Friday, August 03, 2007

Lists on Progress

Thoughts
  • Crosscourt forehand loop has really come together recently. This is a combination of concentration and taking more time and letting the ball come to me.
  • I've been opening my backhand on returning short wide serves to my backhand, resulting in hitting the return long.
  • Need to be more conservative with my forehand loops service returns early in a match, to get a feel for how much spin my opponent puts on the ball. Try for more arc.
Working on
  • touch game: my biggest weakness right now is probably my touch game. i.e. pushes and flips. I'm going to try and serve more short backspin to work on this
  • taking the ball as it's falling on forehand loops: This is probably what improved my forehand loop the most recently. It gives me time to really line the shot up.
  • topspin forehand pendulum serves. These have really started to work for me. I rediscovered a fast topspin to the wide backhand that has been working really well for me. I've also been able to do some very spinny short topspins. These aren't completely under control though.
  • reverse forehand pendulum serves. Started using a convex service motion to make the topspin and backspin look more similar. Should work pretty well after some practice. I shouldn't forget my concave motion on backhand for heavy spin.
Need to work on
  • serves that fade wide to my forehand. I have a lot of trouble returning these strongly, and lost a match recently because of this.
  • placement on forehand loops
  • taking the ball as it's falling on backhand loops