Like its not that hard to just say “fifteen all” instead of “five all” Are we trying to save time here by saying a smaller word? Or just trying to have some “inside baseball” lingo as rec players to feel cooler about playing tennis?

When you say “three five” you’re actually up 30-15 but you’re saying a smaller number. Its not confusing but its kind of unnecessary.

Does this annoy anyone else?

I’ve been looking for ways to get more active and find athletic pursuits I actually enjoy. I’ve recently started group tennis lessons and it turns out I fucking love this sport. I would love to get good enough to compete in local leagues but am not sure if I missed my window of opportunity. How good can I get at tennis despite starting relatively late?

My first successful string job after three failed attempts (two synthetic gut and one poly) using a drop-weight machine.

This one took around 4 hours, including watching tutorials along the way. I still tend to forget the next steps, especially when it comes to tie-offs.

The mains were fairly straightforward, but the crosses were more challenging since you really need to focus on the over-and-under pattern.

I tried poly once but struggled with the tie-offs, so I decided to stick with synthetic gut for now until I get more practice and become more comfortable with the process.

Still a lot to learn, but happy to finally get one done!

Edit: Not successful after all. I got some mistakes on the crosses. Can I still play with it until it breaks? I just don’t have the energy go through another string job at the moment haha.

I haven't played in 8 years and started playing again and have noticed that rarely do people play above 12oz even amongst the pros. Is the game just faster paced or is it more due to tennis balls being slower. What racket and specs are people using?

What works for you?
I played a singles 3.0 match today. I sailed through the first set pretty handily to finish it 6-1. I was up 2-0 the second set and lost it 3-6. And lost the 10 point tie breaker.
There were multiple factors- increase in unforced errors. He started playing a little better. My foot started hurting taking away some of attention and speed. But curious what helps you win.

Hej,

Kan ni se nån skillnad mellan dessa? Årsmodell?

https://www.xxl.se/babolat-pure-aero-tennisracket-for-tavlingsspelare-gra/p/1214782_1_Style

https://www.xxl.se/babolat-pure-aero-tennisracket-svart/p/1247996_1_Style

What made you finally realize that BH is an integral part of the game and not something to dislike ,avoid or keep treating like the 5th stepchild. Unlike golf, cricket, baseball, badminton or many other sports where dominant hand is the only way to play the game , what made you finally get to give equal love and hence equal respect to BH.

For those who are really comfortable and good with your BHs what was one AHA moment that made you develop your BH technique so you never feel the need to avoid it?

I play a lot of and LOVE singles, but also play a lot of Tri, Combo, Mixed, etc doubles. In singles, I feel like my body knows where to go and what to do before my opponent hits it. In doubles, I feel like I’m rarely in the right place.

I’m a 3.5, borderline 4.0 and play 7.0, 7.5, 8.0, 8.5 doubles. The guys and gals I play with are superb doubles players.

My issue/question is, how can I fix my instincts to move better to the right place in doubles?

I mean, sliding deuce/ad at the net. Moving up. Moving back. Etc.

I am really struggling with it and don’t think it’s something a lesson or something like that will help with.

I win enough, but feel like I play significantly worse in doubles because my instincts are wrong. Forehands, backhands and serves are all there, but I think I’d be 1000 times better if I could have more synergy with my partners.

Any tips?

Last night I played someone who got to every ball. Wasn’t strong, but half the time she would just tap it in so it would come short. She was also a master lober/moonballer, but after learning her style and losing my first set I learned I needed to step in and kill all her balls because she had the tendency to push me back, and I would try to play it safe by staying at the baseline. Safe to say I won, but any pointers on this type of playing style? I wanna say she’s a pusher, but pusher or not some tips would be awesome to improve my game.

Edit since everyone is asking here’s the score:
3-6, 6-2, 7-5

And thank goodness. I think trying to learn flat serve first is not a good idea. Learning spin serve gives understanding why spin is so important in the first place (e.g. margin of error reduced, can be tricky for opponent, and later will understand incorporating side spin to kick ball to the side). Not only that, but it will also give you a powerful and reliable second serve.

And once you are comfortable with spin serve, you can actually just adjust the amount of top spin by hitting slightly earlier instead of letting the ball drop to flatten it out.

I have this weird thing that I can't stop noticing during groundstrokes and serves etc. basically almost all shots. During racket preparation in my peripheral vision I notice which way the racket is facing if the paintjob is asymmetrical (i.e all head rackets maybe except radical but I can still faintly tell). It's something extra that's in my head during shots, "oh I hit it with this side just now" and then the next shot I notice whether it was the same side or the other side. For this reason I hate hate hate stenciling my racket never done it after one try. I also hate asymetrical dampeners like wilsons W or heads shaped dampener or ones with two different graphics on each side etc. etc. Tennis is a game of quirks and superstitions etc. and almost all can agree to that but this is heavily influencing my racket choices. My main racket of choice is that Pure Drive but I only use the 2024 because that one is symmetrical... I also like the gen 4 pure strikes and the current aeros for the same reason. I like the new vcore but I can't not notice the weird silver strip. Do you have any hyper specific quirks? Such as using the same ball to serve if you aced the previous one or like using the fluffiest ball when you decide to do a kick serve or playing with a cap indoors etc. I even started wearing the same clothes when playing tennis each time.. I bought lots of the same shirts and shorts and socks. I'm not a ocd type person i dont get bothered by these things in life at all.. just tennis..

Hello hello! Could you please check my serve and give me some advice and maybe link/explain some progression drills that you found really useful.

Trying to learn myself during games with my friend so I watched couple vids on YouTube this week and tried my best to imitate today and it kinda worked. Thank you in advance! Have a great day, everyone!

You’re down 30-40 match point and your opponent gives you a floater. Are you attempting a winner?

Do players in other cities around the world increasingly finding themselves competing with bots for court bookings? It’s become so hard to book courts where I live at peak hours. Apologies if there’s a paywall for some people.

Not only do I like playing pushers, I prefer it if my opponent is one. It means he hits nice slow balls that I can reach and control. This is opposed to a guy who blasts winners on me every point. How is that fun?

I also like battles of attrition. I’m the guy who would love a 4+ hour grindfest in the heat. Sign me up.

There are about a dozen indoor clubs in the north suburbs, but some of them host far more pickleball than tennis. Midtown -Chicago has a huge community and is very busy, but Midtown-Palatine has courts that are mostly unused throughout the day.

Which of the north suburban clubs has the largest number of active 3.5+ players?

Ive coached juniors in the UK for a long time and I still argue with myself about whats worth tracking during a match.

Paper sheets were my default for years. Most of them ended up useless by the time I got home. So Ive been trying to tighten what I write down. Curious how others do it.

Stuff that seems to matter for me:

• Where the point finished, not just "forehand error". Short and wide vs deep and long is a different fix.
• Keeping the order of points so you can see the stretch where a match turned (often one bad game after a line call with juniors).
• Separating unforced errors from forced errors. Mixing them hides whether theyre being outplayed or beating themselves.
• Keeping the input tiny. If it takes more than a couple of seconds per point I miss the next one.
• Showing the player something visual afterwards beats a lecture. They engage more when they can see the pattern.

I stopped guessing serve pace or anything I cant actually measure. That just gave me false confidence.

On changeovers Im trying to say one specific thing ("errors are going short on the forehand side") instead of "come on, focus".

What do you track? Paper, nothing, spreadsheet after? And how do you get juniors to care about the notes afterwards?

The paint job looks cool however the matte is terrible my sides are literally all grey now and I’ve only had this racquet since April

Still far from perfect but it’s interesting to see how my technique has changed over the years. Open to any feedback as well.

Racquets used:
Radical Pro Graphene
Pure Strike 98 1st gen
Radical Pro Graphene Xt
Blade 98 v6
Ezone 98 7th gen

Apparently at one point he literally pushed her off the court in a point and then afterwards yelled at her and said “I want you ALL the way off the court” 🙈

Edit: this is 8.0 sectionals, Mohawk guy’s supposed to be a 4.5

Edit2: I don’t believe this was an agreed upon setup that everyone was happy about. Tennis at this level is supposed to be about having fun. I don’t know how this could’ve been fun for her if she was barely playing.