Today was wild. I did a drill session with my drilling partner and I played. Normally it is one or the other but when I got the reminder about playing I was happy to go double duty, especially since it was against people who repeatedly kick my rear. My theory is, the more I see it the better I’ll get so with time ticking away before the Combine, I jumped at the call (or text).
These games I’m excited to play are extreme power. People are hitting the ball hard and hitting the ball fast. It’s either a powerful drive at my backhand or a drop to set up dinking for the speed-up. Either scenario is next level from what I normally see.
As a result, I did miss a lot of shots at my backhand. They just flat out overpower me. I wasn’t terrible with the speed-ups but I lost more than I should have. I’d get the first and second one then get crushed on the third. Or I’d hit the third one in the net, which is always disappointing.
The more I get balls at my backhand the better but the red flags for me were the quick hand exchanges that I got caught with my paddle down and when I had the ball I wanted and then hit it in the net.
That’s something I’ve been working on for quite some time when I drill but today, in drilling and in my game, it was pretty suspect and disappointing because I’ve been working on it for so long. I really must be getting lazy with my paddle. My opponents aren’t necessarily capitalizing on shots I miss, I’m just messing up and losing the point.
I did try to serve the ball a lot deeper and got that a couple of times but also missed a lot. My roll shots weren’t really there and once again, I left feeling pretty beat up. It’s so valuable to get the chance to play with different people. This is the time of the year that I’ve played with the same people so many times a week it’s unique to see something new. So despite taking a beatdown, I’m happy for the play.
My drill session lasted about an hour and a half. We did dinks, practiced the roll shot and I did 2 different drills for drop shots. He worked on rolls, volley lobs and a drive and dink combination that I can only imagine how tiring it had to be. He was going nonstop and had to be drained.
I hope I’m practicing the right things and will see some of it pay off.
