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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.