Fascinating. Yeah this is exactly the issue: There are a lot of guys at my club who are various shades of 4.5. And you can get there pretty much just by blocking and tackling (albeit for years). But to get to 5.0 it takes another level of ... something. Much of what this guy is doing is not intuitive. Also his physical conditioning and coordination are superb.
Great effort, nonetheless! I was in this tournament (4.0) and ended up playing against the #1 seed in the final who turned out to be a 4.5 but appealed down to 4.0 (he actually can probably hang with the 5.0), but it was a n interesting learning experience!
@ Thanks, man! As for seeing other people’s full UTR…I found out if you follow them, then go to your list of people you follow from your profile, you can see their complete UTR for free, then just unfollow them LOL.
Feels like serve and volley style tennis making a bit of a comeback, it can be super effective with the right player, and love to see you coming in a bit more, seems like with a one hander it could be helpful, a more natural transition to chip and charge and slice is similar to the volley motion (apparently that's why Sampras switched from a two hander to help make it easier as a serve and volleyer). I had gone baseliner/all court with the newer racket/string tech, but starting to get back into serve and volley and it's really fun, doubles is what helped me feel more comfortable up at net despite the heavier balls players hit from the baseline nowadays.
Are you using a heavier racket? I recently switched to a lighter racket and it helped a lot with not getting exhausted/sloppy as the match goes on. Other small improvements I made that help are not hopping too high on my split step (unless in a defensive position where it’s really necessary).
Great match. Yes on returns but they're still teeing off - it's just they're using positioning to do it. Blocked back from inside the baseline is just as good as slammed from 6 feet back timing wise. He's way in on what I can assume are second serves like ~12:31 or so! Smaller takebacks but using the power to block it back inside the baseline which also sets up to take the net... if he hits it clean and if not he retreats. More than one way to tee off on serve but big swings are much harder to pull off against a quality server!
Great match to learn from even as an observer. I think you got bodied from a tactical perspective. After feeling you out baseline-wise he decided NOPE, made it into a front court game. He saw he could out-tool you by bringing you in or coming in himself and taking away a ton of time and squeezing you into super tiny passing lanes- not an easy feat given how hard you hit. Slowed down the game like crazy chipping and changing up spins to make it awkward. Just what I see - though maybe in-match it felt different and I'm missing things.
Good stuff Andrew. I feel like the difference between the 5.0s and us 4.5s 4.0s are the slices. They’re super tacky with them. Everybody could use more conditioning but you gotta settle down haha. Felt like you got too excited in the match here
Nice playing. Christian is very solid and better than he looks. He's fast and fit, has good placement and has a complete game - good serve, good groundstrokes and good volleys. Keep working and maybe concentrate on playing all court tennis a bit more.
The score line doesn't reflect how close it was.. In my opinion the margins were close. Keep the ball deep, opening the court more by hitting your shots and peeling the ball off the court, and as you said continued fitness will give dividends. But to me you look fit and athletic - so more shot choice and being rushed when he goes at the net. In the beginning you see your shot choices, going behind, keeping it deep and aggressive were both paying off.
Don't wanna sound like I'm trolling but this doesn't look like an open tournament. Open tournaments you'll see D1 and D2 players. If this was in southern Cali, this looks more like a solid 4.0 tournament
Your one handed backhand is a handicap, but tbh, I don’t see anything that puts him far above you. Maybe a better shoulder/unit turn on you forehand will help disguise your direction a little better, especially when comes into net.
1) th-cam.com/users/clipUgkxnPGW-LjAw_3_GnfJdrYpTq4wryyhu284?si=J0ad4E87mpgOeM09 Even though you lose this point it illustrates why I believe that if your not a 5.0 in the future it won’t be because of a lack of Athleticism. 😮 2) I hate to say this but your attitude towards fitness is typical tennis thinking. In other sports it’s understood that fitness is as important as any other aspect of the game. If a basketball team loses a game because they get tired you can bet the coach is gonna do something to address the issue in future practices. Speaking broadly, what’s the point in spending tons of time to improve your forehand 2 or 3% only to have it drop in performance 10% when you get tired in a match. And you know that In reality fatigue affects every part of your tennis game especially the mental component. 3) Christian actually hit a lot of slice and pushed ground strokes, both sides. Not glamorous but effective in hitting accurate shots and moving your opponent to where you want them. 4) By all means you should play Doubles regularly to develop your all court skills. 5) Maybe the most amazing thing in this vid is that this is only the second time on TH-cam that I’ve seen a 107 Oversized racket used in a match and not a racket demo . Finally a player that doesn’t let the prejudice towards Oversized rackets that exists nowadays hold him back from exploiting the one true freebie in tennis. It just makes the game easier to play, but people’s egos keep them from seeing this. 😢
Fascinating. Yeah this is exactly the issue: There are a lot of guys at my club who are various shades of 4.5. And you can get there pretty much just by blocking and tackling (albeit for years). But to get to 5.0 it takes another level of ... something. Much of what this guy is doing is not intuitive. Also his physical conditioning and coordination are superb.
Great effort, nonetheless! I was in this tournament (4.0) and ended up playing against the #1 seed in the final who turned out to be a 4.5 but appealed down to 4.0 (he actually can probably hang with the 5.0), but it was a n interesting learning experience!
Great work getting to the finals man!
@ Thanks, man! As for seeing other people’s full UTR…I found out if you follow them, then go to your list of people you follow from your profile, you can see their complete UTR for free, then just unfollow them LOL.
Oh, I didn't know that! I'll definitely try that out. Thanks for the tip!
You play great dude...nice to see👍
Thanks Alex!
Feels like serve and volley style tennis making a bit of a comeback, it can be super effective with the right player, and love to see you coming in a bit more, seems like with a one hander it could be helpful, a more natural transition to chip and charge and slice is similar to the volley motion (apparently that's why Sampras switched from a two hander to help make it easier as a serve and volleyer). I had gone baseliner/all court with the newer racket/string tech, but starting to get back into serve and volley and it's really fun, doubles is what helped me feel more comfortable up at net despite the heavier balls players hit from the baseline nowadays.
I definitely plan to play a lot more doubles this year. I have to get more comfortable at the net.
yoooo is that an oversize! love it
Yessir!
Are you using a heavier racket? I recently switched to a lighter racket and it helped a lot with not getting exhausted/sloppy as the match goes on. Other small improvements I made that help are not hopping too high on my split step (unless in a defensive position where it’s really necessary).
Great match. Yes on returns but they're still teeing off - it's just they're using positioning to do it. Blocked back from inside the baseline is just as good as slammed from 6 feet back timing wise. He's way in on what I can assume are second serves like ~12:31 or so! Smaller takebacks but using the power to block it back inside the baseline which also sets up to take the net... if he hits it clean and if not he retreats. More than one way to tee off on serve but big swings are much harder to pull off against a quality server!
Thanks Noor! Well said.
Good stuff!!
Thanks NoNo. Appreciate it!
what grip size do you use on that bab 98?
3/8s
Dude, he played the game, most players don’t want to see. Slices, volleys, no pace……etc
Great match to learn from even as an observer. I think you got bodied from a tactical perspective. After feeling you out baseline-wise he decided NOPE, made it into a front court game. He saw he could out-tool you by bringing you in or coming in himself and taking away a ton of time and squeezing you into super tiny passing lanes- not an easy feat given how hard you hit. Slowed down the game like crazy chipping and changing up spins to make it awkward. Just what I see - though maybe in-match it felt different and I'm missing things.
Good stuff Andrew. I feel like the difference between the 5.0s and us 4.5s 4.0s are the slices. They’re super tacky with them. Everybody could use more conditioning but you gotta settle down haha. Felt like you got too excited in the match here
Thanks Donnie! You might be right about that😅
Nice playing. Christian is very solid and better than he looks. He's fast and fit, has good placement and has a complete game - good serve, good groundstrokes and good volleys. Keep working and maybe concentrate on playing all court tennis a bit more.
Thanks CJZM! We'll get there!
Where do you join tournaments like this? Just in UTRs website?
I typically do USTA tournaments. playtennis.usta.com/tournaments
The score line doesn't reflect how close it was.. In my opinion the margins were close. Keep the ball deep, opening the court more by hitting your shots and peeling the ball off the court, and as you said continued fitness will give dividends. But to me you look fit and athletic - so more shot choice and being rushed when he goes at the net. In the beginning you see your shot choices, going behind, keeping it deep and aggressive were both paying off.
Don't wanna sound like I'm trolling but this doesn't look like an open tournament. Open tournaments you'll see D1 and D2 players. If this was in southern Cali, this looks more like a solid 4.0 tournament
Your one handed backhand is a handicap, but tbh, I don’t see anything that puts him far above you. Maybe a better shoulder/unit turn on you forehand will help disguise your direction a little better, especially when comes into net.
He doesn't look like a 10+
Thats pretty bad for 4.5
1) th-cam.com/users/clipUgkxnPGW-LjAw_3_GnfJdrYpTq4wryyhu284?si=J0ad4E87mpgOeM09 Even though you lose this point it illustrates why I believe that if your not a 5.0 in the future it won’t be because of a lack of Athleticism. 😮 2) I hate to say this but your attitude towards fitness is typical tennis thinking. In other sports it’s understood that fitness is as important as any other aspect of the game. If a basketball team loses a game because they get tired you can bet the coach is gonna do something to address the issue in future practices. Speaking broadly, what’s the point in spending tons of time to improve your forehand 2 or 3% only to have it drop in performance 10% when you get tired in a match. And you know that In reality fatigue affects every part of your tennis game especially the mental component. 3) Christian actually hit a lot of slice and pushed ground strokes, both sides. Not glamorous but effective in hitting accurate shots and moving your opponent to where you want them. 4) By all means you should play Doubles regularly to develop your all court skills. 5) Maybe the most amazing thing in this vid is that this is only the second time on TH-cam that I’ve seen a 107 Oversized racket used in a match and not a racket demo . Finally a player that doesn’t let the prejudice towards Oversized rackets that exists nowadays hold him back from exploiting the one true freebie in tennis. It just makes the game easier to play, but people’s egos keep them from seeing this. 😢
Thanks for your response! Great observation too, Christian does use an oversized head.