Topic: Pawan's Tennis Journal

[pawan89]

Talk about closing out problems. We played two sets today.
First set, we traded breaks and eventually he was serving at 5-3, 40-0. Thats 3 set points. And then came three double faults in a row. I got it up to a tiebreak where I went from being up 3-0 to facing a triple set point against me again at 3-6. In total, he squandered 6 set points. I won 7-6 (9-7 tiebreak). Second set I was on fire. I started feeling a blister coming up on my palm right under my little finger so I gipped the racquet extra tight - the vibrations from returning his serve were burning like crazy. And surprisingly, holding the racquet real tight helped me return his beastly serves, I guess my punch backs were more firm now. So I raced out to a 5-0 lead and was serving at 5-0 for the set. And I was serving really well too. Well, I got broken, he held and I got broken again! What was a comfortable serve-out@5-0 was now a 5-3 with him serving to make it 5-4. At this point, we both got really hungry and decided to call it a day as he had a lot of work to do and i guess it was one of those 'i can't play a single more point if i don't eat something' situtation. he was up 15-0 at 3-5 but i'll consider that a win for me because I could have broken him that game, if not, I would have surely served it out next game, if not - well he retired!
I was happy with my serve in the second set. He's justt playing really smart tennis, I am playing just as well as I always do, he took me by surprise really these last two days so I am looking forward to the challenge now.

I do wish we could close sets out when given the opportunity, The scoreline should have read 3-6 6-0 for me. Instead it ended up 7-6, 6-4(est). And its not nerves or pressure or anything, at least I don't think so - we play for the sake of improving our games so its like a practice session, and we have been playing against each other for 4 years now.

[OSU Buckeye]

Wow, I remember back in the day when my buddy DW and I used to play best of five setters if we had enough time!  Wouldn't/couldn't try that crap now!  

[pawan89]

Wow, I remember back in the day when my buddy DW and I used to play best of five setters if we had enough time!  Wouldn't/couldn't try that crap now!  

Why the I'll take that to mean that you never need more than 3 sets to win a 5 set match . Cheer up  

So you know how, ok you dont. So we got a treadmill for my mom a month ago and so far I used to just mess around with it once or twice a week to see if I could do max incline max speed for 5 minutes and such. Today, I decided to do the 'full body workout' in the crosstraining programs just to see what it did. I'll tell you what, I am now going to do this twice a day everyday, when I don't play tennis. If I have played tennis for two+ hours then once a day will suffice. Its actually pretty good. It made me run only 2 miles, so it was considerably less painful then when I had to run 3 everyday for crosscountry highschool. but I liked the fact that it made it pretty even and balanced. It took me through a warmup of 4mph for like 3 minutes then it did the 'real' going from like 6.5mph to 8mph with varying inclines wtih a break every 4 minutes or so and told me to do specific exercises like bicep curls and tricep something and stuff (with weights) during the minute breaks. I liked the concept. It's a 30 minute program, I burned 43carbs, 255 calories and felt great afterwards. I almost fell while walking normally though, it felt so weird to walk normal house after constant running on that thing.
I was impressed/surprised that it took me until 8mph, cuz thats like a 7 and a half minute mile and its not exactly slow. I don't think I can really last 7 minute mile for 2 miles anylonger. Gone are the days of my under 6minute miles, I'll be happy to do a mile in under 8 now.
Very Nice, I wish I had 'discovered' this earlier instead of fooling around with it. Maybe I can substitute in my own exercises in the minute because its been so long since i did any formal weight lifting and I don't even know where my bicep and my tricep is and what the difference is between them. I'll look into it if I do get into serious weightlifting - maybe I'll utilize my college gym as well once in a while and the fitness card for that won't be wasted. I am sure there'll be like immediate benefits if you focus on certain muscle groups over others. I don't care as much for my upper body fitness as much as I care for my general speed and stamina on my feet, although I admit my upper body is in much worse shape.

[blisteringboom]

Hold your arm  out looking at your palm ... your bicep is what you immediately see at the top ,while under it is the tricep.

Here is a link to a photo on the site of both...

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://www.ironworkout.com/tricepa.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.ironworkout.com/arm_workout.htm&h=268&w=400&sz=13&hl=en&start=5&tbnid=_mk-Hnv4eMTASM:&tbnh=83&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbicep%2Btricep%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN

[pawan89]

Hold your arm  out looking at your palm ... your bicep is what you immediately see at the top ,while under it is the tricep.

Thanks. So I am guessing both the biceps and the triceps play an equal role in tennis serves and the triceps are more important for backhands and perhaps forehands too (cuz its more like connected to the shoulder I felt from the picture)?
I really don't know any of this anatomy stuff  

[Tennis4you]

Hold your arm  out looking at your palm ... your bicep is what you immediately see at the top ,while under it is the tricep.

Thanks. So I am guessing both the biceps and the triceps play an equal role in tennis serves and the triceps are more important for backhands and perhaps forehands too (cuz its more like connected to the shoulder I felt from the picture)?
I really don't know any of this anatomy stuff  

I think the tricep plays a good role on the serve and overhead for sure.  I do not think the biceps do tons for you on any shot.  That is not to say that they do not help, but they are a minor muscle in the entire shot.

[blisteringboom]

Hold your arm  out looking at your palm ... your bicep is what you immediately see at the top ,while under it is the tricep.

Thanks. So I am guessing both the biceps and the triceps play an equal role in tennis serves and the triceps are more important for backhands and perhaps forehands too (cuz its more like connected to the shoulder I felt from the picture)?
I really don't know any of this anatomy stuff  

I think the tricep plays a good role on the serve and overhead for sure.  I do not think the biceps do tons for you on any shot.  That is not to say that they do not help, but they are a minor muscle in the entire shot.

Look at Federer's arm I believe it tells a story of it's own

http://im.rediff.com/sports/2006/jul/09wim6.jpg

The contrast is hilarious!  

[Tennis4you]

Hold your arm  out looking at your palm ... your bicep is what you immediately see at the top ,while under it is the tricep.

Thanks. So I am guessing both the biceps and the triceps play an equal role in tennis serves and the triceps are more important for backhands and perhaps forehands too (cuz its more like connected to the shoulder I felt from the picture)?
I really don't know any of this anatomy stuff  

I think the tricep plays a good role on the serve and overhead for sure.  I do not think the biceps do tons for you on any shot.  That is not to say that they do not help, but they are a minor muscle in the entire shot.

Look at Federer's arm I believe it tells a story of it's own

http://im.rediff.com/sports/2006/jul/09wim6.jpg

The contrast is hilarious!  

That difference is in his forearm though.  

[pawan89]

Thanks to the wall thread, I decided to go hit against the wall for an hour. That's been my only tennis for like two weeks, I really need to play - I don't like how I have vacation and all my friends are either still in highschool or still away at college.

Hey Scott, I have looked at the USTA site and I still can't find like what to do.. a little help if you do have time? Like I have signed up for the newsletter thing but I am assuming that is not going to get me any court time anytime soon.

[FreeBird]

Thanks to the wall thread, I decided to go hit against the wall for an hour. That's been my only tennis for like two weeks, I really need to play - I don't like how I have vacation and all my friends are either still in highschool or still away at college.

Hey Scott, I have looked at the USTA site and I still can't find like what to do.. a little help if you do have time? Like I have signed up for the newsletter thing but I am assuming that is not going to get me any court time anytime soon.

Hey Pawan, I took the liberty of looking up USTA info for Monmouth, NJ, assuming that's still your hangout.  Here's the local USTA coordinator - I'd email her and ask about summer leagues, see what she has to say.  Tell her what level you are, or your best guess.  If all goes well, she'll get you in contact with a couple captains of local teams...

Monmouth County
Carin Henderson (Men & Women)
(732) 747-8282
carintennis@aol.com



Greg

<edit>  On further thought, I'm not sure if Carin is a male or female name.  My apologies - didn't mean to offend anyone

[pawan89]

Thanks to the wall thread, I decided to go hit against the wall for an hour. That's been my only tennis for like two weeks, I really need to play - I don't like how I have vacation and all my friends are either still in highschool or still away at college.

Hey Scott, I have looked at the USTA site and I still can't find like what to do.. a little help if you do have time? Like I have signed up for the newsletter thing but I am assuming that is not going to get me any court time anytime soon.

Hey Pawan, I took the liberty of looking up USTA info for Monmouth, NJ, assuming that's still your hangout.  Here's the local USTA coordinator - I'd email her and ask about summer leagues, see what she has to say.  Tell her what level you are, or your best guess.  If all goes well, she'll get you in contact with a couple captains of local teams...

Monmouth County
Carin Henderson (Men & Women)
(732) 747-8282
carintennis@aol.com



Greg

<edit>  On further thought, I'm not sure if Carin is a male or female name.  My apologies - didn't mean to offend anyone

You're a genius. Next thing you'll tell me is you found it on the same site that I have been lookin around in for quite some time.
Thank you very much, I'll email her (or him, or it) right away and let you know of any replies.

[FreeBird]

Thanks to the wall thread, I decided to go hit against the wall for an hour. That's been my only tennis for like two weeks, I really need to play - I don't like how I have vacation and all my friends are either still in highschool or still away at college.

Hey Scott, I have looked at the USTA site and I still can't find like what to do.. a little help if you do have time? Like I have signed up for the newsletter thing but I am assuming that is not going to get me any court time anytime soon.

Hey Pawan, I took the liberty of looking up USTA info for Monmouth, NJ, assuming that's still your hangout.  Here's the local USTA coordinator - I'd email her and ask about summer leagues, see what she has to say.  Tell her what level you are, or your best guess.  If all goes well, she'll get you in contact with a couple captains of local teams...

Monmouth County
Carin Henderson (Men & Women)
(732) 747-8282
carintennis@aol.com



Greg

<edit>  On further thought, I'm not sure if Carin is a male or female name.  My apologies - didn't mean to offend anyone

You're a genius. Next thing you'll tell me is you found it on the same site that I have been lookin around in for quite some time.
Thank you very much, I'll email her (or him, or it) right away and let you know of any replies.

Nah, I'm just an old hand at fighting through the USTA's difficult-to-find-what-you-want websites.  I started here:  http:// http://tennislink.usta.com/leagues/ , which I get to by the old URL of http:// national.usta.com .  I used to get completely pissed off because I could never get to these parts of the site (which have the league stuff) from the main www.usta.com site.  I don't know where you started, but if it was the general usta.com site, you're not alone.

Hope it works out for you - it's time for you to start busting some hineys!

[OSU Buckeye]

I've spent many hours on the usta.com website and can get around pretty well, at least for the stuff on there that I need and am interested in!   It took me a while though!

[dmastous]

I've spent many hours on the usta.com website and can get around pretty well, at least for the stuff on there that I need and am interested in!   It took me a while though!

Never been there. Maybe that's 90% of my problem. Trying to reinvent the wheel.

[FreeBird]

I've spent many hours on the usta.com website and can get around pretty well, at least for the stuff on there that I need and am interested in!   It took me a while though!

I get get to what I need now as well.  IMO it's well-designed in some areas, but piss-poorly in others.  The one thing I could never seem to do was get to the league portion of the website from the "home page" of usta.com.  Maybe they've fixed it by now - it's been a long time since I last tried.

[pawan89]

So... Freebird. She emailed me back and said there are a few 4.0 and 4.5 teams playing Spring Leagues now and she gave me list of captains and said I could try emailing them to see if they need an additional player. So is that basically what I do? And I guess I'll also add that I am also interested in whenever the Summer Leagues start if they don't need me now?
Only thing is she gave me one 4.0 name and like four 4.5 names. I have never officially been labeled any skill level but from the descriptions I think I can be a solid 4..5 player, then again Scott says you are really one less than you think - so you know I don't want to finally get a chance to play and then blow it away cuz i am not good enough. I do believe if i am playing 85%+ I can play 4.5 level. I have seen my highschool coach (well the new one) playing a bit and I think I can beat him when playing my top level, and he's supposed to be sweeping the 5.0 leagues nearby.

[OSU Buckeye]

I've spent many hours on the usta.com website and can get around pretty well, at least for the stuff on there that I need and am interested in!   It took me a while though!

I get get to what I need now as well.  IMO it's well-designed in some areas, but piss-poorly in others.  The one thing I could never seem to do was get to the league portion of the website from the "home page" of usta.com.  Maybe they've fixed it by now - it's been a long time since I last tried.

On the usta.com home page there is a link at the top right called tennislink and that takes you right to the leagues information.  

[OSU Buckeye]

So... Freebird. She emailed me back and said there are a few 4.0 and 4.5 teams playing Spring Leagues now and she gave me list of captains and said I could try emailing them to see if they need an additional player. So is that basically what I do? And I guess I'll also add that I am also interested in whenever the Summer Leagues start if they don't need me now?
Only thing is she gave me one 4.0 name and like four 4.5 names. I have never officially been labeled any skill level but from the descriptions I think I can be a solid 4..5 player, then again Scott says you are really one less than you think - so you know I don't want to finally get a chance to play and then blow it away cuz i am not good enough. I do believe if i am playing 85%+ I can play 4.5 level. I have seen my highschool coach (well the new one) playing a bit and I think I can beat him when playing my top level, and he's supposed to be sweeping the 5.0 leagues nearby.

Sweet!   Make the calls and emails so you can talk to captains and hopefully they will need you.  

On the ratings:  How long have you been playing?   Our crew is what I would call decent/solid 4.5 players and I am pretty sure we have all been playing for like 10 or more years (likely more like 20 years for most of us)!   Another thing I know is in terms of high school players, I would say the ones that are making it to the State competitions or very near it might be 4.5 or so!    It is good to compare against other confirmed rated players.   There is some difference, supposedly, in ratings based on different regions of the country but I must believe that they are not that big of differences.  

Try to go play against any of the people on any of these teams to get a better feel of how you stack up, plus, that is match experience that you want also.  

[FreeBird]

So... Freebird. She emailed me back and said there are a few 4.0 and 4.5 teams playing Spring Leagues now and she gave me list of captains and said I could try emailing them to see if they need an additional player. So is that basically what I do? And I guess I'll also add that I am also interested in whenever the Summer Leagues start if they don't need me now?
Only thing is she gave me one 4.0 name and like four 4.5 names. I have never officially been labeled any skill level but from the descriptions I think I can be a solid 4..5 player, then again Scott says you are really one less than you think - so you know I don't want to finally get a chance to play and then blow it away cuz i am not good enough. I do believe if i am playing 85%+ I can play 4.5 level. I have seen my highschool coach (well the new one) playing a bit and I think I can beat him when playing my top level, and he's supposed to be sweeping the 5.0 leagues nearby.

Sweet!   Make the calls and emails so you can talk to captains and hopefully they will need you.  

On the ratings:  How long have you been playing?   Our crew is what I would call decent/solid 4.5 players and I am pretty sure we have all been playing for like 10 or more years (likely more like 20 years for most of us)!   Another thing I know is in terms of high school players, I would say the ones that are making it to the State competitions or very near it might be 4.5 or so!    It is good to compare against other confirmed rated players.   There is some difference, supposedly, in ratings based on different regions of the country but I must believe that they are not that big of differences.  

Try to go play against any of the people on any of these teams to get a better feel of how you stack up, plus, that is match experience that you want also.  

Agree with Buckeye here:  at least in Ohio, the top high school players in the state are 4.5-5.0 level.

Depending on how tight your budget is, consider joining one of the spring leagues for the last few matches.  There's usually a $12 signup fee to join a team, plus your USTA membership if you don't have one already (approx $25/yr), plus any fees the team charges (which they should pro-rate for you, if not just eliminate altogether, since you're joining midseason).

But regardless of whether you want to finish the spring season on a team or not, check in with the captains whose numbers you got, and see if they need players.  If so, invite yourself to a practice.  If they need players, they'll do whatever they can to get you out hitting with them ASAP - we just went through this last weekend with a new guy who contacted Buckeye.  If a captain seems indifferent, pass and try the others, as it means he probably has enough players.  If *all* the captains seem to have enough players, then start over.  Actually, you can do a little more research - if you've got the captain names, you can hit the USTA league page, look them up by name, and find out how many players are on their roster.  You can also see how good they're doing in current and recent seasons

Greg

[pawan89]

Ok so I played today, 3 sets. And I am not happy.
I won, 6-1 6-4 7-5
Thats right, I won all three sets yet you I say I am not happy. .Want to know why? Same thing happened last time I played and I don't like this trend.
First set, he takes long to warmup, I hold serve all times, and comfortably win 6-1. I was happy with my serve at this point, it wasn't anywhere close to good but it wasn't bad and at the rate at which I am playing (like once in two three weeks) I don't think it was bad.
Second set, I got broken TWICE (not done!) but managed to get a chance to serve out the set at 5-2, thats right, I gave him both of his games but was still on my way to serving it out at 5-2. Well, what should have been 6-2 was 6-4. I didn't have as many double faults but he started attacking and I still couldn't pick up my serve. And I don't know I just went down, staring at balls go by instead of trying to run and get them.. overall just downhill.
Third set, I got broken once (I think this was third service game in a row broken!) to give him a 1-0 lead but manage to pull back to a 5-1. Yes I am serving once again at 5-1 for game set match. Final score? we were even at 5-5 before I finally held and won 7-5. Once again, my serve was nowhere good but I don't think it was bad, I have served worse and still managed good points.  

Now you see why I am not happy?
Bottomline: I'll put it positively, I am getting better and better at closing out matches and sets!! Not how I am feeling now though, but statement holds.
This has never happened before, If I am up I win, if I am down I either fight back and lose or lose. I'll admit I do play better fighting up than staying up but there's no reason I should be having to win sets 7-5 when I could have served it out to end it 6-1.