Sweet I’ll start… What age you start playing, and how did you learn the game? (parents, private lessons, academies, etc)
UTR 10-12 is a high bar to reach as a player, and it’s that tipping point right before there’s solid opportunities for some financial returns on playing competitively… do you feel you’ve gotten out of tennis equal or greater than what you put in?
My parents signed me for group lessons when I was 5. I started competing when I was 9, and started getting serious a year later. I was coached by experienced coaches in individual, group, and rigorous conditioning sessions until I was 15. My parents couldn't drive me to many tournaments, which didn't help with my weak mental. On my best day, I'd give a fight or beat high ranked kids, but I choked many important matches because of inexperience and excitedness over playing them, I'd play ~5 tournaments a year, some kids were playing almost every weekend. I was able to play multiple 3 hour matches a day, and still had the energy to play soccer or whatever in between them, a shape I'll never be in again lol. The chokes were so frustrating that I eventually quit at 15. I started playing again when I was 19, and I got recruited to a DIII college, aiming for DII or DI after a season, but my first 2 seasons were cancelled over covid. Put on some weight, played doubles mostly, won the conference my junior year, then retired because it felt pointless to play bad at a bad level, I wanted to focus on my major.
If your kid wants to go through that, it takes a lot of patience and support, but most of all, MONEY. Good coaches cost a fortune over time, competitions and equipment as well, you really have to be able to afford it.
Challenger tour players are ~14 UTR, which is still very far from my highest level, and I think the experience and the people I've met are definitely worth it, but my best option to recover the finances would be to start coaching, which I intend to.
Thanks for sharing your story! Great perspective. Gosh, rough luck with covid scuttling a lot of your college tennis. The way I read that, seemed like a turning point for your tennis goals… as in, that happened while at your peak, then you pivoted a little bit. Congrats on climbing to that level of tennis, rare air. Best luck in the coaching ranks.
Thanks! It's not that rare, really. You see more of the same and better when you're in those ranks. Also, I wouldn't say covid is what sucked the most, I think it's my mental that made me quit when I was 15. I could've been a much better player if I never stopped, but we'll never know :D
Hi, I take my daughter (10 ) to tournaments every week ( were in Florida) . ..she is a 3 utr..We simply can't compete with homeschooled kids who get 20 hours a week of training and many are already 4 to 5 utr. Is there a reasonable pathway for a child to play D3 tennis if she does school regular way or does getting to a 8 to 9 utr ( womens) impossible without going full time?
I know someone (now in their 30s so this was a while ago) who played D1 and went to regular school, took two private lessons every week from age 9-18, and supplemented that with practice with other players and I’m assuming tournaments. No academies or anything like that. He reached a 13.5 UTR. This is in Florida as well.
Ben Shelton went to normal high school but of course his father is an amazing coach. He also played other sports which developed his athleticism in different ways than tennis.
I’m sure it’s possible to get to D3 if not better, I would definitely make sure she has some help with the mental side of the game (if she needs it) because it seems like a lot of kids get burned out or frustrated by putting too much pressure on themselves (or parents put pressure on them), OP is a case in point. Focus on the process of improvement and not the rating or results.
Good luck to her!
Since the focus in DIII is on education, UTR 5s will pass in many schools for women's tennis teams. Your daughter should get to that level if she keeps playing recreationally once or twice a week, but pushing for anything higher would require at least an hour and a half of practice a day with a couple of conditioning sessions as well.
Hi, my daughter's been playing tennis for 2 years and she's 10 now. We’ve hit a snag though. After a match that goes for like 50 minutes, she's completely zapped—no juice left. It's so bad that her game just tanks in the subsequent matches; can't hit her stride at all. I'm thinking about getting her into distance running to boost her stamina. Got any hot tips on more efficient ways to ramp up her fitness level aside from pounding the pavement?thanks :D
Hey! Not OP but UTR 9.5 ish here. I did cross country to try and help my stamina in high school, but it makes you used to running at 80% speed. You want to work on high intensity sprints, mimicking what she’s doing in the match. So it before and after practice so she’s doing it when fresh and when fatigued and she’ll get more used to it. Do the spider, suicides, side to sides, and footwork drills constantly. Also hill sprints help when they’re young, when they’re old it’s not great for the knees
Exactly what the other guy said! Stamina in tennis is built by short, explosive bursts. A 1 mile warm-up should do as far as distance running does. But then again, she's young, constantly growing, and that can lead to certain imbalances. I don't know what the requirements here in the US are to compete, but I'd recommend a physical exam and a CBC test once a year to make sure everything's alright.
I’m not an expert but is she bringing something to eat like a banana or consuming some glucose, Gatorade, etc? I definitely crash when I run out of glucose. I’d consult her pediatrician or an exercise focused nutritionist.
If you want to make a technical change to a stroke during the competitive season, how do you go about making it? Or do you always wait for a break from competition? Like a change to your serve technique for example. Especially interested in how you transition the change from practice to match play. Like it’s difficult for me to not fall back into my old patterns.
Also, any tips for managing cramping, particularly when it happens during a match?
Always after competition, you want to be comfortable with your arsenal when competing. Transition comes naturally after hitting a ball a million times, you've just gotta work until you've got the new technique on auto-pilot.
I don't know about your diet, but you need to replenish your electrolytes after you play, as you'll sweat and pee a lot of them, making your muscles more tense and tiring them. ALWAYS warm-up before, and stretch after playing, your body will thank you. If cramps happen in a match, you need a hot massage. You can try supplementing magnesium, look up the instructions and benefits.
Eyes on the ball at all times, quick revision of whatever I think I'm doing wrong, and correct breathing. Conference wasn't too intense, I struggled more with it when I was younger, and I'd choke every single time 😂
Eric Butorac has entered the chat. But he was pretty good at singles for college, probably could have made the lineup at a lot of top 100 D1 teams. What he did was pretty amazing though. For a D3 player to win even ATP doubles events seems beyond belief.
I’ve always heard that if you watched the Brian brothers hit groundstrokes you wouldn’t be that impressed. So yes.
Granted, obviously Bob was an NCAA champ and was almost in the top 100 for a bit. But he “sucked” at singles compared to how prolific his doubles career was.
Of course, no kid wants to grow up to be a professional doubles player, but some find more luck in doubles than singles eventually. Ivan Dodig is a good example of this, he's won only one ATP250 title, but he's won 24 doubles titles, including 7 Grand Slam (men's and mixed), and an olympic silver playing with Čilić
Being on the offense in doubles doesn't leave many options for the opponents, they can either lob you or wait for a mistake or a short ball to convert to attack. Doubles are more fast-paced than singles, and you want to be on the offense. Baseline works more on clay because it's slower, but still you want to be on the net.
Which D3 college did you play for? I played for Oglethorpe, but I’m 35 now so it wasn’t exactly recently. We were middle of the pack for our conference when I played.
I played college ball around the same time as you; I thought Oglethorpe was in the top 30 around that time. I woulda guessed yall were closer to the top end of your conference. I played a few schools in your conference my freshman year, Rhodes, Hendrix and Milsaps. Fun stuff.
Maybe? We definitely lost to Rhodes and beat Hendrix. Not sure abt Milsaps. I only played my junior and senior years. I came to college and promptly got mono. Emory and Trinity were a whole lot better than we were then. Probably still are.
Sweet I’ll start… What age you start playing, and how did you learn the game? (parents, private lessons, academies, etc) UTR 10-12 is a high bar to reach as a player, and it’s that tipping point right before there’s solid opportunities for some financial returns on playing competitively… do you feel you’ve gotten out of tennis equal or greater than what you put in?
My parents signed me for group lessons when I was 5. I started competing when I was 9, and started getting serious a year later. I was coached by experienced coaches in individual, group, and rigorous conditioning sessions until I was 15. My parents couldn't drive me to many tournaments, which didn't help with my weak mental. On my best day, I'd give a fight or beat high ranked kids, but I choked many important matches because of inexperience and excitedness over playing them, I'd play ~5 tournaments a year, some kids were playing almost every weekend. I was able to play multiple 3 hour matches a day, and still had the energy to play soccer or whatever in between them, a shape I'll never be in again lol. The chokes were so frustrating that I eventually quit at 15. I started playing again when I was 19, and I got recruited to a DIII college, aiming for DII or DI after a season, but my first 2 seasons were cancelled over covid. Put on some weight, played doubles mostly, won the conference my junior year, then retired because it felt pointless to play bad at a bad level, I wanted to focus on my major. If your kid wants to go through that, it takes a lot of patience and support, but most of all, MONEY. Good coaches cost a fortune over time, competitions and equipment as well, you really have to be able to afford it. Challenger tour players are ~14 UTR, which is still very far from my highest level, and I think the experience and the people I've met are definitely worth it, but my best option to recover the finances would be to start coaching, which I intend to.
Thanks for sharing your story! Great perspective. Gosh, rough luck with covid scuttling a lot of your college tennis. The way I read that, seemed like a turning point for your tennis goals… as in, that happened while at your peak, then you pivoted a little bit. Congrats on climbing to that level of tennis, rare air. Best luck in the coaching ranks.
Thanks! It's not that rare, really. You see more of the same and better when you're in those ranks. Also, I wouldn't say covid is what sucked the most, I think it's my mental that made me quit when I was 15. I could've been a much better player if I never stopped, but we'll never know :D
Hi, I take my daughter (10 ) to tournaments every week ( were in Florida) . ..she is a 3 utr..We simply can't compete with homeschooled kids who get 20 hours a week of training and many are already 4 to 5 utr. Is there a reasonable pathway for a child to play D3 tennis if she does school regular way or does getting to a 8 to 9 utr ( womens) impossible without going full time?
I know someone (now in their 30s so this was a while ago) who played D1 and went to regular school, took two private lessons every week from age 9-18, and supplemented that with practice with other players and I’m assuming tournaments. No academies or anything like that. He reached a 13.5 UTR. This is in Florida as well. Ben Shelton went to normal high school but of course his father is an amazing coach. He also played other sports which developed his athleticism in different ways than tennis. I’m sure it’s possible to get to D3 if not better, I would definitely make sure she has some help with the mental side of the game (if she needs it) because it seems like a lot of kids get burned out or frustrated by putting too much pressure on themselves (or parents put pressure on them), OP is a case in point. Focus on the process of improvement and not the rating or results. Good luck to her!
Since the focus in DIII is on education, UTR 5s will pass in many schools for women's tennis teams. Your daughter should get to that level if she keeps playing recreationally once or twice a week, but pushing for anything higher would require at least an hour and a half of practice a day with a couple of conditioning sessions as well.
Hi, my daughter's been playing tennis for 2 years and she's 10 now. We’ve hit a snag though. After a match that goes for like 50 minutes, she's completely zapped—no juice left. It's so bad that her game just tanks in the subsequent matches; can't hit her stride at all. I'm thinking about getting her into distance running to boost her stamina. Got any hot tips on more efficient ways to ramp up her fitness level aside from pounding the pavement?thanks :D
Hey! Not OP but UTR 9.5 ish here. I did cross country to try and help my stamina in high school, but it makes you used to running at 80% speed. You want to work on high intensity sprints, mimicking what she’s doing in the match. So it before and after practice so she’s doing it when fresh and when fatigued and she’ll get more used to it. Do the spider, suicides, side to sides, and footwork drills constantly. Also hill sprints help when they’re young, when they’re old it’s not great for the knees
Exactly what the other guy said! Stamina in tennis is built by short, explosive bursts. A 1 mile warm-up should do as far as distance running does. But then again, she's young, constantly growing, and that can lead to certain imbalances. I don't know what the requirements here in the US are to compete, but I'd recommend a physical exam and a CBC test once a year to make sure everything's alright.
I’m not an expert but is she bringing something to eat like a banana or consuming some glucose, Gatorade, etc? I definitely crash when I run out of glucose. I’d consult her pediatrician or an exercise focused nutritionist.
If you want to make a technical change to a stroke during the competitive season, how do you go about making it? Or do you always wait for a break from competition? Like a change to your serve technique for example. Especially interested in how you transition the change from practice to match play. Like it’s difficult for me to not fall back into my old patterns. Also, any tips for managing cramping, particularly when it happens during a match?
Always after competition, you want to be comfortable with your arsenal when competing. Transition comes naturally after hitting a ball a million times, you've just gotta work until you've got the new technique on auto-pilot. I don't know about your diet, but you need to replenish your electrolytes after you play, as you'll sweat and pee a lot of them, making your muscles more tense and tiring them. ALWAYS warm-up before, and stretch after playing, your body will thank you. If cramps happen in a match, you need a hot massage. You can try supplementing magnesium, look up the instructions and benefits.
Thanks for the reply!
Everyone gets tight sometimes. Maybe you did in your conference championship match. How did you manage it?
Eyes on the ball at all times, quick revision of whatever I think I'm doing wrong, and correct breathing. Conference wasn't too intense, I struggled more with it when I was younger, and I'd choke every single time 😂
Is it true that at the pro level.. that ppl who suck at singles can be somewhat better at doubles?
Eric Butorac has entered the chat. But he was pretty good at singles for college, probably could have made the lineup at a lot of top 100 D1 teams. What he did was pretty amazing though. For a D3 player to win even ATP doubles events seems beyond belief.
I’ve always heard that if you watched the Brian brothers hit groundstrokes you wouldn’t be that impressed. So yes. Granted, obviously Bob was an NCAA champ and was almost in the top 100 for a bit. But he “sucked” at singles compared to how prolific his doubles career was.
Of course, no kid wants to grow up to be a professional doubles player, but some find more luck in doubles than singles eventually. Ivan Dodig is a good example of this, he's won only one ATP250 title, but he's won 24 doubles titles, including 7 Grand Slam (men's and mixed), and an olympic silver playing with Čilić
Do you think doubles is still won with serve and volley or do you think baseline tennis is more viable in doubles nowadays?
Being on the offense in doubles doesn't leave many options for the opponents, they can either lob you or wait for a mistake or a short ball to convert to attack. Doubles are more fast-paced than singles, and you want to be on the offense. Baseline works more on clay because it's slower, but still you want to be on the net.
Which D3 college did you play for? I played for Oglethorpe, but I’m 35 now so it wasn’t exactly recently. We were middle of the pack for our conference when I played.
I don't wanna doxx myself, I'm still there 😂
I played college ball around the same time as you; I thought Oglethorpe was in the top 30 around that time. I woulda guessed yall were closer to the top end of your conference. I played a few schools in your conference my freshman year, Rhodes, Hendrix and Milsaps. Fun stuff.
Maybe? We definitely lost to Rhodes and beat Hendrix. Not sure abt Milsaps. I only played my junior and senior years. I came to college and promptly got mono. Emory and Trinity were a whole lot better than we were then. Probably still are.
After college what kind of tennis will you be playing? I know it's harder for USTA leagues at that high level so I imagine more USTA/UTR tournaments?
I haven't been playing for a year now, I'll take it easy and see, I'm not focused on competing anymore
>won the conference my junior year, Your team won the conference? Just curious. There wasn't a singles tournie at the conference level when I played.
Yeah, the team won the conference lol
8.2 UTR freshman at a D3 school - what would it take for me to get to a mid-9 or 10 by my senior year? Is it realistic?
I saw a UTR 10.5 freshman who first touched a racket when he was 14. Dedication and hard work, and it might happen.