Attack the ball - 2 options for net play (Volley + Thumping the ball down). To effectively thump the ball down, you'll have to take it on the rise. So this automatically gets you on attack
2. Wait on the forehand grip

Backhand
1. Practice against the wall in the basement (-2 level)
2. Open your stance a bit more. This is helping me sit down a bit more which was what I was struggling with earlier

Serve
1. Toss the ball a bit more to the left. This is really important. Do this on both forehand and backhand sides
2. To pronate more, move  abit to the forehand or backhand side. This and the toss help in really pronating the body

Work
When Working from home, getting out of work mode is a problem