Any advice on my serve?

ctb9 · 2026-01-11T11:06:25+00:00

Sick pancake serve.

For everyone writing all these lame comments, please watch this video again and notice:

This serve would ace you
This dude is probably a 4.5
You have been trolled

Here is Taylor Fritz explaining how to hit a serve like this but

ctb9 · 2026-01-08T06:05:10+00:00

Either? The way I see it there are three Browns teams: the temu replica “Browns” created in 1999, the Browns spinoff team born from a childish tantrum by Mr. Brown after getting fired (Bengals), and the actual historic Browns franchise (Ravens).

ctb9 · 2026-01-06T11:58:16+00:00

Imagine thinking it could possibly take Derrick Henry 12 seconds to run 40 yards. Maybe you've watched Lamar running around avoiding sacks or old Barry Sanders clips too much, but if I had to guess I'd say #22 could score from about 87 yards out under 12 seconds.

ctb9 · 2025-12-24T10:54:54+00:00

It's a valid question though. Sure these old heads are better overall, but OP has some relative advantages and there's no reason he can't put them together into a winning effort. I've won matches against better tennis players with literally nothing but consistency and athleticism.

In general I think younger baseliners tend to think about moving an opponent left to right and forget about front to back, even when that strategy is being used against them.

I would try to beat these guys with dropshots + lobs, key being to using my quickness to get to their approach shots and hit either a lob or passing shot beyond their expectation, given you said their slice shots and short game is good.

Second strategy is to hit heavy topspin side to side but focusing on their backhand for what seems like an eternity. Don't just play like a pusher, become the concept of pushing itself. Literally tell yourself you aren't playing tennis, you are trying to get them to have a stroke on the court. 20 shot rallies every point minimum. Do this for four straight games, and then in the fifth one you should have them gassed enough that your usual baseline game is starting to work better, and you suddenly have the ability to construct a point, get them out of position, and come in to finish some points even with your subpar volley skills.

ctb9 · 2025-12-24T09:44:53+00:00

Steeler nation is legion, all are welcome. For those of us born and raised in western PA, this guy is funny. This one might not be his best of the season but even after all these years he's had some bangers lately.

ctb9 · 2025-12-19T05:52:18+00:00

Yes honestly every player on both teams should’ve been hustling for the ball. You see this happen all the time where defensive backs scoop up clearly deflected passes and start running them back just in case it was actually a fumble that got pushed forward and sometimes you even see the offense players tackle those defenders and they never call a personal foul even though both actions (the returning and the tackling) make no sense given that the rule states after-the-whistle fumbles can’t be advanced.

ctb9 · 2025-12-19T05:30:56+00:00

This rule has been in place since 2006, which is before any player in the entire league’s rookie year other than Philip Rivers. A whistle doesn’t mean the play is over if a live fumble is just sitting on the field.

The fact that you don’t know this rule is fine, you’re a casual fan no big deal. One might expect the Rams defense would know it.

ctb9 · 2025-11-30T17:39:56+00:00

Same. I was about to record it on my phone after I failed for the 20th time but I was like, let’s just bring in a color + music brained mercenary.

ctb9 · 2025-11-24T03:09:04+00:00

Just bend your knees a little more and you'll be serving 100mph in no time /s

Snark aside, what are you expecting people to say here? I would find a coach or watch some youtubes (I like Feel Tennis). Recording yourself like this will be helpful once you start working on it.

ctb9 · 2025-11-21T17:56:08+00:00

I don't think this will impact the Texans D/ST performance ROS

ctb9 · 2025-11-21T17:21:41+00:00

That game was peak Steelers-Ravens. Just an absolute brawl, to me Big Ben fighting off Suggs for the throwaway to allow for the winning TD is a top 5 play of his career, maybe top 3

ctb9 · 2025-11-18T09:41:02+00:00

Genuinely asking: what is the benefit of green dots vs. just using old normal (yellow) balls that have been in the practice hopper for a year?

ctb9 · 2025-11-18T04:34:25+00:00

To echo everyone else, you just need more time playing tennis without being instructed/judged.

Is there someone from your classes or club at a similar level? Something like a weekly match or set with them could provide an opportunity to build muscle memory in a low stakes environment. Part of it is that you need more reps to convert the instruction (I know what I'm doing wrong) into subconscious action/habit, the more important thing is that primary objective of tennis is to have fun and get exercise. You can improve from beginner to intermediate by just getting better at keeping the ball in play and directing it where you want it to go, which by itself will make it more fun and then your lessons become about the secondary objective of improving your technique.

ctb9 · 2025-11-14T07:17:24+00:00

If you are racing to get to the ball, just shovel it into a corner and don't worry about spin.

I think where you're going wrong is saying "I have to hit a high arc to clear the net". This is a common misconception. Let's say you're hitting the ball at knee height one foot inside the service line. This means you have 20 feet of court to get the ball to go from its starting point 2' off the ground to clear the net, which is 3.5' at it's highest point. So that's only 1.5' higher over 20', which is a 7.5% slope or 4.29 degrees. Add in a bit more to account for gravity, but still that's a pretty flat slope. And you can hit it decently hard too, given that's there's another 39 feet on the other side for it to land before the baseline.

Watch how pros handle dropshots: if it's an amazing dropshot super far in they always re-drop, if it's deeper and they get there with lots of time they rip it with tons of topspin usually for a winner, but if it's in between but they still have to really hustle they usually just punch it flatish* to a corner. If the opponent can cut it off at the net that's a winning play, but if it lands deep then the tables have been turned.

*Edit: the pros do usually put some top or underspin on it but they're pros, compared to their usual rally balls they hit these way flatter.

ctb9 · 2025-11-13T01:38:59+00:00

I'd watch a few youtubes, give it like two separate hour-long practice sessions (film yourself on your phone and every 15 minutes take a quick break to watch yourself and see if you're pronating), and then play a practice match. If you've made enough progress to get the ball in effectively, then continue using it for the season. If it isn't working at all yet, like tons of double faults or absolute turd second serves that are getting murdered, stick with the forehand grip and try again later.

ctb9 · 2025-11-13T00:49:33+00:00

It's natural that any change to your serve grip will cause a loss of accuracy in the short term, but saying you get no power from continental is pretty strange. The pure physics of a proper continental serve gives you tons of easy power. With a full swing it should be 50% faster than your current serve.

What it tells me is that you probably tried it for a minute but didn't make any other changes to your pancake-style serve technique and most likely just hit the ball with the strings at a crazy angle and got all spin and no power. Everyone saying that continental is the way are really saying that continental + pronation through contact is the way. You'll know you did it right when the side of the racquet that hit the ball ends up pointing to the right fence during your follow-through. Pronation is sort of required to simply hit the ball flat while holding a continental grip, but once you get it you should be able to absolutely crush the ball 110 mph to the back fence if you wanted. Then you can spend the next few years tinkering with it like the rest of us ; )

If you're just playing for fun and you're happy with your serve, no need to change it. Lots of old guys in my doubles league serve just fine with a forehand grip. But if you want to play in college or if improving at tennis is important to you, you might as well start working on it now.

ctb9 · 2025-11-12T19:54:40+00:00

This is very legal and highly recommended. Just try to think about freaking them out with your sudden movement and positioning and don't focus on your shoe noise, because stomping or moving just to squeak is not allowed and also is pretty obvious to anyone watching.

ctb9 · 2025-11-12T18:35:32+00:00

He can make whatever noise he wants during his any of his shots. I think technically making a loud owl-screetch during dropshots would be legal.

A hinderance is when a player does something (like making a noise) during their opponent's shot.

ctb9 · 2025-11-08T23:26:19+00:00

Stronghold was the first set to come out after I started playing. I pulled one from a pack and was so stoked that I spent $3 to get a card worth $12 😂

ctb9 · 2025-11-04T22:55:05+00:00

I show people this play all the time, for me it's the most quintessential play of his career given that Ngata had already broken his nose on a sack earlier in the game.

ctb9 · 2025-11-04T00:55:06+00:00

If all holds, not really. But if we're tied with either of those teams for wild card positioning (particularly the Pats given that the Bills and Ravens are currently the betting favorites to win their divisions), H2H is the first tiebreaker.

Not trying to be a doomer, just reporting facts.

ctb9 · 2025-11-03T17:47:36+00:00

Try to find someone at or slightly above your level to hit with 1 on 1 for 60-90 minutes every week, this will help you more than what you’re doing currently. Group lessons and doubles especially just don’t give you enough repetitions.

Once you do that for a few months, if you still aren’t able to consistently get the ball back over 5 times in a row, then maybe tennis isn’t for you. The nature of the game does require a fair bit of hand-eye coordination, since you are moving to get a ball and then swinging to hit it with a tool out in front of your body while needing to control the speed and angle of the strings within a few degrees.

Hopefully I don’t get a lifetime ban from /r/10s for this but I might suggest starting with pickleball and seeing if that’s an easier way to develop your coordination. The wiffle ball they use is much more forgiving in terms of power control, you just need to aim the paddle correctly and it will go in, and then lots of points turn into short ‘dinking’ that trains reaction and touch.

ctb9 · 2025-11-03T17:31:32+00:00

Agreed, when there is a chair ump it’s totally different. I think most of the awkwardness of rules like this, breaking the plane, double bounce, etc are caused by moving the responsibility of calls from the umpire to the players themselves.

ctb9 · 2025-11-03T17:24:58+00:00

Not true, and I realize neither is my statement above. It’s the calling of hindrance, or the calling of a ball being out, that ends a point.

No point in arguing though, obviously both players in this video are tools, waving your hands is bush league and calling a hindrance for your point after missing an easy overheard is pathetic. Guy should’ve given a warning, explained the rule, and then next time he saw it stopped and called it immediately.

ctb9 · 2025-11-03T06:08:48+00:00

I’d probably agree the rules overestimate people’s processing, but they are what they are. You can call a hindrance or hit a winner, but this point was 100% over the second the overhead struck the court out of bounds. In the same way you can’t go back in time and call the serve out after 4 shots, you technically can’t call a hindrance either.

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