u/Perchance_therapper

I missed a first serve and went to serve my second serve without noticing my opponent going to pick up the ball from my first serve that ricocheted off the fence and was rolling back across the baseline. He didn’t say anything like hold or wait or ball on etc. By the time my opponent was ready to return I was already in my service motion not seeing him going to pick up the ball. I then hit a second serve ace. He then said he wasn’t ready and had me hit another second serve which I missed for a df. I genuinely don’t know the proper protocol here is it:

A. Repeat second serve

B. Have a first serve

C. Ace

I work very hard on my tennis. I’m a 39 year old 1.68 UTR. I’ve been playing seriously for a year and a few months. I practice every chance I get and I take 2 lessons per week (2 coaches, just got a new coach and we’re 4 lessons in) This usually amounts to 10-20 hours a week on court (I’m literally out there hitting serves, hitting against a wall, hitting with my ball machine, taking lessons, practicing with my league team, going to drills. Literally I’m working as hard as I can with all the time I can find). I’ve never won a real singles match and before tonight I had won 21 games in my last 7 matches. Driving to the match for my utr flex league, I thought I would lose 0 &0 or 1 &0 to an opponent I don’t know but tried to quiet those negative thoughts. I ended up losing 1 &3 bringing my total to 25 games over 8 matches since late April losing every single one of them. I’m in a mental place where I know I suck and I (rightfully so) have zero confidence in my forehand and I dread having to hit it). Do you think it’s best for me to just stop competing and dedicate myself 100% to lessons and practice or should I keep playing matches to experience the speed of the game and work on my technique as I do so and just try and stay positive? Or should k read the inner game of tennis and see how that affects my thoughts?

1.7 utr. 3.0 player right handed . I try to stare and only focus on the ball, split, turn hit and then step after I hit with my left leg. I have trouble finishing and adding shape to bring the ball down down and end up driving a lot of forehand returns long. On bad serves that a lot of times aren’t even hit at me with a continental grip. My backhand return is better but I still miss a lot of balls i shouldn’t. I try to minimize the backswing and could probably get better. Also I have no slice so that’s not an option.

Big news. As part of the deal that was rejected the oil company SM energy would have agreed to plug and abandon 17 active old wells in Erie. The oil company is required to plug old wells anyways but apparently the ecmc is toothless in enforcing them to do so and they have no timeline. I am happy the town is not bending over and selling mineral rights to an oil company but sad that these companies can hold towns hostage over the consequences of their own environmental destruction.

I usually hit with a ball machine and it’s great for hitting the same ball over and over but then when I rally I can barely keep the ball in play. I bet this is due to my footwork and positioning so I want to do more wall work. If I’m working on my ground strokes give me some wall setup 101, how far back, what are good goals etc anything you find helpful to help build my skills. I’m a bad 3.0 ntrp and 1.7 utr who usually don’t get more than 2-3 games a match. Just trying to get better.

At least 70 maybe closer to 80% of Rex tennis players I know are software engineers. Why is the USTA website and tennis link registration such a frustrating process.

So this is my first season playing on a USTA team. I’m a very weak 3.0 player. We had 7 matches I played 3 doubles matches and 1 singles match and then was out of town for one and an alternate for 2. In definitely the worst player on the team. I went 2-1 doubles in spite of myself and 0-1 singles. I’m wondering if being the alternate for 2 weeks is a silent writing on the wall type thing. Captains or team members or people on USTA leagues is this a legitimate fear?

Also I am hell bent on getting better. I practice 10-20 hours a week as a 39 year old with a full time job, I’m hunting for a good coach because my current coach isn’t really helping me improve and is letting me get away with embarrassing technique. I had a 3 hour practice session with a team mate trying to get to 100 balls made (we got to 34) and I’m really passionate about getting better so it’s just a lack of skill not a lack of trying.

Do you think my fears are warranted and I should mentally prepare to not be welcome back to my team or I should just keep working on improving and not worry about it.

The strings im trying next are otoro/toro in the mains and wasabi x jn the crosses. I use a vcore 100z I would like more control as when I miss it’s usually long. I’m thinking 52/50 unless anyone here says these strings are paradoxical where dropping the tension actually gives you more pocketing and control. Thanks for your input.

Looking to make one that auto populates the meds I use daily and just save myself a click but I can’t seem to personalize the public ones