Two things to improve your game, Rob. 1: lean into the backhand. Even if you're hitting a slice you can make it penetrate, but you have to transfer your weight onto your front foot and through the shot. Also on that shot, give yourself more room laterally (ie further away from your body). That will give it speed and spin. Think of Federer's slice backhand: he shapes up like he's going to hit topspin, but just comes down and through the ball with the racket face open. But it moves through the court. 2: on serve, throw the ball further to the right and in front. Your toss means you're hitting it overhead and falling to the left - someone who hits the return back hard will catch you off balance. It also means you're losing power, and the potential for hitting slice serves (which Blake did multiple times, to good effect: notice the difference in where he puts the ball toss). For a kick serve, sure, throw it more over your head, but that's the second serve.
Great match! Some cool slip and slide points in here. Good to hear you’re a fellow low tension hitter! I string at 48. Greatest shift I’ve ever made, it took away my arm pain! Might have to come out for a match!
thanks man, ton of pros in the 40s and 30s. Plus I looked at some past match footage and so much was actually dropping way shorter than I thought, so still have room to unleash the power!
Same age, fallen to 3.5 in dubs but clinging to 4.0 in sgls(i rely on angles and redirect placement for my points). Black shirt has great fitness, top notch 4.0 movement and a pretty serve. If I was playing this guy as a self rate at my 36yo best I would be SUPER GRUMPY.
Great match, would have love to have seen more points (I realise, in the real world, that's not easy). We have synthetic clay where I play but it's nothing like as slippery, wow! Looking forward to the next one.
Nice playing.....I'd say you are a strong 4.0.....Move up and back well....Backhand is def needing work...but overall good stuff.....Water that court...:).....Keep 'em coming
I have yet to watch this, but from my experience, it depends on where the two players lie on the NTRP system. You can have a 4.0 who is at the bottom of a 4.0 ladder, and a 4.5 at the top of his 4.5 ladder. They are totally 2 different abilities. But, a 4.0 who wins his ladder against the bottom-dweller in a 4.5, is an even match. We'll see. I'll be back after watching....I'm back....Well, you two are really super players! Rob is definitely a 4.0 league/tourney-winner and proved here he should be playing 4.5. Blake is more polished with a more offensive game and is a solid 5.0 league/tourney winner, who could definitely win in D1 college play. I enjoyed your points and the competitiveness each of you have. BTW - I have the Blade V8, and just got Blade V9. Great racquets. Thanks, guys for the post. It was fun watching.
I'm going to guess you're both actually between 3.95 to 4.2 I played both levels many years and from the points as a 4.0 you are right there on the cusp of transitioning to 4.5. Blake is of course playing great but as he said he started at 4.0 and now must be around the middle level. I played people on the tail end of the 4.5 bracket and they really start to feel very different in terms of power. Great match!
black shirt - Do you find you get more power with a straight take back vs a C loop on your forehand? I played a tournament recently and noticed few guys with the straight raquet take back could hit pretty hard. IS it because it allows you to hit in front more consistently? vs a loop which could make you hit late? I can do both but was wondering if one way was better
Rob is a strong 4.0. I am qualified to say this because I have seen 4.0 players my whole life. Rob, your shots are good. But on your backhand slice, you need to get all your weight on that right foot BEFORE you start your swing. You need to lean into the slice. You can see what I mean at 8:40 where you hit a couple of slices. Good athleticism in general, though!
Any advice on the best places to play and to get lessons in RVA? Am new to the tennis scene in richmond (outside of my university) and am looking to play more
Yes a 4.0 can definitely beat a 4.5, if the 4.0 is a sandbagger 5.0. The other guy admitted at the beginning he was DQ in 4.0 as he was a sandbagger 4.5. Lol
I think you actually have the better forehand. It penetrates more. His is more spin/loop. That's all I was watching lol. Gotta improve mine. Also stringing 51/48 soft mains, hard cross.
Rob's forehand is good but Blake's is definitely better imo. Doesn't directly hit winners but sets up a follow up extremely well. He can score when he needs to like at 3:34
Rob, you seemed to shift your serve away from kick-all-the-time to a more flat serve. I think that's making a big difference in putting pressure on your opponents. You got a lot of easy +1s to hit, short and long, but both very manageable.
yes starting trying to hit 1st serves actually, which has been a difficult transition to the 2nd serve causing more errors than when I just did 2 kicks. All in the name of progress though so it's worth it, good eye
So much shaking before the match and after the match, when he is tired, the guy's hand holding the camera is so much more stable 🤔, also what kind of court was that, it looked like a cool colored clay court, then I thought it might just be a gigantic amount of dust. It's cool that you guys have NTRP level rankings, in Brazil most rankings are just breaked down into Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced Plus or Special or Class D, C, B and A, which causes huge disparity of skill in the same category, not to mention some more advanced players keep clinging in lower levels for easy wins.
usually get the opposite on YT - they say I'm a 3.0 at best. For real though around here you don't play 4.5 until you get bumped up to 4.5 by your results.
@@EvokeTennis People who say you are 3.0 are just trolls, I assume that you don't take them very seriously. I think you are not yet 4.5, but a lot of 4.0s would feel unfair to see you call yourself 4.0.
Tennis is a little boys game. Try pickleball. I play at ccv and could smoke you guys in tennis or pickleball. I played at uva div1. 4.0 is silly boy stuff. The reason you guys aren’t making money is you can’t attack corners and the serves are elementary. Never mind, I’m not playing with you guys.
Solid playing, guys. This is some of the best 4.0/4.5 playing that I’ve seen on TH-cam
Two things to improve your game, Rob.
1: lean into the backhand. Even if you're hitting a slice you can make it penetrate, but you have to transfer your weight onto your front foot and through the shot. Also on that shot, give yourself more room laterally (ie further away from your body). That will give it speed and spin. Think of Federer's slice backhand: he shapes up like he's going to hit topspin, but just comes down and through the ball with the racket face open. But it moves through the court.
2: on serve, throw the ball further to the right and in front. Your toss means you're hitting it overhead and falling to the left - someone who hits the return back hard will catch you off balance. It also means you're losing power, and the potential for hitting slice serves (which Blake did multiple times, to good effect: notice the difference in where he puts the ball toss). For a kick serve, sure, throw it more over your head, but that's the second serve.
So glad you put the score up. Makes the video tons more interesting and informative.
Great match.
Dude you're a very strong 4.0 player.
Blake is a solid 4.5 player.
Great match! Some cool slip and slide points in here. Good to hear you’re a fellow low tension hitter! I string at 48. Greatest shift I’ve ever made, it took away my arm pain! Might have to come out for a match!
thanks man, ton of pros in the 40s and 30s. Plus I looked at some past match footage and so much was actually dropping way shorter than I thought, so still have room to unleash the power!
@@EvokeTennis yeah, I'm at 43 or 44 and love it.
Great match! Fantastic playing and had me really engaged the whole time!
Nice clean tennis. I would say the main difference between you two is Blake's backhand is very strong.
Good match up. I can see the difference in levels especially through the serve and the inconsistency of the strokes. Overall decent.
Looks like 4.5 vs 4.5 to me. I was 4.5 when I was younger. At 52 I’m a solid 4.0 and both of these guys would give me trouble.
Same age, fallen to 3.5 in dubs but clinging to 4.0 in sgls(i rely on angles and redirect placement for my points). Black shirt has great fitness, top notch 4.0 movement and a pretty serve. If I was playing this guy as a self rate at my 36yo best I would be SUPER GRUMPY.
Great match, would have love to have seen more points (I realise, in the real world, that's not easy).
We have synthetic clay where I play but it's nothing like as slippery, wow!
Looking forward to the next one.
Glad you wanted more, will keep that in mind for the next one
Welcom back buddy, very impressive level for both
Hey, thanks!
your backhands are mostly slices that are getting punished at this level, something I commented on a video from years ago
all slices, agreed
Nice playing.....I'd say you are a strong 4.0.....Move up and back well....Backhand is def needing work...but overall good stuff.....Water that court...:).....Keep 'em coming
I have yet to watch this, but from my experience, it depends on where the two players lie on the NTRP system. You can have a 4.0 who is at the bottom of a 4.0 ladder, and a 4.5 at the top of his 4.5 ladder. They are totally 2 different abilities. But, a 4.0 who wins his ladder against the bottom-dweller in a 4.5, is an even match. We'll see. I'll be back after watching....I'm back....Well, you two are really super players! Rob is definitely a 4.0 league/tourney-winner and proved here he should be playing 4.5. Blake is more polished with a more offensive game and is a solid 5.0 league/tourney winner, who could definitely win in D1 college play. I enjoyed your points and the competitiveness each of you have. BTW - I have the Blade V8, and just got Blade V9. Great racquets. Thanks, guys for the post. It was fun watching.
I'm going to guess you're both actually between 3.95 to 4.2
I played both levels many years and from the points as a 4.0 you are right there on the cusp of transitioning to 4.5. Blake is of course playing great but as he said he started at 4.0 and now must be around the middle level. I played people on the tail end of the 4.5 bracket and they really start to feel very different in terms of power. Great match!
black shirt - Do you find you get more power with a straight take back vs a C loop on your forehand? I played a tournament recently and noticed few guys with the straight raquet take back could hit pretty hard. IS it because it allows you to hit in front more consistently? vs a loop which could make you hit late? I can do both but was wondering if one way was better
this is good lots of improvements from an older video
thats such a great racket, the ai98, i still play with mine. like it more than any of the new yonexs.
Rob is a strong 4.0. I am qualified to say this because I have seen 4.0 players my whole life. Rob, your shots are good. But on your backhand slice, you need to get all your weight on that right foot BEFORE you start your swing. You need to lean into the slice. You can see what I mean at 8:40 where you hit a couple of slices. Good athleticism in general, though!
Damn I miss playing tennis.. Haven't played for like almost 3 years now
is this Hardtru clay? how much is per hr? ur best shot is ur serve, really power for ur level. slice need some federer work
If you can, make a video about some of the latest strings you have played with. Just a short review about them.
straight up TB Soft recently man, had to lock down and go with what I know best
Any advice on the best places to play and to get lessons in RVA? Am new to the tennis scene in richmond (outside of my university) and am looking to play more
Gray shirt looked like he wasn't taking it too seriously lol
This is 4.5 level match!
Yes a 4.0 can definitely beat a 4.5, if the 4.0 is a sandbagger 5.0. The other guy admitted at the beginning he was DQ in 4.0 as he was a sandbagger 4.5. Lol
Is that clay or dust? Great match!
it's a problem
Nice match highlights!!!
Glad you enjoyed
What camera are you using? It's so good quality
You know how some people hate the sound of squeaky shoes on a hard court or basketball court? I hate the sound of feet on a Har-tru clay court.🤷♂️
Skipped the intro, but Blake is the 4.5 I assume. Just a different looking quality of game. No knock on Rob...
I think you actually have the better forehand. It penetrates more. His is more spin/loop.
That's all I was watching lol. Gotta improve mine. Also stringing 51/48 soft mains, hard cross.
usually mine is loopier but that day I said I needed to go bigger on the fh to use it as a weapon, still figuring it out
Rob's forehand is good but Blake's is definitely better imo. Doesn't directly hit winners but sets up a follow up extremely well. He can score when he needs to like at 3:34
How is the scoring working? I’m confused
What camera do you use? Great match btw!
Rob, you seemed to shift your serve away from kick-all-the-time to a more flat serve. I think that's making a big difference in putting pressure on your opponents. You got a lot of easy +1s to hit, short and long, but both very manageable.
yes starting trying to hit 1st serves actually, which has been a difficult transition to the 2nd serve causing more errors than when I just did 2 kicks. All in the name of progress though so it's worth it, good eye
In USTA rating description is stated that a difference of 0.5, like from 4.0 to 4.5 the tipycal result should be 6-0, 6-0, yes double bagel.
Slice ftw!
Good game.
No. How can that happen?
So much shaking before the match and after the match, when he is tired, the guy's hand holding the camera is so much more stable 🤔, also what kind of court was that, it looked like a cool colored clay court, then I thought it might just be a gigantic amount of dust.
It's cool that you guys have NTRP level rankings, in Brazil most rankings are just breaked down into Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced Plus or Special or Class D, C, B and A, which causes huge disparity of skill in the same category, not to mention some more advanced players keep clinging in lower levels for easy wins.
Surface is called "Canada Ten", it's a Sand variety.
omg i have the same racket that’s tight bro
Solid tennis , beautiful courts.
No way are you a 4.0. Did you drop down the ratings due to injury?
usually get the opposite on YT - they say I'm a 3.0 at best. For real though around here you don't play 4.5 until you get bumped up to 4.5 by your results.
@@EvokeTennis People who say you are 3.0 are just trolls, I assume that you don't take them very seriously. I think you are not yet 4.5, but a lot of 4.0s would feel unfair to see you call yourself 4.0.
Looks like two 4.5s to me. I know USTA is based on results, not strokes but still you're competitive against 4.5 players.
Sort out that BH
all those bh winners you mean
I agree. With a proper bh, you would be a comfortable 4.5 or more
looks like two 4.5's.
nice intensity, but black shirt seems to be bouncing around too much, waste of energy
That court is terrible, like sand. Hate green clay =/
Tennis is a little boys game. Try pickleball. I play at ccv and could smoke you guys in tennis or pickleball. I played at uva div1. 4.0 is silly boy stuff. The reason you guys aren’t making money is you can’t attack corners and the serves are elementary. Never mind, I’m not playing with you guys.
lol