Topic: Pawan's Tennis Journal

[pawan89]

Question for yous. When you play, and you sweat, and the sweat goes into the eyes - do your eyes burn like crazy?! No one else I know has this problem. My mom denies it can happen, others argue that your eyebrows do the job of keeping sweat out of your eyes.. and yet it happens to me. And it is starting to worry me now just because I seem to be the only one with this problem - and I have like the weakest eyes ever. But everytime I play without my glasses (which isn't too often) I feel I can wipe the sweat off my eyes more often (like every 10 seconds) and I don't have this problem.

While we are on the topic, am I pretty much the only one here (among the ones who play tennis) who doesn't have perfect vision and needs to wear glasses while playing? Every now and then I take my glasses of - I can still play well except my speed perception (and I guess with that the depth perception) is a little skewed so I feel like I have to start swinging when the ball is still far off and only then it'll be right. I feel so jealous of all the people who have perfect vision - especially kids who play video games their whole life and watch so much TV and.. here I am without ever really overexerting my eyes and I am the one with problems. And my dad refuses to let me get contacts because he believes, and to a certain extent so do I, that with proper training and exercises you can make your eyes better. And my power has been fluctuating every year so far.

[OSU Buckeye]

Question for yous. When you play, and you sweat, and the sweat goes into the eyes - do your eyes burn like crazy?! No one else I know has this problem. My mom denies it can happen, others argue that your eyebrows do the job of keeping sweat out of your eyes.. and yet it happens to me. And it is starting to worry me now just because I seem to be the only one with this problem - and I have like the weakest eyes ever. But everytime I play without my glasses (which isn't too often) I feel I can wipe the sweat off my eyes more often (like every 10 seconds) and I don't have this problem.

While we are on the topic, am I pretty much the only one here (among the ones who play tennis) who doesn't have perfect vision and needs to wear glasses while playing? Every now and then I take my glasses of - I can still play well except my speed perception (and I guess with that the depth perception) is a little skewed so I feel like I have to start swinging when the ball is still far off and only then it'll be right. I feel so jealous of all the people who have perfect vision - especially kids who play video games their whole life and watch so much TV and.. here I am without ever really overexerting my eyes and I am the one with problems. And my dad refuses to let me get contacts because he believes, and to a certain extent so do I, that with proper training and exercises you can make your eyes better. And my power has been fluctuating every year so far.

Yeah, it happens to me all the time but I am not sure it burns my eyes, it just kind of messes up my vision and annoys me.  I wipe my forehead many times to make sure this doesn't happen.   I have also used headbands and they work pretty well although I have to wring it out every set.

[FreeBird]

Sweat usually bothers me for the first couple minutes, and then the sting wears off.  I notice it much more if I put sunscreen on or if I've put dry-skin lotion on my forehead - like the sweat mixes with them and really burns.  So I usually don't put sunscreen on my forehead anymore, and will probably get skin cancer one day because of it  

[dmastous]

It stings for me too. But like Freebird said, you get used to it after a bit. Sweat is salty, and I'm sure it's the salt that causes the burning.

[pawan89]

allright thanks people, so its not just my eyes that are screwed up.

We played this morning, I must say we both played very well. Not top top class tennis but solid solid tennis from both. We are both getting much much better at volleys and so the points are getting shorter and shorter. He's also holding serve a lot more because of it which is good for him. I am very happy with my backhand - especially return of serve, I think I had a solid 95%  at least on backhand return of serves, but I did send them back to the center deep mostly which was like feeding him volleys - I'll try to be more aggressive henceforth.
Scoreline: 6-1, 6-4, 7-5. Even the first set was mroe competitive than the score looks like.

[pawan89]

Today was nothing like day before yesterday's match. I played decent. I thought he played allright. He said he had contacts, he usually doesn't wear them but wants to get used to them. I don't know if that made so much of a difference. I still think he played allright, he has played worse and done better in the past. I guess I just took the most out of the crucial points. We played 3 sets, all were really really quick.

We are not playing tommorrow. I need to heal my arm thoroughly now because I am scared - until now once it was warmed up the pain almost disappeared but today at the end of the day it started hurting on every follow through of my forehand. I have been putting heat on it for the past two days - and today I applied this muscle balm I have (shoulda done this long time back - but I believe in the natural healing process mostly, most people still find it hard to believe that I have probably taken one or two pain killers in my past 10 years and no medication for sickness of any sort). I heard there's this thing called bengay or something and it works well?

[FreeBird]

Today was nothing like day before yesterday's match. I played decent. I thought he played allright. He said he had contacts, he usually doesn't wear them but wants to get used to them. I don't know if that made so much of a difference. I still think he played allright, he has played worse and done better in the past. I guess I just took the most out of the crucial points. We played 3 sets, all were really really quick.

We are not playing tommorrow. I need to heal my arm thoroughly now because I am scared - until now once it was warmed up the pain almost disappeared but today at the end of the day it started hurting on every follow through of my forehand. I have been putting heat on it for the past two days - and today I applied this muscle balm I have (shoulda done this long time back - but I believe in the natural healing process mostly, most people still find it hard to believe that I have probably taken one or two pain killers in my past 10 years and no medication for sickness of any sort). I heard there's this thing called bengay or something and it works well?

What part of your arm is hurting?  Additional general therapies for sore muscles or joints, especially if you think it's tendonitis, are ice and periodic stretching.  You used muscle balm - does this mean that it's the muscle itself that is sore?  Can you describe the pain, like "it feels like muscles when I workout after taking some time off"?

[OSU Buckeye]

Today was nothing like day before yesterday's match. I played decent. I thought he played allright. He said he had contacts, he usually doesn't wear them but wants to get used to them. I don't know if that made so much of a difference. I still think he played allright, he has played worse and done better in the past. I guess I just took the most out of the crucial points. We played 3 sets, all were really really quick.

We are not playing tommorrow. I need to heal my arm thoroughly now because I am scared - until now once it was warmed up the pain almost disappeared but today at the end of the day it started hurting on every follow through of my forehand. I have been putting heat on it for the past two days - and today I applied this muscle balm I have (shoulda done this long time back - but I believe in the natural healing process mostly, most people still find it hard to believe that I have probably taken one or two pain killers in my past 10 years and no medication for sickness of any sort). I heard there's this thing called bengay or something and it works well?

What part of your arm is hurting?  Additional general therapies for sore muscles or joints, especially if you think it's tendonitis, are ice and periodic stretching.  You used muscle balm - does this mean that it's the muscle itself that is sore?  Can you describe the pain, like "it feels like muscles when I workout after taking some time off"?

I thought we recently talked about tennis elbow, or was that in someone else's journal?

[FreeBird]

I thought we recently talked about tennis elbow, or was that in someone else's journal?

Could be - I was too lazy to look at his last couple pages - oops!  Just don't call me Scooter-like for this transgression, K?

 

[dmastous]

Today was nothing like day before yesterday's match. I played decent. I thought he played allright. He said he had contacts, he usually doesn't wear them but wants to get used to them. I don't know if that made so much of a difference. I still think he played allright, he has played worse and done better in the past. I guess I just took the most out of the crucial points. We played 3 sets, all were really really quick.

We are not playing tommorrow. I need to heal my arm thoroughly now because I am scared - until now once it was warmed up the pain almost disappeared but today at the end of the day it started hurting on every follow through of my forehand. I have been putting heat on it for the past two days - and today I applied this muscle balm I have (shoulda done this long time back - but I believe in the natural healing process mostly, most people still find it hard to believe that I have probably taken one or two pain killers in my past 10 years and no medication for sickness of any sort). I heard there's this thing called bengay or something and it works well?

What part of your arm is hurting?  Additional general therapies for sore muscles or joints, especially if you think it's tendonitis, are ice and periodic stretching.  You used muscle balm - does this mean that it's the muscle itself that is sore?  Can you describe the pain, like "it feels like muscles when I workout after taking some time off"?

I thought we recently talked about tennis elbow, or was that in someone else's journal?

I think it was in Jason's Journal.

[OSU Buckeye]

Today was nothing like day before yesterday's match. I played decent. I thought he played allright. He said he had contacts, he usually doesn't wear them but wants to get used to them. I don't know if that made so much of a difference. I still think he played allright, he has played worse and done better in the past. I guess I just took the most out of the crucial points. We played 3 sets, all were really really quick.

We are not playing tommorrow. I need to heal my arm thoroughly now because I am scared - until now once it was warmed up the pain almost disappeared but today at the end of the day it started hurting on every follow through of my forehand. I have been putting heat on it for the past two days - and today I applied this muscle balm I have (shoulda done this long time back - but I believe in the natural healing process mostly, most people still find it hard to believe that I have probably taken one or two pain killers in my past 10 years and no medication for sickness of any sort). I heard there's this thing called bengay or something and it works well?

What part of your arm is hurting?  Additional general therapies for sore muscles or joints, especially if you think it's tendonitis, are ice and periodic stretching.  You used muscle balm - does this mean that it's the muscle itself that is sore?  Can you describe the pain, like "it feels like muscles when I workout after taking some time off"?

I thought we recently talked about tennis elbow, or was that in someone else's journal?

I think it was in Jason's Journal.

Ahhh, either way, I think Pawan is talking tennis elbow which might make sense due to increased play lately.  

[pawan89]

Ha.. I actually don't recall discussing tennis elbow on anyone else's journal - either my memory is at fault or I didn't read those posts of that journal which is most likley.

I don't have tennis elbow. I am assuming (since I have never had it before) that tennis elbow effects the elbow, 'tendonitis'. I know exactly how I got hurt (and its quite foolish and I feel bad everytime I think about it) so it's not that. Its exactly halfway between my shoulder joint and my elbow. So basically the muscle there is what hurt. I don't know how a muscle can be hurt but I am positive thats what hurt. It was very foolish of me - I was hitting with my dad and since I just tap the ball back against him I really wasn't warmed up - and I knew that too. I was like just hitting the ball back slowly and.. thats it. Then we decided to play a set and I very very stupidly decided to do my real serve, usually i just tap the ball over the net, because I was serving very well earlier that day. A totally not warmed up arm in a full swinging serve.. I felt the pain right then and there. THEN i stretched a little and the pain seemed to subside. It was only the day after that, and since then everyday before my arm is properly warmed up I have the same discomfort. Surprisingly, once its warmed up the discomfort disappears (or i get used to it?) hence the reason I have still been able to play everyday and still have good serves. Yesterday morning was the first time where I started feeling the discomfort on forehand drives AFTER like 2 hours of play. So.. was I probably aggravating it all along?

[dmastous]

In general the body was not designed to play tennis the way it's played today. The shoulder wasn't designed to rotate violently as it does in the serve motion.
In any shot when playing tennis, the key to remaining healthy with your upper body joints is to take all the burden of hitting the ball with the larger muscles rather than the smaller ones. It's also the secret to hitting with power effortlessly. The larger muscles are easier to control, and more repeatable which makes the swing less complicated and less error prone.
The shoulders, the hips, the back, and the legs are where the serve must come from. The arm and wrist just guide the racquet up to the point of contact and then snap down or through the ball.
Watch how Davydenko hits his serve to see how the back can be an important component. Watch how, when they toss the ball they don't toss it from waist level, they let go of the ball just before their tossing are is at the top of their reach. The racquet is brought up by the arm, but the hips initiat the motion driven by the legs, and the shoulders rotate the racquet into the ball.
In most pro serves (at least most of the men's pro serves) the arm does not initiate any motion, but rather is thrown into the motin by the larger muscles.
I have never seen you hit serves, so this may all be stuff you work on and therefore usless to you. Or maybe there's a nugget here that can help you serve without shoulder pain.

[pawan89]

In general the body was not designed to play tennis the way it's played today. The shoulder wasn't designed to rotate violently as it does in the serve motion.
In any shot when playing tennis, the key to remaining healthy with your upper body joints is to take all the burden of hitting the ball with the larger muscles rather than the smaller ones. It's also the secret to hitting with power effortlessly. The larger muscles are easier to control, and more repeatable which makes the swing less complicated and less error prone.
The shoulders, the hips, the back, and the legs are where the serve must come from. The arm and wrist just guide the racquet up to the point of contact and then snap down or through the ball.
Watch how Davydenko hits his serve to see how the back can be an important component. Watch how, when they toss the ball they don't toss it from waist level, they let go of the ball just before their tossing are is at the top of their reach. The racquet is brought up by the arm, but the hips initiat the motion driven by the legs, and the shoulders rotate the racquet into the ball.
In most pro serves (at least most of the men's pro serves) the arm does not initiate any motion, but rather is thrown into the motin by the larger muscles.
I have never seen you hit serves, so this may all be stuff you work on and therefore usless to you. Or maybe there's a nugget here that can help you serve without shoulder pain.

Great stuff, I sure do wish someone had told me this when I started playing. Thank you very much!
But I have come to realize this since the past year or two and so have been working on it. I do believe my serve when its at its fastest is very effortless compared to my friend's - hence he's the one who complains of shoulder pain, and I believe this is because of what you have said. I am working on it. I do believe in general my strokes are "proper" in that I have never yet experienced any tennis related injury or pain or anything like that and yet I have consistently been increasing power in my game and my serve is/was one of the best among those who I have played around my level (back in high school that - I sure do hope my level's better now in which case my serve probably isn't the best).

Thinking back now, there was a point three summers ago where my serve was fast and quite effective but it was entirely based on just my arm swinging hard. That was the only time I have had tennis related pain and ever since that I realized my mistake and have totally reshaped my serve.

[dmastous]

In general the body was not designed to play tennis the way it's played today. The shoulder wasn't designed to rotate violently as it does in the serve motion.
In any shot when playing tennis, the key to remaining healthy with your upper body joints is to take all the burden of hitting the ball with the larger muscles rather than the smaller ones. It's also the secret to hitting with power effortlessly. The larger muscles are easier to control, and more repeatable which makes the swing less complicated and less error prone.
The shoulders, the hips, the back, and the legs are where the serve must come from. The arm and wrist just guide the racquet up to the point of contact and then snap down or through the ball.
Watch how Davydenko hits his serve to see how the back can be an important component. Watch how, when they toss the ball they don't toss it from waist level, they let go of the ball just before their tossing are is at the top of their reach. The racquet is brought up by the arm, but the hips initiat the motion driven by the legs, and the shoulders rotate the racquet into the ball.
In most pro serves (at least most of the men's pro serves) the arm does not initiate any motion, but rather is thrown into the motin by the larger muscles.
I have never seen you hit serves, so this may all be stuff you work on and therefore usless to you. Or maybe there's a nugget here that can help you serve without shoulder pain.

Great stuff, I sure do wish someone had told me this when I started playing. Thank you very much!
But I have come to realize this since the past year or two and so have been working on it. I do believe my serve when its at its fastest is very effortless compared to my friend's - hence he's the one who complains of shoulder pain, and I believe this is because of what you have said. I am working on it. I do believe in general my strokes are "proper" in that I have never yet experienced any tennis related injury or pain or anything like that and yet I have consistently been increasing power in my game and my serve is/was one of the best among those who I have played around my level (back in high school that - I sure do hope my level's better now in which case my serve probably isn't the best).

Thinking back now, there was a point three summers ago where my serve was fast and quite effective but it was entirely based on just my arm swinging hard. That was the only time I have had tennis related pain and ever since that I realized my mistake and have totally reshaped my serve.

Nobody taught it to me, but as I started I was looking for how the guys from my generation (Conners, McEnroe Lendl) hit so hard with so little apparent effort. It was later, when I began teaching that the whole big muscle thing crystalized.

[OSU Buckeye]

My bad, I expected tennis elbow!   So was it the bicep then or maybe the tricep?

[pawan89]

My bad, I expected tennis elbow!   So was it the bicep then or maybe the tricep?

No clue which is which.. i think its somewhere right in the muscle thats on top - like the kind that strong people show off, the bulging one.

Well seems like a hot rice bag and that muscle relaxant and two days off worked well. We went and played today and I was playing.. as borat would say.. very nice! My serve's getting better and better. I must say, from last summer to now I have almost doubled my toss hieight (as in if it was 3 feet from my head before, its now 6 feet) or at least it feels like that and it has made all the difference. My second serve is getting much better too! My backhand is brilliant at times and at least solid the whole time. My forehand I feel no differnce but then again my forehand's always been pretty good so I am happy - happier that the rest of the game has caught up to the forehand.

So.. yeah to balance out all the wonderful things.. something has to happen right?
We were planning to leave pretty soon as it had gotten dark and even with the lights it was not the same as natural sunlight especailly for people like us who dont have perfect vision. Before leaving my friend wanted a few overheads and I gave it to him. Usually I don't practice overheads like he does, I am decent at them, and can put most of them away and I don't see any reason to make it any better yet. But he said if I wanted a few and as I never really say no to more tennis, I went and took a few overheads. Well after 3 or 4 good overheads, I don't know hwat happened but the next one I screwed up and it came down right on my face, and hit my glasses. My glasses got all skrewed up and I took them off to bend it back as I often do. Well.. I tried bending it and.. it snapped in two. Oops.
I had to call my parents to come pick me up since I Can't drive without glasses. So I am kinda.. more or less grounded at home until something happens. No playing tommorrow Hopefully I can get the same frame somewhere and pop the lenses in as the lenses are undamaged. I want to convince my dad to get my contacts since they are a whole lot safer.. and for someone like me who's not exactly a delicate type (Last year I spent about $500 on eyecare.. all of which could have been avoided if I had contacts which cost about $50/year) a whole lot more comfortable. Not going to happen - he's too 'traditional' and he wants me to do exercises and such to get my vision back to perfect. I know this can happen and am working on it but its not going to happen overnight and with college and studies (not to mention I drive two hours a day to college unlike most kids) and sleeping like 20 hours a week and given my weak eyes by nature-- its going to be a while.

I'll probably also avoid the computer until my glasses are fixed.. so hope to see you guys in like two three days. I'll probably come on to make my picks.

[OSU Buckeye]

Sounds like the bicep!   Good luck with the healing and the glasses situation!  

[pawan89]

Got a new frame so my glasses are good and i am back in business. Can I have one point for pure craziness? I am up at 5:15 to go play tennis for two hours because we both have stuff to do from 8am onwards.. And I am as active and excited as I am every time I play tennis.

[kickserve]

Got a new frame so my glasses are good and i am back in business. Can I have one point for pure craziness? I am up at 5:15 to go play tennis for two hours because we both have stuff to do from 8am onwards.. And I am as active and excited as I am every time I play tennis.

Yep, that definitely gets you a 'craziness' point, especially as it's Saturday. I dragged myself out of bed at about 9, and I would have loved to stay there for longer.