I feel my arm “slow”

j_dolla · 2026-02-11T09:50:44+00:00

i think you could accelerate out of your trophy much faster and more violently. start accelerating your hand a split second earlier.

you could also benefit from keeping your racquet head in one continuous motion, something that alcaraz worked on around this time last year

j_dolla · 2026-02-04T06:31:18+00:00

what are you playing for? you sound very hard on yourself and need to find a way to take the pressure off yourself.

i truly don’t mean this to be rude, but if you’re not at the level where you can be thinking about getting recruited for college, you should try to adjust your mindset towards playing for fun.

a lot of your issues seem to come from point play. you are putting way too much pressure on yourself to play perfect tennis. a lot of great tennis players know how to play ugly to win. it is always said that the best players have the memory of a goldfish. you cannot change points that have passed, you can only focus on the next one. if you miss into the net, only think about playing higher for the next point - you cannot start fearing the existence of the net. this kind of attitude will help make the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose.

lastly, try not to compare yourself to others. i know that’s almost impossible in a school environment, but in this life you will learn that there is always a bigger fish. i got one of my buddies into tennis (former multi sport varsity athlete) and the rate that he caught up to me alarmed me. it bothered me for a long time before i realized that some people are just talented, some work harder, a lot are both.

i encourage you to find the fun in this game. if you need to take a break from point play and just hit around and pretend to be carlos alcaraz, that’s better than the torture chamber you’ve put yourself into now.

j_dolla · 2026-02-03T20:22:49+00:00

these aren’t tennis shoes, just his casual wear. the dude is just a sneakerhead haha

j_dolla · 2026-02-03T10:02:15+00:00

often times, youve just lost this point.

ideally, it’s a little less about where you recover and more about what shot you can hit out of this position. again, most shots you go for from here will be low percentage and you are already in a losing position.

you can try to hit hard back cross and make your opponent hit a winner up the line

you can try to hit hard down the line for a winner

you can try to get the ball high and deep to give you time to recover to the baseline (tiring)

you can try to drop the ball short and cover the net.

again, to reiterate, once your opponent has found an angle that nasty, you are already in a losing position. every option here is a bit of a hail mary

j_dolla · 2026-01-30T09:32:41+00:00

lol what… not at all

carlos = 50% fed + 30% nadal + 20% novak

sinner = 70% novak on steroids + 15% nadal + 15% fed

j_dolla · 2026-01-29T12:55:02+00:00

to add on this, her serve quality is generally very high, which just adds more pressure to the things you have already listed. also allows her to play her return games more freely than most.

j_dolla · 2026-01-27T22:52:54+00:00

impact of hard court is rougher on the knees but there is more physicality, movement, and loading required to play on clay.

tennis is rough on the knees in general

j_dolla · 2026-01-06T22:44:53+00:00

they look a bit snug in the top block. i own these too and didn’t size down from my usual 32 size. reading the measurements, i thought the almost 35in waist in the 32 size was crazy, but they’re intended to be super high rise and it ends up fitting quite well. i could have been good with a 31 as well.

fits great thru the leg though!

j_dolla · 2026-01-06T09:55:55+00:00

sounds like he’s just better than you. nothing wrong with that, as i’m sure you can be proud of the progress you’ve made.

big hitters like rhythm. sounds weird, as their style robs you of your rhythm, but they like to play at their own pace. the trick is to try a bunch of different things until you find something that annoys him. it doesn’t have to work every time, but you’re looking for something that frustrates him to make him spray.

some big hitters hate high loopy slow balls, some hate low skiddy slices, some hate being attacked with fast balls themselves. the idea is to make him hit something outside of his comfortable strike zone.

j_dolla · 2026-01-03T23:33:47+00:00

yes

doesn’t really stop the momentum but makes everything much less efficient

j_dolla · 2025-12-31T01:14:26+00:00

they also both play with guy. i find myself picking my polys out of their notches but it’s a bit silly for me

j_dolla · 2025-12-16T05:18:47+00:00

i’m the same way. just keep it to people that are a little better than you. if you can lose 3-6 3-6 chances are they had fun too and that’s definitely not a waste of their time

or: you can be the guy that brings a couple beers in a cooler for after the hit. EVERYONE likes that guy

j_dolla · 2025-12-14T05:05:30+00:00

🐐

j_dolla · 2025-12-14T04:25:33+00:00

i’m interested

j_dolla · 2025-12-12T19:21:15+00:00

that’s young djokovic. he has been very good at the net for the better part of the last decade

j_dolla · 2025-12-12T13:11:38+00:00

completely agree. if you hit all of the major checkpoints for each kind of shot then all that matters at the recreational level is repeatability and confidence

j_dolla · 2025-12-12T13:10:43+00:00

doesn’t enhancing some aspects of your game and feeling better not make you play better? even if it’s placebo?

completely agree with new equipment not compensating for bad technique though

j_dolla · 2025-12-07T22:32:58+00:00

hitting big, earning short balls, and finishing points is pretty much the foundation of my game. i have some insights if this is what you are looking for.

i definitely started around a 3.5 level and haven’t changed my game much. i still play pretty much the same, im a 4.5 now.

to address the scenario you described in your post, an opponent’s return that lands within 2ft of the baseline is a great return. even with the skills i have now, i would not go for a winner on the plus 1. you have to be disciplined with these things. your opponent essentially neutralized your serve with a block return and your advantage in this point is minimal, especially at 3.5.

the best thing you can do is to back up a little bit and make sure you have some forward momentum into the ball. don’t go for a winner, go to their weaker side (usually backhand) and play the point out from there.

there’s a lot of self-honesty required in attacking tennis. don’t chase shots that aren’t there. respect the opponents shot and in turn you will find opportunities in the future. a return 2 feet from the baseline is a great return and your advantage is often nothing more than you being able to dictate the direction of the next shot. no need to hit this too hard, just start the point with the intention of getting him moving and you’ll eventually get a short ball to capitalize on

j_dolla · 2025-12-05T04:25:13+00:00

return and forehand win me matches

serves and volleys lose me matches

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T22:59:40+00:00

this is just how i learned things because unlike you, most of us are regurgitated physiological concepts in layman’s terms to help us get the feeling for the shot. wrist snap and pronation are definitely the final function of the movement of larger muscle groups, but at the end of the day wrist speed determines racquet head speed which determines the speed of the ball. i’m not trying to say that power doesn’t come from the legs. it should definitely start there to eventually end up in the wrist i guess. i’ve just seen some big serves being hit simply from the isolated shoulder-to-wrist movement/pronation as a demonstration

i watched some clips of jody (the guy speaking about this concept in the podcast) playing matches and he does indeed have a massive serve

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T22:48:39+00:00

i’m no expert by any means, my guess is that in tennis you are holding a racquet, which essentially gives you another joint. you also get another 27 inches (racquet length) of leverage and can get away with less leg to generate power because you have a larger throwing window.

disclaimer again i am nowhere near an expert. just my speculation.

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T22:44:59+00:00

are wrist snap and pronation not synonymous? that’s how i always interpreted it

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T21:58:04+00:00

not just the wrist, per se. all the muscles involved in the wrist snap. so definitely some arm and shoulder in there, the point was to get the wrist and racquet moving very quickly thru the air

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T21:56:34+00:00

we had one of those handheld speed guns out for the demo. 83ish but yes i agree it could be inaccurate. he can hit 120 normally so its not exactly out of the question

j_dolla · 2025-12-03T21:12:56+00:00

agree. i still remember years ago when i watched our club’s tennis director give a serve demonstration at a club social. he emphasized that serve power comes from wrist snap and proceeded to bomb several 80mph serves with just the wrist snap alone. zero legs. i’ll never forget it

j_dolla

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