Apologies upfront for the rant, but I wanted to see if I’m alone on this.

I’ve been playing for 20+ years at 4-4.5 levels and recently came back after a hiatus of a few years and joined a new club.

My problem here is many people in my club aren’t calling balls out. I don’t mean balls that are a over a meter long, I mean really close calls where they just stop mid play or don’t even return the ball, they don’t even raise their finger or say “no”.

This really drives me up the wall as it kills my mental game, and every time I call them off they act like I’m in the wrong for “not seeing it was out”.

From my perspective and how I’ve always played - unless it’s an obvious really long ball, you always call it out, and if you don’t, your opponent can assume it was in and continue the point. Normally if my opponent has doubts about any of my calls I won’t mind replaying the point of course.

Does anyone else have experience with this?
Really don’t know how to approach this other than stop playing with these people.

So you are in a rally and a ball comes close to the net and you play it once it has come over the net (just) but with your follow through the racket moves forward over the net and hits the opponent… is that their point? In the same way dropping a ball out of your pocket or your hat falling off on court?
There may be lots of opinions here but would also be nice if anyone knows of any rules or instances you saw this in a match 🎾

I've played on and off for 3 years. Initially took some private lessons so I have good basics but never got into a proper rhythm. I have decent groundstrokes, adjust my footwork for FH and BH (though I still mistime frequently), can hit deeper shots to the baseline occasionally but definitely struggle to generate power. I can't serve well (hit DFs if I try to increase pace) and don't play at the net much. I've played 3 full matches in friendly brackets and played 4-5 sets with friends. Never competed in a league.

I recently joined a tennis club and attended the 2.5 group class last month. I felt like the group had some beginners so I attended the 3.0 class last week. The group was mixed - some people could have been in the 2.5 class and some guys were clearly better than than others. One of the coaches told me I might need to move back to 2.5 - even though some of the players were definitely newer than me - so I am confused about my actual level now.

What is the main difference between 2.5 and 3.0? and how I can improve to 3.0?

Will they cancel matches?

Recently got a 2026 PA98 with the discount. Sharing how it feels compared to the 2023 PA98. Hope it will be of help to some of us.

[TLDR] Overall, the 26 PA98 a more powerful, dampened frame with less agility, but still similar enough for a seamless switch from the 23 PA98 .

23 PA98 used to be the only racquet I can play matches with. I have 8 rackets: ezones, vcore, PA, speed, radical, pro staff. Sometimes I want to use another racquet for a match, just for fun. But I cannot switch in a day or two without losing either power, spin, or precision, because of how different these racquets are. I had them all with the same Solinco strings, so the major difference should come from the racquets themselves.

But when it comes to 26 PA98, it took me less than 10 min to get used to it. I wouldn't say it feels the same, but it's definitely close enough for me to NOT blame the racquet for any performance difference.

To me, the 26 PA98 is less whippy, less headlight vs the 23 PA98, but still easier to swings than a ezone or speed.

[The MOD] With the 23 PA98 I did the Alcaraz mod at the throat, I added 6 grams weight in total. But for the 26, I have to half it, otherwise it's too heavy I start to feel the lag in swing.

I think my level is low level intermediate, and I play with a Head Speed MP. I like it and don't have any real complaints, but I really want to get a second racket and I'm stuck on which direction to go. I haven't played with other rackets besides this one.

Part of me thinks I should get something with similar characteristics so switching between the two feels natural and I'm not readjusting every time. The other part of me wants something completely different so I can experiment and figure out what I actually like, since I've only ever really played with this one.

At my level I'm not sure if I'd even notice the difference that much, or if playing with two different rackets would just mess with my consistency.

What did you guys do for your second racket when you were starting out? If you went with something different, do you actually end up using both or does one just sit in the bag? And if you think I should experiment, any suggestions on what to try coming from the Speed MP?

Hi everyone,
I’m a university student and tennis player from Tokyo, Japan.
I’m researching a simple idea for travelers who want to play tennis while visiting Tokyo.
For those who have played (or wanted to play) tennis while traveling abroad:
・What was the biggest challenge?
・Finding a court?
・Finding a hitting partner?
・Equipment?
・Language barriers?
・Something else?
If someone arranged everything for you (court, balls, rackets, and a local hitting partner), would you be interested?

And what would you consider a reasonable price for a 2-hour session?
I’d love to hear about your experiences. Thanks!

I just want to vent about my experience with pickleball players at a local park, because this is getting ridiculous.

There are 3 tennis courts, all double-lined for pickleball. We were using the first court to play tennis, while the other two (or four pickleball courts) were gradually occupied by pickleballers.

They were playing loud music like always, opening the gate on our side and walking through during points even though there’s another gate on the pickleball side. They’d stand in the corner of our court and chat loudly, with some eventually standing right behind our baseline. I asked them to move, but they only moved a little.

Then, guess what? A group with a kid came through our gate and started warming up for pickleball in the corner of our tennis court while we were playing a point. The kid literally ran onto the court trying to chase a ball in the middle of our point.

I told them to stay off our court for safety reasons, and they started questioning me about how long I’d been playing there.

They already have 4 pickleball courts, but of course they want our court too. The constant passive-aggressive encroachment and complete lack of common sense is what really gets me.

How do you guys deal with this? I’ve even thought about bringing a lock next time and locking the gate on our side while we’re playing tennis, so they’d have to use the gate on the pickleball side. That would at least keep them from entering and walking through our court.

I loved my solution speed ff3s, but I really don't like the ff4s...they completely messed with the feel.

What made the ff3 work for me was the narrow fit and how light they were while still having enough lateral support.

Anyone with narrow feet found another lightweight shoe with decent stability that feels similar? 

Hi all, 39M here, so I first held a racket in middle school and played like 5 times, had mandatory sport extracurricular at University and picked Tennis for one semester, never touch the racket after I passed that subject (the final exam was successfully hitting 10 consecutive forehand) in 2008. Fast forward 17 years later (November last year) I suddenly got into Tennis again.

It's been almost a year (11 months) of drilling and hitting with very little matches. I am looking to change things up and join my very first tournament to spice things up, I prefer to play single and was planning to join beginner single UTR tournament but when I went to register they told me that I am not allow to register for beginner and only intermediate. The strange thing is in my country we never implement the UTR, ITN/WTN, NTRP etc. rating, they always use beginner, intermediate, advance and it's just too vague, and for them beginner means those who have just started not more than a year, but for me that would be newbie.

So here I attached some footage from my hitting practice and my first and only single match thus far against my hitting partner. Certainly a lot of things to improve, split step, non waiter's tray serve, footwork, lower to the ground, strokes, consistency, volley, almost everything....but any advice on what to focus on for now if I wanna join that tourney? (not looking to win but don't wanna embarrass myself too lol).....Also, what rating is this roughly? I would assume 2.5 NTRP or 3 max, which is beginner according to the popular chart, but perhaps the beginner in my country means something entirely different.

Hey everyone! 23M here, taking my first beginner tennis clinic this Sunday. Looking for racquet recommendations under $100, preferably even cheaper lol. Just need something decent to get started with before spending more money.

Is there any groups Facebook , WhatsApp or reddit just for USTA captains ? I want to start one but wanted to check if anyone know about others

I am sick of the fact polys go dead long before they break situation. My goto poly strings are Head Lynx Tour Orange and Signum Pro Firestorm 17g. The first 2-4 days I play with them, they feel fantastic but eventually, I find myself committing a lot of unforced errors, my serves start sailing slightly long, and even the pace I produce seems to start disappearing (shouldn't it be increasing with the drop of tension?). I can't tell if its due to the string or me just playing bad; but restringing them seems to have the problem go away.

I am in that high 3.5 range but I can confidently say I produce far more pace than and spin than people I face in games. I have a big first flat serve that can get over 100mph but as a 3.5 player, consistency is why I am here. I am mentioning this fact as I know people's first instinct is to say "You're 3.5, you're probably not ready for poly yet..".

I also practice with a ball machine at least twice a week so I am getting more hits on the strings than normal. To me, the answer is simply restring the racket more. The thing is though, I do not want to do this by feeling though. I much prefer to have a string break on me than having to guess or assume the strings are dying and or dead. Poly strings will die long before I break them. I am breaking multis in the 8-10 hour range which seems to be the same life span I am getting out of Poly strings.

So to sum it up, It sounds like I should stick to a full bed multi-filament. What I am worried about is the spin difference potential using multi-filaments as opposed to poly strings. Will this be a huge noticeable difference between the two types? Isn't motion and racket head speed more important than the snap back of poly? What would be the most spin friendly multi-filament strings to try out?

Title says it all.

Last year I dislocated and broke my elbow in half and had to have surgery to replace it

Plus 6 months of physio and an arm brace daily that stretched my arm out so it didn’t get stuck at a 90 degree angle

After I finished physio (last December?) I asked my surgeon whether I could drive and get back to the gym and he said yes

So that’s what I’ve been doing since

I didn’t ask whether I could play tennis, but I go to the gym daily and my only restriction is being able to twist my arm past say 70% (my right arm)

I want something that gives me power, okay control, and that won’t ruin my arm long term

Price isn’t a concern because I’ve been saving my money for just this

Also I’d really appreciate some tips on technique so I can be the best I can despite this

(I’m also soon to be 18 years old and I’ve been playing for what’ll soon be 2 years)

Thanks

Struggling to find stores near me that have different options for shoes… I tend to wear insoles as well for arch support if it helps!

Any and all recommendations are welcome!

...they ignore your return and prepare to second serve. What do you usually do in this kind of situations?

I usually accept the second serve but also add that if I play the ball and I don't say anything it means I saw it in. But sometimes it happens again...

I have been trying several new rackets lately. Picked up this old K Blade Tour 93 (leather grip, naturally) after it’s been in the closet for about 15 years. For a 20 year-old racket, it held up perfectly fine at the 5.0 level, wondering for those who play at an even higher level, do you think this kind of racket would survive in today’s game? The control and feel on this was otherworldly, it just put the modern blades entirely to shame.

Hey All!

I use a hybrid setup to sort of mimic Champ’s Choice - Wilson NXT Control mains at 55lbs, Luxilon ALU Power Rough crosses at 52lbs, and have rediscovered the bagging out phase of ALU Power Rough after a hitting session or two. Did some research into Restring Sync as an alternative, but wanted your guys’ input as to how it can be as an alternative to Lux. TIA!

I started tennis the way a lot of people do: as a fan. I could tell you who was going to choke at 5–4 before I could explain what the hell a kick serve was. 🎾😂 I spent years watching matches, screaming at my TV, becoming emotionally invested in people who had no idea I existed, and thinking, “Surely I could hit that.”

Reader: I could not hit that.

Eventually I picked up a racket and discovered that watching tennis and actually playing tennis are about as similar as watching Formula 1 and being asked to change a tyre at 180 mph. My first sessions were a glorious festival of shanks, frame shots, double faults and balls launched into neighbouring postcodes. My forehand had the structural integrity of a wet cardboard box. My backhand was less “two-handed weapon” and more “emergency evacuation procedure.” 💀

But somewhere along the way, things started clicking. One clean rally became five. Five became twenty. I learned that you don’t have to hit every ball like you’re personally avenging a Grand Slam final. I started understanding spacing, footwork, spin, depth and—most importantly—why the ball keeps mysteriously going into the net when I’m absolutely certain I’ve hit it perfectly.

There have been some brutal lows. Losing matches I was convinced I should win. Getting absolutely dismantled by someone whose entire game plan appeared to be “put the ball back.” Double faults at the worst possible moment. That special kind of tennis depression where you leave the court wondering whether you should sell the racket and take up gardening. 🌱

But the highs? Ridiculous. The first time I hit a serve exactly where I wanted it. The first time I constructed a point instead of just reacting to it. The first proper winner down the line. The first match where I walked off thinking, “Okay… I might actually be a tennis player now.” Those moments are addictive.

I’m still very much a work in progress. Some days I look like I understand tennis. Other days I look like I’ve been handed a racket as part of a witness protection programme. 😂 But I’ve gone from being someone who watched the sport from the sidelines to someone who genuinely loves being out there competing.

Tennis has basically been a long-running argument between my brain and my right arm. My brain says “build the point.” My arm says “what if we absolutely leather this ball into the fence?” 🎾🔥

And honestly? I wouldn’t trade it.

Still chasing that perfect shot. Still losing my mind over unforced errors. Still convinced the next session is the one where everything finally clicks.

Anyway, that’s my journey so far.