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.