Getting Started: Why Her Ranking Bothered Me
So I’m watching Erika Andreeva play last month, right? Girl’s got mad skills but keeps choking at crucial points. Her serve stats were all over the place – double faults flying like confetti. I checked her ranking bouncing between 80-100, thought “man that’s just wrong”. Couldn’t sleep that night imagining how to fix it.
First Attempt: The Obvious Stuff
Tuesday morning I grabbed my notebook and went full detective mode:
- Stalked her match videos frame-by-frame like a creep
- Timed her recovery between points with my phone stopwatch
- Counted how many shots she missed wide vs long (spoiler: wide was winning)
Biggest takeaway? Her footwork looked tired by third set. Like dragging concrete blocks instead of tennis shoes. Next day I tried mimicking her baseline movement in my local court – lasted twenty minutes before wheezing like an asthmatic donkey.
The Wake-Up Call Moment
Thursday I did the dumbest thing: played three back-to-back matches against Mark from next door. By the second set my serves were hitting the fence instead of the service box. Realized Erika’s problem ain’t just physical – when you’re exhausted, decision making goes straight to hell. Remembered that one match where she kept charging the net when clearly she should’ve stayed back.
Building the Fixes
Sunday became lab rat day with my tennis buddies:
- Forced extra sprints between points during practice
- Made them scream distractions during my serves
- Replayed pressure situations starting at love-40
Failed miserably at first. Double-faulted six times in a row during distraction drill, almost smashed my racket. But by evening saw improvement: started taking that extra breath before serves, repositioning faster after returns. Even Mark noticed I stopped rushing shots when down in points.
Where We’re At Now
Took two weeks before seeing real results. My own club matches felt different – won three tiebreaks I’d normally choke. Back to Erika: if she fixes the conditioning piece and stops rushing big points? Top 50 isn’t crazy. Watched her recent match and smiled when she took that extra second before championship point. Progress ain’t pretty but damn it’s satisfying.
