I once again joined the winter ladder for 2009 -2010 and will open tonight. The ladder started few weeks ago but chose to skip the first few weeks, mostly for schedule reasons and partly for conserving $$ especially when some outdoor tennis was still possible.
What I did during outdoor season:
Work took precedence and I spent most of my spring and summer working late nights and weekends and what not. Didn’t really get a chance to play as much except for an occasional evening or weekend outing. To make matters worse, I didn’t exercise and added around 10 pounds to my frame. Whatever little tennis I played, I mostly won by bunting the ball back and trying to make less unforced errors than my opponent. I probably took out the ball machine 2 may be 3 times and didn’t really do much either. Bottom line, this is the worst tennis outdoor season I had since I actively started playing tennis 5-6 yrs ago. I also had knee issues and doctor figured out I needed lots of D vitamin.
From Mid September things started looking better at work and my schedule became little better. I also was able to get my basement arranged and was able to set a spot for my treadmill, weights and elliptical machine. I started working out , initially low impact and now moderately intense. So I got the weight under control (dropped around 6 pounds). I proactively tried to play outdoors as much as situation permitted.
Fast Forward :
I probably wont get back to the fitness or game levels I had during 2007/08 when my forehand and serve are pretty good. Fitness wise I am in a good shape but I haven’t been match tested enough. The only players I played are Andy , Jack and Sk (if I discount the matches against SS early in spring).
Sometime after mid last year, I lost my sting on forehand. I am not sure why. I also realized that one of my tennis Idols Rafael Nadal also has similar issue. Here is an excerpt from Tennis.com on him.
>>>
Increasingly, one of the most feared shots in the game, Rafa's forehand, seems loopy and is starting to look like a liability. (I haven't seen Rafa hit his forehand so ineffectively at any time , not even in 05-06. Heck, he was more aggressive against Fed in Miami 2004).. Rafa is hitting the ball with too much spin and elevation but with no depth. Every time he gets the ball on his forehand he cannot gain control of the pt like he used to before. His down the line forehand is AWOL and he's pushing with his bh instead of attacking. He returns serve from 3-4 meters behind the baseline, but doesn't move in at all as the rally progresses. Rafa is getting pushed back (further behind the baseline) as the match goes on and he's getting increasingly frustrated because he knows that he really has no weapons to hurt a half decent hard court player with his game at the moment
>>>
This more or less also depicts my Forehand. I quickly need to discover my forehand form back.
I have developed consistency on two handed back hand. I am hoping this would provide me the edge when I face attacking players who attack my backhand. However I haven’t gotten used to the movement that is needed to compensate for the extra step lost while hitting a two hander backhand. In the grand scheme of things, this is another tool to have in my tool kit. I can still play with 1HBH just as I used to.
The Badminton season this year also got rescheduled and will start in first week of November. I believed that Tennis and Badminton for me, fed off each other. My tennis game greatly benefited from the badminton reflexes and court movement. My badminton game was better because I was able to use my tennis court coverage and some tennis like shots. At some high up level, these are similar sports and the intangibles are common across them.
Last year I went as high as #3 (though I was seeded #4) in the ladder. The goal this year is to improve on that result though I want to give more emphasis on staying aggressive.
Tonight :
I am opening up at the very bottom of the ladder ie Bottom half of 0830. I don’t remember playing any of the guys on my half of the draw and that adds a new challenge as well. The way the ladder stands right now, it will be quite an effort to get to the top. The very fact that we have two former #1 players at this ladder playing at 0830 (Rich and Jack), last year’s champion is now placed a distant fourth should provide a sense of what I am up against. Having said that all my game lacks right now is “match practice” and once I have some good matches under my belt, I can match up with any in this ladder.
As I prepare for this match ups, my going in position to not to win it all right away. My target is to make a run at the top around January. This will give me sufficient time to get good match practice and also be strategically ready to face the tennis heavy weights.
While it is a disadvantage that I don’t know how my opponents tonight play , it is both ways. They don’t know my game style either. Traditionally in such cases, the guy with a better serve usually scrapes through. My serve though not as consistent as I like it to be is still a decent one and I hope that can provide me the edge.
A quick work about my friend Jack . Tennis Samurai Jack had a good first week but then went out meekly in the second week and is now starting at 0830. He is safely tucked away in the top half of the draw and we don’t face each other tonight. His counter punching game should pose problems for all the guys on his side of the draw and I like his chances of scraping through for a 7pm slot next week.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment