Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Learning From Others Mistakes


What a sight I saw yesterday!
Oh why didn't I take a picture! So you will have to use your imagination. Picture this: There is approximately18-20 feet between the baseline and the back fence. This guy (late teens or so) was on the court next to me using a ball machine to hit from. Of those 18 -20 feet behind the baseline, he camped out to hit forehands about 6 feet from the back fence, meaning he was a good Andy Roddick TWELVE to FOURTEEN feet behind the baseline to hit the ball! Apparently he as auditoning for the new "anti taking the ball early" tennis campaign that was all the rage in 1943.

If that wasn't bad enough it appeared he was trying to break his strings, his racquet, and/or his arm. He swung at every ball with every ounce of energy. I wouldn't want to be his arm today, especially considering at least 25% of the balls were flat and bounced twice before he hit them.

I applaud him ONLY for setting up the machine to roll heavy topspin deep into the court, kicking balls up shoulder high after landing within a foot or two of the baseline - we should ALL learn to hit those balls better. But his solution, to get back as far as humanly possible is probably the worst way to play that ball-- see an earlier post here- http://paul-ihearttennis.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-to-do-about-those-pesky.html for other suggestions on how to play these deep balls.
So we can learn from our own mistakes or the mistakes of others. Either way, it should lead to better, more consistent tennis.