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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment