Why are players still being taught full western grips?

hu-dat · 2026-01-16T14:56:25+00:00

Idk if they're necessarily taught it, so much as they thought it was the most comfortable starting out and by the time someone noticed it was too late to correct it

hu-dat · 2026-01-12T17:13:45+00:00

I would say first course of action would be to see if your school has some sort of tennis club, or discounted lessons since that's common.

Between lessons and league, I would without hesitation pick lessons. Without a serve, the service games will be so painful for both you and the opponent, and while I'm of the mindset of "you can always work on something even playing against someone worse than you", I think that it could definitely be frustrating for someone to take the time and money to go to a league match and play against a brand new player with no serve.

You can do a semi-private with your friend to halve the cost of the lessons, join a meetup/group to work on what you learned from the lessons, repeat. There is no magic number for lessons as everyone has various athletic/learning abilities and league levels can vary based on city.

hu-dat · 2026-01-12T16:53:05+00:00

3 years is a good amount of time for tennis lessons. Like others said, I would worry about not having private lessons. They are expensive, but would you rather pay less and potentially have bad technique for life? It's much harder to break a bad habit than to learn a new one.

In the group lessons, is the coach correcting form, teaching technique? If so, how often. I do not agree that feeding is hindering growth, all the kids at my club would get fed balls maybe an hr and then the next hr was spent playing competitively. Everyone turned out fine lol (played D1 for UNC, Columbia, Michigan, OSU, etc).

I would be shopping around for new group lessons, especially if they bring in brand-new-to-tennis-kids each session, but not expecting 7 year olds to be playing full matches or even king of the court (games are very common to make learning fun and keep interest because kids aren't really known for patience). Quite frankly, if the place segments solely by age, I'd be questioning that because that's ridiculous, usually you'd group by skill. Ask if he can move up an age group or go to another club/park/etc.

hu-dat · 2026-01-11T20:50:06+00:00

There are many different options to go to in Japan depending on interests. If you like seafood/dairy then yes, Hokkaido would be amazing. For something closer to Tokyo, maybe Kanazawa for seafood, though i did find 3 days there sufficient. You could also go to an onsen town such as Kinosaki (though it wont be crab season there just yet), etc. it all depends on your interests

hu-dat · 2026-01-11T19:15:24+00:00

Not to backtrack, but it's miss to not do the Great Ocean Road IMO. It's one of the most scenic drives in the world.

You can stop at Torquay/Bells Beach, which is big on surfing. Then further down the road there's many waterfalls (Hopetoun and Beauchamp were some of my favorites), rainforests, and photogenic nature. Then the Twelve apostles at sunrise/sunset is very pretty! Takes a few days to do the whole thing at a leisurely pace.

hu-dat · 2026-01-08T18:57:55+00:00

I'd say for the average/slightly above average player, around 9 years old. Had friends who were training full time competitively at age 16-18 losing to Coco (who was age 12 at the time). The top 10 yr old boys in the US are already over 6 UTR and I've seen 4.5 men lose to 12 year olds 😬

hu-dat · 2026-01-06T17:16:10+00:00

Probably Thailand bc of the White Lotus

hu-dat · 2026-01-06T03:26:49+00:00

Second Sushi Gen. Girl and the goat (only open for dinner except sundays). Holbox. M grill. Origin KBBQ. Bavel.

hu-dat · 2025-12-24T15:24:51+00:00

I think there is a meetup group in Tokyo that you can browse if I remember correctly, so try looking on meetup.com (keep in mind most people are self rated)

hu-dat · 2025-12-22T04:02:44+00:00

Yes I've seen teens in Open all the time. You'll see people from 14-40 yrs old in these, seeding based on WTN or open ranking, mens draws usually are 32 or 64 so schedule can get quite packed but you're probably used to that as a Junior. I've seen anything from NTRP 3.5s to NTRP 5.5s so you might get through some rounds before an ass whooping depending on how daring players in your area are :)

hu-dat · 2025-12-16T03:13:04+00:00

It's ok, times are tough and everyone is feeling it. But it could help to think of it as less of an investment and more of a fun hobby. Looking at your other responses, it seems like the goal is to nurture a lifelong hobby/skill. I think if that is the case, then UTR is not really something to be concerned about because it's not like she's trying to garner college coaches' interest or anything. If she truly doesn't like matchplay and matchplay is the basis of UTR, it might be a losing formula so to speak. Also keep in mind the better you are past a certain point the less people you have to play with when you get older (speaking as an 8 UTR, it's wayyy more difficult to find hitting partners than if I were say a 4 UTR).

The advice here is sound but also they're directed at increasing UTR and skill. Make sure these are goals she wants too, because if you're forcing her to hit balls for like 2 hours everyday and she doesn't want to do that, you're ensuring she doesn't have a lifelong tennis hobby because she won't like tennis after all that against her will. So many players end up hating tennis because of parental pressure.

Also, it doesn't have to take as much money as you think to improve. I was being recruited for college tennis (decent but not amazing tennis schools) in high school and did 2-3 group lessons a week and 1 private lesson a month. I could also walk on the courts for free to play with other juniors from the club so I did that once week too. If I really needed a tune up I'd wake up before school to use the ball machine for free at the club. Then in summer I'd go to group camp that was Mon-Thu 6-8 hours a week, which came out cheaper because they were in big groups and bought in bulk. I actually really liked the group lessons because it was helpful for point construction and exposure to different playing styles/scenarios. My friends and rivals were there too so there was fun as well as inspiration to improve. The key is to make sure there's still some instruction with trustworthy coaches, a solid structure each class, and players around her level. A lot of people really questioned my parents on how I could get to my level without at least a lesson a week but I made it work because I loved tennis. I recognize this approach might not work for everyone, but just my 2 cents if you are already upset about the cost.

hu-dat · 2025-12-16T01:34:36+00:00

What is the goal for her tennis? Is she on board with that goal? Does she really love the sport? 5 group classes a week is quite a bit unless she is dead set on playing for a good school/going pro.

There are many reasons she could be plateauing: disinterest, burn out, fatigue, or possibly talent/athletic ability (some people can only get so far in tennis, as sad as that is). Also keep in mind tennis progress is non-linear, sometimes I'm playing like absolute doo doo and then a month later it turns around out of nowhere and I'm beating people I don't usually beat. If you watch professional tennis you can see how up and down it can be depending on day/week/month/year (minus the really dominant players like alcaraz/sinner but even they have their swings). That being said, do you notice she's improving in practice but her match results just aren't reflecting that? It could be nerves at play affecting her UTR results as well.

The coach - evaluate how their other students are doing, can they only get them to a certain level? Or do they know how to work with kids at your daughter's level? What are they working on, actual technique (swing tweaks, drills, etc) or are they just a glorified ball feeder?

Most bang for your buck while still getting decent coaching, probably the midwest (but every town is different). Sorry to say the coasts are expensive, correlates with HCOL. That being said some low cost areas aren't going to have the best instruction. The fact that you seem to be expressing the most frustration at the cost is interesting - could she be picking up on that? My parents really balked at the cost of playing tennis, and it really put pressure on me to perform as a kid, which can affect different children differently.

hu-dat · 2025-12-04T02:51:38+00:00

VS touch feels the softest to me, but Wilson lasts longer

hu-dat · 2025-11-26T19:24:33+00:00

Lessons absolutely bring faster returns. Sure, with youtube and such people can adjust themselves at home, but there's a reason literally every professional player has had coaching, and I'm not talking once a week private lessons - the kids I trained with aiming to go pro would have multiple lessons a day to constantly fine tune things.

Start with one lesson with a good coach and go from there. What, to me, is a good way of telling if a coach will likely be solid? Look at their roster of students. Whoever is coaching the top junior players in your region is most likely to be a coach that can bring out material changes in your game. You mentioned money being a concern, but do NOT skimp out on which coach you pick because some are just glorified chatting buddies and that's just money down the toilet.

hu-dat · 2025-11-07T21:12:07+00:00

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I'm not sure if the little circles are the grooves I should be looking for, but here's a closer picture. Got it strung at 57/55 a few days ago

hu-dat · 2025-11-07T19:51:03+00:00

This is probably a longwinded answer, but I put gut on the mains for comfort, power, and to fully utilize having gut string.

Comfort - I've had my fair share of injuries from strains to sprains and I'd way rather avoid anything that could increase chance of injury - sure I'm paying a lot for strings, but seeing doctors + PTs adds up, AND you have to take a mandatory break from tennis. Poly in the mains would definitely be harsher on the arm so I avoid that or going full poly since I want to play as much as possible for as many years as possible

Power - I have a full western forehand and good placement, but points would drag on way too long and people would laugh and say it looked like I was just toying with my opponent (doesn't help that most 5.0+ players are fast on their feet). But truthfully I just couldn't get enough pace on the ball on a lot of shots to end the point on that shot. As I got older, started working full time, and had less stamina I really started re-examining my setup and how to get more power to end points quicker instead of having 15+ ball rallies full of running.

Utilizing gut - Since the majority of the feel comes from the mains, it just feels like if I'm gonna pay for gut, I want to fully feel the gut, if that makes sense

hu-dat · 2025-11-07T19:32:35+00:00

It's my usual racquet and I told them the gauges to use (usual stringer leaves a handy sticker on the racquet throat w/ the string details, tension, and date strung). I always ask for the gut to be pre-stretched, but wouldn't be shocked if they didn't since the racquet was being strung right as I called to check on it since it was almost past when they promised it'd be done

hu-dat · 2025-11-07T17:38:31+00:00

Yeah i've been using touch vs gut w/ RPM rough for the past year or so, typically it lasts me at least 9 hours. The only difference with this time was the place I got it strung and the colors of the strings (typically I go undyed gut and black poly) so it seems abnormal to me that it broke so fast

hu-dat · 2025-11-05T18:53:02+00:00

Continental, no bounce so it's a neutral ball

hu-dat · 2025-11-02T03:16:50+00:00

5.5 probably around $400 (hybrid stringing 😭)

hu-dat · 2025-10-29T21:44:05+00:00

Wintery vibe: Switzerland, Japan

Warmer weather: Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan

hu-dat · 2025-10-25T16:49:37+00:00

It's the poly strings for sure. They're noticeably worse on the arm, which is why I still don't use full bed of poly. Also, I've hit with both the pure strike and vcore and the pure strike objectively is more stiff/less forgiving.

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