Tennis

I have been playing tennis since I was a little kid. When I first started, my uncle Kenny decided to make me a lefty. It is true that I write with my left hand, but my dominate strength hand is clearly my right hand. One of the reasons that the switch to lefty was made was that my lefty backhand (which is very similar to a righty baseball swing) was naturally great from the start. I would try to hit my backhand every shot, which was a more consistent and more powerful shot than anyone my age (or even a few years older) could produce. The downside was that my left arm was so weak that I couldn’t hit a decent forehand or serve. I was a completely one dimensional players, but it served me well as I was always a very good player. As I grew up I unsuccessfully tried many different forehands and serves; however, they all sucked. But with my backhand I was still likely to smack one right into my opponent’s gut (which helped me out as I played tennis all four years in High School). Around the time I was going to college, I began to develop a decent first serve, and I got in leagues at Albany (since they didn’t have a real team). And all this time, I was playing tennis as much as I could with my brother, who was always better than me. Even when I moved to the city, I still managed to play in a USTA league. I even started using a two-handed forehand, which I had tried and failed several times before, but this time it was working decently, not good, but decent. But a few years ago, my brother moved to California and then I got married and Molly was born. Thus most of my free time, and my most constant tennis partner, were gone. I maybe played twice over two years. About two months ago, my dad decided to give me a gift, he would pay for me to join a USTA league near his house. It was a package deal that also included a weekly clinic (which I really needed to get my timing back). The league was for players ranked 3.5, and I used to play at a very slightly higher 4.0 level, but since I hadn’t played for so long I would it was appropriate. Well, in the time that I stopped playing, there must have a shift in the earth’s polarity, or I slipped into a another dimension because I was not playing bizarro tennis. My backhand, the best part of my game since I was 5 was terrible, but my serve and forehand were good. And in the past few weeks, but serve and forehand was become even better, while my backhand is just horrible. I am actually running around my backhand to smash forehand. For weeks I was so confused by this twist, and kept thinking everything would switch back or was even hopeful my backhand would get back to normal and my forehand would stay good. However, the whole thing was very unnerving and overall I played iffy at best. Two weeks ago I played a doubles match again a team that was clearly not a good, but I was just horrible, hitting weak shots and not having any confidence. (I have always had a tendency to play down to bad opponents for up to better ones, but this was horrible, even though we won the match.) This match really bothered and I vowed never again. I went into my last match with a completely different attitude, which was “What would a solid 4.0 player to these people, he would crush them, not win, but crush them, and that I how I need to be”. No more just hitting it over soft (even it that is the best way to win against poor opponents), but I must play like they are better than me. I have to hit good shots, not just shots. It was a great match, even though my partner played horrible. I felt like I was on the wrong court and that it was a mistake and that I shouldn’t be at this level (which I proved by my play). Anyway, I hope I can maintain this attitude even when I hit a rough patch as I know it is the way towards played better, which makes the whole game much more fun. Now, if only my backhand was as good as it was when I was seven I would be there.

Ignore this image, I am using it for test purposes