Topic: Pawan's Tennis Journal

[OSU Buckeye]

Good stuff guys.............sounds like a tough rivalry brewing!       Its too bad TTC isn't covering your matches!?   

[monstertruck]

game based practise? Hmm.. never thought about that. what about practice based games.. I guess thats what i do now? I should definitely practice more. thanks.

i always post looooooong entries. today i'll leave it short. i played about 2.5 hours, scoreline 6-1 7-5 7-6(2). I'll resist any urge to go into further details. It should suffice to mention that I played satisfactorily, given my approach to playing today.

Use game based drills to work on a specific stroke, tactic, combination, etc to make practice interesting and competitive.  For me, this allows me to focus on one thing and develop it through repetition rather than trying to do that in open play.

[Tennis4you]

I am no good at focusing on regular practice or drills.  I like drills that we can keep some kind of score on.  So indeed, interesting and competitive is certainly a good thing for me, I recommend it!

[mdshahid20]

you'll enjoy this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMwr8UwbvvM

[pawan89]

you'll enjoy this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMwr8UwbvvM

so you say that because I am a federer fan? Well.. there are far bigger fans of Federer here than me - in fact kickserve has already questioned my claim of being a federer fan more than twice in the last two three weeks. 

Cool stuff nevertheless.

[mdshahid20]

Umm, name your favorite player.
Federer? thats what i thought
I did think it was cool how blake was praising him. And also the fluency with which fed speaks german (i think it was german) is pretty cool (even though i already knew about his linguistic prowess, i didn't know how good he actually was).
I have a question for discussion and i dont think its big enough to start a new thread so i'll do it here.
when one sees like federer hit a drop shot, the ball like almost 90 degrees from its normal path (a flat shot). i dont see much of a difference between that shot and mine (i mean theres not much variation in a drop shot) and i dont get such a drastic result at all. mine pretty much turns like 30-45 degrees max. is it cuz of the natural gut/ luxillon strings or does he like perform the shot that much faster and go around the ball that much more. and also on that note, how much of a difference do natural got or luxillon big banger strings make? Pawan and I have only ever used either hybrids or synthetic gut, so I'd like to know the performance difference between these types. Anyone hu's used natural gut here?

[mdshahid20]

Good stuff guys.............sounds like a tough rivalry brewing!       Its too bad TTC isn't covering your matches!?   

we're actually planning on recording  one of our matches or at least some points and putting them on youtube. but due to school, weather and other time restraints for both of us, its prob. not going to happen till the spring. the good thing is, we'll prob. be even better by then (i know its hard to imagine ) and it'll hopefully make for some good entertainment  .

[dmastous]

Umm, name your favorite player.
Federer? thats what i thought
I did think it was cool how blake was praising him. And also the fluency with which fed speaks german (i think it was german) is pretty cool (even though i already knew about his linguistic prowess, i didn't know how good he actually was).
I have a question for discussion and i dont think its big enough to start a new thread so i'll do it here.
when one sees like federer hit a drop shot, the ball like almost 90 degrees from its normal path (a flat shot). i dont see much of a difference between that shot and mine (i mean theres not much variation in a drop shot) and i dont get such a drastic result at all. mine pretty much turns like 30-45 degrees max. is it cuz of the natural gut/ luxillon strings or does he like perform the shot that much faster and go around the ball that much more. and also on that note, how much of a difference do natural got or luxillon big banger strings make? Pawan and I have only ever used either hybrids or synthetic gut, so I'd like to know the performance difference between these types. Anyone hu's used natural gut here?

I've got pretty much a Federer racquet right now. Not copying him, but it just evolved that way. I've got a K Factour Tour 90 with Lux Alu Rough in the mains and natural gut in the crosses (Fed uses Wilson, I'm using Bow Brand which I prefer).
The set up is awsome! It's fantastic. For about 2 weeks. Then it loses it's effectiveness somewhat. Mine is about 6 weeks old and it doesn't feel nearly as good as it did when I first installed it. Federer and Roddick (he uses a Babblelot Gut/Poly hybrid) and others get their frames done every day. Fresh strings. Even if they don't use a racquet the strings are cut out and replaced. So they never have to deal with the poly losing tension and effectiveness.
I'm not sure what you mean by your description of Federer's drop shot. He doesn't really hit that many. He hits short angled backhands frequently though. I'd have to reserve comment on it until I understand what your trying to decribe.

[mdshahid20]

in the video i posted above, at like 30 seconds he hits a dropshot from the baseline. ok i exaggerated w/ the 90 degrees but its like 60 degrees from the normal path. like if he was to hit a topspin straight down the line it,  the angle would be 180 or 0 depending on how u look at it (0 in how i use it). so like a 60 degree angle from that line (to the left) is how much his dropshot turns. maybe its just the angle of the camera but it seems like it bends a lot more than mine and it stops so much shorter. there are better videos of it, (i cant find one) but they seem to almost just like stop. so is there like something special that he does besides brushing down and around the ball that allows it to spin so much or is cuz of the strings (is my question)?

[dmastous]

in the video i posted above, at like 30 seconds he hits a dropshot from the baseline. ok i exaggerated w/ the 90 degrees but its like 60 degrees from the normal path. like if he was to hit a topspin straight down the line it,  the angle would be 180 or 0 depending on how u look at it (0 in how i use it). so like a 60 degree angle from that line (to the left) is how much his dropshot turns. maybe its just the angle of the camera but it seems like it bends a lot more than mine and it stops so much shorter. there are better videos of it, (i cant find one) but they seem to almost just like stop. so is there like something special that he does besides brushing down and around the ball that allows it to spin so much or is cuz of the strings (is my question)?

I can't see the video here, so it'll have to wait. 

[OSU Buckeye]

in the video i posted above, at like 30 seconds he hits a dropshot from the baseline. ok i exaggerated w/ the 90 degrees but its like 60 degrees from the normal path. like if he was to hit a topspin straight down the line it,  the angle would be 180 or 0 depending on how u look at it (0 in how i use it). so like a 60 degree angle from that line (to the left) is how much his dropshot turns. maybe its just the angle of the camera but it seems like it bends a lot more than mine and it stops so much shorter. there are better videos of it, (i cant find one) but they seem to almost just like stop. so is there like something special that he does besides brushing down and around the ball that allows it to spin so much or is cuz of the strings (is my question)?

I know what you are talking about and yes it is simply amazing.  Its Fed's slice BH drop shot from the baseline at the 2006 AO in the final against Baghs.  The camera angle from behind Fed shows that the ball goes just over the net, bounces, and then moves toward the chair umpire with a very low bounce.  The ball, after bouncing just inside the line, moves further off of the court and somewhat back towards the net.   The real kicker about the shot is from the anticipational view of his opponent it looks like a normal driving deep into the court BH slice shot but at the last moment he turns it into "the dropper"!  Absolutely disgusting............and I am sure given how Baghs had 0 chance to get to that shot, he would agree with me!     

[OSU Buckeye]

Good stuff guys.............sounds like a tough rivalry brewing!       Its too bad TTC isn't covering your matches!?   

we're actually planning on recording  one of our matches or at least some points and putting them on youtube. but due to school, weather and other time restraints for both of us, its prob. not going to happen till the spring. the good thing is, we'll prob. be even better by then (i know its hard to imagine ) and it'll hopefully make for some good entertainment  .

Sweet, I'll look forward to it!   

[pawan89]

One year on here for me as of November 12, 2007! I'd like to thank Scott for maintaining this place and EVERYONE for making this place such a cool and fun place to 'hang out' at. Thank you.

[OSU Buckeye]

One year on here for me as of November 12, 2007! I'd like to thank Scott for maintaining this place and EVERYONE for making this place such a cool and fun place to 'hang out' at. Thank you.

You're quite welcome, same back at you!    Congrats on your year anniversary!   

[pawan89]

B-E-A-utiful weather today. like 70s nice breeze. I went to watch the homecoming football game with my friends in the morning and then played tennis with mdshahid in the afternoon. We played two sets and then hit around for some time. He's injured so .. i don't know hopefully he writes his side of things. I played allright. For not having played for now what more than a month? I made a few too many double faults but also had some decent serves. Not too many points played during the sets - I won 6-3 6-1. But I think we played some real tennis after the sets. I was completely warmed up by then and hitting good forehands and backhands (like i usually do in such periods when we just hit) and I was happy. So I was really glad I got to hit, I hit really well too I was satisfied.
you know my backhand, i just need a lot of time. like I realize I hit them so much better when  I can read the ball nicely get there and have time to take back, turn body and swing through. For that much work I need a lot of time, so I unfortuantely get pushed a little behind the baseline - and in general I try to stay right on the baseline to take the ball earlier if possible and go up when necessary. but on second thought, I realized today that when I say I get pushed behind the baseline to hit good backhands - most of the pros hang out that far back in general. Like, you know what I mean? I am sorta under the impression that either you are on the baseline, or you are like a clay courter playing from 10 feet behind the baseline. But most pros in a general rally stay 2-3 feet behind the baseline and step up for the forehand or the shorter/earlier ball. And that's about where I was today when I was hitting and I consider that good enough time for me to hit good backhands - so maybe its allright to hang a feet or two behind. I'm just going to worry about that from now on, despite wether my opponent is volleying or not, because my shots are what is important and if you can get your shots going it doesn't really matter what opponents are doing.

I don't know if mdshahid is happy or not, for him this is important cuz this is probably the last time we'll be able to play before his season starts in march, and he needs to I think get his game set and know what to do, and have backup plans in case his killer serves or his volleys start falling apart for even two or three games during a match.

So I am ending this year on a good note. I have improved overall. Let me try to summarize. My forehand is the same or perhaps a little rustier just cuz of the lack of usage. My serve is same but better because I have better and a more repeatable and fundamental forms and I can control my first and second serve. my second serve isn't as good as I had expected but I never worked on it except for a week or two and then that got broken so its allright. my backhand much much better than ever before, and I haven't lost my slices either. My volleys are in general the same, I volleyed more and I know when I feel like volleying I can volley well. My returns, since I only play against mdshahid I can't tell too much but I am assuming if I can return his serves ok, I should be able to return others' better. I can't return his too deep but I do hope this is not the case in general.
Overall, I am content. I should only get better henceforth.

[pawan89]

i am way way way way too happy today.
when i came over to the states back in 6th grade, it was a rather sudden shift, and I lost all contact whatsoever with my friends from school back there. and i missed them so much, to this day i have dreams about them, especially my one best friend. when i went back i tried looking for him, i went to his house but no one recognized his name. he wasn't there. i kept joining all these crazy soical networking groups just to find him. no luck. i still kept searching for him frequently, and last night, i searched, in about the 3rd page results i saw his picture and i recognized it immediately, messaged him asking if that's who he was. people change but if you really think you know a person, i think you can recognize them no matter what thier age or state. 8 years back, i had last seen him. and i found him today on facebook of all places. i was in tears pretty much this morning when i read his reply and am so happy, you can't believe it. this was my closest friend i had, and now probably the second longest i have known a friend, 13 years. 8 years, though, i can't believe. oh i miss those days.  i am sure through him i can find my other friends too but just to have found him, and exchange a few words, the memories just flood back. i am really very happy today.

[OSU Buckeye]

That is mega awesome Dr. P, I am super happy for you on this one!   

[Pacer]

That is great Pawan. I can relate to having to move away from my friends at a young age, so I can imagine how awesome it must feel to find one again.

[mdshahid20]

nice! I can sort of relate but not nearly as much cuz i moved more than once and didn't know my friends as long. I actually found the facebook group of my elementary school back in state college and they had a scanned page of the yearbook and i found my picture. i didn't join though. 
anyhow, how were ur exams? when ur done go watch I am Legend- i heard it was awesome.

[pawan89]

me and mdshahid got out and hit today.. for a whole of 10 minutes. It got really dark couldn't see a thing, we went around 4:45. But the weather was awesome it was like mid 40s and it was nice to feel a racket and hit a ball a few times just to keep in touch sorta. i'm hoping the weather's like this tommorrow and we can go in the afternoon. so most likely i am not updating this journal again till march or whenever.
a short update on my vacation. so I did allright this semester. could have done much better but i have lost interest and motivation which is not a good thing. the next day we went to phoenix arizona, drove to the grand canyon and drove the las vegas, just to look at lights and stuff, no casino buisness. it was a cool break. i'll try to get some pictures up soon. after that i am just chilling with freinds. we were playing poker till now and its amazing, i got soo lucky the whole time. if only we were playing for real money today. well i'd probably not have played half as daringly with real money and I can't see myself gambling yeah so all's cool. i'll get back to spending more time on here eventually, i haven't even read a few of the latest journal entries now.
happy new year.