A cloudy day, with the same gang.
I serve first and won it easily. Can’t say it’s a good serving day: still tray but no doubles. As usual, some of my serves have pops. My tosses are high and worked well for me.
A Slinger morning
A gorgeous morning. It feels right from the get-go
However, my serve is entirely a different story.
Can’t get rid of waiter tray!
My forehand and backhand need to hit early, which is to hit on the rise.
My habit, however, is hitting when the ball is going down, which needs to be changed.
- one serve motion that looks right – birds in the sky
- the warm-up
- I hit my phone
- forehand
A comment to the following backhand video:
Correct: your grip and backswing is ok and you stepped into the ball ok (although the double hander can be played open stance with good hip rotation).
Could be better: with the time you had I would rather see you come another step forward and hit the ball on the rise or the top of the bounce. You lose a lot of power and spin by letting the ball drop.
You’re a touch slow to meet the ball and with an open face. You are giving away power with that swing. Most players with two handed backhands hit a lot of flat balls but just close the face a touch, hit a little earlier and you’ll find more power and more topspin to keep it in.
Otherwise, it’s a good backhand and I like your footwork.
6-4, 6-4
No earth shattering revelation. Coach and I won 4 and 4 over Craig and Joel.
The second set we were leadng 4-0, then 4-4. Oh well.
We’ve three players for this clinic, so we played dobules.
A cold clinic
Since Thanksgiving, the weather has been cold, 48° at 8 am. The swimming pool water temp is 79°: comfortable for me, cold for the rest, or most.
Today’s clinic: waiting position.
Coach said my waiting stance shouldn’t be flush to the baseline, which is how I stand, but should be one leg ahead, such as Kei Nishikori (1989-).
Today, there is just me and Greg.
After hitting from baseline and volley, we played canadian doubles, and I was able to win a game.
..
Morrison Hill swimming pool
摩理臣山游泳池
7 Oi Kwan Rd,
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Someone posted two photos of this pool today, where I used to swim daily.
It’s Thanksgiving in the US, but our prayers are with Hong Kong: the big fire Wang Fuk Court structure fire has claimed 75, and many more are expected; 3 arrests are made as of now.
Monday clinic
Pix of serve, fore/back hands
According to the coach, this is correct, except my elbow could be a bit higher, which allows me to easily drop, then swimg to hit.
But I’ve so many double faults today, losing 4-6 and 3-6 to Sandi and Matt, with Tony.
Played with Rich briefly, till Tony came. We fileld 4 courts this morning.
Two sets of forehand:
… and set #2
2 sets of backhand:
And set #2
A receiving game won
Swim …
With a little extra time on hand before tennis, instead of the warm up laps, I record myself.
The most obvious one is my free: thought I’ve fixed my hand/arm crossing the middle. But my right arm is still doing it.
I rarely swim the fly, which looks kiddish. And the backstoke: do I need to turn more?
Four strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle, in the individual medley (IM) sequence:
- butterfly: kiddish
- backstroke
- breaststroke
- freestyle: my right hand is crossing the middle
Friday Clinic: 4 & 3
Coach C gives two clinics a week, on Mondays and Fridays. It’s a playtime with very little instruction.
I was there a little early, and got a little serving tip because he saw me working on my serve for a long time.
The racket head should stay up straight before the trophy position for a serve, which allows for a more powerful and efficient swing.
Is my forehand correct?
The backhand, coach says: from low to high, and no chicken arms.
Coach and I lost two sets to Adrian and Greg 4-6 and 3-6. Greg is 4.0 and Adrian is 21, who can play and run. It was a good 8.0 game, except I’m too weak. Coach cheated on the score, good naturally a couple of times.
On brand of sneakers
On Holding AG is a Swiss athletic shoe and clothing company, founded in 2010. It trades on NYSE as ONON, IPOed in 2021 at $24, and today is at $41.
I was searching for a sandy court tennis sneakers, this models showed up.
Although the color is lovely. But unfortunatley, I found the sole isn’t as thick as I thought. The shoes are a bit tight. The front of the sneakers look dull.
