Injury Update

I am still recovering and havent played tennis a while. Basically Entire July and August of this year are lost for me due to the Ankle injuries.

It started out with Right Ankle swelling in July and early August it was left Ankle. After several tests and deliberations, the leading theory is that the new Addidas Barricade shoes i bought seem to the culprit. Interestingly enough both times when i started seeing Ankle issues, i was playing with these new shoes in the days leading upto the injury. Doctors theorized that i do have flat feet and this new shoes arent providing me with enough Arch Support, thereby putting enough stress on my ankles.

I am on the path to recovery and right ankle has already recovered while left ankle is around 80%. I do plan to start rehab exercises and also start playing some tennis , albeit reduced intensity.

With two full months lost to injuries, i am not in a good position leading into the winter season. With no new additions to my game, lack of match practice, lack of conditioning, all indications are that i am not going to challenge the very best in the winter season, if the season were to begin today.

At this stage, health is more important and i am putting more emphasis on ability to play some tennis than not playing at all. I have taken some time off during September and i am hoping that if i can put together a good september, it is still possible to regain some lost edge.

I estimate that i have about 6 weeks of outdoor season remaining. I can probably squeeze in 10-15 sessions of tennis at the best. I have to rework my plan and decided to focus on the following three aspects.
1) Conditioning/Fitness
2) Overheads
3) Cross Court Forehand

Conditioning/fitness isnt new and up until mid June i am probably one of the fittest guys before injury. Hopefully after rehab of my ankles, i can put in a few good weeks of Gym work and be back to full fitness.

Since i dont have time to rebuild and rework my strokes, i thought i would focus on items that doesnt need major work but are still impactful. I believe i have decent serve mechanics (and smash is my go to shot in Badminton) and hence overheads shouldnt be that hard to learn.By having good overhead shot, i can take away opponents Lobs.

This season (or whatever little of it i played), i was hitting the down the Line forehand pretty good. This has become a money shot in those few matches. Off late i am struggling with Cross court forehands , especially on consistency of that shot. If i can turn it around and make it consistent, my forehand will become formidable.

It is about a year ago, i added Two handed Backhand to my game and now my backhand is very consistent. If i can add overheads and strengthen my forehand , i will be within a shot when the Winter tennis league starts.

I hope to start playing tennis this coming weekend. My agent is working on the schedule ;)

Injury worries

My tennis season never really took off so far. Rains and bad scheduling during most of June forced me to stay low on Tennis.

Towards mid june , i started to finally get into some rhythm. I played with Jack and few other friends and i seemed to find my range on some of my shots especially the Inside-out Forehand.

Just when i felt things are looking up, wheels seem to come off my Tennis Wagon.

During Independence day Long weekend, i ended up with a golf ball sized swelling on right ankle around peroneal tendon area. I am still awaiting MRI results and root cause is unknown. After few days of being unable to walk, now i can do most of my usual work but there is still some pain and it may take some more medication and diagnostics before i can start my rehab.

I then have to restart my fitness efforts and simulateneously also force some tennis action. Probably it wont be until August before i get back into rhythm. That leaves with Just August and Septemeber to make improvements and get ready for Winter tennis season. All of a sudden, the outdoor season looks very very short.

I plan to resume tennis from this weekend , albeit in a limited fasion.

While it isnt a whole lot encouraging, The best thing to do now is be optimistic and look forward. Infact i made the two handed backhand change very late last year (around september time frame) yet i ended up with decent results.

The plan for me is to work on my forehand and make it more explosive. Even some what subtle improvements in forehand and Serve can go a long way for me to go deep into winter ladder.

I also joined a local tennis circuit though i am yet to play a single game.

100% Badminton

My penultimate Badminton session for the season (the last one will be today) was a surprise. I played more than a dozen matches and won every single one of them. I cant remember in the recent times when i had that winning record. I did play against tough opponents and sometimes with a mismatched partner but still ended up winning matches,some of them pretty close.

Last time i remember having a 100% record was almost 4-5 yrs ago.

I dont think i played anything beyond ordinary but i guess i executed well. I had my 'around the head' forehand working and these days i am really moving well--thanks to all the fitness efforts at the gym.

I will be wrapping up the Badminton season tonight, a pizza session followed by light hitting. Traditionally the last session is light on intensity and more like a gathering. Until November, Badminton hits a pause around this area. While there are some places where Badminton can be played, i generally hit a badminton hiatus from May to November. As always, some players drop off for next season while some new players come in.

I enjoy racquet sports and Badminton is one of my all time favorites right behind tennis. I played it intermittently as a kid but since 2002 i have been a regular at this Badmiton club for 7 such seasons. I believe it has helped my tennis game and in general my winter blues.

End of a Badminton season signifies full fledged outdoor tennis and activities. It also reminds me that another season (and year) passed by and i am older by another year.

2009 Winter Ladder Conclusion

While i didnt attend the last official day of Monday night ladder, I was told that there are prized for the top three performers of the season. I didnt expect it but i came in Third behind Luciano and Vishwas.

This prize is another way of confirmation of improvements i made in my game. Arguably there are few more good players (Eric and Tom ) who have consistently beaten me but they didnt play long enough to rake in ranking points. Just like in ATP tennis, one has to play long enough to sustain ranking points.

I knew that i came in third based on the stats website though there was a slight disagreement on who came first between my stats website and the tournament referee.

Even officially, 2009 Winter tennis came to a close. Wednesday night Badminton has two more weeks left before it winds down and will open up my schedule significantly. Hopefully weather will also become more consistent rather than the flaky 70 degree today, 45 degree tommorow weather.

I played Jack over the weekend and despite me taking a 3-1 lead , Jack ended up with 6-4 score. Conditions are extremely windy and i didnt adopt well. Making matter worse, i didnt even play aggressive (the style i really am trying to play). Jack's consistency carried him through. I was way off on my serve and ground strokes.

Winter Tennis Wrap up

With Outdoors warming up and Winter looking like a distant memory, Its time to Close the Winter session of Tennis and look for free tennis outdoors.

My last session was mid March and i didnt play in the ladder after that. Despite that i still remained at the top bracket of ladder until mid April before i pulled out. In any case, the last ladder session is on next monday and i am not playing.

This Winter ladder has been a great experience and i definitely went much further than i ever did. In summary , Even with all the top players (like Eric) in the ladder, i played as a legitimate #3 or #4 and at peak of the season i could arguably be the #2. I became a perennial fixture at the top of the 7pm. This season also established my Two handed Backhand and my movement and defense are more refined.

We also established a Tennis website with all the scores.

http://apex.oracle.com/pls/apex/f?p=24230:5:6207439575252990::NO:::

My 2009 Winter season stats read as follows.

Games won-211,Games Lost-218,Win/Loss Ratio: 00.492

Some of these stats are skewed because of my miserable results towards the late season (not to mention some drubbing by Eric). Still winning 211 games isnt a small feat.

Thats all history now and outdoor season has begun. I havent played any serious matches yet and in any case my results wont be spectacular any time soon as i rebuild my strokes. I am tinkering with my strings, grips and ofcourse forehand. As experience shows, these things take time and during that period results can be disappointing. My goal is to become #1 next winter session and i want to use the outdoor season to arm myself. So i expect Jack to hammer me all over the place during the first few sessions before i can see some good results.

Considering that i played for #1 six or seven times, i am not that far off from being a #1. I have put a lot of work on improving fitness and that should help me practice harder and smarter during the 5 outdoor months. I will be taking some tennis lessons to work my forehand and make it formidable. I will probably doing some video taping and several ball machine drills.

This time of the year also has a few more things to look forward to. NBA playoffs and follow LA Lakers. Ofcourse French Open and Wimbledon are around the corner and USopen is only a few months away.

Out goes Winter, Here comes Outdoor Tennis!!

Tennis Results 08 Mar 2010 -- Great outing ,average results and Good Shoe

After somewhat disappointing results for the past couple of weeks, i finally put together a decent outing. I dont get to move to the top but i stayed at the top of 7 pm on my own merit, not relying on Arbitration /other results.

First of all, I played with my New Babolat Shoes that my wife gifted for my B'day. Ofcourse i did my research and indicated what i wanted to my wife , so i knew what i was getting. These are the most comfortable shoes i have ever played with. My current shoe is also a Babolat 'Team All court ' shoe and fairly comfortable but this new shoe just blow the old one away. I also have a HEAD tennis shoe that i use for my daily Running and that is no where as comfortable as this one. Grip, Traction, Ankle support, This shoe seems to have it all.

I also made a few changes in approaching the matches. I am still finding it hard to shed old habits and i am making a conscious effort to start small. First one of them is , i changed my dress code. I no longer am using my traditional red-white attire. Another ritual i didnt use tonight is the head band based one. Normally i use head band in warmups and then put it away during the match play. Tonight i chose to wear it all night long regardless of my results. Ofcourse, a sponsorship from NIKE may soon be on my way (i can always dream!).

In yet another first, i played Rich for the first time this season. Rich is an old timer and we have had many good encounters in the past. Games wise, i have won more than i lost to him so far. We went with Serve until 3-3. I had one oppurtunity to break his serve but i couldnt. In the 7 game, we went to deuce (despite Rich being up at 15-40) and i couldnt get the lift on a second serve as much as i would have liked and Rich crushed the return to make it a 3-4 night for me. I have however served several good serves , especially the ones down the T. I also played very positive tennis and didnt back off when there is a chance to go for more on the shots.

I played Ding next. The first game went to Deuce but i pulled a good first serve and then stayed on serve until i broke him to go up 4-2. I lost the last game on Deuce to make it 4-3 night for me. In what seemed to be a trend, i hit few good first serves and i also hit some good cross court forehands.

Carl is always a tricky opponent but we stayed with serve until i broke him to go up 3-1. Before our match, i learnt that he has 5 games and i had 7. So i knew that if i win 3 games, i am going to stay up regardless as Carl wont be able to catch me. On the other hand, if one wins 11 games in this ladder format, it is impossible for him to drop down. Once i had 3 games under my belt, i took it little easy but i won the last game of the night anywayz to go up 4-3 on Carl.

With 11 games, i didnt have to check other results as i knew that i will stay put. Since Rich has won 14 games, he will move up. Carl dropped down with 8 games while Ding has 9. If i played a little tighter perhaps i could have caught Rich on games to move up but my goal was to go for shots where possible.

I didnt feel tired whole night and its been a while since i had that feeling. I also liked the fact that i didnt back down to take a shot when there is a chance.One more average week and i will end up closing March at 7 pm-- not a small achivement considering the depth of this ladder. These days we have 3 levels at 0830 and two at 7 pm before one can play for #1. One needs 5 solid weeks of play before they can play for #1 spot. Another not so small achievement:I havent played at bottom of 7 pm since November meaning i have been the top 5 player or better for the past three months.

I am not sure if i am going to play next week but it will be a decision i make on Sunday. The focus on the remaining 1-2 sessions are on proper stroke execution and some fun. I am a little tired of always counting games and each and every point.

Last weekend, outdoor weather was good enough for me and Jack to play outdoors. We played a few tennis tie breakers. It was a bit windy making it very tough to play from a particular side of the court and whoever played on that side, ended up losing the breaker. However it was fun to play outdoors again and cant wait for the weather to get even better.

Tennis Results 01 Mar 2010 -- Sinking Ship?

Despite warm march weather, i had a lame duck session this Monday. I only won 6 games yet i managed to stay up due to Substitutions.

Its only after i started warming up , i learnt that Paul isnt showing up and Steve substituted for him. In the past, i had beaten Steve handily and while i am no longer playing close to the levels of tennis i played during Nov-Dec-Jan, I expected to handle him. Instead i was troubled by his cotton puffy shots and crafty slices. I struggled with my movement and serve. Its a long match, to say the least. We played 7 games for 45 minutes and in the end i lost 3-4.

I played Carl next and it was complete contrast. We went with serve first couple of games. I had oppurtunity to go up 3-1 when carl offered a break point (I was leading 2-1 and carl was serving) but i couldnt convert and we stayed with serve until 3-3. I surrendered my serve meekly in the last game to go down 3-4.

For the first time, i encountered Tom who is probably the best player in the ladder. He joined a few weeks ago and took time to move up the deep ladder (it takes 5 weeks before one can make it to top of 7 pm when starting down the ladder). I didnt win any games against him but i got several games at Deuce, though i didnt convert. He is more consistent and has good top spin ground strokes. His serve isnt over powering. I have good enough game to handle him though it is hard for someone to believe it when they saw me playing yesterday. We ran out of time when i was trailing 0-4.

As it turns out, Tim handled Steve well (7-0) and kind of helped me stay up at top of 7 pm.

I am disappointed on several fronts. I only hit a couple of winners but they werent strategic. I hit good backhand shots but nothing aggressive. I felt so tired playing Steve and i cant explain this either considering that i am putting lots of time on treadmill.

I have a few excuses/reasons/injuries that may explain some of these lack lusture results but neverthless bad performance. Ofcourse, when i embarked on this "improvement" strategy, i expected some nights where i would be off but when i actually had "off" , it was troubling. I guess i have to live upto it.

I will break from the ladder end of March. With four more sessions left in this month, i guess i will play two of them. I am thinking of playing atleast one (or two) of these at 0830 Pm against guys who return the ball back softly so that i can groove my topspin forehand. Its hard to get that kind of practice at top of 7 pm as the guys are too consistent and play deep.

Weather wise coming weekend looks promising and i am considering the possibility of outdoor tennis.