Author Topic: Euroka's Tennis Journal (Read 45255 times)

euroka1 · « **Reply #420 on:** July 15, 2009, 04:18:09 PM »

Tennis has been mixed this last week but let's just remember the good stuff.

Played a very good set on Monday with some notable volleys and had a good hit with the instructor earlier today.
Perhaps the best long term improvement is that, even with advancing age

, I seem to be getting a much more fluid turn and shoulder action. This is not only benefiting the ground strokes and the serve but I am actually starting to hit some decent overheads, something I thought I'd never do.

Tickets for the Legg Mason here and for Cincy arrived today so am all set for watching up close some good tennis soon

. The included publicity for the Legg Mason is all Roddick so the poor guy has no alternative but to turn up. The ticket folder cover for the Legg Mason quotes him on the front as saying "The difference between me and them is that I bring it week in and week out". Sounds a bit like a treadmill.

OSU Buckeye · « **Reply #421 on:** July 15, 2009, 04:42:50 PM »

Glad to hear about the improvements! Thats always good to hear!

Jamesdster · « **Reply #422 on:** July 16, 2009, 09:55:54 PM »

e...I am truly envious. To get to catch both of those tournies sounds way cool!

. And throw in year 2 of playing in Columbus with us knuckleheads and it is over the top!

. We Columbians (as babble calls us), were thrilled to meet you last year and look forward to the next encounter.

euroka1 · « **Reply #423 on:** July 19, 2009, 01:33:39 PM »

Great tennis weather here. Sunny, high 70s, low humidity. How is it elsewhere? I'm expecting that the guy up there will turn on the oven when tennis tournament time comes around. But I won't be playing then. Just sitting under a large hat, slathered in sunblock, staying hydrated, and critiquing the pros as they fight it out.

But todays mixed doubles was good

. Everybody was playing well and we had many deuces. My new smooth serve was working fine too.
But our score 6-0, 7-5, 6-1 was satisfying as well.

euroka1 · « **Reply #424 on:** July 22, 2009, 05:32:54 PM »

I had a good hit with the instructor today. Temperature high 80s and humid. No rain, but on the weather map it looked stormy in Ohio and thunderstorms are predicted for here tomorrow afternoon.

Managed to break a string which is rare for me. Instructor attributes it to the increasing amount of spin that I'm hitting.

OSU Buckeye · « **Reply #425 on:** July 22, 2009, 06:21:17 PM »

The spin will do it to the strings. It rained from like 9am this morning all day and is still raining. We needed the rain though.

euroka1 · « **Reply #426 on:** July 31, 2009, 07:23:04 PM »

More mixed tennis this last week. Played Tuesday, Wednesday and today. Summer has really set in

and it is very humid. Can't report much in the way of improvements. Wednesday was the hit with the instructor. At least I was volleying well. I'll be pleased when indoor tennis starts up again on Thursday nights in September. One nice thing about indoor tennis is that it is reliable. You only have to get to the court and there's less need to be worrying about those storms coming over from Ohio

.

Tennis4you · « **Reply #427 on:** July 31, 2009, 08:48:56 PM »

I love me some indoor tennis. Always have, always will! And as long as our storms are out of here, I could care less where they head, sorry Super E!

euroka1 · « **Reply #428 on:** August 03, 2009, 10:35:05 AM »

We had a great game this morning, 6-0, 6-3, 3-6. Our play in the first set was almost flawless

. Too bad we couldn't keep it up.

I was doing pretty well on all fronts. The serve was pretty consistent which was nice and I'm starting to get a bit of pace into it. That all started when the instructor brought the speedometer to the Wednesday session.

After all the storming yesterday, today is a beautiful day for tennis. Warm but low humidity.

I'm off to the Legg Mason this afternoon to see the big boys play.

euroka1 · « **Reply #429 on:** August 26, 2009, 03:44:03 PM »

I had a good hit with the instructor this morning. First active tennis in over three weeks after slouching round the Legg Mason and Cincy in the interim, watching other people do the work. Timing all out, feet didn't want to move, but it was good to be hitting the ball again.

Jamesdster · « **Reply #430 on:** August 27, 2009, 09:07:06 AM »

In the long run, I predict that little siesta will be helpful for your game!

euroka1 · « **Reply #431 on:** September 15, 2009, 06:57:33 PM »

Now that the US Open is over, I figure it is probably safe to come back into the water again.

As well as watching lots of great tennis, I've played some good outdoor games in the last couple of weeks. This in-between weather has been perfect but there has been about a 50% loss due to rain. Last Thursday night, indoor tennis started again. My side did well, 6-4, 6-0 in two sets. In general, however, I've been having trouble with my serve toss and am a bit depressed it is due to joints stiffening as part of the ageing process. Things get better usually after I've been playing for a while. Such is life.

I did have a good hit with the instructor this morning. As usual, it was the workout of the week. We hit many many balls.

euroka1 · « **Reply #432 on:** September 21, 2009, 11:14:31 AM »

Outdoor tennis has been particularly good the last three days in perfect fall weather.

Saturday and Sunday were mixed doubles with mixed results but a very good time was had by all.
Today was the regular Monday mens league. I was playing against some notably good guys and was able to more than hold up. It is really good for the soul to have a good day or two once in a while. It has taken a while but I'm now doing overheads with a certain amount of reliability. Return of serve was pretty good too. The score in the two sets was 6-4, 4-6 but it was very competitive
Outdoor tennis is also scheduled for tomorrow and Wednesday but it looks like the bad weather from Cincinnati and Columbus

is slowly coming our way. Thursday night is now indoors and that is something to look forward to. Indoor tennis is nice because only snow and ice can stop you getting there.

Jamesdster · « **Reply #433 on:** September 21, 2009, 03:42:51 PM »

Glad to hear you are back at it euroka! Keep up the good fight.

euroka1 · « **Reply #434 on:** September 23, 2009, 03:07:44 PM »

The bad weather missed us here and I not only had a good game yesterday on dirt but had a vigorous hit with the instructor this morning. We largely worked on return of serve and volley strategy. He seems to think that my volley technique is pretty good, or as good as it is going to get now, and we mostly talked and practiced net strategy today. Indoors tomorrow night. Only concern is that the two ladies will turn up late

or not at all and we two guys will be stuck with (what for me now) is back-breaking singles.

Still, two can at very least have a good hit.

However, it is very humid here today

. A return to summer weather without the strong sun.

monstertruck · « **Reply #435 on:** September 24, 2009, 06:52:45 AM »

I'm curious as to whether you have a long range plan with the instructor.
It seems like you get enough 'lessons' that he could almost be considered more of a coach.

Enjoy the 'return to summer' and the humidity.

The outdoor season is quickly drawing to a close.

euroka1 · « **Reply #436 on:** September 24, 2009, 07:26:24 AM »

Quote from: monstertruck on September 24, 2009, 06:52:45 AM

I'm curious as to whether you have a long range plan with the instructor.
It seems like you get enough 'lessons' that he could almost be considered more of a coach.

Enjoy the 'return to summer' and the humidity.
The outdoor season is quickly drawing to a close.

Hi MT,

No, no long range plan. It will go on as long as it is mutually convenient.

There are two aspects.
First, and probably the most important, it amounts to a very good workout. Although as you know I play a lot, but during this time of a little less than an hour, I get to hit more balls than in the rest of the week.
Second, he is always nagging me about things that are wrong and bad habits that are creeeping back (e.g. not turning enough, hitting the backhand too soon etc.)
So , in this respect, he is a coach but I have no plans for anything like competitive tennis.
I just enjoy hitting tennis balls, I guess.

monstertruck · « **Reply #437 on:** September 25, 2009, 05:38:44 AM »

Quote from: euroka1 on September 24, 2009, 07:26:24 AM

Quote from: monstertruck on September 24, 2009, 06:52:45 AM
I'm curious as to whether you have a long range plan with the instructor.
It seems like you get enough 'lessons' that he could almost be considered more of a coach.

Enjoy the 'return to summer' and the humidity.
The outdoor season is quickly drawing to a close.

Hi MT,

No, no long range plan. It will go on as long as it is mutually convenient.

There are two aspects.
First, and probably the most important, it amounts to a very good workout. Although as you know I play a lot, but during this time of a little less than an hour, I get to hit more balls than in the rest of the week.
Second, he is always nagging me about things that are wrong and bad habits that are creeeping back (e.g. not turning enough, hitting the backhand too soon etc.)
So , in this respect, he is a coach but I have no plans for anything like competitive tennis.
I just enjoy hitting tennis balls, I guess.

That's cool.
Hitting lots of balls in a controlled format while being critiqued sounds like a step up from a practice session.
Good stuff!

I guess my curiousity stems from own limited teaching experience.
I wonder what players are looking for and how teaching pros accomodate them.
From what I've seen, it's usually a rather informal arrangement between the parties no matter what the level of play or age.
This is confusing to me.
A man without a plan is just a man. MT

Sounds like you've got a great fit that meets your needs and expectations.
I agree that during competitive play, a player doesn't get to hit nearly enough balls to expect any improvement in their game even if playing 5 times a week.

Enjoy these nice fall days. There aren't too many left.

euroka1 · « **Reply #438 on:** September 25, 2009, 06:31:07 AM »

Well, I suppose there is one long term plan, and that is to develop a well-controlled and powerful spin serve. While I've made progress and can do it, it lacks power and is easy to return. On the other hand, my flat serve is both accurate in placement AND powerful. Often the best strategy seems to be to serve the spinner for a while and then knock the socks of the opponent with the flat one at a critical moment.
....so, we're working on it but I'm wondering if I'll get there in the present incarnation.

We had a good indoor game last night, mixed doubles. Both ladies were in top form which kept us guys down to appropriate size. One has the most accurate topspin lob I've ever seen and combines this with a devastating approach shot if you dare put a ball short. However, we all agreed that it was a challenging and satisfying night all around. 5-7. 2-6

Got very little volley practice last night

.

euroka1 · « **Reply #439 on:** September 28, 2009, 11:17:14 AM »

The weather was mixed here over the weekend. We snuck in some tennis on Saturday before the rains came.
Today is a beautiful fall day here, although windy. We had some good tennis. Only problem was that five people turned up and we took it in turns to rotate out every four games. We had some very good games but I'm never very happy only playing partial sets. It seems unstructured and there is also not enough time to get into a good working relation with the partner. Still, it was good and I had both a good workout and made some very nice shots. As said above, just hitting a ball is lots of fun.

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Author Topic: Euroka's Tennis Journal (Read 45255 times)