<br>
<br>
<p>4.0 and 4.5 are typical levels on the tennis forums that I visit. Here are the characteristics of a 5.0:</p>
<p>Forehand: Strong shot with control, depth, and spin; uses forehand to set up offensive situations; has developed good touch; consistent on passing shots</p>
<p>Backhand: Can use backhand as an aggresive shot with good consistency; has good direction and depth on most shots; varies spin</p>
<p>Serve/Return: Serve is placed effectively with the intent of hitting a weakness or developing an offensive situation; has a variety of serves to rely on; good depth, spin, and placement on most second serves to force weak return or set up next shot; can mix aggresive and off-paced service returns with control, depth, and spin</p>
<p>Volley: Can hit most volleys with depth, pace, and direction; plays difficult volleys depth; given opportunity, volley is often hit for a winner</p>
<p>Special Shots: Approach shots and passing shots are hit with pace and high degree of effectiveness; can lob offensively; overhead can be hit from any position; hits mid-court volley with consistency; can mix aggresive and off-paced service returns</p>
<p>Playing Style: Frequently has an outstanding shot or attribute around which his/her game is built; can vary game plan according to opponentl this player is Amatch wise@, plays percentage tennis, and Abeats himself@ less than the 4.5 player; solid teamwork in doubles is evident; game breaks down mentally and physically more often than the 5.5 player</p>
<hr>
<p>Basically you have all of the shots. You understand tactics and strategy, can form a game plan on the fly.</p>
<p>The guy that I play with regularly has played satellite tour players and has a lot of tournament experience. He’s in his early to mid-sixties which has slowed him down but he can still play very well. He’s lost to me a lot lately but I think that a lot of that is mental. He can put together games where he plays very well but I think that he feels that he can’t win right now and he doesn’t put in a consistently strong effort. I know how it feels because he used to beat me consistently for months (or maybe even years).</p>
<p>You see it in the top four men’s game. Murray has the physical ability and talent to beat any of the top three but he just can’t crack into those slots. He’s come very close but he usually gets edged out by a little. At some level, the mental game is as important as the physical and skills game.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Great? No. I could play at the collegiate level long ago which is nothing like the collegiate level today. I have hit with a few professional players and some very good regional players. The best player that I played against was a grand slam finalist. I lived with a coach for a while and he used me and another person to train his students.</p>
<p>It’s like running - I can run and can probably do it as well or better than 85% of the people where I work. But I’m not fast enough to even be considered a local-level runner for my age - I would need to run a 5K in something like 24 minutes. So it may be good compared to the general population but it’s not even in the competitive ballpark. But I’d guess that the local-level runner wouldn’t consider themselves great by running standards as there are several levels better. It’s all a matter of degree. Above 5.0, there’s 5.5, 6.0, 6.5 and 7.0 where 7.0 would be the top 1,000 players in the world.</p>
I was really serious about putting them on for a long time!</p>