Alright, so today was about tackling this ‘s jang’ thing in my tennis game. Been feeling kind of stuck lately, you know? Not just on the court, but generally. So, I figured hitting some balls might help shake that off.
Dragged myself to the local courts. Wasn’t super motivated at first, gotta be honest. The air was kinda heavy. Anyway, dumped the balls out, started with some easy warm-ups. Just tapping it back and forth. Felt okay, but that familiar sluggishness was there.
Then I decided, right, let’s focus on the ‘s jang’. For me, that means working on not getting caught flat-footed, especially after hitting a wide shot or when the opponent pushes me deep. That feeling of being jammed, unable to recover quickly. That’s the ‘s jang’ I hate.
So, I started doing drills. Fed myself balls wide to the forehand, focusing purely on the recovery step after the hit. Not even caring much where the ball went, just pushing off hard, getting back to the middle. First few were awful. Felt like my feet were glued to the court.
The Grind
Switched to the backhand side. Same drill. A little better maybe? Or maybe I was just getting used to feeling clumsy. It’s frustrating, man. You know in your head what you need to do, but the body just doesn’t wanna listen sometimes.
Did some specific footwork exercises without the ball too:
- Split steps, focusing on the timing.
- Quick crossovers to recover space.
- Hitting imaginary shots and immediately exploding back.
Then back to hitting. Tried to integrate it. Hit a forehand, boom, push off. Hit a backhand, boom, push off. Some felt really good! Like, for a split second, I wasn’t stuck. I was actually moving like I’m supposed to. But consistency? Nah, not today.
Packed up after about an hour and a half. Sweaty, a bit tired, but feeling… slightly less ‘jang’. It’s weird how working on a physical stuckness can kinda help with the mental kind too. Still got a long way to go, obviously. Need to make this movement automatic, not something I gotta think so hard about.
But yeah, that was the session. All about fighting that jammed feeling. Gotta keep chipping away at it. Maybe tomorrow I’ll feel a bit looser. We’ll see.
