Tennis Update

I was going to blog about politics, but I don't have anything coherent to say. I only say that most people don't really understand politics (including me) and so they either perpetuate the spin or the fall for it. Spin is when the other side does something wrong and your crucify them for it, but when your side does something wrong, you find excuses.

Instead, I'll talk about tennis, and rather than talk about the US Open which is going on right now, I'll talk about my own tennis.

Tennis is a hard enough sport that it takes a lot of work to improve. Most people don't care that much about improving. They simply care about playing. I don't know why that is, but there you have it.

Lately, to improve, I've been taking tennis lessons. As much as I read about tennis, I can only self analyze so much. Having a second pair of eyes can help quite a bit. The big drawback is how much lessons cost. However, I figure I only have a handful of years for me to play better tennis before age really starts to catch up with me. So the money part doesn't bother me so much.

The latest lesson I've learned is the volley. I've generally been a "good" volleyer meaning I can get my racquet on the ball. But my volleys always float, and never have much power. I always attributed it to not swing hard enough. Little did I know that there were other factors hurting my volley.

In particular, I had an incorrect perception. The key to a good volley is not to use the arm too much. Instead, you want to turn your body sideways and let the torso do the work. That way, your arm is pretty steady, and provides a much stronger base to hit the shot. What a difference that makes! Volleys that used to float now have some pace to it. I can't say I understand the physics of it, but somehow using too much arm actually makes the volley weaker. I wonder if players in the 40s made that mistake too (I was watching some video of tennis in those days and volleys looked awfully weak).

I'm starting to get a bit more power in my forehand, at the cost of missing more, but for now, that seems like an OK tradeoff. I'm still trying to figure out how to use my body more on my forehand instead of arming the ball so much.

Alas, my wrist and shoulder have been bothering me lately. I probably should give my body a more serious rest.