Right, so someone asked me about M. Granollers. It makes me think back to a phase I went through some time ago. I remember watching him play doubles, maybe it was the ATP Finals or something. What struck me was how effortless he made it look at the net. Silky smooth volleys, great positioning. You know, the kind of stuff that looks dead simple on TV.
So, I got this idea in my head. “I can do that,” I thought. My own doubles game was, well, let’s just say it needed work. Especially my net play. It was more panic than placement. Inspired by Granollers, I decided, right, I’m going to drill this. I’m going to get those crisp volleys.
The Plan vs Reality
I dragged a buddy down to the local courts. We started feeding balls. I was trying to replicate that quick reaction, the soft hands I thought I saw Granollers use. The reality? Utter disaster.
- Balls flying off my racket in every direction but the court.
- Feet felt like they were stuck in concrete.
- My buddy was getting more exercise fetching balls than hitting them.
It was frustrating. Really frustrating. I spent hours, day after day, trying to get it right. Watched more clips of Granollers, trying to dissect his movement. Didn’t help much. It just made me feel more inadequate. Here’s this pro doing it seemingly without thought, and I can barely keep the ball in play standing right at the net.
More Than Just Tennis
This whole tennis struggle was happening during a pretty rough patch for me personally. Work was a nightmare, lots of pressure, things weren’t going well on a big project. And somehow, my failure on the tennis court just magnified all that other stress. It sounds silly, right? Getting worked up over hitting a fuzzy yellow ball. But it felt like another thing I just couldn’t get right.
I distinctly remember one sweltering afternoon. My hitting partner had packed it in early – couldn’t take the heat, or maybe just my terrible volleys. But I stayed. Just me, a basket of balls, and the backboard. Thwack. Net. Thwack. Frame. Thwack. Sailed over the fence. I wasn’t even practicing anymore; I was just working off steam, feeling like an idiot for trying to copy a professional player. What was I thinking?
Then, standing there sweating, feeling defeated, something sort of shifted. Not my volley technique, unfortunately. It was more a realization. I was trying too hard, expecting instant results, comparing myself to someone leagues ahead. Not just in tennis, but with the work stuff too. I was focused on the perfect outcome, the ‘Granollers volley’, instead of just the small steps, the actual process of learning and improving, however slowly.
The Takeaway
So, I changed my approach. Stopped trying to be fancy. Went back to basics. Just simple footwork drills, focusing on watching the ball, making clean contact. Forget about looking like Granollers. Just try to get the ball over the net, consistently. It was slow, painstaking progress.
Did I suddenly develop amazing volleys? Absolutely not. They’re still pretty average, if I’m honest. But that whole period, triggered by watching Granollers, taught me something important about patience and managing my own expectations. It wasn’t really about the tennis in the end. It was about learning how to deal with sucking at something new, sticking with it without beating myself up, and applying that same mindset to the other pressures I was facing. That project at work? It eventually got sorted, partly because I started tackling it with that same, less frantic, step-by-step approach I’d stumbled upon back on the tennis court.
