Back to Singles (long)

[Tennis_Steve]

I had been playing the odd singles game, but mostly doubles - convenient to just arrive at the club sessions and play who's there.

I have pretty much hated doubles for years
Relying on someone else, the narrow corridor pattern of play, avoiding or passing the net man, my not as good as they should be overheads etc..

I'd been suffering from golfers elbow for years, stopped playing for 5 months last winter and had / did some serious Transfrictional deep tendon massage therapy, during that time.
It worked! The tendonitis / tendonosis that had developed was reset and healed nicely.

The elbow problems had crept up on me over time..
I'd tried various so called arm friendly racquets and all manner is strings and combos - I string my own and others racquets.
None had really helped.
My favourites of these were the Prince EXO3 Tour 100 16x18, and Volkl C10 Pro. I did not like any of the Prokennex Kinetic offerings.
Even tried full bed of natural gut for a long while, hybrids, multis, you name it.
Various tensions, dozens of strings over the years, the search certainly didn't help my game much.. but had to be done!

I came back to tennis minus my hard 1st serve, just spinning/kicking the ball in.
This allowed me to resume playing at least.
Trying the odd hard serve soon warned me off them..

So late this year I made a concerted effort and signed up for the large town's box league, and switched clubs where I started a WhatsApp chat group for singles play.
Easy to get singles games.

Earlier in the year, I started wondering if my arm problems also had an element of hypermobility / hyperextension.
I'd been talking to family members and several of them have hypermobility of certain joints.
I looked at slo-mo of my serving - couldn't tell!

I read up, including a medical test/review on arm braces designed to stop elbow hyper-extension..

I bought a brace that was in the review.
Bit if a faff to put on.
Took some getting used to as my arm felt a bit constrained at first, but it felt safe!

I've been playing some 4 or 5 weeks with it now, pretty much all singles and all competitive sets / matches.

My elbow doesn't seem to mind tennis anymore!

The last week or two, I've been serving 1st serves flat out again.

The good news is that I get no longer get discomfort during the matches.
Nor afterwards either, yes I feel I've used my arm but it's a nice exercised tired feeling.

I can also serve better / get more in, quite a high percentage again - perhaps the prevention of overextension is making the contract point more consistent?
Or, perhaps my serve's kinetic chain / mind is free to do what it should, without worrying about discomfort?

The arm brace has been a revelation!
All for half the price of a racquet in sale!

Singles, I love it!

 

[Tennis_Steve]

I'm enjoying my singles renaissance.
Getting more and more singles tennis fit too.

Scores so far

Friendly club games (Tenniturf, unless otherwise stated)
6-1, 6-0 to me vs N Oct 28 2022

6-2, 6-2 to me vs Ro Nov 7 2022

6-2 to me vs N Nov 15 2022 (had a long warm up / hit so ran out of time.

8 games / set round robin afternoon meet up
6-2 to me vs N (8 game total) Nov 24 2022

5-3 to me vs R (8 game total) Nov 24 2022

6-2 to me vs M (8 game total) Nov 24 2022


6-3, 6-1 to me vs M Nov 28 2022

6-2, 6-1 to me vs S Dec 5 2022 (artificial clay)


Box League Hard Court
6-0, 6-1 to me vs R Nov 2022

6-1, 6-3 to me vs N Nov 2022

6-0, 6-0 to me vs C Dec 2022


I will lose soon, of that you can be sure

 

[Tennis_Steve]

It's been very cold here.
Courts frozen over / shut.
Thawed enough by the weekend to have a nice hit and do some drills.

Yesterday I played a competitive friendly. 6-2, 7-5 to me.
Quite damp artificial grass, so the balls get a bit heavy and harder to put away. Attack attack!
I suffered the sometimes occurring tennis brain lapse after winning the 1st set, and was down 0-3 before I could blink!
Change of racquet and back out, winning 7 of the 9 next games.
Pleased with that.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

It's been so rainy, finally a dry day with sun!

Windy 2 sets only though!
Really windy, ball getting blown off course massively - comedy tennis at times!

Lost the first set 2-6, played with 97 version of the racquet.

Won the second set 6-3 but changed to the 107sqin racquet version.

It's slightly more leeway off sweetspot, and just get the ball back capability, rather than greater precision of the 97 was a game changer.

Also changing racquets resets both you and opponent, I think.

We called it a day after that.
A draw.
Re-match in better conditions needed.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

A couple of little pressies to myself

Some long wrist bands.
In winter I wear them more for warmth and compression then anything else

Wilson Shock Shield grips.
Not sure how much shock they will absorb? We'll see.

The racquet's original factory grips had disintegrated, so I was making do with 5 (yes I kid you not) Tourna overgrips. That many to get the grip size I need.
Now I'm on one Wilson shock shield and one overgrip
That's from a 4 1/2 racquet.

Next match is tomorrow

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Loved the Wilson grip + overgrip.
Cold damp conditions.
Played with the lowest string tension of the frames I use.
Got some power, fizz back.

Good match, won today 7-5, 6-2.
First set was tight.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Did drills today.
Lots of progression to the net ones.

Favourite was;
-You stand near the service line,
either backhand or forehand side,
-feed the ball crosscourt to opponent (who's on the baseline),
-as soon as hit you run back, touch the baseline with your racquet, then turn and move forward staying on the side you started on,
-face the incoming ball your opponent has sent you, whatever it may be, volley, half volley,
-progress ASAP to net position, keeping the point going.

Can also be made quite competitive..

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Comedy match today.
The wind was so strong, gusting too.

I struggled with accuracy at the start.
I was down 2-4. My opponent (3rd time we've played), is great at running down shots that are not quite decisive enough.
Today I needed more margin, due to the wind.

I started targeting his backhand more. Just make him play one more ball, and another, stress that backhand...

Paid off. Won the set 6-4. There were close games though, tennis is like that.
The 2nd set he kinda gave up.
5-0 up in no time, finished up 6-1 to me.

Winter tennis!

Next rain free day looks like Friday, AM only though.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Played 2 matches since last - artificial clay.
A younger guy who's coming back from a knee injury.
6-0, 6-1 - could be much closer when he's fully up to speed.

Then a very good ball getter backer, but no real power or weapons.
6-1, 6-1.
Still a good hit and exercise.

Tomorrow will be cold..

I'm going to practise my serve. Ball basket/collector and target cones at the ready.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Played twice since last.

Won the first (a guy I've played 3 or 4 times before).

Today I got soundly beaten.
New opponent.
His serves were on point, although I started to read them better towards the end.
The usual feeling of being rushed, when you play someone with goodcourt coverage and good shot making.


I know just how De Minaur felt earlier today

Next game Friday (hopefully).

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Played 3 sets on Friday, won all 3.
The light winds helped good form.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Only managed to play once this week
Won 2 sets to love.

Started off playing with my more control tension strung racquet but switched to the slightly looser strung one for more pop mid way through the 2nd set.
I do find changing racquets reinvigorating.
Not sure why? Perhaps it takes my focus off the score / opponent and puts my mind on the feel of the racquet on ball, more on technique and to just play the ball.
I always play better.

I totally get why the pros change for fresh strung racquet every ball change.
Reinvigorate the balls, reinvigorate the racquet, reinvigorate the mind

 

[Tennis_Steve]

Hit and played a set against a really good player today.

After the warm up hit we did several of my favourite drills.

Crosscourt / down the line, swapping around if we achieved 5 each.

Ditto the above but put the ball away for a winner if opponents ball drops short (inside service box)

Alternate bh / fh hitting and keeping the ball within the tram lines at all times. Quite a challenge.

2 types of progression to the net drills.
The more cardio one involving starting the rally and darting back to touch the baseline with the racquet then turning and progressing to net, no matter what, while your opponent hits for all they are worth.

After that we played a set.

Perfect February weather, warm enough, no wind, tennis heaven.

 

[britbox]

I only have a hit on a Thursday night these days. The players are a mix of what we used to call Saturday hackers (me) and complete beginners through to tennis coaches in a social but competitive league system. I'm one of the oldest players in it and some of these kids who got drilled on technique and fitness from an early age can blow you off court but others are still crap at adapting to anything other than power baseline rallies. I like your updates, they should resonate with club players.

 

[Tennis_Steve]

I've been away from this place for a long while..

I'm still playing regular singles games.

I'm entering an LTA local tournament the week after next

 

[Kieran]

Interesting stuff, Steve, reads like a blog or diary.

Tell me what we all want to know - did you lose yet! You sound like a handy player! Agree with you about doubles. It’s like having to be goalkeeper in soccer…