Yeah I do like to serve half long since I will get a long ball that I can start attacking unless they push it good back or push it to my elbow or somehow keep it short still.
I can serve short to the fh. I try to do reverse pendulum then or do it with the hook serve. I just end up being clueless what to do with that half long push in case I can't loop it myself. I seem to be not confident enough in matches atleast to just open the rally with my bh flick. I am too scared to get a block and I end up reacting only.
If you tell me to serve short to fh I can serve it short all the time. But for some reason during the game I feel like it doesn't really help me getting into the attacking position so I do it rarely I guess?
Also during the game I can't remember any ball exchanges or stuff to look out for. I don't know why I got a good ball into my hitzone back. Or even with serves I can do so many different kind of serves I don't know which ones I should go for. I usually end up with something that doesn't benefit me or him. Mostly if he can return my serves easily I default to something where I am not under pressure but still might force a long weak ball.
I also don't understand why I am practising long serves yesterday (long fast ones) and today I net 4/4 points I believe by serving long fast and I just go back to my half long serves back?
Where should I attack him? Mostly it feels like he can block with both sides well. Today in the 5th set I had mental blockage in both games vs the old and the 1st (their best player) both lost in the 5th set. I will talk about the games after I have watched it myself again and upload it. My phone battery died out in the 2nd game so I am not sure how long it filmed that match.
First match is up. Feel free to review. It just looks like I play with d09c just to block and push it's so sad.
The sets I won I had a plan. Maybe not the best plan but I was atleast fixated on it and pulled the set win twice. It was basically changing my fh receive.
In the first set I realized my fh receive is not working. So I focused told myseld to take it earlier and loosen my hand a bit. This way I could drop the balls short and didnt get under pressure by his 3rd ball attacks instantly anymore.
Later on he realized that I think and started to serve longer. I did mistakes again. Then the comment someone wrote here came to my mind that I should let the ball bounce longer and take it as late as possible and see if it drifts long. This also worked quite well and he was the one in defense play instead of 3rd ball attacking.
I think in the 5th set I dont remember but he was serving more to my bh. My bh I was so scared of looping/flicking. I don't know there seems to be no framework I am following. I just throw my loose wrist and racket into the ball. Fh feels too stiff and I go too hard sometimes and bh is too loose too safe. I do opposite strokes what I do in training basically.
In training vs weaker players I dont mind doing mistakes I know I will win either way so I play super relaxed. But in matches I have this bad mindset of being scared to lose scared to do unforced errors.
Other than that this was the first time I got this close playing him. I think it was our 4th encounter and this is the first 5th set we played. Usually he wins 3-0 and 1 time 3-1 I think.
I have two options now either work on my mental and/or slow down on the rubbers. Maybe I will even benefit from a softer rubber on bh aswell. Maybe it will make me loop more with bh aswell and not just in training.
Looking from the trainingoutcome I can stick with these rubbers and just keep on training harder. But in matches I just scrumble and don't use offensive strokes as much.
My brother said he has a gewo hype kr 47,5 on his spare blade for my bh. Otherwise just blindbuy tenergy 05 fx for bh and t19 on fh and hope for the best. Cant be worse than how I play right now. And if the tenergy 05fx turns out to be too soft then I atleast know what to look for and can go up in hardness step by step.
I rather play with rubbers I can use in matches aswell and not just in training
So I watched the match. I am making some notes for the game by game:
1. first serve was long and he pushed and you used a backhand. This is risky unless you practice it a lot. Whenever you serve long to an opponent, your goal should be to use your forehand as much as possible unless you expect him to attack with his forehand and expose himself to a block.
2. second serve half long, got a push - the push popped up but you waited for it to come long and it didn't come long enough and you looped it upwards but because it wasn't heavy and you didn't wrap it, it went long. You need to know what you served, anticipate the popup and attack it while it is high.
3. He serves short, you push long, he opens and there is a brief rally and he maintains control and wins the point.
4. He serves short without backspin, you push and pop the ball up and he attacks hard.
5. You do the same to him, he pops it up and you attack hard.
6. You do it again, you get the popup, you attack hard, he blocks but you attack the next ball into the net.
5-1 for him at this point.
7. He serves, you push, he pushes back, you open and miss into the net. This is a good point and a good miss.
8. He serves, you pop it up, he attacks but you defend and wait for your chance which comes and you attack and win the point.
9. You serve, he pushes long, you push long, he attacks and misses.
10. You serve half long into the forehand and the ball pops up but he reads it as heavier backspin and misses his attack off the table.
11. He serves without backspin, you push and pop it up, he attacks hard and wins.
12. He serves, you push long and high, he attacks hard and misses.
5-7 at this point, you are down.
13. You serve reverse into the forehand with sidespin but no real backspin - he pushes and pops it up a little, you push and float the ball, he attacks hard and wins the point.
14. You serve slow half long that sits up off the table, he pivots and uses his forehand, you block, he loops again and you miss into the net and he wins the point.
15. He serves, you push long, he opens, you block, he attacks harder but misses.
16. He serves short with some backspin but a bit high - you misread the height and don't make the right contact and miss the over the table loop,
17. You serve, he pushes, you push again, he pushes and pops up the ball, you attack hard to the forehand and he gets the ball back but you block while stuck over the table, he attacks and misses.
18. You serve lazy half long into the forehand area where he doesn't have to move - maybe trying to hit his middle but not rushing him and missing your target - he kills the serve.
7-11.
So if I were coaching you, I would tell you after that game that you need to shorten the serve and serve much less backspin. And also look for opportunities to attack his serve, you need to look carefully when when he is not adding backspin. You are pushing too much, stop being surprised by the return, prepare to attack as he isn't pushing short, he either opens or pushes long.
Game 2:
1. He serves long, you push. This is a big mistake. When someone serves long backspin, they need to be really good at attacking heavy topspin if you open on the serve. You do win the point as he misses the 5th ball from your block.
2. He serves, you do a great short push and win the point outright.
3. You serve, he pushes, you push again (again, acting surprised at the result of your serve), he misses his opening.
4. You serve, get a popup and attack. He defends and wins the point but you played it properly, you do seem to be attacking to the forehand too predictably and need to move the ball around.
5. He serves, you attack the loose serve and win the point.
6. He serves, you push, he attacks, you defend the return and win the point. Not the way I would play it but at least you won the point.
5-1 you are up.
7. You serve long, he attacks, you defend and claim the initiative and win the point.
8. you serve heavy chop, he puts the ball into the net.
9. He serves long and high, you push off the table.
10. He serves half long, you open, the ball hit the net on his block and you scoop the ball, give him the initiative and he takes over and wins the point.
11. You serve long and high and he also pushes it off the table.
12. You serve long, get a push and you loop the ball into the net.
8-4 you are up.
13, He serves, you open, his block hits the net and you miss your scoop shot.
14. He serves, you push long, he tries to drive the ball but hits the top of the net and out.
15. You serve short/halflong deceptive topspin, he pops the ball up and you win the point outright on your attack.
16. You serve long and net out.
17. He serves long, you push, he attacks and wins the point.
18. He serves, you push, he doesn't feel as confident that the ball is coming out so he pushes and you win the pushing rally when he pushes into the net.
You win the game 11-7.
Again, you are playing well because you are winning on defense but you are not opening on loose balls and you are serving too long too often. Your short topspin has not been attacked so use it more often and let us see if he ever decides not to push it. Also stop attacking all the time into his forehand. you need to move the ball around a bit more. And commit to attacking the long balls, stop being surprised he is giving you long balls. IT is okay to miss because you have to learn what your opponent is putting on the ball and then adapt as the match goes on.
Game 3:
1. You serve, you get a long push off a backspin serve and you push it back (again, what were you expecting having played the match so far), and he takes the initiative and attacks. While you play one good block, it is not enough to take over the point and he wins on the next shot.
2. You serve sidespin, he pushes and pops up the ball, you spin it and he is on the defensive and you win the point ultimately.
3. Next point was very ugly or a good rally depending on your perspective. He serves a very attackable serve, the serve is coming high enough that even if it isn't long, it can be attacked outright with a forehand or a backhand. You push it, he attacks and by some good defense, you manage to level out the point, but the fear of missing leads you to not attack on shots where you have the initiative and opportunity. You do play a good counterloop and one good shot, but ultimately, he misses when the initiative is ceded to him. For me what this point shows is that you need a fully adaptable forehand even more than a powerful forehand. You need someone to feed you lots of spin variation and placement variation without telling you what is on the ball, you just have to read it and play a topspin that keeps the ball on the table.
4. This was the best point you had played the whole match for the first two shots. He served, you opened, he blocked, you attacked again, he blocked and then you do that shot that I have criticized you for every time I see it and I wasn't surprised because you practice it and it showed up in a match (it has showed up before already) and you cede the initiative with that crappy forehand and lose the point. He chops the crappy forehand, but then you push rather than attack the chop and then he takes over. It is better to continue looping and miss than to do that crappy forehand against consistent players. Also, remember that a spinny loop vs chop places pressure on the opponent do do the appropriate counter.
5. Long serve, he floats the push return, you miss the loop kill. Right play, you just didn't read the ball correctly or get close enough to do so.
6. Good serve selection even if I am not in love with the serve choice.
3-3
7. He serves, you push long, he opens, you defend, he misses.
8. He serves, you push long again, he opens but misses.
9. You serve, he pushes, the ball kicks up off the trajectory you predicted and miss.\
10. You serve, he opens, you block, he eventually cedes the initiative to you and you take over the point and you still do that crappy forehand. But I guess ultimately it says more about how you want to win points. You win the point because your forehand is too low energy for him to get back given how far off the table he is. So maybe it was smart short selection.
11. He serves, you open with backhand, he blocks, the ball doesn't sit high but the opening loaded the ball enough that this is an attackable ball but rather than continue the attack, you just reach and block it with your forehand. He takes over the point and wins.
12. He serves into the table.
7-5 you are up.
13. You serve, he pushes, you open, he blocks to your forehand, you reach and block with the forehand (this might be a foot orientation issue, or you need to learn to play your forehand out of multiple foot positions), he blocks twice and you finally attack when the blocks have become harder, while attacking the first block would have been much easier, but you miss your final attack.
14. You serve long backspin, he pushes, you push (again this is really not acceptable), he pivots and opens, you block down the line and take over the initiative and win the point.
15. He serves half long backspin/nospin but you don't start your stroke low enough and don't create enough grip and put the ball into the net.
16. He serves long backspin, you push, he attacks and this time you block long.
17. You serve lazy long topspin but he misreads it and loops it off the table.
18. You serve into the forehand, you get a push, you attack predictably into the forehand, he blocks, you block into his backhand, he blocks back to your backhand then you do a nice backhand kill down the line,
10-8
19. He serves, you push, he pushes, you push and pop it up, he attacks, you defend and win the point.
11-8
If I was coaching you, I would warn you that the opponent is going to be more aggressive since has never lost to you before. The most important thing is not to rush and to continue to defend. Serve more short topspin. Move the opening attacks into his backhand you always attack with your forehand into his forehand. There are many opportunities to open on half long balls but since you have not trained that, we just have wait till later.
