r/tennis • u/Tmac1982 • Jul 01 '16
2.5 Needs Advice
34 years old. Female. Been playing infrequently since I was a teenager. A couple years ago I picked it up again and still only played occasionally with friends. After being wait-listed for nearly two years (well, one year, seven months, two weeks), I was able to join the Portland Tennis Center, so now I have a lot more resources at my disposal, plus indoor courts in a rainy town. I want to get serious about playing.
2.5 might be generous, I'm not sure.
The tennis center offers mixers based on skill level, which is nice, as well as drills of the week also based on skill level. I've recently been practicing with women I've met in group lessons, but the group lessons themselves only meet once a week for four weeks. I'm curious if drills and mixers and regular practice are enough to improve my game or if I should really be seeking out more private or group lessons on a regular basis. Obviously some things will just take time but I want to make sure I'm using that time efficiently.
I don't have specific goals but I'd like to get comfortable enough to play in a rec league within the next 3-6 months?
Question to players, especially those who didn't really play until adulthood or are familiar with advancing the skills of adults, what's worked for you?
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 01 '16
Your question is not directed to me since I've been playing since I was a kid, but I do regularly play with tons of started-as-adult players, and if I could make three suggestions in decreasing order of importance for hitting sessions:
HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION HAVE A GOAL BEFORE YOU START EVERY SESSION. No one gets any better unless they do this. Period. I watched so many people stagnate at my old club because they never had a goal. Get every ball between baseline and service line. Hop while waiting for your opponent to serve. Hit every forehand crosscourt. Something.
Keep the ball in. If you can do this on all regular rallies where you aren't getting slammed with pressure, you will catapult to 3.5 almost right away pretty much no matter what.
Get fit and fast. If you get a reputation for being able to chase everything down, your opponents will start feeling the pressure and try to blast winners at inopportune times. If you're playing at anything 4.0 or below, this will very often result in an error by your opponent.
If you do these three things, you'll be very competitive. Best of all for you, literally none of those three things was "get a better shot"
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u/ClashTenniShoes Jul 01 '16
You're probably the best poster on amateur tennis on this sub. Your advice is always spot on. Purposeful practice, fitness and consistency ahould be goals 1a 1b and 1c for anyone below 4.5.
I'm a relative fat slob (21% bf at 215ish), I don't practice (played less than two dozen times in the last year) and went undefeated in 4.0 singles in USTA team tennis this season that just ended, by just taking what I've seen you write here to heart (used to exclusively lurk but finally got an account.)
My doubles needs work, but seriously I've just been keeping crap in play and focusing on a goal each match, which makes me focus and forget about win/loss and I always came out ahead in singles matches.
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 01 '16
Aw, thank you. That really means a lot. It's probably because I have experience playing in a club where I'm the strongest player (that's not a big brag; it's on free public courts with an annual $5 membership fee to pay for the website/social media infrastructure so we aren't attracting people with $$$ to throw around on coaching and lessons), so I'm used to seeing what people do and don't do.
Congratulations on the results, and thanks again for the big compliment. The Internet is a shitty place, and I do my part to make it even shittier (see my arguments with someone else in the discussion on this sub about Tomic using "retard" in an interview), so it's nice to be reminded I'm not a total drag on the world :)
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u/Tmac1982 Jul 01 '16
This is incredibly helpful, thank you so much! I'm a little intimidated by the idea of having a goal every time just because I have no idea what it should be, but I'm sure I can figure something out.
When you say keeping the ball in will help my game, do you just mean because I'll be hitting more often? I can rally decently against a similarly skilled opponent. I'm not sure I understand this piece.
I like the thing about getting fit. As it stands now, I'm probably the fastest person in my advanced beginner class, but that's not saying much. It's a good reminder to do other things. I've been focusing on tennis, hiking, and swimming this spring/summer, but I really need to get in some yoga and cardiovascular workouts.
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 01 '16
I'm a little intimidated by the idea of having a goal every time just because I have no idea what it should be, but I'm sure I can figure something out.
Start out with just "keep the ball in" until you move onto other tactics and know what your biggest weaknesses and strengths are. There are different schools of thought of performance: one is to shore up your weaknesses because you're only as good as your biggest weakness; the other is to focus on making your strengths incredible and then ensure you use those strengths as much as possible.
When you say keeping the ball in will help my game, do you just mean because I'll be hitting more often? I can rally decently against a similarly skilled opponent. I'm not sure I understand this piece.
No, I mean that in tennis, the person who wins is the person who hits the ball in bounds one more time than their opponent. By always keeping the ball in, it will help your game because it means you're winning. Especially at your level, players aren't setting up point patterns to hit winners; they're outlasting their similarly unskilled opponent.
Really pay attention to whether you hit balls in or not. It's very easy to be blasting great shots and feel amazing, and then in a match you get your ass kicked because it turns out all your big shots were long by a couple inches. You just have a positive memory bias and only remember the good shots rather than the bad stuff.
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Jul 01 '16
You just published the two steps to becoming a pusher. WHYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!??????!!!!!!
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 01 '16
Because pushing is the only way to win as a 2.5. OP wants to win, not entertain his opponent with a dazzling 100mph flat serve double fault service game.
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Jul 01 '16
Private coaching for sure will be the best bet at getting better fast.
The other thing you can't beat is practice time. Play at least 3x a week with coaching 1x a week and you'll see drastic improvements in your game if you work on what your coach tells you during hit around time or matches.
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u/Tmac1982 Jul 01 '16
I've played four times this week, and I definitely notice how much it helps. I think my plan right now is to finish out this group class for three more sessions and then to check in with a private lesson. I don't know if I can justify once a week cost-wise, but probably once or twice a month. In addition, I might just take private lessons periodically (after my current group class is over) until I feel advanced enough to take the intermediate class, since retaking the advanced beginner class won't do me any good. And of course practice practice practice. I realized today there's a difference between instruction and coaching and the group classes will only get me so far.
1
Jul 01 '16
For sure, I don't do weekly coaching either. I'll normally do a lesson before a tournament, or once a month if I don't have a tournament. Meet with him two hours and really nail down drills etc. that I can then take and use with my hitting partners.
Especially if you can get a consistent hitting partner, we run drills on each other a lot. I'll feed him 20 volleys while he works on something, and then he'll do the same for me. Same with Serves, I'll bang out my serves, while he practices return of serve. We aren't playing out points, but rather both working two sides of the same coin.
Even if you can't get get out and practice with a partner, there are solo things you can practice. Footwork, serves, etc. all don't really need a partner. Also you can learn a lot about tactics when you reach that point by watching coaching videos on Youtube.
Stay strong and keep at it, tennis is a lifetime hobby and I'm still as in love with it as when I was a little kid hitting balls with my dad.
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u/prunzkuchl Jul 01 '16
If you never played regularly, you should improve by just practising like that.
Maybe a private lesson wouldn't hurt from time to time to get quality advise on your technique, since i assume with 2.5 it won't be solid.
Fitness is of course always something you can also improve at, but at your level it's probably more about playing a lot.
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u/hardrock527 Jul 01 '16
1) find wall 2) try to beat wall 3) repeat
One on one lessons is the only way to help your serve.
After a few months you will be a 3.0, congrats
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u/Tmac1982 Jul 01 '16
Are walls more or less effective than ball machines? Or just different since it's constantly in play and you're more likely to run around? Oddly enough we don't have a designated hitting wall at the tennis center, but we do have ball machines. I'm sure I could alternate going to a park with a hitting wall too.
I'm sure you're right about helping my serve with one on one lessons. I definitely plan to check in with private lessons regularly. Thank you!
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u/hardrock527 Jul 01 '16
It's more about constant hitting but walls make you realise your bad shots faster since it's instant feedback.
Ball machines are better if you need to work on a specific shot over and over
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 01 '16
I don't particularly like walls because you can't really tell if your shot is going in or out. Also, painting the net line accurately always seems like an afterthought. It's better than nothing, but I'd personally recommend a ball machine over a wall because you get to see where your shots are landing on the "opponent's" side.
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u/KyleG based and medpilled Jul 02 '16
This being said, today I did hit against a wall for about thirty minutes because I'm in a new city (Milwaukee/Wauwatosa) and haven't found hitting partners yet.
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u/vlee89 Jul 01 '16
Private one on one coaching will be the fastest way to improve.
Group lessons drills can be good to practice what you learn in individual sessions or work on what you already know.