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<s>[INST]“I’d like to serve it in her box” if there’s some hot chicks playing near by, or maybe “I’d let her ‘toss my balls’” “I’d like to go down the middle and solve her riddle” Maybe that’s just me and my friends haha. [/INST] The backhand is a easier stroke for physically weaker players, u might need to hit the gym</s>

<s>[INST]You have to be a bit more specific lol.[/INST] If you know any overgrips that fit the description, feel free to share.</s>

<s>[INST]Yeah definitely more expensive, lasts a bit longer though. Ask your stringer, just shaped polys will reduce saw through the multi or gut quicker so I wouldn't recommend it in a hybrid. You can look up the string types on tenniswarehouse etc.[/INST] Unfortunately I don’t have a traditional “stringer” - closest one that I know of is an hour drive away so I recently started doing my own stringing. The upside is that I can experiment more easily and find a reasonably durable and cheap setup that’s sufficiently comfortable. I might look into those revolve strings you mentioned. Thanks for your help</s>

<s>[INST]Can someone explain the 9.0 , 4.5, rating thing?? Surely 9 would be like twice as good as 4.5...but then what counts as a pro??? I’m so confused.[/INST] Sliding the foot back would kill your momentum. I'd be willing to bet once you master bringing the back foot forward you'll be generating more pace.</s>

<s>[INST]Ha! "What am I going to do with my matching shirt?"[/INST] lol that was my favorite part too</s>

<s>[INST]Well, you did lose. Give the old man his due.[/INST] I think he’s been practicing against my nieces. 10 AM court time can’t get here seen enough. His advantage today is that I’m going to be working on my serve motion, based on all the videos I’ve been watching that pheadias has been posting, also I haven’t played since Thanksgiving. Stupid work gets in the way. I’ve managed to drop about 10 lbs though just counting calories and trying to keep sugar under 25 grams a day, mostly fruit, so that should help me. </s>

<s>[INST]this is awful advice. Lifting the front foot is common in pros. VERY common. None of your advice is relevant to him at all. He has great pronation and his serve is flat. please don't give bad advice.[/INST] You may have misread my comment. What I said was, "leading up to the serve, I would have expected it to be slice or kick serve but it looks like you hit the ball flat." As for pronation, I said that it I wasn't totally sure because of the angle, but that it looked like the ball was hit flat. As for lifting the front foot, it's true that many pros do it, but it's also true that many great servers limit that foot motion so much that you can usually only see it in slow-mo videos. I just think that if you can remove one idiosyncrasy from the many in the complicated set of motions of a serve, why not do it? Watch [Isner](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idheRufEi3Q) with his nonexistent front foot motion, who has stayed in the top 3 ATP players in first serve percentage since 2012. You also conveniently ignored the parts of my comment that you agreed with, attempting to discredit me entirely. That wasn't very nice, one might even say underhanded.</s>

<s>[INST]Enough space to fit index finger when holding the racket continental?[/INST] How do you get to playing in UTR tourneys?</s>

<s>[INST]I haven't used that machine but personally I'm not a fan, not sure if your looking at doing other people's racket but I've heard that they're not good angled mains. The Head Ti.S6 is an example of that. You could try Clarke's Disturbing in Houston, last time I was there they had a lot of Prince Neos and some Alpha cranks as well, I'm sure they will ship to you if needed.[/INST] That looks like a wholesale store. I'm doubtful they'll let me in on their prices but I've sent them an email. Thanks for the tip.</s>

<s>[INST]Thanks for providing those links. Yeah, I agree that it may trigger a big argument but I'd be willing to do that if it was really egregious.[/INST] I went heady in the Zyrtec this morning, I found an new opponent finally besides old dudes, ex-NHL goalie that picked up tennis a few years ago. Luckily he didn’t take anything and had the bad sneezies. 6-3,6-5 when he said no mas, I think he was getting real sore too. But last week was 6-1,6-1, he has quickly figured out how to read my junk balls, and his hands and eyes are quick enough to absolutely punish any kick that I leave hanging, and as you’d imagine, if he gets to the net, you must lob, I couldn’t believe what pro caliber reflexes looked like up there at the net, it’s unreal, that and his lateral quickness. Anyway; it was fun and I had to think a lot, about what his strengths were, and where I could safely put the ball. I’m lucky he doesn’t have much of a serve, but damn he has good hands, and so much lateral quickness, not that he is slow longitudinally, it’s just damn, man, so quick side to side, very annoying. I suspect in a few weeks he will be beating me, but once he does, I won’t be so tight, I’ll “expect to lose” he will “expect to win” and the mental game will swing back the other way with my being comfortable and him getting tight. Fun to be back in a competitive matchup with a solid athlete so I’m forced to raise my game. Haven’t had a hitting partner like this in damn near a decade.</s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] I have a few suggestions/observations for #6 and #4, respectively. For #6, I'd suggest using a continental grip. It looks like you do use it before you toss the ball, but when I look at your grip after contact, it looks like a semi-western grip. I'm not sure if you're subconsciously changing mid-swing, but it's something to be aware of. The next advice I'd have is actually with the advice "throw the racquet at the ball." I actually think this advice is ineffective, because it makes you focus on the part of the swing which should be the most fluid. It's that common thing in tennis where you end up tensing up the muscles and trying to control the ball like you're lifting weights rather than loosening up and letting the racquet act like a rock at the end of a sling. Something better to focus on is [to accelerate your elbow towards the ball](https://youtu.be/fH61_zzlWko?t=100). This helped me immensely when I was trying to improve my serve. Otherwise, I applaud you for observing all these points!</s>

<s>[INST]Thank you! I will play around with the timing next time I get on the court.[/INST] It's recommended you keep your feet on the ground for stability and consistency unless you're 4.0 - 4.5+ player who can hit balls in the air.</s>

<s>[INST]Would you mind pinging me a reply when you do? I'm interested too ��[/INST] Yes, I'll be on the courts for a few hours tomorrow so I'll update you properly then.</s>

<s>[INST]Just buy a drop weight string machine online, they will be the easiest way for you to restring given your situation [/INST] Yeah that was my thought too was looking at the X-2 and its similar to the one I used to use. </s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] There are many reasons why a coach may push you into hitting a 2HBH, so you'll have to actually speak to him first. For all we know he could be right, or he could be trying to hide the fact that he does not know how to teach the 1HBH. But the 1HBH is sensitive to footwork and timing, and footwork literally takes years to get right. Most people I've met who have a 1HBH ("have" is a bit generous) are better off with even a crappy 2HBH, because they literally can't do anything on their BH side other than slice, bunt, or swing for the fences and hope it lands in. Have you tried the 2HBH extensively? Sometimes you are more naturally tuned to a shot that doesn't feel as good as the alternative. 1HBH feels great for me too, but my 2HBH came to me like second nature. So while I suggest you talk to your coach, also keep your own mind open to change. If you're a beginner, "feel" should not be an important factor in deciding what to use, because that good feeling might never get better while everything else will, if that makes any sense.</s>

<s>[INST]I totally get that. It is worth mentioning that when you rip it down the line, you probably are picking and choosing when you do so. Just based on the video, all four of you seem like solid players. So if you were at the doubles baseline in your ad court backhand corner and the opponent hit a heavy topspin shot deep and wide to your backhand, I think I can safely say that you are not gonna pick that time to go down the line. So a good net player will see that and take the middle. If you can rip a clean backhand winner down the line while backpedaling out wide on a shot that might be face-high while out of the corner of your eye you see the opposing net player taking over the middle of the court, well, great shot. But you most likely will have to either roll it crosscourt, or maybe (if you’re a two-hander) smother it crosscourt with a scissor-kick backhand, or hit a lob. So if you were the net player and you see what my mixed doubles partner (ex-women’s D1 player) calls a “green light” ball, you *should* take the middle. People call it “poaching,” but I call it good anticipation. Lastly, speaking as a singles serve-volleyer, if I’m not getting passed at the net, then I’m not being aggressive enough up there. People get so bent out of shape getting passed, or maybe they’re afraid of getting hit, I dunno, that they just stand there and watch crosscourt balls float by them. How many guys do you know wish they could “poach” better? I bet a lot. But being aggressive means you will have to give up the alley and get passed sometimes. The good net players I’ve known don’t even sweat getting passed. I say, bring it! If you haven’t gotten passed or tagged, you’re not having enough fun up there at net. ��[/INST] I also typically prefer serve/volley in singles, which is why I DO love poaching in doubles, but feel like a ball hog if I poach too much so I at least try to give my partner a chance to make plays too. I wish I would have read your 1st paragraph before my match last night, because for some reason I just totally forgot the "green/yellow/red" thought process. And I played almost directly in the center of the service box last night (against my brain telling me to hug the line) and while yes, they tried several down the line passes, they only got 1 point from doing it (because I flubbed it into the net, it was a great shot though). They got my partner once too on a nice passing shot, but you're right, let them try again (and they did), but we got all but maybe 1 or 2 others back in play. I'll take losing 2 points out of a match to a low-percentage great shot from the other team!</s>

<s>[INST]Thank you ��[/INST] I'm very sorry that happened to you. Completely unsportsman like conduct. If I was the guy playing with you, it wouldn't have happen to you a second time. He must have been a very insecure little boy on the inside.</s>

<s>[INST]&gt; Don't "muscle" the ball by intentionally "hitting hard" I just say "don't swing hard; swing fast"[/INST] On your lower backhand you sort of just "meet" the ball, rather than swing through it, and that might be because you're trying to keep a steady pace hitting on the wall, but I'd avoid that habit if possible, you can still take a full swing at the ball without putting a ton of power on it. Honestly pretty good if you just started though.</s>

<s>[INST]What hand do you use when you hit ground strokes? That's the hand you should learn to hit the serve. Yeah, this video looks good to me. It's building up some good fundamentals. One thing I will say when learning to serve: don't underestimate the importance of the ball toss. The ball toss height and location dictates so much with the serve, you'd be surprised. You can develop the most fluid service motion in the world, but if you don't toss/put the ball in the right spot and a the right time then you will not have a great serve. Edit: I first read your post as "server problems", and I immediately panicked. I guess I've been working in IT for too long.[/INST] What a groundstroke man �� but there is still some small problemes</s>

<s>[INST]Dude your opponent was foot-faulting like crazy lol.[/INST] pretty weird to hit with your feet parallel to the net like that</s>

<s>[INST]I started doing that at one point, got up to a little over 10k distance and decided I hated running, lol. Also I was really fat at the time which made it doubly miserable. I mean I’m still pretty fat, but I was really fat even as recently as like last summer. [/INST] Yea I'm at 8 miles rn</s>

<s>[INST]How often and do you treat those as seriously as a tournament?[/INST] That racket speed after two years off :0</s>

<s>[INST]Got a couple liters of chocolate milk. I’m needing serious recovery mixing Orange Theory classes and hitting. My body is relatively wrecked because I’m just so out of tennis shape. I guess the spring is a good time to try new recovery foods, new diet and a new workout regiment to get myself in shape. [/INST] There are a lot of factors at play. I've played with a few 6.1's and they all had higher than average swing weights (340+) stock. Every racquet out there has a different swing weight, usually different than what's advertised. I would imagine that is the case with your HPS and the rf97 you tried. If you got a pro staff 97 and had it weighted exactly like your HPS you'd get something that would be very very similar. The string patterns as you noticed are very similar but not identical. I bought some chinese knock off pro staff 97's and when I was still able to play, they were excellent for the price. Really durable and very light, perfect for customization. I don't like to advertise but I could very easily set that up for you, and I would encourage you yourself to do it (although matching swing weights without a proper swing weight machine is nearly impossible to do with 100% certainty). I would start by calling around to see if any of the local shops have a swing weight machine, and getting your HPS swing weight measured on a proper machine. The weight distribution of the racquet effects how the frame comes around (so affects how it naturally wants to "time" the ball), how it feels on and after contact, where the frame makes power (sweet spot size/location), how much spin it can produce, how easy spin is able to be accessed, how much power etc. If you can get a frame with a similar string pattern, and then perfectly match the weight distribution I'm sure you'll have a stick that you'll very much enjoy.</s>

<s>[INST]When I started lifting, my vertical jump increased significantly - surprise a lot of people when they attempt to lob me at the net. I found the benefits of strength training to taper off once I approached some decent weights though (190kg squat, 210 deadlift, 130 bench). Started training the snatch and clean and jerk. Much more applicable IMO. Need a coach though, finally joined a weightlifting gym and was doing quite a lot wrong. Plus, using less weight for the same results on court means less stress on my joints.[/INST] Cool video </s>

<s>[INST]NXT is very soft, I found it almost mushy feeling on my Prostaff, it's a great string for people with elbow/arm issues. Maybe on a much lighter racket like the PSL it won't take away so much of the feel. Can't comment too much on the prince synth gut, I've used it once, as it's sort of the standard go to synthetic gut, it's got great durability, but that's about all I can say. As to whether you should try other strings, you'd have to tell us what you're looking for out of your strings. Natural gut strings are expensive, but if you don't break them, they hold tension better than anything so your racket will play the same longer, they have unparalleled feel, etc. Perhaps your coach is telling you to avoid them since moisture damages them and you don't have a backup racket? Polyester strings with a light racket is a recipe for disaster IMO, so you're definitely right to avoid that.[/INST] Great serve. No issues. Congrats. Obviously your toss could be a bit more forward. I'd work on just plain simply swinging harder and getting more overall oomph into the process. </s>

<s>[INST]How much match play do you get?[/INST] A lot of the times when someone thinks about top spin that’s mainly what they focus on and forget about hitting through the ball enough. Yes you need to change the swing path but you still need to swing through as in swing out towards the target while swinging up for the top spin. There usually shouldn’t be a huge trade off if you have swing speed because essentially topspin is enabling you to hit even harder and have your shot still land in the court so focus on swinging through with the required swing speed and not just up on the ball which gives you that loopy high ball that someone can back up and tee off on.</s>

<s>[INST]Your form looks good. You are hitting the ball too low. You need to catch it higher and hit up on the back of the ball. Remember that you are not hitting down into the court, you are hitting high over the net. Keep at it.[/INST] Don't you mean he's hitting the ball too high? Kick serves are not hit at full extension. Therefore you need to let the ball drop a little.</s>

<s>[INST]I never realized how bizarre it was until recently. It works for me, though.[/INST] It was 66° on central Indiana yesterday. Insanely warm. Practiced a little for my upcoming tournament (that is today)</s>

<s>[INST]Essential tennis is scum in general. Video isn’t totally wrong ofcourse but it’s not the best place for what it claims to be a channel of. The tennis instruction isn’t the most helpful.[/INST] Try cutting back slightly on your backswing, you’ll still get the pop and give yourself some time with an aggressive opponent. I had a pro tell me the same and it’s helped out a lot. </s>

<s>[INST]You should treat winners as groundstrokes that your opponent can’t get to. That said, you could always try making your follow through more horizontal and lean forward and into your shot if you really insist on hitting winners out of nowhere.[/INST] [deleted]</s>

<s>[INST]While at the net during a baseline rally, you should shift all the way back to the service line while your partner is hitting. This will give you time to react if your opponent at the net poaches. When the ball clears the net man, you should shift up close to the net, even with you opponent on the baseline.[/INST] This was during the first set. Nobody was playing very well. :/</s>

<s>[INST]Thanks! So you would recommend using both Babolat brand for Gut and Poly? I appreciate your help sir, based on your username, I guess you're a Filipino. That's so nice.[/INST] Brand does not matter in the least. Racquets and strings are very much just personal preference, as long as something works well for you, there's nothing wrong with using it. Also I'm very much white and american lol</s>

<s>[INST]Isn’t Prestige Pro a 98 sq in head? Only Prestige Mid is 93 sq in.[/INST] ohhh yeah lol the mid....is the one i have</s>

<s>[INST]Ahh. Perhaps that's why it's so difficult for me to generate power beyond a certain point. I'll definitely work on my footwork and see when to step in to add more power. Thanks[/INST] Look at slow motion of the really great one ganders * Federer https://youtu.be/MTP99IHemNA * Wawrinka https://youtu.be/i1PKIGN-_GI * Gasquet https://youtu.be/YuBRallEByc * Edberg https://youtu.be/57vQIgL_y9Q (look how the rotation starts with the legs and hip) and https://youtu.be/Cwrt36THazc this last one is not slow motion, but there are lots of good backhands to copy The common denominator is how the upper body/shoulders rotate. In many cases they start with the back against the net, start to in-coil and generate movement for the torso, adding muscle and speed to the racket. To be able to do this, your footwork need to be a bit better. To be able to get into position. Now, let it be said that I am not a educated coach, just a club player. So this is just my simple analysis fro your video based on experience and not formal education.</s>

<s>[INST]Currently, it's not as important as in the past. Lots of pros are hitting more with their wrist than with a good shoulder turn. It's much easier to step into your forehand and get good weight transfer by turning your body and stepping into the shot. Easier on your body too.[/INST] Whacking the return imo. Hammer away at your opponents serve and it'll crumble, losing speed and bite. If they can't get free points anymore they'll start panicking.</s>

<s>[INST]1. It doesn’t need to be THAT good. Just short enough to make your opponent think twice about camping too far behind the baseline. 2. Disguise is very important. If you telegraph it then it doesn’t matter how good your execution is (short of something that bounces back over the net or it lands like 2-3 ft from the net and literally dies off the bounce) if your opponent covers the court well. I usually hit them when I get a short ball on the backhand wing that I could approach the net with. I start with a takeback that is identical to my normal 2HBH, then execute the drop shot and move into the net. If you’re a one-hander this in some ways should be even easier. You can also pretend to hit a normal slice and execute the drop shot instead, but that requires a looser arm + wrist and racquet face control. 3. The easiest time to use it is when you get a short ball that you want to approach off of because that’s when your opponent will most likely move back to defend. 4. For me, a good way to practice it (especially drop volleys) is to: (a) practice catching incoming balls (eg balls during hitting practice that your opponent is sailing way long) with your racquet without letting it bounce off the strings; and (b) practice catching incoming balls (again with balls during practice that are sailing way long) with a more open racquet face and trying to slice it so that it bounces right in front of you and back into your body. (c) alternatively you can start by hitting short slices and adjusting from there but be wary that you don’t sacrifice too much disguise for results. 5. Same as all shots, you should hit the sweet spot. Pace is absorbed by your arm(s), and the backspin combined with the more open racquet face and decreased pace should help drive the ball higher then drop almost vertically. The backspin should cause the ball to not move forward too much into your opponent’s part of the court.[/INST] I really like the details from 1~4, thank you, ive actually been unknowningly doing your tips for balls that sail long but ill be more conscious of it from now on. I have a OHBH so disguise was never the issue, just execution during game pressure had me literally confused distinguishing feel between a ball thats sliced so hard it sails out and one that just dinked and eats net. For number 5, I had always thought that too but a couple months ago I was watching a /u/turbospin video on spin production, and he pointed out that pros dont always aim for sweetspot, hitting a little below it is really beneficial to topspin production and so I tried it out and holy shit it works great. I know for the dropshot I should be producing that slice and backwards rotation so I thought in a similar fashion I could aim to hit the ball a little high on the stringbed.</s>

<s>[INST]It sounds to me like you need to practice adding pace to a slow ball. It's VERY hard to do. It usually results in an error on your part. But, if you can add pace to a junk baller, you will win. And don't forget about jamming your serve right to the body. A very underused shot if you ask me.[/INST] Thank you - I have been watching your videos for the past couple months and the way you explain and break down mechanics is very easy to follow and understand. Hope for the best success for your channel this year! </s>

<s>[INST]Heavy topspin forehand, but a naturally flat 2HBH. I hit with a few 5.0s and 5.5s so I need to hit hard to prevent them from being able to attack. Big flat first serve and heavy topspin second. Unforced errors galore.[/INST] Too bad you're not in Phoenix, I need another hitting buddy. :)</s>

<s>[INST]�� working on it. Lost 20 lbs past 12 months[/INST] Great, well done. It really helped my game. I had to lose 50 to get back on the courts.</s>

<s>[INST]Brand yes but unless you're a senior (60+) I'd recommend finding a smaller size. There's a reason why it's $20 - nobody wants it. [/INST] Congrats on finding a good grip for groundstrokes but the next step is the Serve, it is the most important shot in the game, find a good role model for you’re serve, mirror him, and repeat like a mad men! You will become a way better player with a good serve.</s>

<s>[INST]Andy Murray will be available soon ��[/INST] Ouch.</s>

<s>[INST]Why would you switch to one handed if it was your best shot[/INST] I’m also good at baking, does that mean I should never leave the kitchen? I want to play the ohbh but I can’t get better at it, if I don’t play it.</s>

<s>[INST]“Hey bro, want to sexually hit today?”[/INST] I could barely handle your deep penetrating balls, how do you hit them so hard, that must be a heavy stick...</s>

<s>[INST]You’re not getting any external rotation of the shoulder it looks like. so your swing ends up being too short to build up enough racket speed. Does that make sense?look at :44 Think about how quarterbacks throw. Initially I was thinking you had good scapular retraction (chest opening), but I think you probably need more of that too. Likely a lot of it has to do with not having enough time to fully prepare your swing so your swing is abbreviated. Normally people drop the racket In the back and loop up behind but you do the djokovic bringing the racket up the body midline. It’s ok, should work out ok, but need to get that arm back before you start moving into the swing.[/INST] Basically, open up your upper body more, and your shoulders should already be squared up with your target BEFORE your racquet hits the ball.</s>

<s>[INST]Best bet when learning any new technique in tennis is to shadow swing, ie without hitting a ball. Make sure your swing looks correct (you can use a mirror to check against a mirrored video of someone you wish to emulate as a base). Make sure you note the pro's split step timing, and incorporate that into your shadow swings. A full shadow swing should start / finish with a split step. Repeat until you can do it perfectly without having to think about all the different components of your shot. The problem with hitting with the wall is that most people end up paying all their attention to the ball and getting it to hit the wall, so a player without the core fundamentals locked down will just end up adopting new, bad habits that make them regress rather progress. As for "tentative", I mean your strokes look hesitant. Could just be a hitch in your shots, but on some shots you rush two steps at the ball like you're going to crush it, then basically dink it into the wall like it's a pinata that you can't actually break now because it's for tomorrow's party.[/INST] [deleted]</s>

<s>[INST]I've had to up my game so to speak. No more breakfast. It's intermittent fasting now. No breakfast. As to your head case syndrome, I have no clue. My motto is, if you can't beat them, dazzle them with bullshit.[/INST] I noticed also rewatching I must keep my left foot from coming so far forward yes?</s>

<s>[INST]Yeah a good multi will be good until you progress to where your breaking strings every 6 hours or so of play time. Until then poly will do more harm than good because you need extremely fast racquet head speed to get any benefit. Technifibre NRG2 is a great multi to start out with, but definitely experiment with different strings and gauges. Syngut is also good for starting out as a base of reference, Prince DuraFlex is a solid syngut that you can’t go wrong with for a first string. After a few string jobs I’d definitely recommend trying out a full bed of natural gut. It’s pricey, but it’s the best string for 99% of people.[/INST] I’d prefer for this place to be free of all the pro tour discussion. I agree that r/tennis tends to be really toxic when it comes to discussion of Serena, Kyrgios, or any of the Big Three. Fanbases constantly trying to de-legitimize your reasons for liking a different player, constant self-victimization, and shoving in your face why their player is better than yours, gets really exhausting after a while. And none of it gets moderated - it’s absolutely maddening. Why are derogatory names like “fedtard” even allowed? Those words add absolutely nothing of value to the conversation, and comments including them ought to be removed by automod IMO. I find tennis warehouse’s Talk Tennis forum to be a bit better about pro tour discussion, although there’s still a fair share of toxicity. At least their pro player forums have likes disabled so it’s not as easy for toxic people to feel validated.</s>

<s>[INST]That’s wild. I bet not even 1 out of 8 guys plays tennis, and the think they can win a point off the greatest female tennis player ever.[/INST] Apparently includes 2% of the over 65s.</s>

<s>[INST]omggggg a turbospin video its been so long ��[/INST] Yeah you're right lol. But I'll be uploading a lot more now</s>

<s>[INST]Ok, for what it's worth my advice. Serving is tough. Zero velocity to max velocity. It looks like you are serving under water. You don't have enough 'coil'. You need to load up on potential energy with rotating your hips, and shoulders. You're mostly 'arming' your serve. Toss the ball more into the court, so when you spring UP you put more forward momentum into the shot. Watch some McEnroe serves. No one did it better, well, maybe Edberg. [/INST] The other thing I was going to say, is that if you’re winning about 50% of the matches and you’re playing singles for your usta team, usually the two best players play singles, so you’re probably well above “mediocre” to break even playing all singles. </s>

<s>[INST]At one point this year I had enough and stopped caring about the rain. Needless to say I haven't managed to find a hitting partner who feels the same way, but that doesn't stop me. I just go to the courts and practice solo drills like serving and whatnot. At least the courts are always free when it's raining![/INST] Take video if you can. It is the easiest way to start picking apart your game. It will show you things that you can't feel. But for me and my 1 handed backhand a lot of things calmed down when I got my footwork corrected, started my unit turn earlier, and focused on my swing path. Now my backhand is a weapon at my level. And whenever any of my strokes start messing up and I can't tell why it's usually because of my footwork</s>

<s>[INST]That’s a good looking serve. The only things you might think about is leading in a little more with the left hip. And since you mentioned the left arm, it itself looks fine but you might rotate your shoulders a little more away from the target as you enter trophy position. Jeff Salzenstein (Tennis Evolution) talks about “elbowing the enemy” as you’re doing this. Of course it also depends on what kind of serve you’re hitting, and what you’re looking to improve. Salzenstein advises the “elbow the enemy” move for the kick serve especially (my primary serve). Overall your serve looks pretty solid, and good on your for putting it up for all to see![/INST] Hey man, I'm glad you found someone to hit with. The first thing I see is that it looks like you're frying panning the serve. It would be good to take a week or two to work through some serve progressions. I really recommend [this video](https://youtu.be/w03NVg7YtNo) and especially this channel for teaching yourself tennis. Second big thing is that it looks like your forehand is all arm. Referring to the one you hit at 5:50, you need to turn your shoulders and take your racquet back earlier. Watch some "how to hit a forehand" videos and then pay attention to how [these guys](https://youtu.be/ijqjhSG2Bp8) hit their forehands. Note their shoulder turn, non hitting arm, racquet head position, foot position, arm path, and all that. The fundamentals are all there. The next time you play, focus a little more on learning in small steps. For example, next time you'll start the shoulder turn as the ball crosses the net, and then the time after that you'll work on extending into the court in your follow through. </s>

<s>[INST]NXT is very soft, I found it almost mushy feeling on my Prostaff, it's a great string for people with elbow/arm issues. Maybe on a much lighter racket like the PSL it won't take away so much of the feel. Can't comment too much on the prince synth gut, I've used it once, as it's sort of the standard go to synthetic gut, it's got great durability, but that's about all I can say. As to whether you should try other strings, you'd have to tell us what you're looking for out of your strings. Natural gut strings are expensive, but if you don't break them, they hold tension better than anything so your racket will play the same longer, they have unparalleled feel, etc. Perhaps your coach is telling you to avoid them since moisture damages them and you don't have a backup racket? Polyester strings with a light racket is a recipe for disaster IMO, so you're definitely right to avoid that.[/INST] NYC here, it was very chilly the last month but we've been fortunate to get 60 deg the whole week. As an FYI for those might not know, string tension is quite sensitive to temperature. In winter your strings will become hard and brittle to hit with and the resulting strokes will feel like the ball isn't going anywhere. Typically I lower my tension and compensate by driving through the ball more.</s>

<s>[INST]Not bad. I will say that server’s partners (both teams) are standing too far into the alley. Net play, singles or doubles, IMO is largely about playing the percentages and cutting off high percentage shots from the opponents with your own court position. A rip down the line is possible, but low percentage compared to a crosscourt baseline exchange. If the net player takes the middle, then it’ll force the opponents to try going down the line (more errors) or going for lobs (overhead opportunity). Even if they burn you down the line, I say make them do it again! And again. And again and again. Even at 4.5, these ex-collegiate opponents don’t like having to hit down the line on the return the entire match. And if you watch 5.0, they will challenge the net team with quality down the middle topspin returns, rather than misdirection down the line, because the latter is lower percentage. Players at higher levels do not try shots that players at lower levels do unless they’re forced to or have a clean look at it, which is one reason why they’re at higher levels. But for whatever reason players seem to want to cover down the line a lot more than they should. In singles, for sure the down the line target is more in play because there’s a lot more room for the baseliner in singles; the net player in singles has a lot more net to cover. But in doubles, less so.[/INST] That makes a lot of sense. I guess I just gravitate towards the line on my partners serve because I love blasting it down the line on return any time I notice the person at the net creeping toward the middle :)</s>

<s>[INST]I'd be more aggressive with the finish (more wrist action) and would take the ball a little closer. It looks like you're reaching kinda far.[/INST] I'd give Isospeed Cream a try. It's a very soft poly, quite comfortable with good spin.</s>

<s>[INST]I would simplify your movement on your serve. Strokes are decent.[/INST] I agree with this, you have too many unnecessary movements that create more room for errors, try a more compact set up and also try to jump more up to the ball rather than into the court so much.</s>

<s>[INST]Oh she's settled on the AeroPro, I think it's a great choice for her game. As far as ever present, pretty much every light racket is marketed as "Great for beginners/intermediate" and anything over 11oz seems to be marketed for "intermediate to advanced players".[/INST] 8/10. It is probably the most important thing after family and work. I used to watch a lot of tutorials, but stopped after discovering that watching them is useless. Better use if my time is planning practices. I do not know how much I thimk about tennis, but i discovered that imagining I play tennis helps me fall asleep at night better than counting sheep. </s>

<s>[INST]Sweet, thanks for the preliminary review.[/INST] Had a chance to hit with the Triniti balls today. Can honestly say anyone who has issue with these is just nitpicking. They feel great to hit with after the first 15-20 minutes once they've opened up a bit, and then they feel like proper brand new balls for hours upon hours. For the price you pay for a case from Tennis Warehouse ($95) I cannot recommend them enough.</s>

<s>[INST]Open stance forehand is easier to get to, but there's no good weight shift to get pace on the ball. So it's a bit more wrist flick. Easy to miss time the shot. If you can get into position, don't hit it open stance.[/INST] Simple rule you can use is that your open stance is what you use to stay alive and move the ball around and a closed stance is what you use to press inside the baseline and approach the net. </s>

<s>[INST]Thanks! I'm going to get it restrung this weekend. Any tips for strings? Mono vs. multi, gauge, etc.[/INST] I use solinco hyper G 16L at 50 lbs and I love it. it’s a poly but a soft one and is not known to cause arm pain. </s>

<s>[INST]Well, you did lose. Give the old man his due.[/INST] Finally decent weather out here in Austin. Been raining for two days straight. You guessed it, drove down to give my pops his monthly whooping. He did beat me at Hungry Hippos yesterday, and will not stop gloating. </s>

<s>[INST]You pull the cleanest set of white crews out of your dirty laundry pile, shove your feet into your clearance rack tennys, and snap on your headband. After you crank up your 1995 Volvo wagon and begin the drive over to the local park, you mind begins to scheme. The goal today, as it is every day, is to break your opponents will to play, and then feast on the fleeting moments of his agony, the only time you feel something inside since the divorce. But what will do the most damage? With all the different attitudes out there how can you really get under this guy's skin? Your lifetime of experience has left you with a number of options. All of them experienced first hand and further refined through even more first hand experiences. The Theological Crisis: Second serve ace Shank shot Net cord winner These will have the scum on the other side of the net shaking a fist at his God, asking why this match has been predestined against his favor. As your 4th frame shank begins to hurtle down towards the baseline from 25ft in the air, all he will be able to ask is "why have I been forsaken?". The Intimidation Factor: Nothing brings on a case of the sads on like undeniable brute force. No mercy, no care, no apologetic hand. It's bad form to apologise for another's weakness. Yes, I meant to hit it at you. Overhead Obliteration Short Ball Savagery Volley violation Playing you is beneath Me: Playing a real poser? A guy who just doesn't deserve court time with you? Down 0-5 but want to score a mental victory before you have to shamefully report your score? Return winners Underarm serve Down-the-middle approach and slap putaway Low Grit: Prefer your mental warfare with a side of attrition? Hitting a winner may make YOU feel good, but nothing upsets another person like a mistake of their own making. Short slice and lob, repeat as needed Moonball Back-and-forths[/INST] Don’t worry it happens to us all. Match play is where you get the real experience. I had my first tournament last week and I played someone I should’ve beaten badly and lost 6-1/6-1 just due to nerves and it all being so new (usually play practise matches against 4.0 players and this was a 3.0 tournament). Just get back out there and work on that mental game ��. I entered in another tournament the following week because I know I should do better.</s>

<s>[INST]Speaking from personal experience (YMMV), the most important thing for me as a beginner was not missing (and to a lesser extent having fun). * I watched a lot of youtube videos. I found feel tennis instruction and tenfitmen to be the best. I did shadow swings for a few weeks for \~10 minutes a day whenever I had time. They break down the different elements of each stroke. Do shadow swings focusing while focusing on all those different elements. * Keeping in mind that the goal was consistency, I worked on short court, where you're only playing in the service box. Initially, just keep the ball in play, but then later focusing on decent form and footwork, hitting with topspin. The goal was to rally 10, 20, 30 in a row. * Then moving back to the baseline and the same thing. Initially focus on keeping the ball in play, but then also work towards having good form. Similarly, try to hit 10 in a row, then 20, then 30, etc. * Find a coach or practice partner who will rally with you. Like someone mentioned, don't find a coach who will solely feed balls. If you're ONLY blasting ball feeds, then you're not subconsciously trying to control the ball and you don't care if you miss because there's another ball right behind it (IMO). * Cardio. Footwork is very important because a lot of the strokes rely on how well you can get into position. Footwork made me tired. I started running 3 miles twice a week. I think all your short term, measurable goals should be related to how well you can keep the ball in play / rally length until you get to the point where you rarely miss.[/INST] [deleted]</s>

<s>[INST]Serena's current UTR is 13.31, which is lower than the lowest ranked men's player with 1 ATP point, Xin Gao, who is at 13.82. She is around or lower than the level of the very best (top 100) D1 college players, so she is obviously really tough to get a point against. I would say the average 4.5 men's player could definitely get points, maybe even a game or 2 if the stars aligned right. The average person definitely would struggle to get even 1 point if she was trying.[/INST] I agree with the first part, but an average 4.5 guy is nowhere near a 13.8 UTR. You'd have to be a solid 5.5 at least to be sniffing games against Serena.</s>

<s>[INST]Mine arrived today. Initial impression - They feel extremely stiff, almost like rock in the hand. But they actually bounce very very well. Hypothesis - People are writing off this ball for no good reason: either they are turned off by the fact that the balls are unpressurized, or they only hit with them for a short time. I'm going to assume that once the balls are broken in a bit, they will improve in feel. Yes, I'm biased because I'm hoping for a ball that does last 4x as long, meaning less money spent on balls. But I'm at least going to give it a fair trial. I haven't hit with it yet, but when I do, I will update you.[/INST] Sweet, thanks for the preliminary review.</s>

<s>[INST]How safe is lead tape to use? Isn't it a super hazardous material?[/INST] No, just wash your hands once you put it on to be cautious. It is bad if you inhale or ingest, touching has minimal effect. If you are really worried just use tungsten, that is a lot more expensive. You can also place them under grommets and such to hide them.</s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] Yes. One of each.</s>

<s>[INST]I have three grunts. I'm genuinely tired and continuing to slug the ball kinda hurts. Like the end of an exercise set type grunt. I just hit the ball very hard and expect to win the point so I must announce my dominance. Someone just hit a dropshot or a really good off the court shot and I need a grunt to muster up the courage to run and try to get it. Also let's the other guy know you're impressed. [/INST] Zen mode. </s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] My favorite is the guys at clinic who crush a ball off the feed, into the back fence effectively ending the drill before it even starts. </s>

<s>[INST]My feeling is to get a decent racquet. The game is hard enough as it is. No need to struggle with the racquet too. Babolat will have a stick that suits your needs; I’d stay away from the Head Prestige Pro and the Wilson RF97 until you know you need the weight. I would keep in mind, though, that as you get back into it, you may find, regardless of which racquet you choose, that you might switch racquets down the road, if anything just to suit your playing style. I used Prince as a junior, then got back into it as an adult and went Babolat (Andy Roddick’s model), then found it was too light and went Wilson ProStaff six.190, stuck with it through the next generation of the RF ProStaff, then tried going to a stiff Babolat (the new one that Thiem uses), found it was too flimsy for my one-handed backhand, and went back to the ProStaff RF97, which I’ve been using for several seasons now, and this time for good.[/INST] Just a suggestion, but I would recommend trying lead tape before dismissing a racquet. The 'Thiem racquet' (pure strike) is a classic example. It plays amazing but is a little underweight, add some lead tape and ...</s>

<s>[INST]We use this for first service deuce/ad to avoid burning limited court time but never during usta matches. Many guys get their actual first serve in and those that don’t get a decent warm up. There is enough social pressure to take it seriously as the three other players have nothing better to do than commentate on each attempt. First in is a useful approach in the right circumstances. [/INST] I think your biggest improvements could come with a more positive outlook and positive self talk between points. You do some good positive talk reminding yourself you don’t have to take big cuts in return that just rolling the ball crosscourt on the return is perfectly acceptable, and you return well and play better for a bit afterwards. Remember, it’s always best to fake it till you make it, if you’re self talk is negative it will infect your whole game and if it’s positive it will lift your whole game. Also, don’t worry about NTRP rankings or what anyone has to say about them. It’s all an exercise in ego. Hit balls, have fun, let rankings and so forth take care of themselves. It’s something I’ve learned in the last few months from a couple of older guys here and at my club, and I’m ten times happier on court these days.</s>

<s>[INST]Ah. I mean it happens a lot to players when their mental strength breaks down, but usually not to this degree. Your weaknesses tend to be amplified and whatnot, but to break down like that I think may be showing a breakdown in technique as well. Talk to your coach.[/INST] Nice</s>

<s>[INST]I’d worry less about your rating and work more on your technique. Your forehand needs to be reconstructed if you want to become an advanced rec player.[/INST] If I self rated based on how I’ve seen other players play I think I’d be a 3.0</s>

<s>[INST][removed][/INST] [removed]</s>

<s>[INST]Good. My backhand is better than my forehand![/INST] What’s the secret? I’m constantly getting myself jammed up on the two hander or just slicing and accidentally floating it instead of cutting through the court. Can’t seem to get the footwork down I guess</s>

<s>[INST]I’m also good at baking, does that mean I should never leave the kitchen? I want to play the ohbh but I can’t get better at it, if I don’t play it.[/INST] False equivalency right here. Taking the baking example. Let's say you're an excellent baker and you start a bakery. All of a sudden you close up shop, take the money and start a furniture store. It's not doing well. You're losing money. People are telling you to go back into the baking business. You're calling them assholes. That's the right comparison.</s>

<s>[INST]&gt; You need to exaggerate the crap out of your backswing. You're not even taking your racquet back really. one of the issues with hitting against a wall is that you have less than half the time you usually would to react so you naturally have to shorten the backswing and have less time for footwork. I find hitting against the wall makes me worse not better. Also the wall reverses the spin you put on the ball which makes things even more unnatural.[/INST] I get that the timing is a lot shorter, but that ball isn't very fast. I hit regularly against players who hit a lot faster to places I have to sprint to regularly and my shoulders are turned. "Not having enough time" isn't really relevant to be honest. Turn your shoulders before swinging is a habit, Period. </s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] I am dealing with a similar shoulder injury. Dude, your serve hurts my joints to watch. It will only damage you more over time. I’d focus on getting a coach who can teach how to hit a nice and loose serve that is focused on just pulling the frame up from the racquet drop. You are all arm and it is going to cause recurring injury there. I hurt mine by arming an overhead when stretched out of position. It’s basically just rest and some rehab, but if you don’t fix that serve technique it will never get better. Good luck!</s>

<s>[INST]Essential tennis is scum in general. Video isn’t totally wrong ofcourse but it’s not the best place for what it claims to be a channel of. The tennis instruction isn’t the most helpful.[/INST] I personally was struggling with this idea of having a perfectly straight arm at contact when serving. I felt like I had no power if my arm was fully extended like that and so I was wondering if I was doing something wrong but after watching this video I understand why that is wrong. I was starting to come to this realization on my own as I experimented with my serve but this video confirmed the nagging suspicions that I had. Pretty solid video imo.</s>

<s>[INST]How often are you playing and what would you say your skill level is right now? What are your goals in regards to tennis? What do you hope to get out of it? [/INST] Sucks man! For comparison I live in a Canadian city with ~40,000 and we have some in the next town over. Might not join the club next year though, I’m not sure I can handle obsessing over tennis year round lol. Best of luck!</s>

<s>[INST]Andy Murray will be available soon ��[/INST] Yeah, well, I never used to grunt. Now that I've gotten older, I can't not grunt. It doesn't annoy my opponent, but it does annoy me.</s>

<s>[INST][deleted][/INST] I just unwrapped the grip of the racquet and wrapped lead tape around the handle just before the butt of the racquet flares out. Just replaced it with a new grip and it worked out great. I have about 12 grams under the grip and could easily add more if I wanted. Hope this helps.</s>

<s>[INST]Thanks! I'll try that[/INST] I was going to recommend a multi/poly hybrid because its super comfy with good control but my setup snaps every 5-8 hours. You could try a thicker gauge synthetic and a soft poly hybrid? I’ve tried both synth/poly and poly/synth and synth/poly was more comfortable and spin heavy. I was using a 16 gauge OGSM and for polys with that string ive tried, isospeed baseline, gamma octo, lethal 8, prince poly (PP S8, BO soon!). The down side to this is, the main strings wear down very quickly and string snapback dies quickly, I end up cutting it out before it breaks most of the time. Another option would be poly/poly hybrid. put a heavy spin shaped poly in the main and a soft rounded slick poly in the cross. I’m testing out a lethal 8/isospeed baseline combo atm and it hits pretty great + the isospeed really softens it up. I play on a midsize too and I usually string my multi/poly hybrids at 51/47 but on this poly/poly I actually did 45/45 and it feels surprisingly good, might try even lower next time</s>

<s>[INST]Technique always comes first, but you could also take a look at the racket/strings you're using. If you have an extreme grip, I believe it could be more beneficial to use a more open string pattern, as it would allow for a naturally higher launch angle (higher net clearance), giving you more depth with the same swing path. 16/19 is the most common, but some rackets have tighter 16/19 patterns than others (Eg. 8 mains going through the throat of the racket vs 6). If you're already using an open patterned racket, you could always try a thinner gauge, as that also opens up the string pattern more. Granted, this is all personal preference - pros like Thiem and Khachanov have more extreme grips, but use 18/20 patterns to tame their shots, as they already get their depth and net clearance with their fast swing speeds.[/INST] I use a Head Graphene 360 Speed MP (16x19, 8 mains in throat). For mains I use Luxilon ALU Power Rough 16L, and for crosses, Prince Syn Gut Duraflex 16. What do you think of my string choice?</s>

<s>[INST]Me, too. I can never really get the pop on my 1 handed backhand drive but I've lived with it since that's what I'm used to. I will fool around with hitting a 2 hander in warmups every once in awhile but hard to start from scratch.[/INST] To get good pop make sure you're getting forward momentum into the shot. I can get an extra power boost by pushing off my back foot just before hitting the ball. It can really be a crushing shot if you time it right.</s>

<s>[INST]Can’t speak to the trend you stated about new players but my game drastically improved when I switched from a lighter Prince to a Pure Drive. Was much more enjoyable to play in terms of feel and control. My experience is that string tension impacts my joints more than weight of racquet. I am able to avoid elbow problems below 53 lbs of tension.[/INST] The tournament had 14 entrants and the format was as follows. Drawn into 2 groups of 7. The group played as a round robin with matches of 6 games each. The top 2 players with the highest aggregate games won from each group would progress to semis and then finals. The competitors were 3 Juniors, 2 in their 20s, 8 30-55, 1 over 70. P6 W0 D2 L4 (2-4, 3-3, 0-6, 3-3, 0-6, 0-6). I’m still a bit stiff this morning. Overall, really enjoyed it but ran out of steam a bit towards the end. The most satisfying match was the first 3-3, which can against a guy who reckons not only could he take a point off Serena Williams but also a ‘game or two, easy’. Either, I’m as good as Serena or.... The 0-6s were actually useful lessons. Mainly in the importance of the placement of your approach shots. They were players that would be able to crush a winner at the hint of a bad ball. Overall, still a bit disheartening to keep losing but I’m not getting beaten by weaker opponents. I’m losing to people who have been playing years. What I really need to do is organise my timetable to have a block of coaching sessions, go back and learn some decent fundamentals.</s>

<s>[INST]Sounds like you're getting a bit nervous which leads to tightening up your shoulders and poor stroke execution. Learn to mentally and physically relax.[/INST] Not just the shoulders but also the footwork and drive with the legs for me. I find when my legs are paralyzed due to nervousness I can't get the topspin I need on the ball. Loose, relaxed and agile legs and can drive up through the ball and get that reliable topspin. Of course if you're too nervous to accelerate through the ball and can't trust your stroke that's also an issue.</s>

<s>[INST]1 gram is only 0.33% change. Virtually nothing. Tape at 3, 6 &amp; 12.[/INST] That’s because you went by % change, which I’ve never heard of anyone use. Every guide I’ve ever seen from tennis warehouse to people who work as professional racquet technicians have said to go up by tiny increments at a time when you’re leading up racquets. Just 1 g lead at 12 o’clock is just over 3 pts of swingweight (SW). 330 SW is the rough stock spec of an RF97A. So just 3 g of lead at 12 would bump it up to around 340 SW, which is Federer’s swingweight. And that relatively minor jump from 330 to 340 SW is enough to make the racquet unusable to many people, so I can only imagine how much SW you would have gone up by putting 12 g of it in one go. But let’s do the maths: assuming you put equal amounts of lead at 12, 3, and 9 (I assume you meant 9 and not 6), then that’s 4 g each. 4 g at 12 = roughly 12 pts 4 g at 3 = roughly 8 pts 4 g at 9 = roughly 8 pts Total SW increase is 28 pts A Blade 98, if perfectly on spec (which is never the case), has a low to medium SW of 328. 328 + 28 = 356 SW, so you basically increased the SW on your racquet from a normal frame to something that is heavier to swing than the actual racquets used by Federer and Thiem, and almost the same in SW as Nadal and Wawrinka. It’s 26 pts SW heavier to swing than a stock RF97A. So yeah, that’s way too much lead tape to put in one go if you don’t know what specs you actually like. No wonder you had arm issues.</s>

<s>[INST]You should treat winners as groundstrokes that your opponent can’t get to. That said, you could always try making your follow through more horizontal and lean forward and into your shot if you really insist on hitting winners out of nowhere.[/INST] [deleted]</s>

<s>[INST]I'm a pretty notorious grunter whenever I'm playing someone lol. Like sometimes when I hit a winner I'll do the prolonged "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh". But when I'm practicing it just doesn't feel right for some reason.[/INST] When I start feeling like I’m not in the zone and am a half step late I start LIGHTLY grunting and I focus on watching the ball. it helps me time my breathing and feels like everything is moving a little slower.</s>

<s>[INST]Bro what is that service motion[/INST] Yep, work on your footwork. In addition, you seem to be slapping at the ball rather than rolling it. Drop the racquet head below the ball, relax your wrist, and just try to roll some topspin.</s>

<s>[INST]Have played a handful of these, they’re usually more laid back, so just enjoy yourself. It’ll also be a lot shorter than normal tennis games.[/INST] Sounds good, thanks!</s>

<s>[INST]1. The forehand that you hit after 1:37. Your racquet is back pretty much when it hits the ground at your feet. That's why you had no time to properly prepare to hit it. Even if it looks like it's going long, have your body set up to hit it. 2. For the return thing, I see what you mean about Nishikori, but watch [his return here](https://youtu.be/Z_xo_Q6B7UA?t=57). He likes to start with his body angled but when he actually is about to hit it, his feet are parallel to the baseline. Watch how he moves and squares up to return. I think by having your feet angled to the baseline when hitting your return you are "counting" it as a shoulder turn for the hit when in reality you haven't turned them at all. Also I want to emphasize /u/jk147's comments - REALLY watch the ball and try to make clean contact. I have a problem with shanking in streaks too and that's only fixed when I make an effort to concentrate on that shot and nothing else. His other points are spot on too. Edit: are you wearing airpods while playing? [/INST] I played mine with hyper g 16L. Honestly I’ve liked that string in every racket I’ve ever played. It’s got good feel, good spin, good pop, and it’s cheap. Side note: I loved my clash when it first came out but I recently put the clash away and went back to my ezone dr 98 because I felt like I was being pushed around and felt it was a bit jumpy for blocking back serve returns. I’m also excited to try the new Wilson blade.</s>

<s>[INST]/u/woogie_2901 is similar to what I had done. Ultimately I took some time off because of another injury, and now the golfer's elbow is completely gone when I play. I am back to playing about 4-5 times a week now and as long as I maintain flexibility/pliability I think I will be able to avoid pain. This is something I wrote to another tennis player experiencing the same issue you and I experienced. &amp;#x200B; \-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't know how bad yours is.  For me it was only affecting me on serves, and I felt a small pop one day serving a lot (it was nagging a bit in the weeks leading up to the minor acute incident).  A couple weeks later it was getting to the point that it would hurt the next day after a match.  Simple daily tasks started to irritate my elbow (anything that involved concentric muscular activation of my bicep, such as bending over and picking up my dog).  At that point I stopped serving, didn't play matches for about 5 weeks, limited hitting to once or twice a week for a few weeks, and began searching for a rehab program.  After three weeks of no match play and a week after finding a good rehab protocol, I tested serving again to no success (pain was significant on warm up serves and any throwing motion).  After another week I could serve about 60% and then 5 weeks after stopping I got through a good 3 setter with no ill effects.  I still am trying to rehab it because it is not 100% (minor discomfort in warmup and rehab), but it is good enough to play without thinking about it.   I ice my elbow after tennis and after rehab in the mornings (max 20 minutes).  I also wear a compression sleeve for a few hours, after icing and apply biofreeze (probably better to use actual heat, though).  There is little scientific evidence for compression wear assisting in healing or mitigating injury, but my thought process is to restrict blood flow a little bit to muscles to hopefully increase it to the ligament.  The sleeve helps a little with incidental contact with the arm and stressing the ulnar collateral ligament throughout the day. Tennis player XXX suffered from this ailment for months and contemplated stopping altogether until he found a protocol that worked for rock climbers.  Local chiro suggested some exercises that I believe similarly stimulate blood flow to the affected ligament, but not as effectively as the rehab exercises I currently do.  He also had suggested I wear the sleeve for playing, which I agree may be beneficial, but I am impatient and the sleeve feels too restrictive.  If I had time to get used to it I may end up using it. The rehab I do consists of a protocol similar to what Steven Low suggests: [http://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/](http://stevenlow.org/overcoming-tendonitis/) [https://www.reddit.com/r/overcominggravity/comments/8jzr8q/overcoming\_tendonitis\_gathering\_data\_on\_overuse](https://www.reddit.com/r/overcominggravity/comments/8jzr8q/overcoming_tendonitis_gathering_data_on_overuse) I suggest checking out his site and bio, and even reaching out to him if you have questions.  He is much more of an expert than I.  The first link gives a good overview of the common misunderstandings of the injury, and some concepts to follow.  If you're super adventurous you can try reading his published works (I probably will do this when I have time). My summarized understanding of what Steven is arguing is that low weight, high repetition, eccentric exercises has a high success rate of helping athletes suffering from "tendinitis" related injuries back to a high performing state.  The eccentric exercises help with improving the overused muscles to extend and lengthen.  It also helps with not starving the ligament of blood needed to help heal.   I started my road to rehab by really digging in to my forearm and tricep area with a roller similar to this: [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BXVN1JJ/ref=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_awdb\_t1\_4UaZBbKXJZH9J](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BXVN1JJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_4UaZBbKXJZH9J) I had neglected stretching adequately my forearms and this made it really obvious.  When I first started digging in I could feel minor pain rushing to my pinky and ring finger.  Now the massage roller doesn't affect me as much, but I do it to try to stay pliable. I then started using the Taylor twist rubber sticks, but I don't think those are super effective.  Now I do the low weight high rep eccentric exercises (2 types).   First exercise: basically I will hold a 25lb dumbbell in my affected hand in a supinated position and let gravity pull it down slowly over 3-5 seconds, hold, then pull back up with the opposite hand.  25lb may be too much, but I found 10lb was too light for me and 25 is what Steven suggested for rock climbers.  You will need to find a weight that works for you (I would guess between 5-15lbs).   [https://youtu.be/0\_BcOI3By5E](https://youtu.be/0_BcOI3By5E) Second exercise: get a weight and do eccentric pronation.  Tennis player XXX had suggested a tennis racket with a towel wrapped around it.  I have a dumbbell that I can pull the weights off of the ends and use one end to grab (I currently have 5lbs on the dumbbell about 8 inches above where I grip it).  You can also use a stick: [https://youtu.be/iwtm43B1CLs](https://youtu.be/iwtm43B1CLs) Keep in mind you are not doing the exercises until failure, but should be able to do them through to completion.  For exercise one I am currently doing 3 sets of 30 reps and exercise two I am doing 2 sets of 40 reps.  I do them every other day or so (no more than 4 times a week).  Steven references 36-72 hours is required for tendons/ligaments to heal.  You should feel minor discomfort, but not significant pain.  If it is painful try using a lower weight until you only feel discomfort.  After a week or two of a weight try incrementing it up until you get to something reasonable.   Playing tennis while doing rehab should not be a big deal.  I just recommend not doing the rehab immediately following playing, but space it out at least a few hours (generally I rehab in the morning and hit in the evening).  Coincidentally my gf picked up Tom Brady's fitness book, and he stressed pliability.  He suffered a lot of arm issues just due to the nature of his profession.  His work is a lot less scientifically structured than Steven's, but I think it concurs with his findings.   Again, I recommend you check out the links, and if you have questions feel free to reach out![/INST] Wow, many thanks. Definitely doing eccentric exercises!!</s>

<s>[INST]Didn't she and her sister have an open challenge and was beaten by a guy who was around top 500 and he had a few beers and didn't even warm up[/INST] Well for starters you choke up too much with the left hand, it should be as low as you can get it, just above the right hand.</s>

<s>[INST]I don’t know much about string types. From the relatively small amount of research I’ve done, it sounds like I should start with a poly or a syn gut, and move into a multifilament if it’s too uncomfortable? I chose multi over poly for the demos that I ordered yesterday.[/INST] Not bad but could have been executed better if you got closer to the ball. Try to take it at the top of the bounce and you'll see much better results.</s>

<s>[INST]Not a coach, and only a 4.0-4.5 player, so take my advice with as many grains of salt as you’d like. The thing that stood out to me the most was your forehand looks like it is all arm, try and push more through the ball with your body and really turn you’re upper torso. That being said, looks like you’re hitting some great shots! Good luck getting back from the injury bug![/INST] Thanks! Yes, getting better weight transfer and arming the ball less has definitely been a work in progress for a while!</s>

<s>[INST]One big thing you’re missing is that you need to keep your shoulders turned on your follow through and not open up the chest like you would with a two hander. Notice how all the one handed backhands hit and stay closed and their chests do not point towards the net but more towards the side...also making sure the non racket arm goes back as the racket goes forward will help the chest and shoulders stay turned. Squeeze your shoulder blades together on that follow thru don’t open the chest.[/INST] I dunno on this one. I think I'm with you when I'm trying to keep up a rally or something, but if I'm trying to hit a winner off my backhand, I definitely end up arms fully pinned back with the shoulder blades pinched like you say, but chest is definitely opened up to the net. I tend to pivot on my dominant foot if it's a really ideal setup, and maybe 10% of the time on my non dominant foot if I'm not confident that I've totally put it away and I need to get back to my centre point. [Anecdotally](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbIvKD_xiwg) I see a fair bit of chest opening in here as well, but I do notice that Federer almost never opens the chest (one at 5:43 where he does), while Shapo, Gasquet, and Thiem do tend to. Wawrinka seems to from time to time as well. I may be misunderstanding you though, talking about biomechanics in text is tough.</s>

<s>[INST]Get a racket you may like. One that is slightly different in configure. Makes it easy to figure out if the current is good or you like a different [/INST] Stupid question: people with multiple racquets don't have multiples of the same racquets??</s>

<s>[INST]I have a silent partner scoop quest back in 2010. I just started to use it again today in 2019. I had to replace the battery cause it didn't charge anymore. After changing the battery it works fine but it was a hassle. Also when I use the oscillation, the ball machine slowing moves more and more to the forehand side until it goes out. I think its uneven or something. I only use my for the feeds in one spot since that works flawlessly. If I had a time machine and I got to decide what ball machine to buy, I would go for a lighter lobster. My silent partner is 50 lb and it a pain to lug around and it has annoyingly tiny wheels. If I knew the oscillation would fail to work well, I would have at least went for the blue silent partner (you can put a cone and circle around it for a work out). Also it seems like lobster have better documentation and support on their website. Also my remote for silent partner is doesn't respond consistently too. I'm a 4.0 - 4.5 player. I would suggest getting a ball machine if you have a partner that would take turns with you or if you are a coach (which I do sometimes). I never brought out my ball machine to hit solo because its such a pain to lug a hopper of balls, the ball machine, and your racket bag yourself. TLDR: buy a lighter, less featured ball machine. Make sure you have more than 1 person to help you move the machine if you are going to invest in one.[/INST] Not enough doggie in the video :)</s>