3rd Match

I hit deep balls. Richard answered by blocking them back and they fell rather deep often. What do I do with these balls? Sometimes the balls fell somewhat short, but were shoulder high. I should be able to hit those with some force with my semi-western grip. I asked Eldon about this and he said I should come in quick and take these balls out of the air since they are floaters.

I was dictating a lot of points making Richard run, but I lost the 2nd set 4-6 after being up 4-2. Why? I was up twice in games that I served at 40-love but then lost those games. I need to go for my shots more when I am up 40-love.

Random Comments:

I did hit a couple of nice forehands with my new forehand deep into the ad court corner that put my opponent on the defensive.

I didn’t come up to the net on some deep balls in one-fell swoop where I think I really should have.

I did have one picture perfect all-court play: hit a deep ball and get a short ball back; hit the short ball and approach the net; finish with a volley winner.

I felt the lack of stabilization and balance in my forehand when hitting at times. This is what Eldon was talking about this morning in my lesson.

I came from behind in the 1st set to win 6-4. I played steady most of the match, but I shouldn’t have lost that 2nd set when I was leading early on. I lost my focus.

4th Match

This was an interesting match. I lost the 1st set, but took the 2nd set by changing some of my strategy. I was having trouble returning Richard’s serve so I decided I had to try something different. I decided to receive Richard’s 1st serve standing inside the baseline. Amazingly Richard started double faulting. When he wasn’t double-faulting I returned a number of his 1st serves by blocking them back short and pulling him up to the net. He is not particularly comfortable there and consequently he dumped several volleys into the net and I began to roll. Richard lost it emotionally and proceeded to self-destruct, eventually committing way too many unforced errors which allowed me to take the set at 6-3.

One other interesting point I need to mention about this match is the way I fought off my own negativity when I was losing the 1st set. There was a time during that 1st set when I got a very negative thought from my mind telling me I wanted to get off the court and just go home because I wasn’t doing well. I was really proud of myself that I was able to brush that negative thought aside. I didn’t give it any life. When it surfaced, I quickly pushed it aside and said to myself I’m out here to have fun and work on my strokes and strategies. Who cares if I lose badly; I want to improve and that that’s why I’m here. I moved forward psychologically and fought to be more competitive. At the end of the match, I was very glad that I had fought through my negativity.

I went out to play this match with a little bit of a sore and tired shoulder. This was the 4th match in four days. I definitely think I was playing lackadaisically. Part of this was due to my sore shoulder and maybe the other part was just too many matches played in a short period of time and not enough quality sleep.

I won the 1st set pretty much by putting balls back in play. I wasn’t hitting with particularly good pace. I wasn’t feeling much confidence in my new forehand grip and my backhand wasn’t performing that well at times either. Derek just helped me out by committing the majority of unforced errors. I also served kind of gingerly since I didn’t want to put a lot of pressure on my shoulder. I really wasn’t sure how my shoulder would do. As time went on it seemed to be okay and I picked up the pace some on my serves.

I do tend to feel fairly relaxed when I play Derek. I could see in the 1st set that I had the upper hand emotionally. I played with more consistency than Derek while he seemed to self destruct and I knew all I had to do was put balls back in play if I wanted to win. The best thing that was happening for me in the 1st set was that I returned serve quite well. I was focusing on where I was going to return Derek’s serve and although I didn’t always hit it where I had planned, I did hit some great angled returns that put Derek way off the court giving me the advantage.

In the 2nd set I made the mistake of letting up. Derek was complaining about how badly he was doing and I think I fell for his sad story and lost my focus of finishing him off with another solid score in the 2nd set. I also wasn’t feeling particularly well about how I won in the 1st set. I felt that I had won with some rather weak shots so I wanted to pick it up in the 2nd set by hitting with more pace. The thing was, though, I really wasn’t moving my feet very well and I wasn’t really getting into good positions to hit balanced shots. I just wasn’t playing aggressively enough physically or mentally while Derek turned it around by landing more balls in the court, hitting some lines and playing more consistently.

Pure and simple I played a few good points in the match, but didn’t really focus well on strategy, didn’t hit my ground strokes with consistency and didn’t play with a lot of energy. I won a set, but didn’t really enjoy it that much.

Last comment: I think for me to feel that I can really utilize and implement an all court strategy in match play, I have to develop a lot of confidence in being able to hit my forehand and backhand consistently with heavy pace. The big question is, is that really possible for a sixty-two year old man to develop such strokes?

Match #1 with Sydney Thursday morning.

General Overview:

I hadn’t played Sydney for a couple of months. The score: 0-6, 1-6. It would seem that I got squashed here. But not really. I figure there were at least five deuce games and six 30-40 games.

Sydney dictated play much of the time while I never totally relaxed and was always coming from behind. I hit out quite well, though, most of the time. My serving was decent. A couple of double-faults, not bad. I moved forward fairly well when I had the chance. I didn’t finish very well there as usual.

Special Problems:

1. Eldon had told me to have in mind where I was going to return serve before the serve took place. I had trouble doing this in this match thinking I didn’t know if my opponent would hit to my forehand or backhand. I want Eldon to clarify on this aspect of returning serve.

2. I found myself waiting for some of my opponent’s shots to reach me. At the last second I often realized that I needed to move forward to get into an adequate position to strike the ball well. Consequently when I didn’t move forward soon enough, I often ended up lunging at the ball and hitting an off-balance shot that lost me the point. Sydney hits flat or sliced balls that don’t come up on the court; these balls stay low. It is imperative to get up to these balls in order to have half a chance of getting under the ball to make a decent return. The next time I play Syd I will keep this in mind and watch for this type of shot so I can move forward in time to get up to these balls. This is an area I need to improve on since I have noticed that I often wait for balls to come to me instead of aggressively moving into the court to take advantage of attacking a short ball.

Match #2 with Roger Perry Thursday evening in the Singles Night League.

General Overview:

I hadn’t played Roger since last fall. I was amazed at how little pace Roger’s shots had. But maybe one doesn’t need a lot of pace when one is as consistent as Roger at keeping the ball in play. I hit with considerably more pace than Roger, but I made the mistake of trying to end points too quickly and consequently made way too many unforced errors. That is why the score ended up at 0-6, 0-6. And a number of these games weren’t very close. I did move forward in this match, but I did so impatiently and made many mistakes. Roger does hit short balls and it is not that hard to advance to the net against him.

Special Problems:

In this match I was moving to the net incorrectly. Sometimes I would hit a deep ball and try to get to the net in one big run. This was very ineffective. I got difficult balls at my feet a couple of times and then other times I just wasn’t’ able to set my feet properly to hit a good volley when I reached the net. A better approach would be for me to make getting to net and finishing a three step process: A) Hit a deep ball and move into the court to await a short ball in return; B) Hit the short ball with attitude near the mid-court service line forcing my opponent up into the court some; C) Make a crisp volley on my opponent’s return for a winner or back at him.

I like what I’m saying in the above statement so much. I believe this is a concept Eldon has been trying to teach me for a long time. I’m getting excited here because I’m really understanding and learning here. I so much sense that. I am going through the learning process and guess what? One has to learn by doing and committing errors, many errors. So I say to myself get used to it.

When I look back at this match at times I feel embarrassed. I know people were walking by and watching. Others were peering down form the club house terrace. And I was playing in a very impatient style and making novice mistakes. But hey, why should I feel embarrassed. One has to be unafraid to take risk and it is by risk that we learn. So I’m not going to feel embarrassed very long because my desire and motivation to learn is greater.

When I wanted to get to a higher level with my Spanish I had to go through a very similar process. Many times as a beginner I was nervous and afraid of making mistakes when I spoke in Spanish, but my motivation and interest fortunately drove me forward and I wouldn’t let my nervousness stop me from trying and learning and I eventually succeeded due to my passion to acquire the language.

Match #3 with Wally Sturgis Saturday morning at the racquet club

General Overview:

I had never played Wally before. He is a good 3.5 player in his forties. He has good ground strokes that he hits with considerable pace. His serve was suspect. Our rallies only lasted four or five balls. I say his serve was suspect because that is what gave me the 2nd set at 6-3 when he double-faulted excessively. I lost the 1st set 4-6 after almost making a comeback being down 2-5. I really enjoyed playing Wally; he is a super nice guy, very gentle and good natured.

Special problems (or concerns)

Actually, the comments I have here are quite positive:

1) I worked on returning serve with a spot in mind before I received my opponent’s serve. I had questioned Eldon about this before this match and he suggested that if I had a spot picked out to return to that I wouldn’t have a problem not knowing whether the serve was going to my forehand or backhand. Just have a spot in mind and your forehand or backhand will respond accordingly, he said. Eldon was right. I was pleasantly surprised how it helped me to return more effectively. There were times when I lost my focus and didn’t make a decision before I returned and almost without fail I didn’t hit my return of service very well or as well as when I had a spot in mind. So this is something that I will focus on in every match. Know where I am going to return serve to before I receive.

2) I hit down the middle to get into more of a rhythm with my ground strokes and to see how my opponent’s ground strokes would hold up. To my pleasant surprise I found that when I did hit deep down the middle Wally would often net his return. This strategy was part of my plan going into the match and needless to say I am very happy that I truly implemented my plan and it worked! I am going to make this part of my strategy in all of my matches. I have a tendency to go for the sidelines way too early in a match. I often do this before I have really given myself a chance to find a rhythm with my ground strokes. I think this will help me to settle down in a match and become more relaxed.

I went into this match with something of a game plan. I was going to hit down the middle for four games to get myself into rhythm and to see if my opponent could handle shots hit at him.

I won the racquet spin and chose the side I had warmed up on. Marty chose to receive. I learned something about the rules here. I really didn’t want to serve, but had to since my opponent chose to receive. I should have chosen to receive because I really didn’t want to serve first.

I had warmed up very well serving, putting my warms up in the serving boxes with ease. Then as the match began I proceeded to serve three double-faults in a row. I can’t remember when I have ever done that. I proceeded to lose that game at 40-15. That was an auspicious start to my game plan of hitting down the middle.

To compensate for losing the first game so quickly with so many double-faults I then played the next four games returning everything back down the middle of the court. I made some unforced errors here while Marty seemed to do okay returning balls hit back to him. After the fifth game, I began to change my strategy and hit down-the-line and crosscourt into the corners. I fell behind 2-5, but then came back to even the score at 5-5. The next two games went to deuce, but Marty won them both to finish out the set.

I went through the 2nd set never really getting into it very competitively. This is where I need to remember that after losing a close 1st set I have to start strong in the 2nd set to counteract a let down.

Basically, I left this match very disappointed, not so much in the loss, but the way I lost. I became very tentative in hitting my strokes, especially my forehand. I was telling myself towards the end of the match to hit through it and not worry about the outcome, but it was too late. I ran out of games before I really let go to hit through my forehand. My concern for the outcome was way too much. The way I felt in losing this match was so different from the previous match that I had just lost.

Furthermore, I realize now that the last few matches I have played, I have played with way too much concern for my mechanics in stroke production. Consequently, I missed many opportunities to utilize my strategy of moving forward when hitting deep balls, moving up on short balls and just plain moving forward into the court whenever possible. I have been way too complacent back on the baseline always thinking about stroke mechanics. I need to get back to focusing on strategy, on moving forward to end points in a match. I need to leave the mechanics for the practice court.

I hadn’t played a match for about ten days when I came up against Marty in the last match of the men’s singles-league session for June and July. Actually, I hadn’t played much tennis since I had been gone on a vacation up to Vancouver, Canada for a week. Upon my return form Canada I did take a lesson and had hit on the ball machine a couple of times before I played this match. So I entered the match quite relaxed and with a formidable change in my forehand stroke: In my last lesson with my coach’s advice, I decided to go to a grip that is very close to a semi-western. I was curious to see how I would do with this new grip in the match.

Even though I lost the match 2 and 2, I felt that I played very well in general and stayed relaxed throughout, hitting some well paced ground strokes especially with my backhand. The score really didn’t reflect how I played because we had a lot of deuce games. I hit some great shots down the line with my backhand and my near semi-western grip actually stayed in place. (I thought it might move reverting back to my eastern grip, but it didn’t). I started to gain some confidence with my new forehand, that I could keep my shots in the court. At times I hit with a little too much spin on that side, but that was to be expected.

The most interesting part of this match for me was an error I committed in strategy or more precisely shot selection. At the beginning of the 1st set I hit three or four winners down the line with my backhand. My opponent wasn’t covering that part of the court at all; he was letting me hit those shots at will. My mistake was in thinking I had to change up where I was going with the ball. I began to try to go crosscourt and failed. What made it worse was that three times I changed my mind in the middle of my stroke from going down-the-line to crosscourt and sure enough my balls landed in the net. The body can not be commanded to do two different things at the same time, can it? Strategy-wise I should have continued to go down-the-line until my opponent decided he was going to cover that area of the court and not let me hit winners there. At the point where my opponent started to cover that part of the court I would have had the option to hit crosscourt into the open space left by my opponent.

So, actually, I’m glad I miscued there. That’s a great lesson. I won’t let that happen again.

Another mistake I made was in not getting up to the net more. I was often dictating the point with some deep shots close to the baseline and I had other opportunities to move forward that I didn’t take advantage of. I think as of late I have been too worried about the mechanics of my forehand and have stopped thinking about getting forward in the court to end points. I have become too complacent just hitting from the baseline.

One thing I did very well was to give Marty different looks in my return of serve position. I didn’t always stand in the same place and often stood in a position that left a gap that he felt he had to hit into and did. At times Marty also faulted because I was moving around when his toss went up. With regards to my return of serve, though, I really need to step it up; I need to apply pressure here. I’m just not aggressive enough in my return. I need to return with more pace against Marty. I seem to be too complacent to just put the ball in play at times. Marty’s serve is not particularly strong. I need to step in, hit it hard and go for placement. As my coach says I should have in mind where I want to go before I actually hit my return of serve.

One other thing I would comment on is the fact that there were a few distractions during our match that helped me lose my focus. The guys on the court next to us were talking almost after every point they played. This became very distracting. But also Marty and I were chatting too much between change-overs. My focus definitely gets disturbed with these kinds of distractions during a match. I need to keep talking to a minimum between change-overs and try to totally ignore what is going on around me in other matches.

One very curious yet interesting observation about this match was that of the three balls: 3 shots into the net that I changed my mind on direction in the middle of the shot; 3 lobs I failed to get over my opponent at the net; 3 volleys I missed at the net; 3 short balls I hit long; and 3 short balls I waited for at the baseline instead of moving to diagonally to pressure my opponent. Wow! Emotionally this is very hard to take; I certainly gave my opponent the emotional edge in this match. When I learn to turn these three ball situations around I’m pretty sure I will have a different outcome.

To sum up: In general, I felt good about this match even though I made numerous mistakes . I hit my ground strokes relatively well with good pace, I dictated a lot of points and I was relaxed. The score didn’t mean anything to me this night. I was well involved in the process of improving my game. Unfortunately, I ran out of time in this match to turn it around. As it got darker and darker the ineffectiveness of the court lights began to take a toll on my night-time vision as I began to see more and more shadows and hit with less accuracy. I await another match with Marty in the near future, hopefully in broad daylight.

7/13/09  Monday  9:30A.M.

Chico Racquet Club

In today’s lesson Eldon and I went over my backhand, forehand and my return of serve.

Backhand

1.  It’s important for me to maintain some kind of loop in my take away.

2.  The racquet head should be lower than my hands at impact.

3.  On shots wide from the corner I need to be sure I follow through with my left foot and side of my body.  (To swing them around at the end of the swing)  This helps the ball stay in the court.  Also, my thought is that I need to follow through more consistently with my racquet and hands over my right shoulder.

4.  I need to develop more consistency with my backhand so I can rely on it in matches.

Forehand

1.  Eldon wants me to develop my own style, to determine what feels natural, something that will be easy to repeat.  His main recommendation is to keep my strokes compact.  There is less to go wrong when your strokes are compact.

2.  Pull the racquet head through with the hitting hand leading the way until impact and then let the head go through on its own ahead of the hitting hand.  I discussed with Eldon how this was hard for me to do since I had been taught as a teenager not to do that.  I had been taught a very controlled follow-through.

3.  I decided to ask Eldon (since I am making some basic changes to my forehand) what he thought should be my preferred grip for the forehand.  He told me he thought I would hit best with a grip that was towards the semi-western.   So this is what I began to work on in this lesson.

4.  I hit a lot better when I was relaxed.  This seems to be a very big key.

5.  Eldon didn’t comment on my footwork today.  I thought maybe he would.  I think he wanted to keep things as simple as possible today.  He knows that I have been struggling with changes in my forehand.  His feeding of balls was slower, also, I believe to help me develop more confidence.

Return of Serve

1.  Keep it very compact, a very short backswing.

2.  Have in mind where you want to return the opponent’s serve.  Have a specific place in mind:  down the line, crosscourt or down the middle.

3.  We worked a lot on my backhand.  It seems weaker than my forehand return.  I think I normally run around my backhand in matches to return with my forehand.  I probably shouldn’t do that.  My backhand is going to eventually be very capable of returning well if not better than my forehand.

4.  Try to get some regular practice on the return of serve.  Also, before a match it is essential to hit some returns of serve in order to try to develop a sense of rhythm.

Closing comment:

I enjoy working with Eldon.  I like his style of teaching.  He allows the student to come to the teacher with questions.  He doesn’t just preach.  This is a smart philosophy since the student’s own questions will be meaningful and the student will be more likely to understand the responses.   Eldon does not try to impose a one-size fits all type of style.  He doesn’t try to put his students in a mold and hope they will come out successful.  He provides some basic guidance and information, but then allows his students to discover what is natural and useful for him or herself in their own growth in the game of tennis.   Eldon’s philosophy of teaching puts some of the responsibility back on the student.  The student needs to be thinking and analyzing, also.  I like that.  This style of teaching allows both the student and teacher to be creative while it also enhances their opportunity to grow in their relationship and learn from each other.  For me, Eldon’s philosophy is enjoyable for the student as well as the teacher.  And that’s the way it should be!