Who plays tennis

jezzauk · Lower Club Player

RE: Who plays tennis

Salmon · Tennis legend

jezzauk wrote:

taking this thread in a different direction, no-ones said yet that they don't play!

I don't play tennis.
I have never played tennis.
I have never seen any of my friends play.
I have touched a tennis racquet once in my entire lifetime and that lasted for about 30 seconds.

I started following tennis accidentally.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 05:16, 2006-09-28

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

My new season is underway as it's coming into summer here.
Started off well 1st week. Lost my doubles in straight sets (although I blame my partner who served 8 double faults in his 1st 2 service games having not held a racket for 6 months of so lol). Then won my singles in a long 2+ hour match, 3-6 6-3 6-4 having been 4-2 and 30-0 down in the 3rd.
2nd week was a thrashing in both doubles and singles, not worth talking about.
And last Saturday was a bad day. Doubles I had a new partner as we changed the team order around a bit and we lost the 1st set 11-9 in a tiebreak after blowing a couple of set points, then came back and won the 2nd 6-3. Instead of a 3rd set we play one of those "super tiebreaks" to 11 in doubles and we lost it 11-9. So we won more games, yet lost the match, doesn't seem fair does it?

Singles I stormed into a big lead early. Was quickly up 5-1 and 40-0 in the 1st set and somehow proceeded to lose it in a tiebreak! Just couldn't close it out. We started out on hardcourts and I got to 4-1 up, then another match on the turf courts finished so my opponent asked to change and I agreed. Stupid, I usually perform better on the hard and he hated it and was really struggling, but I guess I just wanted the chance to play on the turf for once as we always get put on the hard at my club. So I agreed and it all fell apart for me after that. Really threw it away, lol I was also 40-0 up at 5-5 and got broken, then amazingly broke to force a tiebreak, which I lost 7 zip. I let myself get too pissed off to even stand a chance in the 2nd set.

As for my earlier post months ago in this thread, I'm completely different now. Back then I posted that I prefer to stay at the baseline most of the time. This year I'm becoming more of a net player, always looking to get to the net when I can and am probably better at volleying than anything else these days.

Sheddie · administrator

What courts do you have over there Alex ? Is it artificial grass ? We have green clay courts, outdoor carpet and indoor acrylic. They're slowing down the indoor surfaces which is really great, it was just super-fast, one break would decide a set. The clay is my favourite as I can dominate the points more, I hit with lots of topspin and so I can push my opponent back with deep shots into the corners. The problem with the outdoor carpet is that it skids a lot particularly at this time of the year when there's generally quite a bit of moisture on the court. Loads of guys hit very flat shots which really suit the skidding bounce and I can't generate enough high bouncing balls to expose their inability to hit topspin shots and I end up not really being able to attack and just scrambling and hacking from the baseline, waiting for errors or the chance to counter-punch.

Congrats on the first singles win, that's a superb result. It takes real guts to come back from that far down in the decider and win such a long match.

Bad luck on the singles and doubles results in the 2nd week. Those kind of losses are tough to take, I remember losing the final of the U18 doubles one year having been 6-4, 4-1 up with a double break. I was so angry I chucked my racket right out of the club and into a nearby garden and had to spend a further 30 minutes, reasoning with the houseowner, why I needed to get into his garden, lol. Played a tournament once when I was 6-2, 4-1 up in the semis and proceeded to lose in 3 sets, 7-5 in the 3rd having been a break up in that set to. Got a point-penalty in that one, for losing my temper and accidentally mis hitting a ball which flew into the crowd and hit my opponent's girlfriend in the face. My opponent was a lot bigger than me so I quickly scarpered after the match !!

I had a fairly easy win in the ncl a few weekends ago: won all 3 rubbers: 6-1, 6-2. 6-3, 6-4 and 6-0, 6-0. Played up a couple of teams the next weekend and beat their first guy 6-4, 1-6, [10-8] in the breaker which was sweet revenge as he beat me in a tournament back in 2004. We were playing on grass, which was a new experience for me. It bounced a lot higher than I thought and wasn't as fast as I expected but slice really was effective. I lost two matches on it to serve-volleyers in the 2nd and 3rd rubbers

6-4, 6-2 and 6-2, 6-2.

Sheddie · administrator

Out of interest, Greenleaf, how did you get into tennis fanaticism ?

I hear that you're planning to soon take up tennis and get some coaching, is that true ?

Salmon · Tennis legend

shame about some of the results, i'm sure that you'll do better next time. that's not bad at all for someone playing on grass for the first time.

i saw wimbledon in 2005 and really went crazy about the game. started following challengers from this january.

hopefully i'll start playing tennis from the next year. it's clay courts only, which is sad because i wan't to play on grass.

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

Mackin fan, here we have hard courts and turf courts mainly. Turf being like sand based astro turf, like they play hockey on. My club has 6 courts. 4 turf courts and 2 hard courts. We are hoping to get enough funds to add 2 new courts into the back corner. We are sort of in the corner of a massive empty field so there's plenty of room to expand outwards, so long as the council approves of course. I've never heard of or seen a grass or clay court here but I guess there must be some somewhere in the country. Some clubs also have another sort of hardcourt, rebound ace is it called perhaps? That's nice to play on, that's what they have at the ASB Centre where they play the Heinken Open. Played there a few times through my university tennis club. Really nice surface.

Schools often have concret courts. Hated them. At my old school we used to have 4 concret courts which were also used for netball, and had 4 turf courts, on the hockey pitch/turf. Which meant it was all a bit of shambles with different lines of different colours for different sports all over the place lol.

Andymonium · Satellite level

I started following tennis accidentally.

-- Edited by Greenleaf at 05:16, 2006-09-28

wait how can you folloe it on accident??

Salmon · Tennis legend

I found tennis really boring.

Then I saw a match at the home of my English teacher in 2005 - the Hewitt vs. Safin one and started liking the sport.

But the real thing started last Wimbly.

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

Had my next match yesterday.
Couple of straight forward victories for once lol.
Won doubles 6-4 6-2 fairly comfortably, although a slight wobble in the 1st set going from 4-1 to 4-4.
Singles I got to 5-1 and 40-0 up quickly again in the 1st set although this time I managed to close it out in 1 point (unlike last time!!). Went 2-0 down in the 2nd set but after that it was all me so 6-1 6-3. My team won every match overall (2 doubles, 4 singles), without even dropping a set so a good day out.
Suprised as I had been sick for a few days and didn't feel well, expected a thrashing. Lucky we played a pretty ordinary team lol.

Sheddie · administrator

invisibleman18 wrote:

Mackin fan, here we have hard courts and turf courts mainly. Turf being like sand based astro turf, like they play hockey on. My club has 6 courts. 4 turf courts and 2 hard courts. We are hoping to get enough funds to add 2 new courts into the back corner. We are sort of in the corner of a massive empty field so there's plenty of room to expand outwards, so long as the council approves of course. I've never heard of or seen a grass or clay court here but I guess there must be some somewhere in the country. Some clubs also have another sort of hardcourt, rebound ace is it called perhaps? That's nice to play on, that's what they have at the ASB Centre where they play the Heinken Open. Played there a few times through my university tennis club. Really nice surface.

Schools often have concret courts. Hated them. At my old school we used to have 4 concret courts which were also used for netball, and had 4 turf courts, on the hockey pitch/turf. Which meant it was all a bit of shambles with different lines of different colours for different sports all over the place lol.

Oh yeah, I've played a lot on astroturf on the past, at our old club we had 3 courts. The problem I've always found with those courts here is that they don't tend to be well maintained and so you get lots of bad bouncies, bumps and dips in the court. Also, when it's wet the ball really keeps low and skids through which favours the serve-volleyers. The big tactic is mainly to slice it deep and get in as the ball skids so much a good pass is extremely difficult.

Are the hard courts, acrylic or tarmac ? I prefer acrylic as it's a nicer surface to move on and a little less bouncy. I suspect it would suit me if the back fences were further back in Britain, they're only about 10 feet from the baseline and turns the match into a moonballing contest. I've had opponents win points in tournaments by just smacking the ball about 30 feet into the air at an angle of about 60 degrees and then the ball bouncing midcourt and looping high up over the back fence for a winner. You'd have to be about 9 feet tall to get it.

Rebound ace is quite slow, pretty bouncy and I'm told it's very nice to move on. It's the reason why no British player has made it past rd4 of the AO main draw since John Lloyd I think ! It's just really, really slow and bouncy and doesn't suit any of our players apart from Andy Murray. Boggo, Mackin, Baker and Goodall could also develop their games to do well on it. Henman and Marray don't like it because the balls don't bite off the court, they just sit up to be hit and it's a nightmare for players who like to attack the net. I remember the match Henman had against Davydenko in AO 2005, Davydenko was just passing him at will.

Sheddie · administrator

invisibleman18 wrote:

Had my next match yesterday.
Couple of straight forward victories for once lol.
Won doubles 6-4 6-2 fairly comfortably, although a slight wobble in the 1st set going from 4-1 to 4-4.
Singles I got to 5-1 and 40-0 up quickly again in the 1st set although this time I managed to close it out in 1 point (unlike last time!!). Went 2-0 down in the 2nd set but after that it was all me so 6-1 6-3. My team won every match overall (2 doubles, 4 singles), without even dropping a set so a good day out.
Suprised as I had been sick for a few days and didn't feel well, expected a thrashing. Lucky we played a pretty ordinary team lol.

Congratulations on those wins Alex

I'm sorry to hear you've been unwell, must have been that birthday cake or maybe those long nights staying up to play me at chess

Did you get a sense of deja vu at 5-1, 40-0, lol !

Is this for the club or university ?

I had a team match on Saturday. The opposition were pretty poor apart from one guy with long hair who had a massive but inconsistent serve. We stuffed them in the mixed and mens and ladies doubles and won 6-0 overall which was good as it was a little cold.

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

Yep got some deja vu at 5-1, 40-0 lol. Managed to get the point this time haha.
Was another little wobble on match point, lost a couple of them and needed him to double fault to win it on my 3rd.
Apparently that team beat their previous opposition 5-1.

I play for my local club, not the university. The uni does have a club although they just play socially amongst themselves at the stadium where the Heinken Open is played. I played last year but this year the times they play didn't suit my timetable so I didn't join.

And yeah, I blame the late night playing you at chess ;)

-- Edited by invisibleman18 at 02:10, 2006-11-07

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

Had a game with a mate today and thrashed him 6-2 6-2. I don't usually beat him so he wasn't pleased

invisibleman18 · Social player + Official Aussie/NZ season match reporter

Got thrashed on Saturday. It was a postponed match from the week before. Lost doubles embarrassingly 6-0 6-2 and singles 6-2 6-3. My team only won 1 match out of 6 overall so a forgettable day.

Next match this weekend.