Topic: Big changes in your game?

[Tennis4you]

Just for kicks I was thinking about the big changes I had made in my game over time.  I was wondering how mine compared to others.  Here is what I can recall.

1993 - Moved from Oversize racquet to Midsize (Great Move for me!)
1994 - Taught myself the kick serve
1995 - Started playing serve and volley tennis in singles
2001 - Started playing some doubles
2003 - Started playing mainly doubles

[Chris1987]

1996- Started to play tennis just for fun with friends
1998- Played a serve/volley game
2000- As a result of feeling as though was lobbed constantly I switched to baseline game.
2002- Switched to a Wilson Racquet
2003- Developed an all court game and a slice serve
2004- Switched to a Prince Racquet
2005- Went from a 2 handed backhand to a one hander as felt the 2 hander was a serious weakness in my game.
All those years as well it has been Singles I've played, I'd say in my life I've played about 10 doubles matches or so, compared to a huge number of singles matches.

[Tennis4you]

How does that one hander treat you now?  I have always had a one hander.  I use to wonder if I should have learned a two hander because I sliced 99% of the time on the backhand side.  But I had to remember that all the singles tournaments I won I won because of that backhand.  People go there because I could go far bigger on the forehand but then they had to suffer the low ball over and over and over and over again.  I do not miss the slice in singles.  I like to use it for all my approach shots too. 

Was it a tough transition?

[kickserve]

1997: played on a full-size court for the first time, and started the overarm serve.
1998: switched from 1-handed to 2-handed backhand as the one-hander was horrible flimsy.
1999: Learnt topspin groundstrokes.
2000: started to learn topspin and slice serves. Won a tournament for the first time.
2003: played doubles for the first time, started volleying more.
2004: quit regular competitive singles due to lack of motivation and realisation it wasn't going anywhere. Tennis became a hobby rather than any dream of one day playing at Wimbleodn.
2005: made my debut for the club mens 1st team (doubles). Won the mens and juniors club tournament singles title.
2006: switched to a Head Racket, started to use and all-court game in singles, as opposed to the defensive baseliner I had been before. Became a regular for the 1st team in doubles.

[Chris1987]

How does that one hander treat you now?  I have always had a one hander.  I use to wonder if I should have learned a two hander because I sliced 99% of the time on the backhand side.  But I had to remember that all the singles tournaments I won I won because of that backhand.  People go there because I could go far bigger on the forehand but then they had to suffer the low ball over and over and over and over again.  I do not miss the slice in singles.  I like to use it for all my approach shots too. 

Was it a tough transition?

To be honest even with the change my backhand is still the side to really get at with my game, on that side its pretty much only a flat hit that I'm able to go with, if it comes off it can hit some spectacular winners but when its off I'll see balls flying halfway up the net on in the tramlines, whereas on my forehand thats where the consistency is, as well as the power- without my forehand and speed on the court I'd be screwed. Generally I think it was a good move going to the one hander as when i played with 2 I found it quite hard to get back into position when somebody hit the next ball wide to my forehand side, and it was a shot I couldn't at all attack with. Also back in 2002, I actually snapped both of the main bones in my left wrist and although its recovered well considering how much damage I caused it, its safe to say its still only about 90% compared to how it used to be, so felt that I couldn't rely on that wrist to hold up time and time again after giving it time to recover. Also when I broke it in 2002 I had the biggest plaster cast you'll ever see on an arm as it went right upto my shoulder- and this was 3 days before I was going on holiday. So decided that the arm was going to stop my enjoyment so played tennis just with my right hand so played a few more 1 handers there to see how it went and how it felt and served by putting the ball of my racquet- hitting it up instead of tossing it and then hitting the serve- loads of people came over to me and said how it was amazing how I was playing with a plaster on that size and playing good stuff as well. So there were a few reasons why it needed to be changed, and felt having that 1 hander experience on that side a couple years back I could make a go of it. The transition was a little weird at first, mentally more than anything because on occassions I had to stop myself putting 2 hands on the racquet, but overall its worked well for me. I remember one match when my backhand was on a man watching me said it really flowed through like Federer's backhand- so that was a nice thing to hear- but problem is its not always on and becomes a weakness for me. That slice off the backhand must be a real weapon to have, especially for your approach shots- anbd when players are approaching you at the net- to get it down low to them is a real weapon to have, I'd love to develop some slice on that side, but just can't figure out how to go about doing that.

[kickserve]

Chris, have you tried slicing your backhand as a staple shot? It can be tough to attack because it stays low, excellent for approach shots and tough to break down. My tip to develop it would be to watch a few Gonzalez matches and go out and imitate.

[Chris1987]

Chris, have you tried slicing your backhand as a staple shot? It can be tough to attack because it stays low, excellent for approach shots and tough to break down. My tip to develop it would be to watch a few Gonzalez matches and go out and imitate.

I've tried it a few different ways Kick, but it just seems to be a shot that I really struggle with and may always find it difficult to get into my game. Gonzalez just thinking about it would be a great one to watch as he hits al ot like that on his backhand, but when I try that it seems to end up in the net or just a sitting duck for my opponent. Don't know if its because of how hard I hold the racquet but its really difficult to get into that side of my game.

[Victor]

I just started

2003 - I do some stuff with a racket
2004 - I take lessons...nothing serious
2006 - Winter... I start to get a serious feeling about tennis and start loving it
2007 - Summer: I start learning better technique, two handed backhand and improve my gears
          Winter: My searches for spins come, I advance quickly and its known I have some sort of a talent
2008 - Learned big spins both of fh, serve and developing spin and extreme pace on backhand, starting to develop my serve into a real weapon and working on volleys
          Got promoted from 2007 summer one of the lowest group to one of the highest groups now

Not to mention I mix my backhand up with paced straights, topspin ones and extremely loopy/drived slice/short slice... I guess I have some talent after all

[thejackal]

2003 - tennis camp during the summer, lost to a girl 0-6 and broke my racquet over the net post.  rooted for agassi at wimbledon, then phillipousis when he upset him.  then poo got beaten in the finals by some swiss guy...i found my new favorite player.
2004 - started having a faint idea of what i was doing, flat first serve in the court about 2-5% of the time, no backhand, no volleys, no mental toughness.  entered a C level (3.0) tournament and somehow got to the semis before losing to the eventual winner.  watched that same swiss dude beat roddick at wimby and destroy hewitt at the USO.  got a head i.radical which didnt fit my game at all.  sold it at the end of the year.
2005 - played indoors during the winter for the first time.  got myself 2 wilson hyper prostaffs and got interested in gear.  took private lessons for the first time in the summer and started getting my game on track.  finally developed a topspin one-handed backhand but still sliced 80% of the time in matches.  smashed 1 prostaff so replaced that with a pair of n6-1 95s.
2006 - continued with lessons and becoming more and more well-rounded.  net game is on its way and good power off both sides.  match toughness still iffy.  moved to vermont during the summer and played some there.  results-wise not so great but it was a good experience.  forehand started going south because i was muscling the ball too much.
2007 - moved again and played HS varsity in california.  was slotted to play #2 or #3 but in the end got dropped to #6 and had a good season with many memorable matches.  got voted team captain, which was an honor.  technically i didnt improve much except on the serve, but my match play became so much better and i started utilizing all my shots at the right moments.  forehand's still a sore spot, i think i might be taking too much of a backswing.  backhand is smooth as silk.  back in canada for college.  played a couple of local tournaments.  lost 2nd round in 4.0 but had decent runs in mixed dubs and 5.0 dubs.  still using the n6-1, but bought a couple of new ones on sale.  i should be set for a few years in terms of racquets.  strings and shoes not so much, since im going through them like water.
2008 - hit against the wall a ton during the winter.  forehand's coming back and everything's clicking in a good way so far.  big priorities for me this year is footwork, winning more service games and using my all-court game efficiently.  by the end of summer im looking to play some open tournaments and win 4.0-4.5 level tournies.

[dmastous]

Most of the most significant style changes happened so long ago it's hard to really track them.

1982 Spent a summer hitting against my garage door and tried out for my high school team. Embarassment. Played with a Wilson T-3000
1984 Took tennis classes in college and developed pretty quickly. Broke a few racquets in the process. Played with a Prince Precison Graphite 110. Mostly one handed backhands, but tinkered with the two hander when frustrated.
1986 Played #6/#7 for Moorpark College team.
1988 Taught tennis at a resort in Arizona with a Wilson Pro Staff. Learned to string racquets.
1989-1997 Played recreationally, and worked out with the Santa Rosa JC tennis team for 3 seasons. Bought my stringer in 1994.
1998 The Year of La Nina. Rained day in and day out and played only twice from mid '98 to mid '99.
1999 Began developing elbow problems playing in Maui (very windy conditions).
2000 Made the move to the east coast, and my tennis has suffered neglect ever since.
2004 Strung racquets for Sports Authority, became very interested in racquet and string technology.
2006 Took and passed my MRT certification.

[wilsonboy]

Okay so it's really bothering me that the title of this thread has a spelling error.lol

[dmastous]

Okay so it's really bothering me that the title of this thread has a spelling error.lol

That's normal for Scooter. 

[dmastous]

Okay so it's really bothering me that the title of this thread has a spelling error.lol

That's normal for Scooter. 

He's fixed it now.... 

[pawan89]

This is hard .Especially seeing how some of you pinpointed like when you started developing spins and such - I don't remember that stuff.. like switching racquets, and switching type of backhands is big..

2002-2008 (present) Played tennis from the first time to what I am today.
No big changes, just the slow and steady growth of a tennis player to a point where I can now theoretically - and like in practice - hit almost any textbook shot.
Hopefully 2008 - a few more years will be putting all that practice to use in tournaments and improving even more.

That's about it, I really don't know when and if I had this big epiphany that suddenly turned me into a drastically different player or suddenly made me start hitting topspins. I have in general one picture of what my tennis should and its heading in the right direction ever since with minor changes of course and working on new or uncomfortable things every now and then.

[swish]

A year ago this one guy that I play all the time would beat me about 9 out of ten times, always. One day we got into a heated discussion, a real blowup but still agreed to keep playing regularly. 

Neither had any instruction at all, we just played. So after that match I hit the internet and read all I could about everything.
Just by reading and trying out stuff I win about 4 out of 5. I think the main item that helped was hitting the ball deep. It's hard to tell because I started to use both the one handed and 2 handed backhand alternately, and much more topspin at the same time.

[wilsonboy]

Okay so it's really bothering me that the title of this thread has a spelling error.lol

That's normal for Scooter. 

He's fixed it now.... 

Or did a moderator do it for him? Hmmm

[dmastous]

Okay so it's really bothering me that the title of this thread has a spelling error.lol

That's normal for Scooter. 

He's fixed it now.... 

Or did a moderator do it for him? Hmmm

In full disclosure, I was going to fix it, but it was already fixed. I'm assuming Scooter did it.

[Babblelot]

1. 1975ish picked up my dad's Rawlings or Spalding 80 oz woodie and hit around for fun; the wall was good practice when no one was around
2. somewhere in between, bought my first racquet--Pam Shriver's aluminum Prince Pro mega oversized head
3. 1982ish inspired by Johnny Mac, my buddy and I started playing competitively
4. 1984 began playing with a grafite Dunlop
5. 1986 picked it up again and started playing competitively again

--Even though I grew up in California, I hadn't started playing yearly until I moved to Chicago; but in Chicago, never have played during winter--

6. 1990 busted my first racquet (Dunlop) when it slipped out of my hand during the follow through of a serve; replaced it with a Donay
7. 1991 inspired by Jimmy Connor's improbably run at the USO, my buddies and I got hooked and started playing 2-3 times a week
8. 1994 broke my Donay (slipped) and switch to Wilson Prostaff
9. 1995 frustrated with my freinds patty-caking, had a Gonzo moment and turned to a free swinging shot maker and big server
10. 1995-96 broke two more Wilson Prostaff (slipped); replace with 28 1/2" Prince Thunderbold to quench my thirst for power
11. 1997 played in my one and only organized tourney; under intense summer heat, I sweated my 1R match away--just couldn't hold my grip
12. 1998 I consider my "prime"; at least is was the best I had played up to that point
13. 2001 switched to one hand BH
14. 2002 hurt my knee
15. 2003 switched to Babolat Drive+ and changed grip to extreme wester to hit with a lot of top-spin (have to try to change that now--a semi-western might be advised)
16. 2004 finally had surgery on my knee
17. 2005 DNP recouping from surgery
18. 2006 returned to play
19. 2007 by October playing the best damn tennis of my life

[DropShotUser]

2007- I played for the first time
2008-Playing for my high school team ans aiming for the regluar spot