It was really hot at the club today. This effected playing energy and concentration a good deal.
I played 4 singles matches today and lost all of them. Though I played Alex H to 5. I was able to win some easy points by serving and looping strait at the body. I played Yoshi close in two games. In a few cases I missed some easy slams by being too agressive with them. On slams I should take the first one easy and them kill the second. I also lost to a scrub, but could have probably beat him if I would have focused on the three serves that were working, rather than varying between all my serves. I played Roland and lost quickly in three, since I played to his level of intesity.
On the forehand inside out backspin serve, one key point would be to throw the ball high enough so that I can get a full backswing. The height of the toss should probably be about eye level.
I still can't really loop moderately fast balls. In games I should just counter these. In practice I can't take these up close to the table. If I back off a little I can handle them better, but still not well.
No spin serves continue to be a problem. I need to increase the speed, but I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or what I need to adjust to be more consistent.
Backhand loops work, when I can get a full backswing. There are times still when I try to loop and the ball is on me before I can get my paddle all the way back. This would be corrected by having better recognition of fast pushes.
Monday, July 24, 2006
Saturday, July 22, 2006
How did I play today?
Played decently against John Lee's pips, though I had trouble when I wasn't looping. I'm still having trouble against his side spin serves. I need to light topspin and direct them or push them.
Didn't play Michael quite seriously enough. Can't beat him without trying for my better serves.
Doubles play was ok. Not too much to say there. Still missing my no spin serve in double at about 50%.
My inside-out backspin serve is decent when I get it over the net, but is still too low percentage. No spin serves are still too inconsistent only hitting about one in ten at the pace I want.
Didn't play Michael quite seriously enough. Can't beat him without trying for my better serves.
Doubles play was ok. Not too much to say there. Still missing my no spin serve in double at about 50%.
My inside-out backspin serve is decent when I get it over the net, but is still too low percentage. No spin serves are still too inconsistent only hitting about one in ten at the pace I want.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
Skills I should evaluate
-Backhand as a whole (strategy), pushing, looping, flipping, hitting. Recent progress on looping topspin. Tightening up form against topspin.
-All standard serves breakdown by motions, what are the expected returns, third ball strategy.
-Surprise Serves and New Service motions
-Receiving Service.
-Defence (lobbing, blocking, chopping)
-Blocking Skills esp. ball placement
-Doubles Serving Strategy
-Looping (Progress in last year and half)
-Footwork (Leg strengthening, knee problems, shoes)
-Effectiveness at different ranges
-Effectiveness at changing ranges
-All standard serves breakdown by motions, what are the expected returns, third ball strategy.
-Surprise Serves and New Service motions
-Receiving Service.
-Defence (lobbing, blocking, chopping)
-Blocking Skills esp. ball placement
-Doubles Serving Strategy
-Looping (Progress in last year and half)
-Footwork (Leg strengthening, knee problems, shoes)
-Effectiveness at different ranges
-Effectiveness at changing ranges
Monday, July 17, 2006
What I'm Working on
-Two step footwork on service return
-forehand flips
-placing forehand pushes
-tighten up forehand loop
-inside out backspin forehand serve
-no spin serves
-reading serves
Evaluation of these skills:
Two step footwork: still needs a lot of work. on forehand pushes and flips I find myself stepping with the right foot and stretching to reach the shot too often. There are many times that instead of a forehand loop I should be using a forehand flip. I could also let the ball drop a little more on my wide forehand service returns
Forehand Flips: against medium to heavy backspin, reasonably consistent. The problems I have are against no spin and light backspin. In the stroke, I'm both too open and too closed at times. I also tend to lean over the table with my shoulder. I need to step in strongly and keep my shoulders closed more.
Placing Forehand Pushes: too aggresive with trying to put sidespin on the ball. Try to place at sharp angles without using sidespin. Touch just isn't where it needs to be on this shot.
Tighten up Forehand Loops: I'm pretty satisfied with where my loops against backspin are right now. The biggest problem is still again no spin. I have a tendancy to hit this one long. The adjustment I'm going to try to make is to hit into no spin a little more and close over the ball more. I still also have problems with looping topspin. I have a tendancy at times to catch too much of the ball. I could probably fix this problem by always waiting for the ball to drop before trying to loop it. On all my loops I need to raise my concentration level. Make the small adjustments with my footwork and keep my eye on the ball better.
Inside-Out Backspin Forehand Service: This is the first week I've been trying this serve. It's tough to figure out what the right form is as I haven't seen any people really use this serve live, except on tv. I think I've got a good idea of the motion, but the trick is when and where I should hit the ball. I believe I need to try and keep my toss close to my body and around my center line. I've been getting the most spin when I contact the ball with the trailing edge of my paddle. This is probably because the paddle has had more time to accelerate. If I get the ball more to the left of my body and use the midde. This should have the same spin and increase my control. I like this serve. The ball is staying in the middle of the table and staying short with good spin when I hit it correctly. Most of the time when I miss the ball is landing short. This is probably good and I shouldn't worry about the ball landing short as much as getting good racket speed and spin. Sometimes I'm catching the ball with the edge of the paddle though. This is probably because My stroke isn't stable yet.
All in all the serve worked pretty good today when I got it over the net. I think the point to focus on is the toss and getting a full backswing. The toss should be closer to the body than my other serves and possibly a little more towards the table.
No Spin Serves: I can finally hit these so that they're a weapon. My consistency with them is lacking though. When I don't really go after them, they ussually lack a lot of speed, but as long as I don't over rely on them, people at my level don't usually return with off speed ones. I especially have trouble with my no spin down the line. I've only been hitting 1 or four of these. This has to change. It's a bit of a mystery to me as to why I'm missing so many. A big part of it is that these are a more recent addition to my game (last half year or so), and possibly body position and hitting the ball too far from the table are the reasons. Also I don't adjust very well for the change in distance that hitting the ball at different angles. I should devote a day or two to these in the near future.
Reading Serves: This I figure is going to be a continual work in progress for at least the next couple years. I think my biggest problem is my weak forehand push and flip and knowing the right weapon for the right job. Later I'll devote a longer post to this topic specifically.
-forehand flips
-placing forehand pushes
-tighten up forehand loop
-inside out backspin forehand serve
-no spin serves
-reading serves
Evaluation of these skills:
Two step footwork: still needs a lot of work. on forehand pushes and flips I find myself stepping with the right foot and stretching to reach the shot too often. There are many times that instead of a forehand loop I should be using a forehand flip. I could also let the ball drop a little more on my wide forehand service returns
Forehand Flips: against medium to heavy backspin, reasonably consistent. The problems I have are against no spin and light backspin. In the stroke, I'm both too open and too closed at times. I also tend to lean over the table with my shoulder. I need to step in strongly and keep my shoulders closed more.
Placing Forehand Pushes: too aggresive with trying to put sidespin on the ball. Try to place at sharp angles without using sidespin. Touch just isn't where it needs to be on this shot.
Tighten up Forehand Loops: I'm pretty satisfied with where my loops against backspin are right now. The biggest problem is still again no spin. I have a tendancy to hit this one long. The adjustment I'm going to try to make is to hit into no spin a little more and close over the ball more. I still also have problems with looping topspin. I have a tendancy at times to catch too much of the ball. I could probably fix this problem by always waiting for the ball to drop before trying to loop it. On all my loops I need to raise my concentration level. Make the small adjustments with my footwork and keep my eye on the ball better.
Inside-Out Backspin Forehand Service: This is the first week I've been trying this serve. It's tough to figure out what the right form is as I haven't seen any people really use this serve live, except on tv. I think I've got a good idea of the motion, but the trick is when and where I should hit the ball. I believe I need to try and keep my toss close to my body and around my center line. I've been getting the most spin when I contact the ball with the trailing edge of my paddle. This is probably because the paddle has had more time to accelerate. If I get the ball more to the left of my body and use the midde. This should have the same spin and increase my control. I like this serve. The ball is staying in the middle of the table and staying short with good spin when I hit it correctly. Most of the time when I miss the ball is landing short. This is probably good and I shouldn't worry about the ball landing short as much as getting good racket speed and spin. Sometimes I'm catching the ball with the edge of the paddle though. This is probably because My stroke isn't stable yet.
All in all the serve worked pretty good today when I got it over the net. I think the point to focus on is the toss and getting a full backswing. The toss should be closer to the body than my other serves and possibly a little more towards the table.
No Spin Serves: I can finally hit these so that they're a weapon. My consistency with them is lacking though. When I don't really go after them, they ussually lack a lot of speed, but as long as I don't over rely on them, people at my level don't usually return with off speed ones. I especially have trouble with my no spin down the line. I've only been hitting 1 or four of these. This has to change. It's a bit of a mystery to me as to why I'm missing so many. A big part of it is that these are a more recent addition to my game (last half year or so), and possibly body position and hitting the ball too far from the table are the reasons. Also I don't adjust very well for the change in distance that hitting the ball at different angles. I should devote a day or two to these in the near future.
Reading Serves: This I figure is going to be a continual work in progress for at least the next couple years. I think my biggest problem is my weak forehand push and flip and knowing the right weapon for the right job. Later I'll devote a longer post to this topic specifically.
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