Have you ever played against an opponent much stronger than you who seemed to crush every ball well past your comfort level? How can we possibly bridge the gap between where we are now and that type of play? Today’s episode of the podcast is dedicated to having move success against 5.0 players and anybody else who has big power and offense off the baseline. Learn how to receive these monster shots and send them back with ease!
Special offer through October 9th only: FREE set of string mailed to your door if you sign up for the forums and say “hi” in the “Introduce Yourself” section!
WOW. LOVE THIS! Makes so much sense! Big aha to listen to you!
Hey Ian,
I was on the courts today trying out your concept of relaxing my swing more and more the more power my partner puts into his strokes. It worked wonders. I can’t remember when I felt better on a Tennis court than tonight.
Everything seemed to work. Usually I am playing on a similar level than the partner that I played with tonight, but tonight I felt as if I played a level better than him. We only had a 2h hitting practice session – so no match won big time, but this truely opened my eyes and has the potential of lifting my game to the next level. Thanks a lot for this great inside.
Greets from Germany.
Joerg
Hi Ian,
thanks for the nice instrution in your pod casts.
I’m a club player from Germany. We don’t have the level syste, so I don’t know where I fit in. How can I find that out?
My second question is about what to do against the hard ground strokes? Does the same also works against serves? I sometimes have difficulties with that, just slicing the ball back. As a result I often get the second ball put away against me.
Thanks for your help
Regards
Dirk
Dirk,
Basically an “average” player here in the US is rated at 3.5. 4.0 is “intermediate”, 4.5 and 5.0 make up only 10% of players or so and then above that is very high level/pro players.
Being successful vs hard ground strokes takes experience more than anything. The level of your reaction time, timing, and other stroke elements needs to get used to the harder shot and lack of time. Get out there and practice vs those types of player as often as possible!
October 20, 2011 i’m aylaws loving great stretching advice…most of my problems with running have occured in my feet..oddly enough. I’m pretty sure I have an issue with plantar fascitis in my right foot…as long as I ice my foot with a frozen water bottle and massage my foot with a golf ball, it helps alot. i’ve never tried foam rolling before, but I really need to start I think injuries are prob what tend to scare runners the most…i know thats how I feel anyways…I think the best way to avoid it is just train smartly. Overtraining is so easy to do that its crazy…I’ve struggled with it myself. Its all a learning experience right?I cant stand GUs, they make me gag. I’ve used the “sport” jelly belly beans and they are decent but my all time fave is Cliff shot blocks, they work really well for me and settle down nicely in my stomach. plus they are yummy Theresa recently posted..
Hi Ian, my son and I have been waiting to hear your response to frank’s question about the follow through because we’ve been discussing the same thing for a while. We’re very interested to hear your take on it.
I enjoyed the portion of the show regarding exertion and the relation with injuries. I myself am dealing with a tennis-based elbow injury, first I’ve suffered due to tennis, and it probably was do to over-exerting myself in the first game of tennis I’d played since I came back from a long hiatus.
Ian suggested that we should deal with powerful opponents by using a significantly more vertical swing path. I assume he has in mind a vertically _rising_ swing path and not a downward chop!
Thirty-eight years ago I was taught to hit a backhand (one-handed, of course) with the heel of the hand on the top horizontal panel and the index knuckle on the forward edge of that panel. (I have old tennis books with photos to prove that this is the correct eastern backhand grip). But I was never able to find a way to generate more than very small amount of upward momentum on the racket head; often, it was all I could do to keep the 14oz wooden racket from sliding forward at a downward angle. (Even back then, I tried rotating my hand to get my thumb further under the racket, but then I had trouble hooking the wide running-backhands back into the court, not to mention lifting a skidding approach shot up over the net.)
I tried a two-handed backhand, but the bending and twisting put me in bed with back trouble. That’s why twenty-eight years ago I began hitting a choked-up lefty forehand on the backhand side. Now that rackets with two handles are available (www.naturalTennis.com), I can have a full-length racket off either side. (No, it’s not the correct way to play, but IMO it’s no goofier than using two hands on a single handle.)
That is a funny looking racket. How is it helpful to have those two grips? One for LH and one for RH? (FH/BH)
When the NTRP was created, the guidelines suggested that a player was 5.0 when he had finally developed all the basic shots and spins. Of course, back then Chris Evert was still near the pinnacle of the pro game — a high 7.0. Nowadays, people watching her on YouTube say, “Oh, she’s was really no better than a 4.0, maybe 4.5 at the most.”
Assuming that today’s techniques are truly so much more effective, it seems to me that recreational leagues should have significantly higher NTRP ratings than they had 25 years ago.
by chance does anyone know what kind of strings Ian will be sending?
Again, I learned a lot fron the pod cast the question is this when playing doubles recognizing that your partner is pressing and you can see that he is tight I tre to tell him to relax but a lot of people/partners hate it when you say relax enjoy yourself etc. it just makes them more uptight. what should you say to them? It is funny how much tennis and golf are the same when it comes to “stiking” the ball the tighter you are the worse you hit it the more relaxed you are the better you hit it.
thanks again for a great show and since I have signed up in the forum please send my strings to a youth orginization that could use the support and help.
Reid
Most 5.0 players won’t play their best against a 3.5 player. They’ll seek to move the ball around and play nice so the 3.5 player can have some fun.
Very interesting. Enjoyed and learned. Maybe one day you can do a podcast on what to do when things are not going your way and you start to get nervous on the court due to bad calls, or an that your opponent is just playing better than you or making you play bad…….Thanks.
Roberto,
Here’s some previous episodes:
“Having a bad day”: https://essentialtennis.com/podcast/taking-lessons/40/106/
“Playing a cheater”: https://essentialtennis.com/podcast/taking-lessons/75/190/
“Playing somebody better than you”: https://essentialtennis.com/podcast/taking-lessons/85/217/
Those are a good place for you to start 🙂
Hi how do i sign up for the forum ??
Click on “Forum” in the main site menu and then click “Register”!
I downloded the podcst on my iphone but its only audio?
Am i missing something?
pramod
Nope! It’s an audio podcast 🙂
Hello Ian,
I was listening to the podcast when it suddenly finished. I think it was at the 15 minutes, I am not sure. Could you please check if the podcast file in the website is shorter than the original recording?
Thanks, Fernando
Fernando,
I’m sorry about that! The whole show file is definitely up there, please try downloading the show to your desktop first, or maybe playing it inside a different browser.
Ian, I have registered, next step is INTRODUCE YOURSELF I have gotten to that point but don’t see anywhere to type that introduction on the introduce yourself page what am I missing—Vic
Vic,
Click into the “Introduce Yourself” section and then click the button that says “New Topic”!
Another great bunch of tips…Thanks.
P.S. What 4 racquets did you get ?
Hi Ian,
Just wondering are there any restrictions on your podcasts for Ireland?
I’m trying to ‘download in iTunes’ this latest episode from an iPhone but in iTunes only three episodes show up – “Todd Martin Interview, Forehand Shazzam and Download every episode”
Can you help?
Thanks
Garreth,
When the iTunes feed is updated on our end it takes iTunes a while to reflect the change on their end, usually a few hours before a new show shows up. However, if you click “Subscribe” the most recent episode will automatically be downloaded, even if it isn’t physically showing up yet. I just did this myself and the “Success vs 5.0 Players” downloaded as it’s supposed to. If you don’t want to subscribe it should be showing up any time now.
Hopefully that’s helpful, thanks so much for listening!
Thanks for that Ian
I thought I already did this (subscribe) in iTunes so maybe it’s the iPhone that’s the problem!
I don’t get to listen on the website as the player is flash-based so doesn’t appear
I’ll try again anyway and thanks for your help!
Hm…..is there some kind of “refresh” button to check for new episodes in the iPhone app? There is on the desktop app. If you refresh your podcast feeds the new episode should download automatically. You could try unsubscribing and subscribing again as well. Sorry that you’re having trouble!
Ian,
Great as always!
Question 1) You are so polite and careful with your wording, but I suspect you have to be thinking in the back of your mind that this 3.5 player wasn’t really facing the full onslaught of a 5.0 player and holding their own. You are correct that 1/2 point ratings differences are HUGE. If a 3.5 player is only used to facing 3.25-3.75 level competition, then a 4.0 player might seem overwhelming. I suspect most rec players have never really seen a 5.0 match. Is it more likely that this 3.5 player was really playing a 4.0-4.25 player who maybe used to be 5.0 in their hay day?
Question 2) Definition of Errors. On TV, they only reference “Winners” and “Unforced Errors”, but for some reason “Forced Errors” get ignored. Can you please break down the difference in definitions there and how they help know what we can work on? (Too aggressive, too passive, poor positioning, etc).
Sr. 4.0 doubles player from Saint Paul, MN. Several teammates got bumped up to 4.5, but not me. I serve much better indoors than outdoors — trouble with the sun, but also judging height/timing on pure blue sky days. Would like to be able to play with 4.5, but need consistency on serve and return.
Mark,
Thanks for checking in! If you’d like the free strings sign up for a forums account and post this in the “Introduce Yourself” section. Here’s a link to the forums: https://essentialtennis.com/forum/
Ian – hey – thanks – – that was great!!!! You have quite a talent for giving good advice and instruction vocally. That last part about dealing with the very fast paced groundstoke really hit the spot. Not too big – not short and choppy – relaxed and with a good vertical path (low to high). Seems to be great advice to apply to dealing with big serves too. Yes?
I really enjoy your podcasts.
Thanks
woody
Woody,
Great to hear that you’re enjoying the show, thanks for checking in. Yes, that’s actually a great observation, pretty much the same advice I would give for handling a big server. If you can stay calm, relaxed, and smoothly direct the ball that’s your best chance for success!
Hi There…I am from India….Level 3.5 – 4 Player or at-least i think so 🙂
Welcome 🙂
Ian, f you could have listened to your own podcast, growing up!
How quickly would it have helped you reach 5.0 ?
Really appreciate your podcast, and find that when i watch tennis on the tennis channel
remembering your explainations, helps me understand a lot more of what is happening on the court.
SHOW IDEA!!!! —- FOLLOW THROUGH, FOLLOW THROUGH, FOLLOW THROUGH,
QUESTION – Can you do a show on all the proper follow throughs for EVERYTHING, forehand slice, swinging volleys, lob volleys, eastern grip forehands, slice 2 handed backhands!
And please explain why follow through actually matters, because contact has already been made, so its not as if the racket is going to hit the ball again, how does doing something after hitting the ball, help where the ball goes ? that never made sense to me ?