[TigerMandingo]

I'm just getting into this sport and I already love it.

What kind of racquet do you use and which ones would you recommend for an beginner-level player?

How long have you been playing?

Tips on how to get better?

I play with my buddy now that the summer is here but I feel like my game is stagnant because we're at about the same level.

[Jungshadow]

(06-22-2016 02:37 PM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

I'm just getting into this sport and I already love it.

What kind of racquet do you use and which ones would you recommend for an beginner-level player?

How long have you been playing?

Tips on how to get better?

I play with my buddy now that the summer is here but I feel like my game is stagnant because we're at about the same level.

I use this racquet and think it's great for beginners (easy to generate spin and light): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Graphene-Instin...d+instinct

Playing since I was four but stopped aged 10. Now been playing for about 5 years.

Best tip is to invest and get one on one coaching. Find a local Feldenkrais Method workshop to help with flexibility and agility, ease of movement is king, as we see with Novak and Roger.

Enjoy

Mark

[Mentavious]

Work on your grip for backhand, forehand, serving, volleying, etc etc first and foremost.

Also, your stances are very important as well. You need to be balanced and have both feet on the ground so you're able to rotate your torso to generate power.

Identify your weaknesses as well.

You're a beginner so start with a light weight bracket.

[MiscBrah]

Get private lessons at the beginning. Tennis is like golf or martial arts, you'll fuck it up if you try to teach yourself.

I play with a Babolat. Get yourself a quality racket. It makes a tremendous difference.

You improve the most by playing with people better than you. Consider joining a league or a friendly tournament.

[waterWater]

Lots of beautiful girls play college tennis and a lot of beautiful milfs play at the local tennis clubs. As far as improving your game it comes down mostly to athletic ability. I have seen beginners who are very athletic become better than people who have been playing much longer but are out of shape.

I have played tennis for over fifteen years and I coached for a little while. The one piece of advice I can give you is never go for a winner. Always focus on consistency. Even the pros beat each other on unforced errors. When you are learning aim for the middle of the court (the "T") and try to hit with as much topspin as you can. The reason why is even the pros hardly ever aim for the lines. You will win beginner to advanced with consistency. In all my years of tennis I have never had a match where someone beat me by hitting a bunch of winners. It always comes down to errors.

Same on your serve, focus on getting it in before adding pace.

Tennis is a great sport, have fun!

[Saweeep]

I've always liked the idea of playing tennis.

Problem is, tennis doesn't seem to like me very much.

[TooFineAPoint]

It's my favorite sport, and one of the most satisfying things I can do.

I don't do it well, but it's still satisfying.

And most people who are into tennis are generally a bit more polite and witty than your average sportsman. At least in my experience.

Building on what Mentavious said, practice footwork. Get competent at little shuffling half-steps sideways and forwards/backwards. Drill it into your head that you want to always be moving your body so it's in the perfect position to hit the ball, rather than reaching for the ball.

[Sidney Crosby]

Genie is looking hot again.

WB

[amity]

Any thoughts on Wimbledon? (starts today)
Novak almost certainly will win the mens' unless Murray can overcome him somehow, but seems unlikely, and Fed is no longer capable of beating Djokovic in a best of 5 contest plus is just back from injury, also don't think Thiem's time will come just yet.
And Serena is no shoe-in for the womens', Muguruza surely has a decent chance of her maiden Wimbledon title here, should make the final at any rate as she's in the easier half of the draw.

[Merenguero]

During high school, I went from being a really mediocre player to getting Division I offers mostly by doing just three things. The first thing, I have posted about before. I used to have a dog, a sheltie. I would take him down to the beach, especially in the off season, when there were few or no people around and run after him, much like Rocky did with the chicken. This helped out my court coverage immensely. A lot of people who would see me play would say that I had the best court coverage they had ever seen. It wasn't natural.

The second thing I did was go to my elementary school and hit against a brick wall for hours. There is some downside to this and that is since the ball comes back so fast, it will affect your follow through and cause you to have a sloppy finish on your strokes. Regardless, this was huge and completely improved the way I hit the ball. The school basically had a high, solid, brick wall with blacktop on the ground and tons of room to hit long drives. Often, I will see hitting walls without sufficient space between the wall and the fence. The wall at the school was the best I have seen. I also used to get close to the wall and work on both forehand and backhand volleys. My straight right hand punch really strengthened my volleys. If you spend a lot of time hitting against a wall, you also need to spend a lot of time on the court as you can see how high on the wall you are hitting to ensure that your shots will go over the net, but you can't tell how deep your shots will be. If you spend all of your time hitting against a wall, then go play competitive matches, you will find a lot of your shots sailing. I would seriously piss of most of the faculty and administration at that school by hitting against the wall all of the time. The two most athletic male teachers, both former successful college athletes, were perfectly fine with me doing that and always came up to me, said hi, and talked to me. Luckily, the police were never called. They wouldn't be able to do much anyway.

The third thing is just serving tons of balls into an open court. You can be a great player without having your serve as a weapon, but if your serve is a liability, you will have serious problems, either in the form of frequent double faults or your opponent simply crushing your serve, especially your second serve.

(06-26-2016 11:18 AM)waterWater Wrote:  

Lots of beautiful girls play college tennis and a lot of beautiful milfs play at the local tennis clubs.

If I ever buy a house, I definitely plan to have a tennis court in the yard and will invite tons of girls over to play tennis.

[Merenguero]

(06-22-2016 07:14 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  

Get private lessons at the beginning. Tennis is like golf or martial arts, you'll fuck it up if you try to teach yourself.

I mostly agree with this, but I have a friend who is completely self-taught who can beat most Division I college players. The guy's an interesting case overall. Really smart guy, really good tennis player and overall athlete, has social skills, but is not at all functional in life and never has been.

[TigerMandingo]

Went to play with my gf the other day and it's crazy how much fun tennis can be. Neither of us is very good, though we were able to sustain decent rallies here and there - not to mention that the sweat we both worked up later translated into me banging her out pretty nicely

I think tennis is the sweet spot for that hobby you and your girl can do together, especially if she's in decent shape. Most fit girls find working out/running/any other sport too boring or exhausting etc. But tennis hits that middle ground.

Also appreciate the advice so far on this thread. Keep it coming, guys.

[Carolinian]

Also once you improve make a point to try to stand on the baseline and be offensive. Too many players drift back deep behind the baseline and play defensive. It's much easier to hit offensive shots and come in for volleys playing this way.

Watch the 2005 Australian Open semifinal between Federer and Safin. Federer played brillant but Safin held his ground and pushed him around over 5 sets.

[911]

(06-28-2016 01:08 PM)TigerMandingo Wrote:  

Went to play with my gf the other day and it's crazy how much fun tennis can be. Neither of us is very good, though we were able to sustain decent rallies here and there - not to mention that the sweat we both worked up later translated into me banging her out pretty nicely

I think tennis is the sweet spot for that hobby you and your girl can do together, especially if she's in decent shape. Most fit girls find working out/running/any other sport too boring or exhausting etc. But tennis hits that middle ground.

Also appreciate the advice so far on this thread. Keep it coming, guys.

Agree, tennis is a great sport for dates or for activities with your steady babe.

Take some classes to work on your serve and to correct any bad tendencies on your strokes. One thing that's really helpful for your serve is to stretch your serving arm by lifting your elbow up and reaching down your back with your hand. You can do that when everytime you shower, when scrubbing your back with a small towel, using your other hand to pull the towel down. You will get a lot more power and control on your serve if your range of motion is wider and you're more limber there.

Venus Williams is getting a workout by a feminine Russian babe called Kasatkina, winning in 3 long sets. Jersey girl Christina McHale is giving Serene a run for zir money, leading 3-2 in the third. In case you didn't know, Venus and zir brother Serene are probably trannies. Their trophies and $50M prize money might be the biggest scam in the history of the sport.

[Que enspastic]

I play competitively, great sport. Consistency is absolute king. When you meet another very consistent player, that's when tennis becomes more like chess, working your opponent off the court and taking him out with a volley, wrong footing stroke, drive shot etc

[heavy]

(06-22-2016 07:14 PM)MiscBrah Wrote:  

Get private lessons at the beginning. Tennis is like golf or martial arts, you'll fuck it up if you try to teach yourself.

Yep. I was pretty good in high school and my biggest regret is not playing in college (I wasn't *that* good, but could have made the team at least initially).

I played 2 years of high school then won a one hour private lesson. Totally changed my serve and greatly improved my ground stroke. You'll be surprised what a lesson or two will do for you.

And yeah, you won't get better unless you play with guys better than you.

[Dantes]

I'm pulling for Roger. I would like to see him pull ahead of Sampas for the all time leader at Wimbledon. This Canadian he's playing in the semis looks tough.

[amity]

(07-07-2016 12:08 AM)Dantes Wrote:  

I'm pulling for Roger. I would like to see him pull ahead of Sampas for the all time leader at Wimbledon. This Canadian he's playing in the semis looks tough.

It will be tough for sure. Raonic is much improved these days and RF has just had a long five setter.
Not sure if Roger's able to pull off another win against a monster server so soon.
I hope I'm wrong but I can see Raonic winning this.
Berdych has been playing well on the other side, but not sure he has the killer instinct to beat Murray, even though Andy had some shocking lapses in focus yesterday before finally closing out Tsonga.
Murray will probably come through there.
So I think it will be a Raonic vs Murray final, and I think Murray's superior returning game will be key, he's the best returner in the game and he will get a few chances to break.
Yes he will lose focus as usual allowing Raonic to take a set, perhaps even two, but overall it's Murray's to lose and I expect him to be lifting the cup come Sunday afternoon.

[nomadbrah]

Probably not thread worthy, but I think in the spirit of the olympics where Serena Williams just lost.









Come on! Those are not girls, those are young boys, it is completely obvious.

[nomadbrah]

[Brosemite]

Had a chance to pay a little more attention to some tennis action right now & I must say this....the US Open is probably the most poorly organized grand slam of the 4. Is it me or do they try to put on at least 3-4 women's matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium per day?

For tomorrow, the best match up of the day being Dominic Thiem vs. Juan Martin Del Potro (2009 Champ and ended Roddick's career) is not only being relegated outside of Ashe, but onto the Grandstand.

I get that both Federer & Nadal are past champs albeit with easier predictable matchups, but it doesn't make any sense to put the best men's matchup on the 3rd court in favor of possible blowouts. It also doesn't make any sense to put three women's matches on Ashe tomorrow as well.

This is why I prefer to watch the Aussie Open or Wimbledon because the most deserving matchups & players get first priority on the main courts whereas everything is just about "big names" in the US Open.

USTA is a joke & there's a reason why this country will never develop formidable male contenders heading into the future.

[Dantes]

(09-03-2017 05:30 PM)Brosemite Wrote:  

Had a chance to pay a little more attention to some tennis action right now & I must say this....the US Open is probably the most poorly organized grand slam of the 4. Is it me or do they try to put on at least 3-4 women's matches on Arthur Ashe Stadium per day?

For tomorrow, the best match up of the day being Dominic Thiem vs. Juan Martin Del Potro (2009 Champ and ended Roddick's career) is not only being relegated outside of Ashe, but onto the Grandstand.

I get that both Federer & Nadal are past champs albeit with easier predictable matchups, but it doesn't make any sense to put the best men's matchup on the 3rd court in favor of possible blowouts. It also doesn't make any sense to put three women's matches on Ashe tomorrow as well.

This is why I prefer to watch the Aussie Open or Wimbledon because the most deserving matchups & players get first priority on the main courts whereas everything is just about "big names" in the US Open.

USTA is a joke & there's a reason why this country will never develop formidable male contenders heading into the future.

Brosemite,

I couldn't agree more.


Can't someone can't knock the Old Hag "Venus" out already?

The coverage is annoying and typical with the overhype of the women and these mediocre American players.

Funny to watch how the commentators are trying to make the masculine, brut Coco VandeWeghe into the next American tennis sensation.

[Brosemite]

^ It's not like Thiem or Del Po are boring ass ranked players. Both have plenty of game & are fun players to watch. Heck they didn't even get Louis Armstrong...but friggin Grandstand.

[Sidney Crosby]

Wozniacki should shut the fuck up about Sugarpova.

Maria got her back though in her response, it was almost like a Trump delivery.

Shapovalov got knocked out today, but he is only 18 and I see him being consistently in the top 3 or 4 with Zverev in the future, which is really not a stretch since basically everyone is saying it.

I think Federer is going to win the US Open

[Chevalier De Seingalt]

(09-03-2017 09:52 PM)Sidney Crosby Wrote:  

I think Federer is going to win the US Open

I watched Fed's 2nd round 5 setter against Youzhny. Roger really didn't look like himself, he wasn't moving well, reaching for balls, not even trying to chase down balls that he normally would. After he eked out the win I fully expected him to lose the next match. Instead he somehow regained his form and was dominant against Lopez. Hopefully he can keep it up, pretty inspiring to watch. If he wins 3 Slams in one year at the age of 35/36 . . . god damn.

Crap while typing that out I checked the schedule of play for today and WTF Brosemite is right, former US Open champ Del Potro and 6th seed Thiem on grandstand. Meanwhile 3 of the 4 women's matches are on Arthur Ashe. The 4th women's match is between 2 non-name, unseeded, and non-American players and they still get to play on Louis Armstrong stadium??? WTF is going on?

Who the hell even likes women's tennis anyways? I used to occasionally watch a women's match back when Hingis and Justine Henin were playing because they at least had unique styles to their game and played with some craftsmenship. Now it's all just a bunch of whacking the ball as hard as they can until someone misses, without any individuality or uniqueness.

Also they all look like men now.