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