Sep. 9th. Tennis Club
- Dealing with high-bounce top-spin balls, the feet should keep on the ground if possible. More importantly, the racket should be a little bit more open than the regular ground stroke, so that the response won’t hit the net.
- When I am running back, hit the ball higher.
- On the other hand, keep body momentum moving forward while hitting. If time is sufficient, turn body for both forehand and backhand stroke. This is similar to boxing, where the most powerful shot is generated by the whole body, not only just arms and shoulders.
Sep. 10th. Private lesson.
- Begin serving from the Ad-side.
- Toss the ball 45 degree towards the net.
- Toss higher.
- Bend knees is not just a gesture, but is for pushing the body upwards.
- Relax the wrist as much as I can.
- For practice, try to put two feet close to each other first, and then combine the movement of right foot from the regular position to the left foot.
Sep. 13th. Mini-Match vs. Dylan
- When I am trying to save the ball from backhand, the racket should fact “largely” to the other side rather than to the sky. Stay relatively at the same height of the touching point and push it, not chop it.
- After serving, instead of observing whether the bounce is valid, quickly retreat behind the base line.
- If there is no time to go back to the most comfortable hitting zone, just prepare early, relax wrist, and swing the racket after the bouncing point. There is a good chance I could still hit an acceptable return.
Sep. 16th. Mini-Match vs. Eric.T.
- It felt so nice that I am almost (or close to) as competent as one of the coaching staff one year ago in the very beginner class. Maybe it was because I could not push him to the fullest extent as what he did to me in the match. But, whatever, I had four games ending with multiple deuces, and I did won one of them. One is always a good start:)
- He cared less about the “percentage shoot” than what I did, but he would observe my movements and always tried to hit the open court. This would be my goal in (hopefully) three months.
- My serving is relatively stable now. I need to relax more, both physically and mentally, for both shoulder and wrist; to catch the ball a little bit higher; and to push it more upwards and forwards. Plus right direction of tossing and more practice, I could at least stop bleeding in my serving games.
- There are too many pieces missing from my repository. I am thinking to master back spin as the next step–for defense as well as changing the tempo of the match. After that, I will revisit ground stroke, transition from back court to mid-court, volley/over-head, and then serving again. All of them might take another month and a half. After that, I will seek a re-match with Eric and see how will that go.
Sep. 18th. Private lesson and Drill
- Learned how to do the backhand back spin:
- To prepare, I should REALLY turn the body sideways. Use the left hand help to hold the racket.
- Prepare the racket a little bit higher. The slightly downwards movement will help to prevent the response floating much.
- The length of swing is longer than what I am used to for the double-handed backhand. So, swing early.
- The contact point is farther away from the body, so I should not over run or need to leave enough room for the swing.
- Relax the shoulder but not turn the waist too much. Meanwhile, lean body towards the net. That is, the majority of the force should be forward rather than to the right side.
- The face of racket should also face mainly towards the net.
- If possible, follow through the racket to the right side to give the ball more side spin.
- When I did the volley, I should never jump at the same time.
Sep. 21th. Match with Reazul.H. (5-6, 7-6)
- I’ve lost to this guy three times in a row in the league. So, I am really glad that today’s result could demonstrate my progress.
- His strategy puts defense in the 1st priority, waiting for me to earn the point or to make an unforced error. I have the controlled strokes for the most of the match. That’s great.
- When I can put the 1st serve in, the serving game becomes really easy to keep. In the 2nd set, maybe because of the tired, I have to breath really hard and to exhale out loud while serving. It actually helps me to keep the rhythm right. Of course, other points also hold: relax wrist, toss 45 degree in front of the body, toss high, bend knees and lift the whole body up, touch the ball in the highest point and push it upwards and forwards.
- I have several good drop shots and overhead hits, but those are not consistent. I need to work on it more. Exploring the 2D of the court is always worth trying–for consuming the opponent’s energy and disrupting his typo.
- Back spin by backhand does not work for most of the time…
- I should not retreat way back in the court unless the opponent has really good and strong top spin. Pushing forward is beneficial to enlarge the hitting angle and to put pressure to the other side. This is actually the only way to end a point. However, to achieve it, I need to prepare much earlier and turn sideways to add spin, and do the volley right–follow the route of the return, pause and split before the opponent hits the ball, keep both feet on the ground, and push the ball to the OPEN COURT!
Sep. 25. Private lesson. 2-sets Match with Allen (3-6, 6-3)
- Double-handed backhand should drive the racket to draw the logo of Nike. This would help me prepare a little bit higher, and have a smoother movement with better topspin. Two caveats are that I should begin the movement earlier since it takes longer time, and make the face of racket less open.
- I used to loose my wrist too much for the forehand ground stroke. I shouldn’t let the head of racket drop that much. Instead, I should use more of my arm/body movements to create the topspin. When I correct my movement, I can feel more of the directional control, but less of the power control–I overhit plenty of balls with the right direction. Maybe I should close more of the face of the racket, or it means that I do not provide enough spin. I need to figure it out.
- For the backhand backspin, I should extend my right arm to follow through the movement and use more of my right shoulder.
- My forehand volley “mysteriously” becomes better. During practice, I could easily drive the ball to either inside-in or inside-out. The backhand could still only do the inside-in. However, that is the practice. I ALWAYS forget to split then react during the match. It might be the reason that I find myself jumping while volley. So, do exactly what you practice for the match!
- The match was tough, and every game might easily go either way. I should figure out a solution during the match much quicker, and drive him running around the court more.