Few important instructions

Rolling the racket when trying to hit fast along with trying to keep the ball in

Bending the knees when trying to hit aggressive forehand and backhand shots. This also includes trying to change the center of gravity.

Completing the follow through when hitting cross court

Tracing the line when trying to hit down the line. Also required when hitting cross court

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.

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.

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.

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.

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..