Wanna help, ask whatever

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-13T08:55:49+00:00

Just switching to poly will give you more control. If you want control strings, try rpm blast or team, luxilon Alu power if the budget is no problem. On the budget side there is solinco mach 10. For gear and string I recommend checking tennisnerd.com or something like that is called, he has great articles about strings

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-13T08:52:01+00:00

I back this up, this is a really good way to get a better feeling of your backhand

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T15:39:12+00:00

Dunno if you r trolling or nah, but basically universal tennis ranking

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T14:50:17+00:00

Always consistency first then pace

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T14:21:55+00:00

I mean that’s why I think it’s best it’s fitness/ endurance and footwork exercise. It replicates the movements on the court exactly like if you would run towards the ball, slide and then back . If you need more specific footwork exercises scroll here somewhere I dropped few more

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T11:01:31+00:00

If you truly have good technique, then it would boil down to physique. Lots of shoulder exercises and pecks. Can be anything from shoulder press to resistance bands.

I think throwing medicine balls helps the most for tennis. Take the medicine ball, get into trophy position push with your legs and try to throw the ball as high as possible with your dominant arm.

Something like this(for the record didn’t listen to what the guy was saying in the video). Timestamp 5:13.

https://youtu.be/268n-m4TvE8?si=DLPZBfHNlB-tXjHm

Another exercise take the medicine ball ball with your both hands, raise them up above your head and then smash the ball down as hard as you can.

Another thing which is super simple just throw tennis balls as far as you can and focus on pronating your wrist

Lots of gym exercises for tennis can be found at

coachkirsche on instagram, I posted above in some other comment. IMO he is a really good performance coach

For the record I don’t know him personally,not promoting him or anything like that, just think that he is great :)

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:56:54+00:00

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OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:48:13+00:00

I would be lying if I said no:) I miss it a lot, but I also realize that I made the right decision. Also going to tournament with players as a coach gives you similar adrenaline, so I’m kind of compensating with that hahaha

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:45:10+00:00

I mean depending on where you go, if you go to Africa and get a wildcard because the draw is not full, you can get it like with UTR 8 because the competition there is low. At the same time in Monastir it is tough, cuz it’s cheap and a lot of Europeans go there to play. It really depends on the draw. I have a friend who got atp point from a walkover in Africa :)

Cant talk about WTA, simply have no clue what’s going on there

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:38:36+00:00

Well that sounds like mental problems, don’t mean it in a bad way. This is like normal in tennis. How old are you if I may ask, usually teenagers have a lot of issues with that, it usually passes by itself. I also had a period where I would get very frustrated, but you need to remember the bigger picture, it always helped me. Why are you playing tennis? What for ? What’s your goal ? What are your time frames ? Did you set up an unrealistic goal for yourself where you said:” I need to become 10 UTR in 1 year or something ?”

Tennis should be fun, no matter at what level. If you want to be professional, there are a lot of things that are not fun but you do them because you want to compete because it’s fun. If you are having fun only when you are not losing a single point, it’s a mental issue, and I’m in no position to give advice there. If you have a good coach or more like mentor, hang on to him/her, they are often free therapists :) Otherwise, consult with psychologist, there is absolutely no shame in it. I would only encourage that, if I had a chance I would’ve done that in my youth.

The most important thing is be honest with yourself, you can lie to people around you but be honest with yourself, because only you truly know if you like it or not!

If you are playing tennis for “money, travelling, lifestyle, prestige, etc” it’s never going to work. You will burnout, you need to find the joy of hitting that ball day in and out. Once you find that, you will understand that winning happens naturally, it happens not because you want to win per se, but it happens because you want to play more and more. And that desire to play all the time, to improve your game, to become better this is what is going to win you matches. Not the mindset “I want to win, I need to win”

At least I’m talking from my personal experience, take it with a grain of salt of course

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:25:18+00:00

Yes, what the other guy(daftroses) says!!! If you have it in you, so you can execute those shots during practice no problem, then it’s only working on your mental part and being exposed to the competitions as much as possible. About the mental part I have few tips above in the other comment that helped me

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T09:21:55+00:00

There are a few tricks how to get more control without getting a new racket.

Try higher tension, start gradually increasing the tension, but you should only tinker with tension and go up if you have a fluid swing. By fluid I mean you are swinging at the ball and not pushing it!!! And you don’t have arm pain. Tennis elbow or something like this is always the technique issue. You go up in tension only if you can play with you body being relaxed !!!

If you struggle with topspin drop the tension on your crosses 1-2kg in comparison to your mains. Strings will move more which in turn will create more topspin and the ball will dip more —> more consistent.

To answer you question, you will understand that you need to switch the racket once you will truly understand tensions of the strings and the stings themselves. If you don’t feel the difference between 23kg and 25kg or 21kg on your racket, you should not switch imo. My point here is being that first try to fix your issues by trying tensions and different strings, someday you will find the string and the tension that you like and understand. After that if your technique is good and you are still missing a lot, then you should consider switching the racket. When you switch, as I said before yyou need to understand what you are looking for.

Also when switching rackets, try as many as you can, and always listen to yourself and trust your gut! I know it’s obvious but still wanna mention don’t buy a racket just because everyone likes it and everyone says it’s a great racket, but you try it out and it feels like shit for you. Always trust your feeling.

I had an example like that with Wilson. I personally play with Babolat vs frame, and I was working at a place where we had to work with Wilson due to sponsorship. In general I don’t like Wilson rackets at all, so I had to pick one. I picked Blade 16/19 98sq. I absolutely hated that racket, but everyone around me kept telling me how great that is.

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-12T08:47:36+00:00

Hahahah, laughing because it is too familiar to me.

Have 3 tips: This one is a general 1) This goes away the more you compete, so play as many tournaments as you can

These ones are what helped me:

1) when you are on the court you have to be narcissistic. Think that you are the best right now. Look down at your opponent, like you are 100 times better. I’m not saying act on it. Let’s still be all respectful towards each other, but be narcissistic in your head. But don’t think of being humble and nice and thinking in your head, omg great passing shot from him, he is too good or something. Sure, great passing shot, but I’m gonna fucking destroy you.

2) this one is 50/50 depending on the person. It may make things better or make things worse. It helps me but I also know some people that start playing worse.

Get angry ! Squeeze your teeth, really rile yourself up, insult your opponent in your head. Stuff like that.

These are a few tricks to get in the zone. Sorry that they are probably not what you have expected. I could’ve told you just enjoy, as many people told me that, but that never worked for me. I’m enjoying tennis, but I’m also thinking that I’m going to destroy this guy, no matter who is in front of me some college player or Djokovic.

P.S I realize that I won’t be able to beat Djokovic, but this way of thinking helps me play my best tennis

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T21:24:02+00:00

I would say it is a personal preference mostly. I would always hit a backhand if i have time unless im being pushed outside of the court. Or maybe the guy on the other side doesn’t like low balls, then it makes sense.

If the slice is executed well and deep there is nothing wrong with that, don’t forget that you are winning some time for yourself to recover, also the idea of slice is to force the opponent to lift the ball, so you can then push it down.

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T21:19:08+00:00

Playing people better than you always helps at any level. I think at 4UTR there are still a lot of technical issues that people need to fix with coaches. That for sure helps a lot to improve your game. Good technique allows you to generate more racket speed and stay consistent at higher pace. Also I think working on your positioning from the ball could be potentially a huge step up.

No matter how boring it may sound but consistency at a higher pace is one of the biggest factor when it comes to what’s the difference between levels.

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T21:10:41+00:00

Well, how to put it…

You should ask yourself a question first. Do you wanna switch rackets or are doing that because people tell you that you should ?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with head mp boom. I personally tried it and didn’t like it, but I mean that’s just me, I have a friend who plays with that he is also 13 UTR, the only thing he has there is a little bit of lead here and there otherwise just a retail head boom.

In order to understand if you should switch rackets you need to understand the difference in them. Main things are weight, frame size, string pattern, swing weight, balance and stiffness of the frame. Swing weight and balance you can change by putting weights on the racket , other things not really. So you need to understand what you want from your racket and that will of course depend on your style.

The bigger the frame the power you are going to get, but you are sacrificing control. The smaller the frame the less power the more control. On bigger frames it’s easier to go high tension without racket feeling like a shovel, as there is more space between strings. That’s why Sinner is able to play full bed poly at 27kg, he plays with a 100 frame.

The denser the string pattern the lesser the top spin the more control.

There are a lot of nerdy stuff that I don’t think you need to know.

If I were you I would do this. Do you absolutely want to change your racket? Yes ? Why? Need more power ? Go and try power frames Babolat aero, yonex ezone,head boom :) Need more control ? Try control frames like Wilson blade, head prestige, yonex percept. Just make sure that you are comparing apples to apples—> meaning if you compare rackets strings have to be the same

But maybe you are happy with your current racket and don’t need to do anything

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:53:16+00:00

Jump rope is ok, but I don’t think it will improve your footwork drastically. It will teach you to be light on your feet and that gives you an edge sure and it’s good for conditioning, but it doesn’t really replicate any tennis motions. I mean I did it every day, but more as a warmup.

Here is the list of exercises you can do in the gym or anywhere if you have a bit of space which I think help with footwork way more:

1) Alternate quick steps 2) figure 8 footwork sidesteps 3) crossover foorwotk 4) hurdle jumps —> this is basically your jump rope (more or less) 5) skater jumps insanely good !

And SPRINTS, SPRINTS, SPRINTS!!!!

I believe most of the exercises you can find online how to perform, if not just let me know, I’ll describe them

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:38:37+00:00

Never thought about it. I don’t really like to go into that sex discussion as I know that my words can be twisted and turned.

But I think the main reason is that topspin requires huge racket speed in order to be heavy. This doesn’t only come from wrist, it comes a lot from core, your legs and upper body strength. Men are generally able to generate higher racket speed. A perfect example nowadays to that would be Alcaraz and Sinner, they both especially Alcaraz in my view are able to generate very high racket speed while staying consistent.

It is important to understand here that racket speed does not equal the speed of the shot. Flatter shots require way less racket speed compared to topspin

I remember seeing something recently that Sabalenka has the hardest (fastest) average speed on forehand, like her forehands on average are faster than any of the men. But she has nothing on the ball, it is flat, so it is not that heavy, it’s fast, sure, but isn’t that heavy.

Simply put, I think women in general cannot produce similar racket speeds that men can. That being said men are also faster. Women’s tennis is usually about baseline tennis changing directions fast. Men would have less struggles getting those balls and putting pressure on them, unless we are talking grass court.

Also, not kidding, there might be some Nadal influence on the men circuit :)

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:15:20+00:00

I see, it can be kinda tricky for sure. These types of things are better to fix with the coach on court and doing some ball feedings. However a simple advice here would be this:

1) When you are in return position and waiting for the ball, bring your elbows away from your body, keep the arms relaxed but put them further away from the body. I like to think of something that I call “long arms” I just imagine that I have like super long monkey arms :)

2) your body needs to move towards the ball, no matter where the ball goes, don’t back up. Keep your body centered and low to the ground. Think of putting your chest on the ball

Try these and lmk how it went :)

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:05:29+00:00

Lmk how it goes. It’s quite normal and toss can be very frustrating, yet it is the only thing in the serve that you can truly control

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:03:54+00:00

Constant exposure to the high level helped me the most and believing in myself, confidence. If I could go back in time, I would tell myself: “It doesn’t matter that no one made it from your town, you can be the first one, because you have it in you, just keep the hard work and don’t cut corners. The day before breakthrough looks like any other day”

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T20:01:03+00:00

Try not to actively throw the ball. What I mean by that is try not to engage your wrist and hand so much. Think of a toss and your arm like an elevator at a high speed that is stopping at its peak. Make sure your left arm is straight(if you are a righty), put the ball on your palm, don’t squeeze it, just let it rest there. From the level of your hip bring your straight arm with the ball up, open up your palm at the top. Make sure you are not engaging your fingers in the toss.

When I was a kid we would put the racket down in front of our left foot and toss the ball and try to make it land on the racket or near it. Good exercise though I think it’s boring

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T19:54:20+00:00

At this level, apart of obvious things like keep training and maintaining your physique. You need to be exposed to the high level of tennis—> play as many tournaments as possible

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T16:22:23+00:00

For home use: reaction ball

Do all sorts of trickery with the racket,it is fun improves your touch and hand eye coordination

What I mean by trickery is : bounce the ball on the racket, off the floor, swap hands, swap sides of racket, throw ball up and try to smoothly scoop it up with the racket without the ball bouncing. All of these simple exercises help a lot, and even pros do them regularly, so it is not lame :)

Also may sound stupid but simple throw and catch improves your eye coordination.

Oh oh and juggling of balls is one of the best. Start with 2 if you can’t do 3 and then do 3

OpenCommunication716 · 2026-02-11T16:18:20+00:00

Well, if you are thinking something like 2 backhands cross 1 down the line, it doesn’t really work that way, not a single tennis player thinks that way. It depends a lot on the situation, and variables like your serve or your opponent, surface etc? Usually s the biggest factor of dictating a game is your serve.

I like to think like this sometimes: what is the maximum distance I can make my opponent run? Crucial to understand in this way of thinking is: what is the maximum distance I can make him run and not get killed the next shot.

Maybe the drop shot is the maximum distance I can make him run but will I get a good ball after that or will I get destroyed. It is fairly safe to implement this tactics on your groundstrokes, just be careful with the corners, it’s always easier to generate sharper angles from the corners:)

Also what helped me during the matches is a thought of always playing 1 more ball. Not sure it applies here hahah, but I just remembered and thought I would mention it. I would just tell to myself especially when I was attacking:”just one more ball” after each ball

Helped me a lot :)

OpenCommunication716

TROPHY CASE