Kristi Hines's Articles (14)

This week, I only got to play two out of three of my leagues due to Yom Kippur that fell on Monday evening.



Singles went quite well last week. One thing my hubby has always noted about my game is that I'm not aggressive enough. I definitely try to play pretty safe to make sure my shots are consistent, but that also means fewer winners and longer rallies. But last week, I tried to step it up a bit, with a goal to not be the last court still playing the match, like I usually am. And… Continue

Last week was the first week I played three league matches, and I must say it was a BLAST!



The first night was women's round robin doubles, and definitely the longest night of tennis, as it is a guaranteed three matches. I found that my net game had suffered some loss of confidence, as I just didn't feel good about my volleys. My serves were pretty good during the first set, including getting an ace based on deliberately placing it away from the receiver. Unfortunately, my arm got a… Continue

Maybe it was the cancellation of my last season of singles. Maybe it was the surprising love of doubles thanks to subbing a few times. Maybe it was the desire of wanting to play on the same side as my hubby for a change, instead of always practicing against each other.



Maybe all three of these were what led me to signing up for not one, not two, but three different leagues for this season. I'm going to be playing 2.5 women's singles and doubles, and also 3.5 mixed doubles. Three… Continue

Sadly, my singles league was canceled just after the first week for this season due to only four people signing up, and then another one dropping after the start.



Luckily, the league coordinator gave my information as a substitute for doubles, so this week, I played my first doubles match. My husband gave me a lot of practice volleying and hitting cross court which came in pretty handy last night. It's Round Robin doubles, and the scores for my teams were 6-0, 5-6, and 6-5. Not too… Continue

It's that time again. This league season is a bit of a change for me, as I am now playing in the AM instead of the PM. Why? By mid July, at 6pm, it will be sunny and over 100° outside, and that is just a bit too hot for my blood. The evening league ended up canceling anyway, probably because a lot of people had the same temperature factor in mind that I did.



Before my first league, I had a little practice with another gal the night before. I broke my two main goals in tennis - not… Continue

Last night, I had a "blind tennis date" with an awesome gal I found on Craigslist. We had a good time - warmed up for about 40 minutes then played two sets. I did pretty good at 6-0 and 6-3, which gives me a boost of confidence going into my league next week.



What was different about playing those two sets compared to my last league match over a month ago? It was one thing - my serve. After my coaching lesson and some great tips from my husband, I finally got my serve pretty… Continue

For the most part of my life, I have not been a physical learner. I played softball for about 10 minutes when I was in elementary school, up until the point I took a ball to the mouth. I played volleyball a bit in junior high, but nothing super competitive. And I took a tennis course in college, almost a decade ago, and spent most of the class time running laps, because that was our instructor's solution for fixing students when they did things incorrectly, like popping the ball out of the… Continue

Yes, it has been a long time since I posted. My second league season ended in a bit of a whimper, with a loss. Of course, I was coming off of a couple of weeks of not playing at all which didn't make matters any better. As always, I did a bit better in the second set than the first, and I managed to make one interesting volley. There really wasn't that much in terms of highlights from that game.



My overall ranking at the end of this season was #5 out of 8 players, which is pretty… Continue

Well folks, tomorrow is my last league match, and I am definitely out of shape. I missed the last two matches, one planned for my honeymoon (which was amazing!) and one because I caught a stomach flu. When my hubby and I returned this weekend, we played twice, once with the ball machine, and once just with each other. After two weeks of no play, I was sorely off my game, and I still haven't practiced serving. So tomorrow will definitely be a challenge. So for anyone who has been following my… Continue

If you are a Roger Federer fan like I am, you will love this documentary my hubby found on Youtube. It's three parts in nine videos. I have put them all in a playlist so you can watch one right after another.

Check out Roger Federer: Spirit of a Champion.

Kristi
http://kikolani.com
http://twitter.com/kikolani

Do you Twitter?



Twitter is the social network which asks its members to answer the famous question “What are you doing?” in 140 characters or less. It's like Facebook, minus the photo albums, applications, groups, pages, etc. It's a very simple way to connect with friends, make new ones, or just follow your favorite celebs / athletes.



Here are some of the interesting tennis Twitter members I follow:



Andy Roddick -… Continue

My match this past Tuesday evening gave me a little insight into how Federer must have felt playing Djokovic in Miami. Blustery conditions do not make for good tennis, and my opponent definitely had better control of the ball in the wind than I did. I don't think I've double faulted as many times in a league match, even in my first season, and my backhand went long 9 out of 10 times. The final score was 1-6, 3-6.



The best part of the match was the entertainment value when the tennis… Continue

This season is definitely starting off on a roll. Last night, I won my second match at 6-2, 6-0. I still missed a lot more than I should have with unforced errors, but I got it under control a lot sooner this time than last. And only two double faults, which is a miracle in itself, considering I just changed my grip on my serve this past weekend. Now I'm serving with the appropriate grip, doing a bit more pronation, and hitting the ball above my head instead of low and out in front of me. All… Continue

Last night was the first match of my second league. I came off to a great start, winning 6-4, 6-0.



The simplest analysis of the match was that in the first set, unforced errors were killing me - especially on the shots that I had the most time to prepare for. It's like the longer I think about it, the better the chance I'm going to overkill it, or plot it right into the net. During the second set, I toned it down more, and my shots became more planned and consistent, which made a big… Continue