tennis, life and a few things in between

2:1 with one double, as I was serving out the third set. Working on my serve and backhand:

… how’s my serve: left arm to the side? Getting pointers from the coach, who doesn’t seem to care much about my waiter’s tray.

… and the warm up

Lastly, the first game, which I lost

Stretch before and after the game is important. So is the warm up.

• ²⁰²⁴ a long one; a good one

2024.5.09

2024.5.07

Having played on Sunday too following pretty tough 3 sets on Saturday, I’m tired. I’ll sit out this Thursday.

Is this a correct pronation? Trying to finish the motion with my left arm out.

Place your hands out in front of your body and point your palms at each other. Now rotate your forearm and wrist together, as one piece, so that your palms are facing the floor. This simple motion of your arm is pronation; the act of turning your palm to face away from you.

The incubating dove since April 4th: the same batch of eggs or? for “Incubation lasts about 14 days.”

… more practice

A good 3-0 day: two set with Sandi, the last set was with Golfer, vs Dave H/Matt. Both partners somehow made me to play better, trying to get to more shots, instead of giving them up.

My serve, however, is still at sorry state: although I feel ok at practice BUT revert to waiter’s tray in games, which means my practice over the past few months was amounting to nothing.

… here is my practice

… warming up

… and here is how I serve for real

I did it again: went to the wrong court! Totally senile.

5-1, 5-2, 1-5

The game isn’t much to talk about, with one weak player, who has good forms but doesn’t like to move; and another one with bad back who can hit but run.

The mourning dove is still incubating, since two weeks agaon, on April 4th.

Without a ball, my serve shows less waiter’s tray.

My serve, is getting a little better at practice but unchanged during the game, it seems.

… the mourning dove is still incubating … the partner is absent tho.

… how do you pick up the balls? This YouTube video shows 7 ways – lol – The first three are common. The last four … emmm … not so: either a pro or junky, just kidding. The last four are awesome.

… during the game, it’s all waiter’s tray.

… my smoothy: whatever I find at the moment. Berries, fruits, milk, …

What do you drink in the morning, before the game?

Do you eat before play in the morning?

I made a mess by not checking my email in time … I was a sub for the foursome and one of them cancelled at the last second and found no sub … this is all because of the wonderful concert last night.

Long story short, Yvonne, Shy and John ended up playing with me. 6-3, 6-1 with one double. I’m not happy because my serving isn’t improving.

I played my first singles tournament in years, to show support for the organizer. 8 pro set; 8 players. I won my first round 8-0, and lost the second round to the eventual champ 1-8, who won his final 8-2.

…practicing my serve: just the swing …

… working hard. Digging out the red cushion for tomorrow’s final -:) I’ll go early to have a front row seat

… more

… here comes the double fault

I also checked on the incubating dove and the spouse: all is good.

5-4, 5-0, 3-5. The last set we were down 0-3, then 1-4. I’ve one double in the first set. During the warm up, I hit a few singlehanded backhand, thinking of Pete Sampras.

… the second pair since June 6th, 2024

• June 6th

A pair mourning doves’ incubating log, since April 6th, 2024

• VI, 4.29 hatched
• V, April 23, 19 days
• IV April 18, 2 weeks!
• III April 16
• II Saturday, April 6th

The story of the day is a pair mourning doves 哀鸽. I got there early to practice my serve (duh!) and seeing a bird flies by more frequently than usual, “what a nice companion!”

The early bird gets the worm.

The mourning doves, one is incubating and one is bring in more twigs and grass to build or enhance their nest at top of the tent between two tennis courts.

But when my three buddies arrived, the bird grow bolder, not only in and out of our tent more but also landed on the net often. Then did I realize that he’s bring in the materials to enhance the nest, which is up the tent.

An hour later, next court is occupied by four more guys. The birdie is more desperate. It must be the love!

Per Indiana division of fish and wildlife, the big eyes birds

• there are 500 millions of them in US
• Courtship activities begin in late winter (late February/early March) with egg laying beginning in late April/early May.
• Doves will attempt 2 to 5 nestings in a year
• Incubation lasts about 14 days and both the male and female take part.
• Nesting almost never occurs in densely wooded areas.
• The male and female both assist in the construction of the nest. The male will select the material for the nest and then deliver it to the female who builds the nest.
• The male usually sits on the nest during the day while the female takes her turn at night.
• The lifespan of a dove is relatively short, whereby, on average, they live just longer than a year. The two to five nestings per year are necessary to maintain the population levels.

…哀鸽 树枝和草

His 2008 memoir, A Champion’s Mind: Lessons from a Life in Tennis is a good read. Among many things he covered in the book, was the fact that when he switched from double handed backhand to single hand, he lost many many matches.

清高的男神
相比之下 费德勒就是个小妓女, 给点钱就肯卖身相许. 小费自己说的 – 非🇺🇸的网球员他们的话题就是 谁会被点秋香在🇺🇸红起来

再听他的书 还是有感触
…
他开始时是双反… 听从进监狱的医生教练… 改单反. 期间的路坑坑洼洼 输了好久 [偷笑]

前星期看迈阿密公开赛, 觉得有些闷: 男女都是底线 都是双反. 一个模子刻出来的. 闷死人

可喜男神Grigor Dimitrov (1991-; 2008, $26m) 不过没有赢. 也许双反确实有优势 [闭嘴]

On serve, Sampras uses continental grip.

~ continental grip → bevel 2: serve & volley
~ eastern forehand grip → bevel 3: hit the flat shots
~ western grip → bevel 5: forehand
~ semi western → bevel 4: spin & pace on forehand

… I’ve no idea which grip do I use -:). Just play.

Today, 5-1, 5-1 and 4-5 w/ Bruce, Graham and Neil: no doubles and feeling good about my serve. However, I failed to serve out the last set.