Tennis lesson in the rain

 No. Aberdeen, Washington doesn't have a tennis pro giving lessons. My lessons come from YouTube channels: Tennis Evolution, Tennis Essentials, Fundamental Tennis, Crunch Time Coaching, et al. If I remember, I shoot video of myself hitting the ball.  

Today's goals: 

1. redeem myself for the poor serving of the doubles match last week. For that match, I changed my backswing to a round house loop, instead of the tried and true lift, using the elbow to raise the racquet to trophy position. 
2. Learn to hit the ball using my core to drive the racquet into the ball rather than using my arm and hand.  Learn to hit with a relaxed grip, so the racquet can move faster through the swing path, imparting more spin. 
3. separate the index finger, to gain more feel of the racquet. 
4. Habituate the gaze lingering on the impact area between racquet and ball, while hitting against the wall.

Today's lesson. Slice serve. Serve tips in mind, glove on the toss hand and a pogie on the racquet grip, I hit right handed to the deuce court and left handed to the ad court. Once the balls were wet, I hit them again.  If I hit the ball with spin, water flew off so it looked like I had launched a version of the planet Saturn.  I couldn't always stay focused on spinning the ball.  I struck many balls flat rather than sliced (more work required)

I found a dry covered area (back entrance of the Grays Harbor Hospital, East Campus) to hit balls against a wall. Slow swings from 20, then 30 then 40 feet away helped me develop relaxed grip hitting, initiation by core rotation, a topspin inducing swing path and a proper follow through.

Often, I can hit more easily against a wall than with another player, with whom I impulsively grip the racquet too firmly and whack hard at a ball coming in fast.  

Overall, I succeeded in my goals. Under promise and over deliver.

Tennis thoughts: spin and rackets.

 The most astonishing thing about watching the ATP and the WTA is that the players swing their rackets fast and hard, yet without sending the ball long the way we recreational players do. Every single player uses topspin to keep their balls from flying long. So, no topspin=unforced errors=short rallies.

I hit better with the right choice of racket and the right strings at the right tension. I have a Yonex ezone 98 whose grip was built from a 4 to a 5 using a heat shrink wrap. It weighed 12.3 oz. I read a glowing review by the Tennis Warehouse play-testers for a Prince Phantom Pro 100, 11.4 oz. I bought a used one. I began playing with the Prince last week--fewer balls flew long. I felt like I was getting more topspin even though my swing path was proper using the Yonex. Because the racket was less hefty, I was achieving better strokes by initiating with the core, keeping a relaxed grip, letting the racket lag, minding the swing path and angle of the strings. I think having a lighter racket was actually helping me use the its weight to hit the ball. Other factors that might explain the difference between racquets: string tension, my lack of experience with modern technique. Last fall, I bought a $34 racket from Amazon for unknown reasons. Head heavy. 10.5 Oz. I used it last week. Too light, it didn't have enough mass to provide intrinsic power.

Tons of practice swings and tons of hits with a real ball. Mindfulness.

The serve. I'm trying to learn a slice serve, which doesn't require much leg and body motion unlike a kick serve . Things to get right: the toss, the swing path, orienting the string face, a relaxed grip, rotating so as to follow through on the other side, shadow swings, simulating "throwing" the racket. Practicing with the right arm on the deuce side and the left arm on the ad side.

Nonbelievers

 

At the Safeway store in my town. Over 550,000 dead in the United States from COVID and we have this guy who just doesn't think. NO MASK.

My immediate association was pickup truck driver. I left the store with my purchase and noticed him not far behind me, on the edge of my field of vision. Sure enough. A "man-sized" truck with the tell-tale rattle of a diesel power train.

 He then shouted, "that's the second time you had your phone out!" I didn't respond and kept walking. He drove around the parking lot not far from me, as I walked around--I stopped at a silver sedan and pretended to fumble for my keys. When the diesel rattle persisted, I started to walk back to the store, and he drove off.

This is a perfect example of an entitled person.  He knew he was flouting an important public health measure. People like this are dangerous from a public health standpoint. 

First question for Mr. Pickup Truck: what is wrong with you? Second question for Mr. Pickup Truck, if you were doing nothing wrong, wouldn't you think someone looking at their phone was just checking their shopping list?