Topic: Tennis Activity

[krizzle]

I've got spring break coming up soon. This is my schedule:
Saturday: Gym class workout (it's really intense)
Sunday: rest (I haven't had a rest then for a week)
Monday: 3 miles slow jog, light tennis rallying and practice
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: HIIT hill-sprints or HIIT running on a track
Thursday: Tennis, a light jog
Friday: rest
Saturday: go to the gym, go swimming, or do both.
Sunday: rest
Monday: normal tennis practice
Tuesday: First match.
Should I make any changes?
I think it's great that we have a break, because I've been playing a lot of tennis recently and I just feel that I could have an extra day or two of rest to let my body (and bad back) completely fully recover. I'll also be doing some other workouts for the core, legs, and arms during the break.

[krizzle]

Well, I've been playing and practicing. I'm now (unofficially) on Varsity! 
I've only been playing for four or five months, but the hard work sure has paid off. I'm going to be playing doubles in the high school league and any tourneys we get invited to (we're already in one). We did some agility and sprint training today, and I won my first doubles match, 7-5. I rallied for a while with the #1 player on the team, #3 in the state and it went very well. He played much better than me, but I anticipated 85% of his shots, and returned shots really well that weren't hit to my backhand. I even got a few winners! I also played with the girls varsity, the singles players (They're about my level, or slightly below). I think i'm going to be playing with them more often (the social aspect). I'm going to continue working on my fitness; 10 days until my first match.

[Tennis4you]

Nice job making varsity!!!

[krizzle]

I played my first match yesterday, as the previous ones had been rained out. The coach put me into #4 varsity singles. That was a failure, but a great idea by the coach. We as a team were better, and since i'm going to be much better in a few years, he could afford having me lose, since we'd still win 5-3 or 6-2. I lost in straight sets, being double-bageled, if that's the term for it, but it was 6-0 6-0. Huge dissapointment. The guy had a great serve which I struggled with, and he really attacked my serve. His ground-game was slightly better than mine, though I did hit a few nice passing shots and other winners, and ran to all of his drop-shots, even if I did fail to convert them. Within a few minutes it was already 0-6. I calmed down between sets and thought of some strategy, namely standing back and blocking. I almost won a game off him. It's a great experience playing someone as good as he was. We have the #3 player in the state on the team, and he has reassured me that the opponent was very difficult and that not everyone has a serve as good as his.
Huge dissapointment, but a good learning experience.

[Tennis4you]

Great learning experience.  I was dished a double bagel in high school at Districts by the #3 seed and I was just a sophomore.  I still remember that match well.  I remember that first kick serve coming closer to my face than my racquet.  That was a wake up call. 

Don;t let it be a disappointment, just learn from it and get ready for the next opponent.  It's all you can do.  If he was employing strategies that were bothering you (other than "big serve") or doing things you are not use to seeing, see if those are things you can focus on in the future to improve your game. 

[krizzle]

Yesterday was my second varsity match, and it was a lot better. I've been feeling sick lately, and the doctor thinks that it's strep throat, but I played anyways. My opponent loved to lob the ball and approach the net, and so quickly I had problems. I lost the first set 6-2, but then rallied in the second to take a 2-0 lead. After being broken back to 2-1, I lost the next two games, so I was losing 2-3. After some good advice from the coach (namely not to hit to my opponent), I started doing much better in my passing shots. I had set point at 6-5 deuce but lost, guaranteeing a tie-breaker which I eventually lost. Sad face. However, if the team won as a whole because the margin of the last set was so low.
Things I need to improve on:
Confidence
Backhand
Backhand passing shots
"I've gotten to the dropshot, now what?"
Overhead put-aways

[krizzle]

In the past week, I was lucky to play two varsity matches. The first one was against possibly the worst team in the district, so I was placed on the #3 varsity singles spot. It was an easy match, though not of high quality. I easily won the first set 6-1. However, in the second set, he broke me right after I broke him, and it was 2-1 and I was playing badly and was up to serve and I apologize for this run-on sentence. However, I won the next 4 games, and finished 6-1; 6-2.
---
In the next match, yesterday, we were playing the team that I had previously lost on the #4 varsity singles spot. This time, I asked to play doubles, and was placed on #4 dubs. Our opponents were definitely not as good as us, but we really beat ourselves. My partner double-faulted a few times, and my serves weren't "on" either, and we were lucky to be winning 7-5.
The second set was easier. We broke the first game, but they broke back and held, leading them to a 2-1 lead. We held, as did they, and we were down 3-2. We held, broke, got broken, and then after a double-fault, we had won!
My record now as a varsity player is 2-2 and games for-against is 34:36. Sets for-against is 4:4.

My shoulder hurts now, so i'll be taking today, Saturday, Sunday off, and Monday I will practice lightly.

[krizzle]

Tennis season is over, and I finished it with a losing record. 
I won 2 matches and lost 2,
drew in sets, with 4 won and lost
I lost in games, 36-34.
Bummer.
I didn't qualify for district doubles, another bummer. I should have; I was better than one of the players chosen over me.
I'm taking 12 2-hour classes 3x a week for a month, starting in mid-june.
I've read about the Wardlaw directionals, and they work.
I'm going to Hawaii on Monday!

[monstertruck]

Sounds like a great summer ahead of you.
Do you plan to work on your game during that time as well?

[krizzle]

I'll definitely be playing a lot of tennis. Here is hopefully what my schedule will be like during the summer:
6:00 wake-up, go to a Cross-fit gym.
8:00-4:00: be lazy and watch the World Cup. Oh, and have tennis lessons.  Just kidding.
I'll have dinner, and hopefully go for a run afterwards.
Then, an actual schedule apart from watching soccer:
6:00 wake-up, go to gym.
8-9:00; take a nap.
9:15-10:00; hit against a wall
10:30-11:15; play soccer
11:30-1:15; work on house with my dad
1:30-2:00; take a nap
2:30- 4:30; tennis lessons
5:00-6:00; play tennis
6:00-8:00;dinner
Sleep.

[monstertruck]

Ahhhh, I remember those days!!!  So sweet.

I hope that you appreciate them and enjoy them while they last!

btw Excellent job of cross-training and use of The Wall.
Never underestimate hitting with The Wall.  Both Seles and Borg were proponents of Wall Time.

[krizzle]

Well, it's four days over six months since I got my new racket, and about seven months since I started playing tennis. Here's how it started:
8 years ago I took my first tennis lessons, and I was really good, but preferred soccer.
August 2009- almost got cut from H.S. soccer team.
November 2009- season ended, and I started playing casual tennis
Late November: I started playing more seriously, going to school 1.5 hrs earlier to play tennis with friends
Christmas: I got my primary racket.
February: First tennis lessons.
Feb-May: H.S. season.
I'm a self-rated 4.5 right now.
I'm working on a modern forehand, and it's working really well.
My two-handed backhand is really good and I often hit winners from it.
My volleys are good, as are my overheads.
My anticipation, strategy, and movement are good.
My serve is not. I'm working on a flat serve, because I mostly use a kicker that doesn't really 'kick.'
I think i'll post a video to youtube soon of a tennis match my friend and I will be having.

[krizzle]

I just broke my first set of strings!
I had them for three weeks or so, because I got my racket restrung in the beginning of May, and I was hitting a forehand yesterday and they just snapped.

[krizzle]

I'm taking lessons and it's going well.

[krizzle]

I hit an amazing forehand cross-court passing shot on the run, kind of like this one:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2q7PgyWj-s8 against my coach and he was really surprised