Review After the Competition

After the competition and listened to the comments from some colleague, I think I shall target to improve my playing technique in the following areas and priorities:
1) Baseline - first priority to make sure 100% strong and accurate hit back for forehand and may be some defensive slice for backhand.
2) Serve - seems improving, but still not in consistency. Serving goes to the second top of my list 3) Volley - I like volley very much but I think I shall handle the first two tricks before going seriously in volley.

Game on 11 December 2004

Game on 11 December 2004
~ Written by: Vicky ~

Last Saturday was a good day for tennis. The usual participants were there:
Ivan, Peter, Hara, Tony, Ken, Stanley & myself. The practice was
predominantly games in doubles.

Without my partner, Newman, I decided to concentrate my own training in (1)
controlling my stroke angle and distance & (2) backhand stroke. I tried a
lot of "down the line" shot, which means the ball ends up on the backhand
side of my opponent. I found that this is quite a powerful tool and created
a lot of winners.

Backhand stroke, as all of my opponents can notice, is my weakness...nowhere
to hide. Trouble is, I'm still struggling whether to use double backhand or
single one.

Some people said that my physical strength can easily support a single
backhand. However, it's quite difficult for me to master the technique in
such a short time...Though very tempting to shift as the movement is more
natural and faster than using a double backhand. Anyway, I decided to let
it be, in the court I choose to trust my body in using the best way at that
split second...

Stanley Chan's serve improved after his so-called "Disappointing Game" on
that Thursday. Seemed that he got used to the new balls already. This guy
should not be overlooked because he can really hit beautiful angles...

Tony at last decided to re-string his racquet. He told me that he would do
it this Monday 13th, but until yesterday the 15th, nothing happened. As the
opponent team in the very first match, I'd really love to beat
them...shouldn't push him to re-string...make life easier for me!

Ken was still working on his favourite serve, which if successful, contains
a lot of spin and thrust. Must say that his serve is a potent threat for
receivers...




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Disappointing Game

Yesterday's game was a disappointing game, and I played badly when teamed up
with Daris. After one full week of waiting and expectation, I could not
believe how bad I played.

It might be the balls changed from Dunlop to Slazenger, I don't know, but
Vicky and Ivan were not affected. They beated us 5 - 0 or 6 - 1, I cannot
remember now.

Sure Vicky and Ivan played a lot better than the last game, a lot of volley,
and few mistakes and played with confidence. Oppositely, Daris was not
fitted in conditions because his elbow aches a bit again, and I played
weakly

Although I felt I had some improvement in serving, it is still not
consistent and far away from stable.

See whether I can play on this Saturday for improve my conditions.

打球不敗

打球不求不敗, 球不敗則不知進步!

Head Heart and Body: 3rd Dec 2004 Game - Stanley & Daris

> Vicky has sent you a link to a weblog:
>
> It's a pity that Daris can't attend our tournament.
>
> It's of much fun playing with him. As long as the ball doesn't hit the
> net...even the ball is "out", he will catch it and continue with the
> rallies. Where-else can you find such a great tennis machine?
>

Doubles - After the Return

From the November/December 2004 issue of TENNIS Magazine

After you hit your return of serve, you have plenty of options for your nextshot.

Your opponent has delivered his serve and you've put your return back inplay. Now what? There are three basic plays you can try, and each has itsown variations. An effective doubles player knows how to mix them up to besuccessful. Here's a rundown of what you can do:

• Volley Your opponent may choose to serve and stay back (particularly on aweak second serve), so a solid return will give you a chance to move forwardand take the net. If your opponent does serve and volley, but you hit agood, low return and you feel comfortable closing in on the net, you canvolley the next ball out of the air. You'll generally hit this first volleyfrom around the service line, so be sure to hit it with some authority, orat least try to keep it low so your opponents have to volley up.

• Ground Stroke If you prefer to stay at the baseline, or you didn't hit aneffective return, you can try a ground stroke. Going down the middle is thesafest play because that's where the net is at its lowest point, and theother team may be confused about who covers the shot. Hitting crosscourt is also a high- percentage play, and presents anopportunity to keep the ball below net level and set your partner up for apoach on the next ball. The last option is to drive the ball down the line at the net player. The distance is shorter between you and this player, and the ball will get onhim quickly, potentially forcing a weak reply. Since you're keeping the ballin front of you, there's a good chance it will come back to you. But you'realso leaving yourself open to an angled volley between you on the baselineand your partner at net, which makes the down-the-line shot a riskiertactic.

• Lob Depending on how fast your opponents close in on the net and the qualityof their first volley, the lob can be useful. If your opponents have put youon the defensive with the first volley, you might need to throw up a highdefensive lob to keep your team in the point. Other times, when you hit agood return that forces your opponent to float a volley, you'll have time toset up and try an aggressive topspin lob that can put you in control of thepoint.

Doubles: Watch the Competition

From the October 2004 issue of TENNIS Magazine

Rather than turning and watching your partner receive serve...

There's a difference of opinion as to what to do when your partner isreturning serve in doubles. Many players in this situation help call theserve in or out, which is fine, and watch their partner hit the return. Thenthey track the ball as it goes over the net and play the point out. I thinkthis is a mistake.

You're better off keeping your focus on your opponents, particularly theopposing net player. Learn to read his body language and you can tell wherethe return is going and how effective it is. If he starts to move across thecourt, you have to be alert because he's looking to poach off a weak return.If he looks up and starts to backpedal, you know your partner tried to lob.You either want to retreat or move forward, depending on the quality of thelob. And if the opposing net player stays still and doesn't do anything,shift your focus to the server because the return is going to him andperhaps you can take advantage of his reply.

...keep your eyes on the opposing team's net player.

The problem with watching your partner hit the return is that in shiftingyour focus to the other side of the net, you can't respond as quickly to theopposing net player. If he or she poaches, you'll have almost no time toreact to the volley. And if your partner cracks a big return, you may not bein the right position to capitalize on it. The smart thing to do is to watchthe serve land and make the call if necessary. If the ball is in, quicklylook at the opposing net player to read his reaction to the return.

3rd Dec 2004 Game - Stanley & Daris

Last friday I played tennis with Daris at Sin Fat Road. It was so tired to play single, and our practice was as follows:

first 10 minutes - front court volley practice for control - so difficulat that I always hit too hard and the balls passed over Daris to the backside.

then 30 minutes for baseline and serving practice. Because the balls were too soft, the speed of the balls was not very fast and therefore I had sufficient time to prepare my action, while on the other hand I had to use extra power to strike on the balls.

final 20 minutes for a game, the results was obvious for a 5-1. I felt I started to know one trick of playing a single game - make your opponent keep running, no matter you are hitting good or not, don't hit directly to your opponent.

Because of playing single, I need to do a lot of moving than playing double, so my legs felt very very tired on the next day.

1st Dec 2004 Game - Stanley Ivan & Daris

Last Thursday's tennis was really exhausted. I swore I wouldn't play tennis again with less four persons!

Still had a lot of problem in serving, not consistent and bad successful rate - will I survive in the coming tennis tournament?

Observations to other players:
Daris - stronger returns were felt, and thanks for teaching us volley.

Ivan - still a very stable player, and stronger than before serving observed. A good baseline player as usual, but can he change to be a good volley attacker?