I'm playing the us national public parks tournament this week.

[GeoffWilliams]

Entered the 4.5ms, and the 55ms as well. One of the guys entered in the 4.5 plays for Holy Names college, singles, and plays opens as well.

Maybe he listened to Allen Fox! (Play down, young man, play down.) Ha, ha. Scheduled to meet him if I win first two rounds, and if I beat the #2 seed.

Switching back and forth from pro stock babolats extended, with T1 firewire 1.20mm/poly star energy 16g, to Wilson pro stock H22 frames, strung with vs touch 17g/Nrg2 18g, all frames at 370-375g. Hitting at least 100 serves a day, alternating day by day to ad deuce sides, and alternating first and seconds, to each line, so I hit first wide, second wide, first dtl, second dtl, until the basket runs out! Then hitting out of hand feeds four at a series, transitioning into the net dtl, with hard hit approaches. (Can't stay back and rally with a bunch of 25 yr. olds!) Not at 233lbs and 58 yrs. old. The only way I will win is if I attack with a high aggression index. Giving away too much. Will have hit over 1,000 serves in preparation. Shoulder pain already, alleviated with nightly flex bar routine. 300 more serves to go before Saturday 9:30 am start, two matches a day.

Wish me some luck and I'll do the same for you guys!

Please God, give me a serve that I can dominate with. Let me crush my volleys. Let me approach with deadly depth and dtl precision. Let me destroy my returns at their young feet. Let me over power their spin games and safe grinding defense. Let me crush my over heads. Let me put away my drop volleys. Let me develop a fh in time for my matches! Ha, ha.

[klacr]

Sounds exciting Geoff.

Good luck. You will dominate. Confidence in your equipment, confidence in your serve, confidence in your volley. I'm not worried for you at all. I'm worried for your opponents. They won't know the trouble they have awaiting them. Knock em' dead Buddy.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stroke]

Very impressive to play at that level, particularly at 58. Good luck. Will be anxious to hear how you do.

[GeoffWilliams]

Sounds exciting Geoff.

Good luck. You will dominate. Confidence in your equipment, confidence in your serve, confidence in your volley. I'm not worried for you at all. I'm worried for your opponents. They won't know the trouble they have awaiting them. Knock em' dead Buddy.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

Thanks! I sometimes feel that I am in the zone, and these guys will feel helpless if I arrive. The vs touch/nrg2 allows full control at a fast head speed, and a lower net clearance on fast top spin or slice shots. The T1 fw allows heavy slice and powerful top, so if the guy dislikes top more than accurate flat shots, that's what I'll use. As I strung the gut/nrg2: 60/65lbs, and the T1 fw/poly star energy: 60/56lbs. The fw is stiffer than gut, and triangular shaped, and the poly star is oily, so the spin edged fw snaps back more than normal. The gut had too much power, so I did not do a full job, and used a thinner cross multi nrg2 at a higher tension, to tame the gut and lower the trajectory of groundies accentuating the H22 ability to hit (18 x 20, 65 ra) flat accurate shots. (Any time you increase the cross tension, over the mains, if the cross is thinner than the mains, you lower the trajectory and create less power/trampoline, so you can hit with a faster head speed, and control top depth more readily, than a lower cross tension.) That's why Courier strung at 60/70. 10 lbs higher on crosses. To drop his power level and allow faster head speeds, so he could curve the ball over the net and feel the net more than the baseline in his felt impacts.

My match play is non existent, so when that is so, I have to use fast slices and stay away from flat firsts. I have to mix up slice with twist/kicks on seconds, and only really go after it on big leads. Usually, during serve practices, I only hit world class shots about 2% of the time. But I can hit them occasionally. My great desire is to be able to do so at will under pressure, like the great players do. I can't do that. But I would suffer a great deal to be able to.

The desire to improve is very compelling, and that's why I came to this site! The mental rote that has worked the best is this: If I tell myself a given habit "Is only helping my opponent.", that can overcome neuro memorized blocks, bad habits emotionally, memorized muscle movements physically that have held me back, ie, emotionally, outbursts, anger, upsetness, or the reactions I get when a player cheats badly, or tries cheap psyches, or ie; memorized bad form in the serve and the forehand, locking up on easy overheads, or sitters on the fh side, choking under break pressure, or the pressure of a very good opponent. I just have not been good enough under formal match pressure, and that has hurt me greatly.

My psych vulnerability to cheating has been only favoring my opponents. My blocks on fh and serving form has only been helping my opponents. It's my intention to turn those around this week end.

[tennis_chiro]

Good luck, Geoff! It's great to hear someone so excited about playing a tournament. Don't forget the real reason why you do this. Enjoy it. A guy's just got to have fun. Embrace the hit of the adrenalin. I'm sure it will still be there and it's great that it still is!

don

[lobndropshot]

Good luck! may you win the last point!

[gzhpcu]

Go for it Geoff!

[GeoffWilliams]

Thanks! I appreciate the replies. As I would do for any of you. For some of us the game is more than a game, it's a quest.

[gzhpcu]

For some of us the game is more than a game, it's a quest.

Neverending story? Endless quest? I know the feeling...

[klacr]

Thanks! I appreciate the replies. As I would do for any of you. For some of us the game is more than a game, it's a quest.

Embrace the net. Wishing I could be there to cheer you on. Or at least stand on the edge of the court on your opponents side and try to intimidate them a little bit.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[gzhpcu]

Send pictures if you can...

[GeoffWilliams]

Let's see if I can put Kyle's article to good use.

[klacr]

Let's see if I can put Kyle's article to good use.

Geoff, I know for a fact you can. You are a great student. Print them out, keep them in your bag, peruse through on a changeover or in between matches. Good luck and keep us posted.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton

[stotty]

Try training like Federer in his youth...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jwh0GfA_eo

...might make all the difference.

[klacr]

Federer in his youth or Geoff nowadays in his tennis experience prime. Aged with great depth and flavor like a bottle of a 46 Bordeaux.

I'll take Geoff 6-4 in the 3rd.

Kyle LaCroix USPTA
Boca Raton