I got a bit busy and didn’t get a chance to update my blog.
My badminton on 12/12 is average and nothing much to write about. I played well in patches and won some games and ended up with an overall winning record. The only thing of significance is that I changed my grip and tried to experiment. With this grip I was able to play a finesse game at the net though my power game (smashes etc) suffered.
What I got out of it is that I can play good net game if I can put some more interest into it. I also need to learn to change the grips quickly.
I scored enough tennis points to stay at 0700 PM for the 12/17 session. I had to baby sit during that time and hence opted out of 0700. I did play at 0830 as a Sub. I didn’t do any of my pre-match rituals (warm up , Bottled Propel , stretching ) . I also didn’t get good sleep for the past few nights as I am trying to change my sleep clock to be set for the time zone for my vacation in less than 5 days.
I tried to show case my 2HBH (two handed back hand). My first match was with Mike. I felt that he doesn’t have any weapons that would cause me concern. The final score was 4-3 in his favor. I used western forehand to hit some winners but my server wasn’t working and I double faulted a lot.
I was worse in second match (warren). I lost 6-1 because I wasn’t in it at all. Also he played very good and hit some great shots.
In my Third match (Thomas-Sub) I was down 0-3. Then I suddenly found my range and started making shots and firing some serve. I finally closed it 4-3 .
Over all not a good performance. Serve is bad, forehand was flaky. 2HBH was a disaster. I can’t seem to learn to hit a backhand.
12/19 Badminton wasn’t any different. Glimpses of good shot making followed by some awful mistakes. However I took my baby to the courts and she, being 11 months old had a great time. I am almost certain that she is into sports. Time will tell.
I have a Tennis practice hit session scheduled on 12/24. This is with a friend of mine and my goal is to enjoy the time there. I wont be able to post any updates on that session until New year. I will try to post some updates on my vacation.
This wraps up my 2007 Tennis. My next session will be on Jan 28. Looking back at this year I feel I made progress. My Serve improved and so did my forehand. I didn’t play as much tennis as I would like to in summer but kind of making up for it in Winter.
I would like to use the things I learned in 2007 to launch into 2008. I want to improve my backhand, make my Serve lethal and add more variety into my forehand.
An interesting year thus draws to a close. Enjoy your Holidays. Happy Newyear 2008 and Thanks for all the support.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Monday Tennis 12/10
The second match is with Carl. His first forehand cross court winner made me very nervous as I realized how good he is with those shots. I won the toss but I asked him to serve. We went with serve until 2-2. I got some read on his style of play. He plays more on baseline though he probably has a better net game than mine. I went aggressive with my shots and broke his serve to go 3-2 up. It is my turn to serve. This is probably one of the best service games I had in recent times. 3 aces and 1 service winner. Basically 4 shots from my racquet and game is over. He held his serve on a deuce game to make the final score 4-3 in my favor. I loved the way I served and I liked the way I played this match. If only I can play so consistent. This guy is a very good player with good power on both wings. I am glad i came out on top.
In the third match, my opponent for the day is Dave. Final score 2-5. my game doesn’t match up well with his style. He keeps points very short. He stands close to the net and punches the ball with good power and backspin. The ball keeps low and then skids. I made a tactical mistake in trying to stay up on his serve. His serve though decent isn’t anything earth shattering and I could have been up the baseline and played it through. He broke my serve once and that was enough as he started the serve. Honestly, except for one game, It was a difficult task to hold my serve. I will have to come up with something different if I have to win against him. One thing i would like to try against him is use a little more western grip. (yes western grip have a disadvantage against balls that keep low. But this guy doesnt have pace. if i get under the ball and go up with lots of spin, i can stay ahead)
My final tally is 9 points. Not bad for my first outing at this level. I am not sure if I stay at 7 pm or drop back to 0830. It all depends on other results but there is some substitution involved so I am not too sure. It hardly matters because next week’s will be the last match before I go on vacation and I will start at the rock bottom once I come back.
I didn’t really get lot of chances to groove in on the tips I learned. However based on my early results, I don’t think my 1hbh will become effective anytime soon against quality opponents. I am thinking of trying 2hbh exclusively next week and see what it does. May be if I give it a little time, I will get confident in using it. I need to fine tune my serve a little bit as basically that is one stroke I have decent mechanics and it is proving to be a match winner.
There are certain styles of play that are more challenging to me. I need to work on them and get better. One thing is apparent to me. My game is as good if not better than most of the 7 PM players. Its all down to me to put it all together.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Badminton 12/05 and Tennis lesson 12/07
I worked out on Tuesday despite feeling a little tired. We (with my car pooling friends) arrived a little late into our Wednesday’s Badminton. I didn’t really have a lot of energy and missed some routine shots. Though I won most of the matches, they are closer than to my liking. All the time I am trying to warm up so to speak and get my energy back. Eventually I did towards later part of the session and shots were flowing more freely. I stayed till 10 pm (closing time) before heading home. Realizing my low energy levels I decided to give myself Thursday off.
On Friday, we had a semi private session with a pro. A semi private lesson is essentially a shared instruction. My friend and I signed up for this session as we felt we could use some professional help. My original goal going into this session was to get some help on Backhand and some technique on hitting a TWIST serve.
The session was enlightening from couple of different aspects. I can say that there are probably a dozen things I got some tips on. It is almost not practical to absorb every bit of information. My key points are
1) Backhand Technique: My chronic problem. The instructor essentially showed me the right technique on my one hander and offered technical improvements for the two handed backhand. I used to hit the backhand like that before unaware that it is the right away. Clearly neither (one hander or two hander) are natural for me and I just need to work myself to have a respectable shot. For now, due to lack of confidence in 2HBH, I will go with One handed backhand (1HBH). However that technique with 1HBH, though offers lots of topspin and margin, takes a lot to hit with power and conviction. I will focus on 2HBH from January.
2) Recovery: I often struggled with the question that why I am late to reaching the ball. A big aspect of hitting a powerful shot is being in position to hit the shot. The instructor showed me the right technique. I have decent foot speed and decent anticipation. Its just that my recovery position is not optimal and I often stay at the same position looking at my shot instead of starting the recovery and be ready for next shot. As the instructor indicated, the ideal recovery position is to be a few feet side of away from centre line, where opponent would hit a cross court shot.
3) Serve : Unfortunately the instructor didn’t offer much on serve other than indicating a contact position of hitting a slice serve. This is something I knew since long time so not much of use. I didn’t get any tips on hitting a Twist serve. I guess I have to learn it on my own or wait for another lesson. Looking at it positively, may be my serve technique is adequate for my level for play and doesnt have any glaring bad traits and hence the instructor didnt offer much.
4) Forehand: The instructed indicated that my forehand flow is ok in general and I need to improve on it to make it more smooth and controlled. I need to focus on my racquet take back and finish. Also I seem to often get out of position/balance after hit a heavy forehand and I got a few tips to prevent it.
In order to implement above tips and reinforce them effectively, I shouldn’t be afraid to lose few matches as it will take some time for these changes to be grooved in and during that period results will be less than one would like. I am glad that I did this session. I probably wouldn’t have done this with out my friend. I guess we both are feeding off of each other to play better tennis.
I made it to the 7 PM ladder due to my results from last week’s tennis session. So tonight is my time at the Show courts. Just like from previous week, I want to go with a simple attitude of just enjoying the game. I will try to implement the tips from above as it is better to work on them now while the instruction is still fresh in my mind (strike while the Iron is still hot!).
Tonight I will be playing some tough opponents. One of them I played before (opponent #3 from Oct 24) and rest I haven’t played them. Since these players are playing steady at 7 Pm for quite sometime, they are generally good and strong players .It will be a tough task to come out with a winning record. Statistically I play well against players I have played before a few times. So things are not looking good from that perspective either. I did lot of weights past two days to compensate for me missing weight sessions past 10 days (big Mistake!). My muscles are sore.
But my plan is go there and enjoy the game. A few inside in forehand winners, a few aces, along with some implementation of above tips , I will be a happy bunch.
There is only 1 session left after todays before I go on my vacation. When I come back I will be starting at the bottom of 0830 ladder anyways as I won’t be able to carry my points while I am on vacation. So if I play well enough, I will stay at 7 pm for next week. If not I will drop to top of 0830 Ladder for next week. Either way I will finish the first part of the season on a high note.
On Friday, we had a semi private session with a pro. A semi private lesson is essentially a shared instruction. My friend and I signed up for this session as we felt we could use some professional help. My original goal going into this session was to get some help on Backhand and some technique on hitting a TWIST serve.
The session was enlightening from couple of different aspects. I can say that there are probably a dozen things I got some tips on. It is almost not practical to absorb every bit of information. My key points are
1) Backhand Technique: My chronic problem. The instructor essentially showed me the right technique on my one hander and offered technical improvements for the two handed backhand. I used to hit the backhand like that before unaware that it is the right away. Clearly neither (one hander or two hander) are natural for me and I just need to work myself to have a respectable shot. For now, due to lack of confidence in 2HBH, I will go with One handed backhand (1HBH). However that technique with 1HBH, though offers lots of topspin and margin, takes a lot to hit with power and conviction. I will focus on 2HBH from January.
2) Recovery: I often struggled with the question that why I am late to reaching the ball. A big aspect of hitting a powerful shot is being in position to hit the shot. The instructor showed me the right technique. I have decent foot speed and decent anticipation. Its just that my recovery position is not optimal and I often stay at the same position looking at my shot instead of starting the recovery and be ready for next shot. As the instructor indicated, the ideal recovery position is to be a few feet side of away from centre line, where opponent would hit a cross court shot.
3) Serve : Unfortunately the instructor didn’t offer much on serve other than indicating a contact position of hitting a slice serve. This is something I knew since long time so not much of use. I didn’t get any tips on hitting a Twist serve. I guess I have to learn it on my own or wait for another lesson. Looking at it positively, may be my serve technique is adequate for my level for play and doesnt have any glaring bad traits and hence the instructor didnt offer much.
4) Forehand: The instructed indicated that my forehand flow is ok in general and I need to improve on it to make it more smooth and controlled. I need to focus on my racquet take back and finish. Also I seem to often get out of position/balance after hit a heavy forehand and I got a few tips to prevent it.
In order to implement above tips and reinforce them effectively, I shouldn’t be afraid to lose few matches as it will take some time for these changes to be grooved in and during that period results will be less than one would like. I am glad that I did this session. I probably wouldn’t have done this with out my friend. I guess we both are feeding off of each other to play better tennis.
I made it to the 7 PM ladder due to my results from last week’s tennis session. So tonight is my time at the Show courts. Just like from previous week, I want to go with a simple attitude of just enjoying the game. I will try to implement the tips from above as it is better to work on them now while the instruction is still fresh in my mind (strike while the Iron is still hot!).
Tonight I will be playing some tough opponents. One of them I played before (opponent #3 from Oct 24) and rest I haven’t played them. Since these players are playing steady at 7 Pm for quite sometime, they are generally good and strong players .It will be a tough task to come out with a winning record. Statistically I play well against players I have played before a few times. So things are not looking good from that perspective either. I did lot of weights past two days to compensate for me missing weight sessions past 10 days (big Mistake!). My muscles are sore.
But my plan is go there and enjoy the game. A few inside in forehand winners, a few aces, along with some implementation of above tips , I will be a happy bunch.
There is only 1 session left after todays before I go on my vacation. When I come back I will be starting at the bottom of 0830 ladder anyways as I won’t be able to carry my points while I am on vacation. So if I play well enough, I will stay at 7 pm for next week. If not I will drop to top of 0830 Ladder for next week. Either way I will finish the first part of the season on a high note.
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Spare Racquet
Last Monday I was speaking with another player who said he broke his strings during the match and had to play with an opponent’s spare racquet. That racquet was far heavier and hurt his game. That got me thinking- again. I wanted to invest in a spare racquet for a long time. The cost is around 200$ and beyond my comfort zone.
The spare racquet I carry in my kit is a walmart 15$ special that I bought 6 yrs ago and never restrung. It isn’t a player’s frame and my game will be impacted if I play with that. Imagine- I had problems with a dampener on my existing racquet strings. There is no telling what will happen if I play with a sub par frame. The racquet I am using Babolat APD + isn’t manufactured any more. Besides i have added my own customizations such as Luxilon power ALU poly strings and a Power -V grip. There are more advanced offerings from Babolat on what is essentially the same frame but with more tweaking. So my choices are to get a latest frame in that Babolat family or try checking stores for old demo/discounted frames that closely resemble my racquet and then re do my customizations.
Its times like this i wish i had a sponsor ;)
Looking at it from another aspect, the worst case scenario is that I snap strings on (say a Monday session). All it will mean is I may not play well that day. I can get my racquet restrung before the next week’s session. So may be its not a big deal.
Generally We Architects advise everyone to be very close to the latest versions (n-1). If I apply the same philosophy, I shouldn’t be on a frame that is basically n-3 or n-4. Use this as an excuse and get a new frame?—May be but it wont be until I get back from vacation.
Btw, I did workout yesterday though I didn’t do any weights. I want to keep the fitness streak going. A few friends did comment that I still look fat, I am not sure if they are serious. I think I recovered to large extent from the Cold. Wrist hasn’t fully healed and it still hurts if I try to lift anything more than a few pounds. Some more rest is needed.
Ideally, I would like to drop a few more pounds and build a little more muscle before I go on vacation [in less than 3 weeks]. Between Tennis, Badminton, Holiday shopping, House hold chores, I may get at most 10-12 sessions at Gym (excl tennis\Badminton). So it is probably not that realistic.
I will keep you posted on how I do in Badminton tonight. I want to put some additional focus on backhand.
The spare racquet I carry in my kit is a walmart 15$ special that I bought 6 yrs ago and never restrung. It isn’t a player’s frame and my game will be impacted if I play with that. Imagine- I had problems with a dampener on my existing racquet strings. There is no telling what will happen if I play with a sub par frame. The racquet I am using Babolat APD + isn’t manufactured any more. Besides i have added my own customizations such as Luxilon power ALU poly strings and a Power -V grip. There are more advanced offerings from Babolat on what is essentially the same frame but with more tweaking. So my choices are to get a latest frame in that Babolat family or try checking stores for old demo/discounted frames that closely resemble my racquet and then re do my customizations.
Its times like this i wish i had a sponsor ;)
Looking at it from another aspect, the worst case scenario is that I snap strings on (say a Monday session). All it will mean is I may not play well that day. I can get my racquet restrung before the next week’s session. So may be its not a big deal.
Generally We Architects advise everyone to be very close to the latest versions (n-1). If I apply the same philosophy, I shouldn’t be on a frame that is basically n-3 or n-4. Use this as an excuse and get a new frame?—May be but it wont be until I get back from vacation.
Btw, I did workout yesterday though I didn’t do any weights. I want to keep the fitness streak going. A few friends did comment that I still look fat, I am not sure if they are serious. I think I recovered to large extent from the Cold. Wrist hasn’t fully healed and it still hurts if I try to lift anything more than a few pounds. Some more rest is needed.
Ideally, I would like to drop a few more pounds and build a little more muscle before I go on vacation [in less than 3 weeks]. Between Tennis, Badminton, Holiday shopping, House hold chores, I may get at most 10-12 sessions at Gym (excl tennis\Badminton). So it is probably not that realistic.
I will keep you posted on how I do in Badminton tonight. I want to put some additional focus on backhand.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Decent fare! (Monday Tennis 03 Dec)
I went into This week's Tennis session with out optimal preparation and feelin some effects of cold and wrist pain. I got in a little bit early hoping to get some warmup. I did warm up for 10 minutes on elliptical but i would love to hit a little bit. As I looked at the draw there were few cancellations and they readjusted it. Basically i am supposed to play 2 sets against the same opponent (Paul). I didnt like the format for two reasons.
A) If there is a mismatch, it would be unfair for the loser as there is no way he can make up any points.
B) I played this guy before (Nov 5, Opponent #3) and i lost to him 5-2. basically he is a 7 pm level player.
There isnt much i could do about the format.I had my friend (who played in 7 pm league) just finishing up and i went into his court to warm up with him. It didnt last too long as the 0830 players for that court arrived. I moved onto my assigned court and my opponent is already there waiting for me. My friend was watching us play from the comfort of the Visitors lounge.
After a very short warmup, we started the match. I won the toss and chose to recieve. This way i will have less pressure on my serve because even if i lose the first game (which is on opponents serve) it isnt a big deal as we are still On serve. I remembered our previous encounter with this opponent. Basically he has a wicked spin on his first serve. Once the ball hits the ground, Spin kicks off and there isnt a lot to predict.
The match went on serve until 2-2. I had some trouble holding my serve while my opponent was able to hold it much easier than i did. However i observed something that i thought i could use. My friend , watching from visitor lounge also gave some tips. His presence actually helped me and reminded me of sticking to the basics. I also play a little better when someone is watching. This opponent has a wicked spin on his serve no doubt. But it always moves to my right. Basically his serves had a pattern. First serve wide towards my body\forehand. Second serve slow towards my backhand. His ground game isnt that great and i would say i have a slight edge if my game is on. Armed with that pattern, I broke him on game 5 and i went up 3-2. He tried to put pressure on my serve by attacking my second serve. My second serve, though slow, kicks up high, spins occassionally and not easy to hit. However he couldnt match my ground strokes. I am seeing the ball fairly well at this time and controlling well. There were some key points in the next few games. He put pressure on me by coming to the net but i was able to hit some "outstanding" passing shots especially in the game that won me the set 6-2. The topper was an Inside-In forehand winner that blazed past him.
After a very short drink break, we started the second set with my opponent serving again. I quickly raced to a 2-0 lead thanks to some good defense on my part. My opponent was hitting very aggressive shots all across and i am still not sure how i dug myself out. However he held the serve on his next game and broke my serve to make the score 2-2. This is when i decided to make another adjustment and take the first cut on any ground stroke. He made a double fault to start the game and two whipping forehands on his second serve got me break points and i only needed one. Up 3-2, i started serving. I knew this is a key game because 3-3 could mean a lot of things. I varied the pace on my serve. I served slow and allowed him to attack but whenever i got the chance, i hit some big shots. He had a break point on my serve. I went big on that serve and he was expecting a slow one. Deuce. I hit another big serve with lots of kick and i am up 4-2. I promptly broke his serve again to go 5-2 and then served big to go 40-15. One would think that i should have closed the match right then. Wrong. He went all in and hit some scorching forehand winners to go deuce. Because of No ad what it means is i have the match point while he had a break point. I served a slow one purposefully (as a missed first serve would put too much pressure on my second serve) and he kept the ball in play. Longest rally of the match and finally ended with me hitting a very powerful forehand that my opponent couldnt get enough racquet.
Final score 6-2,6-2. Score board doesnt do much justice here as the match was a lot closer than the final score.
After the match, i had a friendly chat with my opponent. He clearly was surprised because he didnt expect me to play the way i did based on our last meeting. He gave some high marks to my serve and forehand. I liked his spin serve and He indicated how he improved his serve with some coaching from one of the coaches at our club. I am seriously considering having a session with that coach to work on my serve and add a SPIN component , get a decent backhand. I will finalize something in the next few days.
Btw today My backhand isnt bad either. I actually figured out a technique and i think i can hit a better backhand now. we will see if this stands test of time.
Some key take aways
1) Neutralize opponents serve (if possible) by searching for some patterns in their game.
2) Hit ground strokes to the middle of the court until you pull the trigger. This forces opponent to do more on his replies and also cuts off some angles.
3) Vary the pace and placement on the serve. This will keep opponents guessing.
4) Go for some winners.
Though result is in my favor, and in general long matches are to my liking, in this system where # of games won matters, it is probably better to play multiple opponents because it can neutralize mis matches. If i am playing outdoors and all that counts is # of sets, i would always play best of 3 set matches without No-ad scoring. But in this ladder , # of games won is the key and it helps to play some weaker opponents.
I had little bit of time left and i started practing some serves. Thats when i realized something. I have some potential in the serve department if i can harness it. I tried some spin serves and was able to get some serious spin, though inconsistently by altering ball toss. As you play higher up, it is very important to not to have any visual cues , especially on serve. So i am definitely inclined to hiring a pro for a session. The importance of serve cannot be stressed enough at any level of play and it is particularly important at recreational levels and even more important for someone like me who cant generate much offense from backhand wing.
I felt good about my performance as i can see my game coming back. I am not sure if this is a good enough result to move me into 7 Pm slot but i am positive i will be probably very close to the top of 0830 Ladder. Depending on how the other results go , i may play my friend next week at 0830.
A) If there is a mismatch, it would be unfair for the loser as there is no way he can make up any points.
B) I played this guy before (Nov 5, Opponent #3) and i lost to him 5-2. basically he is a 7 pm level player.
There isnt much i could do about the format.I had my friend (who played in 7 pm league) just finishing up and i went into his court to warm up with him. It didnt last too long as the 0830 players for that court arrived. I moved onto my assigned court and my opponent is already there waiting for me. My friend was watching us play from the comfort of the Visitors lounge.
After a very short warmup, we started the match. I won the toss and chose to recieve. This way i will have less pressure on my serve because even if i lose the first game (which is on opponents serve) it isnt a big deal as we are still On serve. I remembered our previous encounter with this opponent. Basically he has a wicked spin on his first serve. Once the ball hits the ground, Spin kicks off and there isnt a lot to predict.
The match went on serve until 2-2. I had some trouble holding my serve while my opponent was able to hold it much easier than i did. However i observed something that i thought i could use. My friend , watching from visitor lounge also gave some tips. His presence actually helped me and reminded me of sticking to the basics. I also play a little better when someone is watching. This opponent has a wicked spin on his serve no doubt. But it always moves to my right. Basically his serves had a pattern. First serve wide towards my body\forehand. Second serve slow towards my backhand. His ground game isnt that great and i would say i have a slight edge if my game is on. Armed with that pattern, I broke him on game 5 and i went up 3-2. He tried to put pressure on my serve by attacking my second serve. My second serve, though slow, kicks up high, spins occassionally and not easy to hit. However he couldnt match my ground strokes. I am seeing the ball fairly well at this time and controlling well. There were some key points in the next few games. He put pressure on me by coming to the net but i was able to hit some "outstanding" passing shots especially in the game that won me the set 6-2. The topper was an Inside-In forehand winner that blazed past him.
After a very short drink break, we started the second set with my opponent serving again. I quickly raced to a 2-0 lead thanks to some good defense on my part. My opponent was hitting very aggressive shots all across and i am still not sure how i dug myself out. However he held the serve on his next game and broke my serve to make the score 2-2. This is when i decided to make another adjustment and take the first cut on any ground stroke. He made a double fault to start the game and two whipping forehands on his second serve got me break points and i only needed one. Up 3-2, i started serving. I knew this is a key game because 3-3 could mean a lot of things. I varied the pace on my serve. I served slow and allowed him to attack but whenever i got the chance, i hit some big shots. He had a break point on my serve. I went big on that serve and he was expecting a slow one. Deuce. I hit another big serve with lots of kick and i am up 4-2. I promptly broke his serve again to go 5-2 and then served big to go 40-15. One would think that i should have closed the match right then. Wrong. He went all in and hit some scorching forehand winners to go deuce. Because of No ad what it means is i have the match point while he had a break point. I served a slow one purposefully (as a missed first serve would put too much pressure on my second serve) and he kept the ball in play. Longest rally of the match and finally ended with me hitting a very powerful forehand that my opponent couldnt get enough racquet.
Final score 6-2,6-2. Score board doesnt do much justice here as the match was a lot closer than the final score.
After the match, i had a friendly chat with my opponent. He clearly was surprised because he didnt expect me to play the way i did based on our last meeting. He gave some high marks to my serve and forehand. I liked his spin serve and He indicated how he improved his serve with some coaching from one of the coaches at our club. I am seriously considering having a session with that coach to work on my serve and add a SPIN component , get a decent backhand. I will finalize something in the next few days.
Btw today My backhand isnt bad either. I actually figured out a technique and i think i can hit a better backhand now. we will see if this stands test of time.
Some key take aways
1) Neutralize opponents serve (if possible) by searching for some patterns in their game.
2) Hit ground strokes to the middle of the court until you pull the trigger. This forces opponent to do more on his replies and also cuts off some angles.
3) Vary the pace and placement on the serve. This will keep opponents guessing.
4) Go for some winners.
Though result is in my favor, and in general long matches are to my liking, in this system where # of games won matters, it is probably better to play multiple opponents because it can neutralize mis matches. If i am playing outdoors and all that counts is # of sets, i would always play best of 3 set matches without No-ad scoring. But in this ladder , # of games won is the key and it helps to play some weaker opponents.
I had little bit of time left and i started practing some serves. Thats when i realized something. I have some potential in the serve department if i can harness it. I tried some spin serves and was able to get some serious spin, though inconsistently by altering ball toss. As you play higher up, it is very important to not to have any visual cues , especially on serve. So i am definitely inclined to hiring a pro for a session. The importance of serve cannot be stressed enough at any level of play and it is particularly important at recreational levels and even more important for someone like me who cant generate much offense from backhand wing.
I felt good about my performance as i can see my game coming back. I am not sure if this is a good enough result to move me into 7 Pm slot but i am positive i will be probably very close to the top of 0830 Ladder. Depending on how the other results go , i may play my friend next week at 0830.
Its Cold!
Due to the right wrist injury worry, I was hoping that I could rest the wrist and focus on cardio for the past 4 days. Instead I spent time resting in my bed. Our whole family came down with cold and I was particularly miserable. Saturday night was worse. Even my Blood pressure went up a bit and I was genuinely worried. After some serious dose of Dayquil and Nyquil (my favorite medicines apart from Tylenol, Mortin) , I felt a little better. I almost called in sick to work but Dayquil helped me a bit there.
So my preparations for tonight Tennis are less than optimal. I find myself in the same situation as before (Nov 5 tennis) where I qualified for top bracket of 0830 ladder and played there sick and reported a dismal score of 5 games out of 21. Will there be an Encore performance? I hope not. I decided not to call in a sub. I will play it on my own terms and take whatever result I get.
Its hard enough to play the “Slice meisters” and a bunch of other “better” players. Now I have to play them with Cold and less than perfect wrist. But I decided not to change any of my game plans or etc. Just go there and try to enjoy. Even if I do badly I don’t have to worry because my results against bottom half have shown that I am only 1 session away from knocking the top bracket and playing these guys.
I watched USA win the Davis Cup against Russia. Except for the James Blake – Mikhael Youzhny match, rest of the results are fairly predictable. USA played very well to deserve the 32 Davis Cup. Andy Roddick has been a warrior for a long time and its time he got one. He is often looked over when compared to the likes of Roger federer and Rafael Nadal but Roddick always played in Davis Cup, representing his country even through his injuries.
One observation on Tennis Doubles. It sucks. Especially when I watched the Davis cup doubles between Mike Bryan/bob Bryan Vs Igor Andreev/Davydenko. There are no rallies. All the players do is stand at the net and wait to whip the volley. No wonder they don’t get tired. Passing shots are like discovering snow flakes in July. If one has a big serve, there is no telling the easier time your doubles partner is going to have. How about a Ivo Karlovic/ John Isner doubles team. I doubt if we see even a single rally.
After today, I will be left with two more Tennis sessions (10, 17) and 3 badminton Sessions (5,12,19) before I go on vacation. I am assuming that Dec 24 Tennis session will not happen as it is Christmas Eve. That is one of the reasons why I am playing today as it will be a long break before I play again (Jan 28 tennis or more realistically Jan 30 Badminton).
So my preparations for tonight Tennis are less than optimal. I find myself in the same situation as before (Nov 5 tennis) where I qualified for top bracket of 0830 ladder and played there sick and reported a dismal score of 5 games out of 21. Will there be an Encore performance? I hope not. I decided not to call in a sub. I will play it on my own terms and take whatever result I get.
Its hard enough to play the “Slice meisters” and a bunch of other “better” players. Now I have to play them with Cold and less than perfect wrist. But I decided not to change any of my game plans or etc. Just go there and try to enjoy. Even if I do badly I don’t have to worry because my results against bottom half have shown that I am only 1 session away from knocking the top bracket and playing these guys.
I watched USA win the Davis Cup against Russia. Except for the James Blake – Mikhael Youzhny match, rest of the results are fairly predictable. USA played very well to deserve the 32 Davis Cup. Andy Roddick has been a warrior for a long time and its time he got one. He is often looked over when compared to the likes of Roger federer and Rafael Nadal but Roddick always played in Davis Cup, representing his country even through his injuries.
One observation on Tennis Doubles. It sucks. Especially when I watched the Davis cup doubles between Mike Bryan/bob Bryan Vs Igor Andreev/Davydenko. There are no rallies. All the players do is stand at the net and wait to whip the volley. No wonder they don’t get tired. Passing shots are like discovering snow flakes in July. If one has a big serve, there is no telling the easier time your doubles partner is going to have. How about a Ivo Karlovic/ John Isner doubles team. I doubt if we see even a single rally.
After today, I will be left with two more Tennis sessions (10, 17) and 3 badminton Sessions (5,12,19) before I go on vacation. I am assuming that Dec 24 Tennis session will not happen as it is Christmas Eve. That is one of the reasons why I am playing today as it will be a long break before I play again (Jan 28 tennis or more realistically Jan 30 Badminton).
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