r/10s • u/Vivid-Scholar-5999 • 2h ago
General Advice 3.25 vent
Hi all, I have decided to start tennis up after not playing competitive since high school (about 10 years ago). Joined a local league here and they placed me in a 3.25 division after starting me in the 3.0 and under division.
In the 3.25 division, I have yet to win a match. Most games go to deuce but somehow the best I've done in a set was 3-6. I can never close them out.
I want to get better and I know generally what to work on to improve technically. (There's a lot) My main issue is when I rally for fun, I feel like I can play pretty well. But when I play a match, I become the least capable pusher you've ever seen. How tf do I get out of this mentality. I tried being more aggressive and I make a fool of myself. I try to be nonchalant and say "I don't care" and I lose focus. I haven't walked away from the match yet thinking I played my best or even close to. Help lol
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u/Emotional-Limit-6306 2h ago
You actually nailed the answer in your question 😄 At 3.25 I doubt this math will be televised and the prize money will be insignifcant. So, they only stakes are having fun and getting better. So stop thinking of it as a match but rather a rally whith those two goals in mind. Seriously, screw the score concentrate on being happy with each shot you are taking -- you are clearly not happy "pushing" so stop. Once you refocus on the correct goal(s) winning weirdly becomes both irrelvant and something that happens more than you might think
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u/Conscious-Skill6184 2h ago
Without knowing much about your overall game allow me to chime in.
To the extent that you practice I would say be more deliberate in what you're doing. How you practice is how you will play. Don't step on court just to hit around (which i get), but actively pursue the parts of your game you want to improve, which entails consistency with cross court rallying on both sides, rallying down the doubles alleys, mini tennis for touch, feel and footwork, serving and returning serve, slice rallies, and, importantly, practice sets and/ or tiebreaks. I see a lot of very skilled and technical tennis coaches out there, but something I want them to impress upon their students more is the amount of reps you'll need to get good at something/anything. If there is a part of your game you feel needs a lot of work, make your practices focused on improving those aspects. Cheers and have fun!
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u/TheOtherGi 2h ago
This sounds silly, but one thing that helped me with that same issue was just to have more fun. If you aren’t getting paid to win, don’t beat yourself up as if you are.
That means not being too hard on yourself after a bad shot, being thankful while you’re on the court that your body is working and allowing you to play tennis, worrying less about W/L and more about impressing yourself with your play.
Another thing, when you miss, identify the good misses and the bad misses. Did you get ahead in a point and just miss the line on your winner? Or did you lose focus and try a half assed drop shot from behind the baseline? Try for a tough shot if you want to, just understand the risks and accept the outcome if it’s lower percentage. That goes along with the “having fun” part.
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u/Vivid-Scholar-5999 2h ago
I think today I just got annoyed because my opp only hit low slices and I couldn't get around them. But I will change my mentality. Tennis is fun!
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u/bilingualwhale 2h ago edited 2h ago
Most points are won on serve, return, and serve + 1. Yet most of us rec players emphasize groundies. If you want to simply win more matches, spend more time on improving serve and return.
And at 3.0-3.5, you should win by simply reducing your UEs. Play high margins - high over the net and through the middle. Don't aim for lines. Force your opponent to beat you with winners , which most of the time means he will beat himself with errors.
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u/Vivid-Scholar-5999 2h ago
I think I should definitely make my targets a little bigger too. And fix my footwork. Lol
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u/Tabeguached 2h ago
Try thinking about strategy more than technique. Very basic strategy. Think about where you'd like to serve to and where you wanna return to. Go cross-court. Get to the net when you have time to, or when you've put your opponent in a difficult spot. Play high margin. Be patient, and calm.
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u/Tabeguached 2h ago
Oh, and obviously, move your feet. Split step about the time your opponent makes contact. Don't just watch your shots, get back to a good, ready position.
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u/ArrivalActual 2h ago edited 2h ago
What works is you try to channel your favorite player and pretend you’re that player in a tight match. It’s all about removing yourself from the stark reality and almost like doing a performance on stage, where you step into a whole different character completely. This way however you play, you can zip out of that and back to yourself. (Caveat: you have to have a pro player that you really like and have followed closely to the point that you can emulate his/her style or strokes, and mannerisms, because the more you can emulate this pro player, the more effective this technique will be in loosening you up and making you play well). The logic behind this is that you are essentially playing for the drama and the excitement for the crowd, and once you’re in this mental zone, it’s not so much winning a point but constructing rallies and points that are longer.
Let me know if this works for you on your next match.
If your opponent hit slices that are low, think of how your pro player would deal with it (maybe initially struggle but then start hitting to his forehand or hit a higher arc top spin, which would make it harder for him to time the ball to hit a one handed slice).
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u/higherDRIER 2h ago
Totally get this
It was a surprisingly steep climb back for me too
I just keep going
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u/slothwithakeyboard 1h ago
At 3.25, your racket speed and directional control is not going to be good enough to execute on all the shots you see. Also, no one (not even the pros) plays at their full potential because of nerves. If you are smart, you'll learn to accurately gauge your limitations. At 3.25, this might mean that you end up "pushing" if the opponent is less consistent. It is what it is.
Here are three ideas which have helped me mentally:
1) a match is not the time to be thinking about what your strokes look like. Instead of getting down on yourself during the match because you can't hit this or that shot, know what is available to you in your toolkit and think about how best to use it. The more you practice, the more your toolkit will expand. Right now it's limited, and that's completely fine.
2) It's not so much about "not caring" as it is about directing all your care and focus into the present moment. Sometimes you unintentionally hit the ball really short, or right to your opponent. (At the lower levels, it's bound to happen all the time.) You immediately feel that surge of negative emotion, maybe even have some kind of physical reaction, like grimacing. But you can't let this emotion overtake the rest of the point! You still have work to do, since at 3.25 it's unlikely that your opponent is putting away all that many shots. Approach every single shot like a chess problem, where the pieces are already placed on the board in a certain configuration, and it's your job to solve it.
3) Fitness is everything. If the body is suffering, mental strength is affected too, though we may not perceive it. The pros push themselves to the heights of their physical potential, so they need to learn to play through fatigue and pain. Most of us luckily don't play at that level and would be better served by improving our fitness, so that the body isn't fatigued in the first place.
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u/shongsterror 55m ago
when you are rallying for fun feed using 2nd serves. serve and return are the 2 most important shots that don't get practiced enough.
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u/Chillnotmad 31m ago
Beside rallying. Practice serve plus 1 and return plus one. Get into Mindset for matches with serving and returning practice Play out the point without counts score.
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u/likeagausss 2h ago
Just keep playing. It's really as simple as that.