Tennis Players, What's Your Favorite Shot?

x-court FH, as ever...my game is like a miniature hack version of Elena Dementieva's - FH is a weapon, BH is at best solid, serve is non-existent.

oh I also really like playing slow, high-bouncing shots to my opponent's BH, almost always good for inducing an error.

yes! although i have to tell you i like a high ball on that side. but you gotta throw in some big spinners every now and then, get em off balance

btw your game sounds kinda like mine... although i'm working on the backhand weapon thing

i like watching your slow, high-bouncing shots, just like i like watching elena demantieva's

short angled shots are always great too. at this level, players are much more easily confused by suddenly having to run forwards a bit rather than side-to-side.

otm. short angled SLICE kills

Singles: Catching the tape just enough on a forehand slice to change direction a little & bring the opponent up short. And then shrugging like, "Aw, that was luck!"

Doubles: chest-high volley back atcha.

drop
inside-out forehand too

my crosscourt forehand is improving. when it's great, it's great, but sometimes it comes up a little short, which i hate.

backhand down the line is messing me up some, but the crosscourt backhand still pretty solid.

my volleys are doin pretty good

but wtf i can't hit a drop for my life these days. oooh BUT i've nailed a few of those cross court slices when right up at the net. i love thoooose

the over the head hail mary after successfully (barely) chasing down a back court lob.

ohhh I JUST did one!!! it felt awesome

i've been using a lot of topspin lately for fun. sometimes it really messes with people!

I love a backhand slice, it's so effortless, and it's slow so it buys you time to reposition/rest a sec.

YES. but i'm sooo not good at them yet. i usually try it out against the wall.

used to love hitting forehand slices off of topspin shots, my game was almost entirely based on just returning the ball w/ as much spin as possible and then forcing the other player to try and hit winners or charge the net. beat a lot of much better players by just returning the ball over and over..eventually they'd get impatient and start making unforced errors. good serve and volley sampras type players usually did pretty well against me, though. haven't played since high school really, i miss it a lot. poor dusty wilson prostaff

ugh, just reading about your game reminds me of this guy named "T.R." who, in high school, would beat me without ever hitting a winner against me. He just kept the ball coming back. That sort of patience and control is unbecoming for a teenager amirite.

i once played a kid in a high school state tournament who played my exact game and we had a couple of rallies that must have lasted over 5 minutes. almost every single point involved 20+ returns! longest match of my life and he ended up barely beating me. at the time i likened it to meeting shadow link @ the end of legend of zelda 2. anyway, i'm sure my game was really annoying to my opponents, but that was sort of the idea - get in their head

also, topspin forehands down the line are really satisfying, esp when you're running off the side of the court to return a shot and you can creep it in the back corner

one-handed backhand down the line. Booyah.

so apparently i can't hit any shots anymore. it's been 2 years since i've played. i know it usually takes me a while to warm up, but i used to be, like, good.

someone please tell me it will come back to me.

please.

inside out forehand drive volley

weirdly, the 2 parts of my game that i used to hate came back to me without any practice: my serve and my volley.

everything else GONE.

Last time I played I pulled every single muscle in my mid section.

ok. i cannot believe it has been 9 months.

i am going today to play against the wall. i am going to start going twice a week. i hope i do not embarrass myself.

haha aw surm

any ilxors play USTA?

have u, kev?

u guys.

i rly don't know what to tell u about what just happened.

i mean, my backhand was there. felt great. but ... my courtesy shot! mfg!

my partner said i seemed to do better getting hard, fast forehands. generating the pace on that side is really fucking with me right now. it just goes to show how much practice does. crazy.

going to try again now.

I assume a lot of you guys are members of clubs? How would you feel about an absolute beginner joining your club?

!! where do u live?

little better today

have u, kev?

u guys.

― j lol (surm), Wednesday, June 22, 2011 9:18 PM (Yesterday)

yeah i'm a 4.5

it rained today, so i played basketball indoors

awesome. good night for some indoor ball.

there was a really cute guy playing basketball no the courts tonight. he was in a wifebeater.

been practicing in my apartment

Surm do you wear a cute white headband when you play tennis?

sometimes! when my hair is longer it's a must

I want to custom-make one for you that says like SMILE! or something in yellow glitter.

But then the glitter might get in your eyes and that would be unpleasant; you would probably not even smile.

:) you have to be careful applying sunscreen to the forehead for the same reason -- stings like a motha

Is that why nobody bought my Stevie D Deluxe Glittery Sunscreen??

:D maybe

Inside out crosscourt forehand return from the ad side <3

Play 4 days a week.

so excited to get my inside out back

anybody in brooklyn want to play today?

bye bye backhand. it just kept going SHORT! ugh. but my slice was working ...

i would much rather go long than short in practice

vs tough, prob 15 yrs older than me ex-military brazilian dude tnight, i came back from down 1-4 in the first set to up 6-5, though down break pt & we had a looong rally where he ran down like 6 balls....ultimately to go for a drop shot where he lost his balance and rolled headlong into the net, it was gnarly (he got the ball back but right to me m/l)

after that he was kinda cooked, i won 7-5, 6-0

Loving these bagels to finish!

there is also a guy ive seen a few times in past yrs who was playing this wk......hes MINIMUM 5 yrs older than me (and shorter) but he played 3 nights in a row this week vs basically the 3 best players on the ladder (one of these being 'gerry') and he beat two of them & in not that difficult linescores

ive really only watched him a few times & cant tell how hes that good, his swing looks awkward

in past yrs ive overheard his name and stuff and remarks abt like "yeah he plays every day for two weeks straight and then gets injured and u wonder why"

― johnny crunch, Friday, January 20, 2017 7:39 PM (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i finally played this guy for the 1st time. he is 20 years older than me. i took the first set off him but then i was fuckin gassed & couldnt put up a tonne of resistance..scoreline was 3-6, 6-1, 10-1 he won; he hits a lot of diff spins and gets a lot back, few winners but does occasionally pound a forehand; nice enough dude but hes the type that doesnt really listen in a convo and is only waiting for his turn to talk again

good match yesterday vs another lefty (im a lefty btw), hard fought match, i won 6-3, 6-4; he served really predictably idk for a purpose of trying to go at my backhand but i was fine w it as i would know it was coming and could easily block it back; i also hurt him repeatedly by hitting my forehand down the line when he was cheating to cover cross court; he moved & hit well tho for being older than me + kinda stocky

I haven’t played in years — I should get back at it. I’ve never had a real backhand, but can survive on slices from that side. My favorite shot has always been the inside out forehand down the line. When it works it looks good and feels even better, the way you get the other player stepping away and they have to watch the ball tailing away from them down the alley. Love it.

nother good one, abt as close & long as a first set as i can recall ~ ended up losing it 6-7 in a tiebreak but had chances to serve it out at 5-4 up and then again at 6-5 up, ugh; there was also a game, me serving at 1-2 with @ least 15 deuces

second set i was up 5-2, again serving for the set & was broken & then the club was closing so we had to stop

opponent hurt me this match w his forehand down the line; he and i are p even tho, thin margins

v satisfying match tnight, won 6-1, 6-2 vs a younger dude who beat me the last 2 times we played. hes a good all-ct player w a big forehand. tnight i served really well & think i did a good job varying depths of shots to force him to hit a bunch of errors. it was still a tighter match than the scoreline, several long deuces..

About to play my first USTA 5.0 match. I teach tennis but haven't played competitively since college and that was 18 years ago. We'll see if I can bring it...

ha I haven't clicked on this thread in a while and enjoyed reading the j.c. tour diary :)

I love tennis so much, but circumstances have not allowed me to play much. I look forward to getting back out there some day

yelploaf, how did the usta match go?

Thanks for asking, jc. I lost my first three matches quite handily, then switched back to my preferred string and won 2 since. Tonight is the last of the season and I'd love to make it to .500.

o good luck

i played in a local tournament ~ had 6 matches in 8 days

lost the finals of my division, which was best of 5 sets; my opponent was literally half my age and had had a bye and two walkovers to get there; no sour grapes honestly, it was fun

played at my club last night w a friend of mine, we are well-matched & its always competitive & fun -- like half an hour after we started, maybe the two best players ive ever seen came on the court next to us ~ one had the same forehand as delpo just loud & heavy and the other guy was also just crazy good, a snapping stroke w flat easy power

it honestly threw us both off a little & during our changeovers we were like damn we are not playing the same sport lol, cool to see though

in 7 months or so I’ll be working part time, and am going to be looking to get back into this in a major way

I’ve been playing with a couple of people I’ve met in boston off and on for a couple of years now…we’re all 4.5ish level…last time I played USTA was when I was 19 or 20 probably, was a 4.5 then and am probably playing the best tennis of my life now. just a smarter and more consistent player now I think

was just vacationing on hilton head SC and got a lesson from a great teaching pro I like down there, mainly working on my forehand and forehand volley. for some reason my backhand has been the solider side lately. he says I can probably hang with some 5.0s but in a tournament setting Im sure I’d be humbled pretty quickly considering the last sanctioned match I played was over a decade ago

been getting really into pickleball lately too, and am just now starting to see the game and am able to hang with real 4.5s (in doubles, hardly play singles due to general culture leaning toward doubles - will probably seek out some singles tournaments once I have more free time next summer). great game, tons of badminton skills that are transferable once you play at a decent enough level