Hey guys so a couple of weeks ago I posted a video titled point play with my
4.0 student and I thought this video was fantastic because it dealt with some
very common problems players of that level encounter during point play.
Unfortunately people didn't seem to take some of the advice that I was giving but
instead they seemed to be obsessed with my student Dave's
4.0 rating and that's exactly what we're going to discuss in today's video.
So Dave man we got hammered in the comment section.
you want me to read you some okay suppose they are saying you're not a 4.0
So this is not that bad of a comment you've been playing 4.0 four
five years right yeah and then you way since you moved me up with your tutelage
yeah and didn't you tell me you beat the 4.0 tournament winner? young kid
twenty six-year-old he played his sanction USTA sanction tournament and
in Coral Springs he came out number one in a 4.0 USTA tournament
and I wasn't it wasn't on record because it wasn't a tournament but I beat him in
games privately but not only that but you also played Alec who I put in a
video of mine. I'm gonna put the link in the description and people can check out
how he plays. he's like a 5.0 maybe he was injured now he's maybe a 4.5
and you guys can check out how Alec plays he's a really good player and what
was your score with Alec I do you beat him six two. exactly let me read you a few
more erratic I have great days and not so great day of course everybody all
right Dave listen to this.
was hot you're such a high level who was hot I hadn't slept all night you moved
me like 4.0 and 5.0 players don't move me and I was exhausted. Now listen
to this one.
But to say that your're 3.0 or 2.5 is absolutely
ridiculous people people realize people don't real
what that level is I've had days where I solidly beat 4.5 players but
because I'm not consistent I'm not gonna call myself a 4.5 right I have
days where there's 4.5 players I take the day I do it all the time I'll
it's just absurd I mean okay now I'm getting hit again this guy is a terrible
so let me respond to a few things first of all the title of the video was points
and strategy we do technical sessions all the time we play maybe points for
five minutes at the end but what I wanted with this video is to show people
some of these mistakes that are made in point play and then how to have better
shot selection better footwork better ball recognition and better
decision-making overall but when it comes to technique I have other
technical videos that you guys can check out but this was obviously in a title it
said point play and this is exactly what it was and furthermore when you play
points you know this you can really can't work on technique anyway you have
to rely on your muscle memory whatever is build up in your muscle memory that's
what you're basically relying on and you try to get that muscle memory in your
training sessions during the drills so basically what we do is we work on our
own the technique and then we play points it is what it is
you know up to that point I try to help you with some of the strategic aspects
of point play but also on that particular day it was hot number one
and I purposely chose points that you lost so that I can point out some of
these mistakes you made I could have easily put in like half of the video
being your winners and half of the video being your mistakes but I didn't do that
because I wanted people to be able to identify some of the mistakes you made
and maybe they can take some of the tips that I gave you and apply it to their
own game. But one more thing that people don't realize is what an 4.0 player
actually looks like on video. So you always look worse on video and then in
real life.
But even let say when you play your absolute best
when you see yourself play it's gonna look a lot worse than you imagined it
looks like and also the way you play your qualities are not necessarily that
you have the best technique in the world and we're working really hard on fixing
your strokes but you are a gamer and you like to you like to fight and you run
balls down and also people a lot of times when you give them no pace they
actually struggle with that. And let's address the fact that people who are
saying that you know you're gonna have a heart attack you lean on a net and the
net is breaking you trying to get in shape a little better shape but in
my experience skill at this level outmatches shape you know it does
I don't make any mistakes you know I'm moving you side to side and then give you a then I
give you one to put away you're exhausted you're breathing hard you know
but will you play match your skill the guy will make a mistake much earlier in
that you actually don't get that exhausted when you play you can outlast
most guys because again at this level physical fitness is not as
important as your skill set. We're record a video a year from now and you're
gonna be fitter okay okay alright Dave are you ready to prove that your 4.0 all
right let's do it let's do it.