@@dadsfreetimeclassicgaming1220 power is not the key, consistency and placement are. he did make some goofy shot choices though; like running around a backhand and trying a down the line forehand slice from an open stance.
If I may ask, do you truly feel it is a bad decision? Or could it be that he has not learned what decisions he could make in those situations? Especially if an opponent is capable of putting more consistent real time pressure on him? You can see that she knows how to both give and gain ground almost the instant the ball comes off his racquet. He however, ends up in a more static position on the baseline. He seems to only react even if he started out wanting to be proactive. I feel that since she is proactive about his ball flight and what she will do next, that would be something for him learn from higher level players like her. Men's 4.0 tennis is good but it does not often look like that. A commenter said her strokes are not that powerful, but that is not the typical style of clay and she is far more consistent (tons of practice) even though he may be stronger than her. She is diligent about splitting and reading arc and bounce. I think for Shamir, it is a matter of acquiring more and more experience dealing with this type of player (which may or may not be possible). I dunno, just spitballing. Cheers
A very good, let alone a high level, player forces you to play above the level you are capable of. That makes unforced errors skyrocking. Shamir's serve indicates he is not a bad player. He was simply facing someone who is way better. I guarantee he looks like a different person versus a 4.0 player.
Glad you arranged this to show to the high (ish) level amateur male players how big of a gap there is between ex high level D1 athletes like Emma and themselves. She has tens of thousands of more hours of practice / matches in her career compared to Shamir. Also, hats off the him for checking his ego, fighting hard and taking the L like a champ. That mentality will allow him to grow his game.
I agree with Nick's classification of levels, to me advanced amateur is 4.5, some 4.0, which Shamir is somewhere there in the normal distribution curve (right now closer to 4.0 than 4.5 definitely). Still amateur there's the advanced competitive players and I think 5.0 are there. To me the difference between 4.5 and 5.0 is huge ,(I'm an around 4.5 player and I just don't see myself getting to 5.0 unless I really really really got into it). I liked it too that Emma got him bad. Would it be the same with a 5.0? It'd be fun to watch!
@@yakzivz1104 You don't know the levels obviously. Female pros are same level as male college players and most male college players are 5.0s. High 5.0s is attainable by recreational male players who started playing from childhood.
Emma is just amazing. No need to say anything about her. Shamir is a delightful soul, super nice and gentle guy that just enjoys everything. Sadly, I got the feeling that his lack of intensity (maybe being careful about his foot injury?) is getting in his way of confidence with everything, including his BHs and not so spinny FHs. I have never played on green clay courts, but it looks like a challenge on its own, being super dry and not so easy to glide/slide on. Amazing content Nic as usual. Cheers and have a great weekend. M
Long-awaited video🤩. I liked the way Shamir played although the score didn't indicate it. It felt he played with not much nerves. He had some decent shots. Very nice video and a great example of issue that need to be addressed in future sessions with Nick. Great job Ema, Nick and Shamir. Keep up the good work👌
Fantastic playing by Ema. Tremendous consistency! That's largely mental - shot selection, patience, discipline, focus. Very impressive and a lot of fun to watch. Also, well played by Shamir. Sure, he lost every game, but ha gave a good challenge and made Ema play. Games like this are won at the margins.
You’ve got great students Nick. Good players and as importantly good people. Next match. Ema vs. Alex. And then… Ema vs. your HS student who wants to go pro. Make it happen Nick! Give the people what they want!
Lovely serve technique on Shamir. My observations were that he didn't lean into the ball as discussed in the pre-match coaching, using the body to take on some of the rally balls on neutral points. I can definitely relate to that, matches are just a different animal and the natural tentative play in stress situations does this to me all the time. Ema handled the slice well but again shame Shamir wasn't feeling his flat/topspin backhand. Both moved great I thought, well played.
I love this format of videos Nik, I am an average 4.0 and have good strokes but I struggle in matches on strategies to push the opponent and close points. This format really helped understand a game strategy and how after almost every point you are guiding Shamir on what went wrong and what he could do better. Please make more of these videos breaking a quick set match and explaining strategies
I think Shamir played great I can see a ton of improvement from other videos of his point play. Returning well, making better decisions. Started off serving pretty well. Smart to slice a lot because BH wasn’t working at all. Solid performance. Ema played amazing
It was a joy to watch Ema's complete game. Nick: give a player who performs as well as Ema does an opportunity to provide her opponent one after-match tip as well, based on what she saw. Hearing input from your opponent feels more real than from an observer, and translates to a learning opportunity much better. Shamir has a nice serve technique, but I'm not seeing it translate into a high-level serve on the court as a result. The motion needs to be more free and quick and full. Need to work that out, to let it flow better to get better pace and action on his serve.
The result is what I expected and predicted. Shamir has potential and I like his game but a bit to intimidated here maybe and insecure especially on the backhand. A higher serve percentage could've maybe gotten him a game but overall the difference in level is just to high. Ema so solid. Times her shots so well. That's why it was also clear from the start that she would come out the winner against Macy. Very fun to watch! And Shamir is a great guy. Keep it up. Definitely much room still for improvement 💪🏼
I lost a set 6-1 the other day to very fast and very experienced player who could cover the court unbelievably well. I definitely could relate to Shamir in this match. I use these types of opponents as opportunities to learn and improve.
Looking from my point of view in my tennis journey, it's interesting that this video is being released now. I decided to move from the stylish 1 handed backhand to a 2 handed because I was slicing a lot and not being able to trust myself when playing higher ranked players. Even though I kept trying to keep my intensity up I just didn't have enough court time and enough lessons+practice time to develop a 1 handed that could become a weapon. From the moment I realized that I started switching to a 2 handed and I felt that the amount of time that I have for my whole preparation until I hit the ball is a lot higher than before, it also helped me in some emergency shots and have more control of where to place the ball. Interesting to see that Shamir had the same problem that I had.
@@melfox215 kid I've played tennis only 10 - 15 times, but I will give more of a fight against her. His strokes are just childish, and his serve is without any variation and speed. I've played table tennis for years and I know how to spin the ball from both sides, plus I'm 1,83 tall and 88 kg.
@@Anticommunism99if you've only played 10 to 15 times you would be a lot worse than you realise. Sounds like you wouldn't be good enough yet to realise how bad you are.
The stagnant movement really hindered his game and the lack of confidence made the ball go out as there was nearly zero effort in any stroke Shamir tried to perform - Hope there's a rematch where Nick can emphasize the importance of self confidence. If I'm playing poorly or too "safe" I usually tell myself its time to f*ck shit up and hit every ball with power and confidence. Great content again Nick, take care!
Good point. The result was 8-0 anyways, even after he resorted to safe shots and slicing all the time. He should've try to hit with confidence and even if he lost, he might've been able to find his game/feel his shots midway into the match.
Great play from both, I feel on a hard court it’s maybe a little closer as Shamir (Shamir could win 2 games in the pro set) but he doesn’t really know how to move on a clay court.
He reminds me of me. Lost to a guy 6-2 6-1. I forced myself to learn thbh i had a one handed bh for 2 yrs. That helped me alot as well as better serve. Played the guy again lost but got closer 6-4 1-3. Keep it up man doin great.
Long waited match. Shamir did with great effort but still no chance if he continues with defensive play especially with slice against such a strong opponent. Both are not moving well on clay, I rarely see any decent sliding from both side. Great jobs Nik, thanks for this video, we are looking forward to seeing Anna’s match 😊😊
Nick said everything I was going to about the backhand already. Love seeing Shamir play, but the forehand... 1. Not getting coiled enough to really rotate through it. 2. That over the head followthrough is robbing him of a lot of pace and penetration. Instead of the swing extending forward (when possible) it looks like he is pulling off the ball a bit and his swing goes up and over sideways. Love to hear you let me know if that analysis is right or if I'm talking garbage! Thanks for the lessons Nick!
Great match! I have the impression Shamir used too much the backhand slice. Maybe he was under too much pressure and lost confidence on his one handed backhand. In the end, he played better when he played aggressively. Keep up the good work!
@@marcomonti9823 haha totally disagree there is such an enormous difference between the pro level and amateur level. Your watching strokes and power and fitness level. It is way more about decision making, reading the game, recognising where the momentum is. How to pace a match etc. Yes for the untrained eye looking at Ema play Winston on a practice court could make you think the level isn't that different. Playing a match is something else completely.
It was fine for Shamir in the first game; rallies were pretty neutral but went completely downhill after that easy mistake (bad bounce or not). Lost confidence and played completely safe and defensive not going for his shots. I would probably lost 8-0 as well but I would force my shots a bit more. Nothing much to lose anyway
Shamir- -Learn a 2HBH. -Play 100s of sets that you tell yourself you CANNOT slice the backhand! -See your game improve dramatically! Keep growing, always. Good job.
Good play and I can relate to Shamir. The intensity in footwork is a huge difference between the two and I would have loved to see Shamir move more, split step consistently and put himself into position to hit his best shots. The slicing seemed in part as he was out of position.
Good match. Hang in there Shamir! Coach Nick will get you there. Coach: when you're playing a better player do you recommend counter punching or being more aggressive when the opportunity presents itself?
From Ema I saw confidence in her strokes. She accelerated through her strokes. From Shamir I saw nerve and a tentative stroke. He didn't push the ball, but he also didn't accelerate as he hit, and it showed. At no point was Ema feeling any danger.
Nick told Shamir to use more body in his pre-game instructions, but mostly I saw poor footwork and flailing away, all arm. This was partly because of all the slices, which weren't really working well, and partly because of poor torso rotation on non-slices. There were a couple of points where Shamir had obvious torso rotation, and those were points I think he managed to control and win, but they were few and far between. Too many arm-only floaters that Ema devoured like she hadn't eaten for a week. Ema uses the full kinetic chain and that's why she could hit it way harder and with more topspin than Shamir, in spite of being about half his weight. Basically it was no contest, and I think the main thing Shamir should have learned was to drop using the floating slices - they have no future against good players - and listen to his coach in warmups! MORE BODY! He basically completely ceded offense to Ema. Again, a strategy with no future against good players. Kill or be killed!
Hey Nick, I have a question. I use the same string setup as you and have 3 rackets and I break a string every week or so. Is it bad to string my racket immediately and then let it sit for a week to two or wait until I have only one racket strung and then string it. My question is actually whether tension loss is common with the Kirshcbaum super smash orange or if it doesn't matter. Keep up the good work, just watched your podcast with tennisnerd, really enjoyed it! Maybe you should consider making a podcast too.
Well done both, well all three, great match to see. I think prime Shamir gets a 2-6 2-6 which is v respectable. Looked a bit rusty here. But lots of potential - keep going Shamir 👍🏼
This was a tough match up for Shamir. When your opponent is at a higher skill level even your good shots are probably just an average shot that they see all the time. Ema is a lean mean ground stroke machine who can pound from the ground and run around. If you can get practice sets like this they help you understand what skills you need to work on.
Shamir's 1st serve sliced into the body, was the only shot Ema could not deal with, he should have used it more often, since its easy to produce even for Shamir
geez, Shamir used to be 4.5 but playing a tough player makes anyone look "worse". The thing that surprised me was Ema's serve. I thought Shamir was backed off too far from the baseline returning.
although ema was clearly on another level, I think shamir had good chances at winning at least a game if it weren't for some bad bounces. that clay court looked brutal, maybe someone should have swept it before, but perhaps it was expected going in
Goes to show that you need to weaponize your backhand so that you can use it to take control of the point. Defensive slice backhand, when overused, is a huge weakness and causes you to lose control of the point often.
It appears to me that he is barely hitting the his ground strokes and she is hitting every shot as hard as she can and he is not having any trouble with her power at all. Good thing this is clay court because I don’t think that match would be this close if it wasn’t on clay court my friend. This was extremely fun to watch and great video my friend.
On video the game looks so slow but I'm sure these guys are running around struggling for their breath. Also, Ema is making very few error. Just goes on to show that top ranked players may not always be big hitters but they're much more precise and make fewer errors. Also shot selection is on point. Great video!
great video --- as expected but i think Shamir could have done better --- the foot work and reaction was a bit sluggish which affected his main weapon , his forehand. He was slicing with his BH a lot due to lack of footwork which didn't allow him to hit an actual BH.
I think Shamir should learn the double-handed backhand, and forget about one-handed. It's going to be better for him in the future and maybe this will help him to avoid doing the lazy shot (sliding the ball)
I'd seriously consider moving Shamir's backhand grip more toward semi-western. It looks even weaker than eastern right now. Most players I've seen with that grip can only shovel the ball with very little racket head speed because their wrist is in a very weak position when they try to swing upward with the racket face slightly tilted down. Then when they want spin they just chop strait up and hit it super thin. I think that's why he seems unconfident on that side. His mind and wrist simply won't allow him to swing hard because it's protecting him from injury.
There's definitely a large skill level gap but Shamir did a good job. Emma is consistent and has been improving. I would love to see Emma generating more power though.
Might be projecting here but I felt like I could see Shamir at one point prepare for a topspin backhand and then at the last second bail out and hit a slice, which of course went into the net. Definitely a lack of confidence in that shot. I liked the attacking forehand slices though, that was a nice adjustment that got him a few points. Also, who was the potty mouth I wonder...?
Shamir would be a 3.5 at my club. I’m surprised Ema didn’t destroy him more quickly. I’ve played D3 men and they hit the ball hard with precision. Shamir still needs a lot of help with fundamentals, as do I.
@@gregg9694 he's definitely a 3 without his serve. the serve is the only thing keeping him respectable. any REAL male 4.5-5.0 has a great chance to smoke this girl.
Shamir total points won 7! Oh his serve 5, and on Ema serve 2... Well not bad, shamir return didn't work at all he just overhit many of them. Anyway Shamir did well i think! 😊
Shamir need to consider to switch to 2H backhand. Even the 2HB may still floater and inconsistent like your 1HB, but at least it will give you a bit time to relax your right hand that help preserve your strength for a long game
Best way to improve is to play better players! Exposes all your faults. Then you can do 100 drills a day to better yur weak points!!!😂Brilliant video! Gud camera position too.Makes you really observe the game..ps Emma is a great player.👍👍
Props to Shamir ! From my perspective it's not his technique. Ema seems much more agile and energetic. With every hit you get the impression she want to put pressure on. Shamir, on the other hand, was often late, or just "hesitantly defensive". You couldn't really see that he had a goal (apart from getting the ball across) - for me it's mainly a physical problem, i.e. strength, endurance (see also leg work Ema vs Shamir). I would tackle that first if I were Shamir, in my opinion that's where the greatest leverage lies - and with physique / strength comes the self-confidence for a top spin backhand ;-)
I called the match score before the start of play! No disrespect to Shamir, I make the same mistakes. Perhaps longer rallies would have drawn more errors from Ema. Nevertheless, Ema is too strong
Like & Subscribe 💯🔥
This video is golden lol.
"Hey Shamir, go out there. Have fun. Keep it relaxed and play well."
"Alright, Ema, break his soul."
You have to love Shamir, i can feel every bad decision he makes because i do that all the time 😂❤️
Well damn he was basically told he wasn't going to win. I don't think her shots are that powerful when you coach is nik. Maybe he's a little nervous.
@@dadsfreetimeclassicgaming1220 her shots arent to powerful, but she places the ball well. You have to also remember that they were playing on clay.
@@dadsfreetimeclassicgaming1220 power is not the key, consistency and placement are. he did make some goofy shot choices though; like running around a backhand and trying a down the line forehand slice from an open stance.
If I may ask, do you truly feel it is a bad decision? Or could it be that he has not learned what decisions he could make in those situations? Especially if an opponent is capable of putting more consistent real time pressure on him? You can see that she knows how to both give and gain ground almost the instant the ball comes off his racquet. He however, ends up in a more static position on the baseline. He seems to only react even if he started out wanting to be proactive. I feel that since she is proactive about his ball flight and what she will do next, that would be something for him learn from higher level players like her. Men's 4.0 tennis is good but it does not often look like that. A commenter said her strokes are not that powerful, but that is not the typical style of clay and she is far more consistent (tons of practice) even though he may be stronger than her. She is diligent about splitting and reading arc and bounce. I think for Shamir, it is a matter of acquiring more and more experience dealing with this type of player (which may or may not be possible). I dunno, just spitballing. Cheers
A very good, let alone a high level, player forces you to play above the level you are capable of. That makes unforced errors skyrocking. Shamir's serve indicates he is not a bad player. He was simply facing someone who is way better.
I guarantee he looks like a different person versus a 4.0 player.
Shamir has such a good personality, it is truly a great example of kindness a player should appreciates when dealing with uncomfortable situation
Love Shamir's smile after the match even if he did lose. He has definitely the right mindset und approach to get better ❤
it would be really weird if he was upset, Ema currently way better player and he understands it ) so agree - right mindset to get better
Glad you arranged this to show to the high (ish) level amateur male players how big of a gap there is between ex high level D1 athletes like Emma and themselves. She has tens of thousands of more hours of practice / matches in her career compared to Shamir. Also, hats off the him for checking his ego, fighting hard and taking the L like a champ. That mentality will allow him to grow his game.
You're really a joker if you consider Shamir a high(ish) level amateur. Those are tough 5.0s and they can beat female pros
I agree with Nick's classification of levels, to me advanced amateur is 4.5, some 4.0, which Shamir is somewhere there in the normal distribution curve (right now closer to 4.0 than 4.5 definitely). Still amateur there's the advanced competitive players and I think 5.0 are there. To me the difference between 4.5 and 5.0 is huge ,(I'm an around 4.5 player and I just don't see myself getting to 5.0 unless I really really really got into it). I liked it too that Emma got him bad. Would it be the same with a 5.0? It'd be fun to watch!
@@ifeanyiikpegbu6465 no they can't. Any 500 level or lower female pro would stomp a male 5.0 easily.
@@yakzivz1104 You don't know the levels obviously. Female pros are same level as male college players and most male college players are 5.0s.
High 5.0s is attainable by recreational male players who started playing from childhood.
@@ifeanyiikpegbu6465 and still a lot of pro women tennis players can easily beat a lot of college men.
Emma is just amazing. No need to say anything about her.
Shamir is a delightful soul, super nice and gentle guy that just enjoys everything. Sadly, I got the feeling that his lack of intensity (maybe being careful about his foot injury?) is getting in his way of confidence with everything, including his BHs and not so spinny FHs. I have never played on green clay courts, but it looks like a challenge on its own, being super dry and not so easy to glide/slide on.
Amazing content Nic as usual.
Cheers and have a great weekend.
M
"No need to say anything about her." Ah, but nobody has commented on her old-school skirt and panties. Let me be the one. Love it.
Long-awaited video🤩. I liked the way Shamir played although the score didn't indicate it. It felt he played with not much nerves. He had some decent shots. Very nice video and a great example of issue that need to be addressed in future sessions with Nick.
Great job Ema, Nick and Shamir.
Keep up the good work👌
Fantastic playing by Ema. Tremendous consistency! That's largely mental - shot selection, patience, discipline, focus. Very impressive and a lot of fun to watch.
Also, well played by Shamir. Sure, he lost every game, but ha gave a good challenge and made Ema play. Games like this are won at the margins.
💯🔥
games like this? lol that was total domination. sure a 0:8 can be close match, but this was not
You’ve got great students Nick. Good players and as importantly good people. Next match. Ema vs. Alex. And then… Ema vs. your HS student who wants to go pro. Make it happen Nick! Give the people what they want!
Awesome match. Ema has a killer game. Shamir wasn’t too far from winning a couple games.
Always enjoy watching Ema and Shamir! Thank you!!❤
Lovely serve technique on Shamir. My observations were that he didn't lean into the ball as discussed in the pre-match coaching, using the body to take on some of the rally balls on neutral points. I can definitely relate to that, matches are just a different animal and the natural tentative play in stress situations does this to me all the time. Ema handled the slice well but again shame Shamir wasn't feeling his flat/topspin backhand. Both moved great I thought, well played.
I love this format of videos Nik, I am an average 4.0 and have good strokes but I struggle in matches on strategies to push the opponent and close points. This format really helped understand a game strategy and how after almost every point you are guiding Shamir on what went wrong and what he could do better. Please make more of these videos breaking a quick set match and explaining strategies
Will do
I think Shamir played great I can see a ton of improvement from other videos of his point play. Returning well, making better decisions. Started off serving pretty well. Smart to slice a lot because BH wasn’t working at all. Solid performance. Ema played amazing
It was a joy to watch Ema's complete game. Nick: give a player who performs as well as Ema does an opportunity to provide her opponent one after-match tip as well, based on what she saw. Hearing input from your opponent feels more real than from an observer, and translates to a learning opportunity much better. Shamir has a nice serve technique, but I'm not seeing it translate into a high-level serve on the court as a result. The motion needs to be more free and quick and full. Need to work that out, to let it flow better to get better pace and action on his serve.
The result is what I expected and predicted. Shamir has potential and I like his game but a bit to intimidated here maybe and insecure especially on the backhand. A higher serve percentage could've maybe gotten him a game but overall the difference in level is just to high. Ema so solid. Times her shots so well. That's why it was also clear from the start that she would come out the winner against Macy.
Very fun to watch! And Shamir is a great guy. Keep it up. Definitely much room still for improvement 💪🏼
I lost a set 6-1 the other day to very fast and very experienced player who could cover the court unbelievably well. I definitely could relate to Shamir in this match. I use these types of opponents as opportunities to learn and improve.
Love Shamirs game. Knew he would still be quite far away from Emas level but was good to see him trying his best 👍
Shamir, I feel your pain - I also got bageled in my last tournament match. Thanks for an instructive video.
The first speech is so valuable. Need to hear this before every match!🔥
3:49 now there there... That was on the line. Moving frame by frame, the shadow also appears to be on the line as well as the ball. No cheating!
Looking from my point of view in my tennis journey, it's interesting that this video is being released now.
I decided to move from the stylish 1 handed backhand to a 2 handed because I was slicing a lot and not being able to trust myself when playing higher ranked players. Even though I kept trying to keep my intensity up I just didn't have enough court time and enough lessons+practice time to develop a 1 handed that could become a weapon.
From the moment I realized that I started switching to a 2 handed and I felt that the amount of time that I have for my whole preparation until I hit the ball is a lot higher than before, it also helped me in some emergency shots and have more control of where to place the ball.
Interesting to see that Shamir had the same problem that I had.
Did the same. No looking back now
Shamir represents us all here. Every shot in the net, every little mistake. We all know the feeling. 😂Thanks!
he is too short and got no power
@@Anticommunism99 He is playing versus someone who had had pro aspirations a few years ago.
Stop trolling.
@@melfox215 kid I've played tennis only 10 - 15 times, but I will give more of a fight against her. His strokes are just childish, and his serve is without any variation and speed. I've played table tennis for years and I know how to spin the ball from both sides, plus I'm 1,83 tall and 88 kg.
@@VrSword what so funny kiddo ? You ever played tennis ? You know the rules ?
Or just trolling here ?
@@Anticommunism99if you've only played 10 to 15 times you would be a lot worse than you realise. Sounds like you wouldn't be good enough yet to realise how bad you are.
The stagnant movement really hindered his game and the lack of confidence made the ball go out as there was nearly zero effort in any stroke Shamir tried to perform - Hope there's a rematch where Nick can emphasize the importance of self confidence.
If I'm playing poorly or too "safe" I usually tell myself its time to f*ck shit up and hit every ball with power and confidence.
Great content again Nick, take care!
Good point. The result was 8-0 anyways, even after he resorted to safe shots and slicing all the time. He should've try to hit with confidence and even if he lost, he might've been able to find his game/feel his shots midway into the match.
Great play from both, I feel on a hard court it’s maybe a little closer as Shamir (Shamir could win 2 games in the pro set) but he doesn’t really know how to move on a clay court.
Shamir's serve is his best shot!
Ema is just too good here.!😀
So when is the Shamir vs Winston Du match?
If Winston comes to Florida it’s on, or Shamir and I go on vacation together in Cali… 😂
He reminds me of me. Lost to a guy 6-2 6-1. I forced myself to learn thbh i had a one handed bh for 2 yrs. That helped me alot as well as better serve. Played the guy again lost but got closer 6-4 1-3. Keep it up man doin great.
As nick says : come on Shamir!! Good effort
Long waited match. Shamir did with great effort but still no chance if he continues with defensive play especially with slice against such a strong opponent. Both are not moving well on clay, I rarely see any decent sliding from both side. Great jobs Nik, thanks for this video, we are looking forward to seeing Anna’s match 😊😊
Nick said everything I was going to about the backhand already. Love seeing Shamir play, but the forehand...
1. Not getting coiled enough to really rotate through it.
2. That over the head followthrough is robbing him of a lot of pace and penetration. Instead of the swing extending forward (when possible) it looks like he is pulling off the ball a bit and his swing goes up and over sideways.
Love to hear you let me know if that analysis is right or if I'm talking garbage!
Thanks for the lessons Nick!
Well done both of you!
Great match! I have the impression Shamir used too much the backhand slice. Maybe he was under too much pressure and lost confidence on his one handed backhand. In the end, he played better when he played aggressively.
Keep up the good work!
Nice to see the difference between pro and amateur. Good game Shamir, but you have to keep on improving. :)
How would Emma go against Winston Du?
Pretty much the same. Winston might make a game or two if he gets lucky.
Winston vs Ema will be a close match. I think Ema now is a 5.5, she has a shot quality over her level, but must improve further the footwork.
@@marcomonti9823 haha totally disagree there is such an enormous difference between the pro level and amateur level. Your watching strokes and power and fitness level. It is way more about decision making, reading the game, recognising where the momentum is. How to pace a match etc. Yes for the untrained eye looking at Ema play Winston on a practice court could make you think the level isn't that different. Playing a match is something else completely.
@@marcomonti9823it wouldn't even be close lmao maybe a bit closer than shamir but still, it would be an easy 8-0 or 8-1
This is a great question. It’d be a close match. Winston is a 5.0 player.
Great post game analysis, and great play by both players.
emma is playing 5.0 level, shamir playing 4.0 scoreline exactly as predicted
shes higher than 5.0
@@stevenjm12 nah she's 5.0-5.5, but he's more like 3.0 - 3.5 with a 4.0-4.5 serve. any 5.0 male would beat her in straights barely dropping a sweat.
@@knowyourenemy50 incorrect
It was fine for Shamir in the first game; rallies were pretty neutral but went completely downhill after that easy mistake (bad bounce or not).
Lost confidence and played completely safe and defensive not going for his shots.
I would probably lost 8-0 as well but I would force my shots a bit more. Nothing much to lose anyway
Shamir-
-Learn a 2HBH.
-Play 100s of sets that you tell yourself you CANNOT slice the backhand!
-See your game improve dramatically!
Keep growing, always. Good job.
agree with everything besides 2 hander. i think 2 hander is better but hes been playing with a one hander for years. way too late to change imo
Good play and I can relate to Shamir. The intensity in footwork is a huge difference between the two and I would have loved to see Shamir move more, split step consistently and put himself into position to hit his best shots. The slicing seemed in part as he was out of position.
Was looking for this for weeks! Love this series
Good match. Hang in there Shamir! Coach Nick will get you there. Coach: when you're playing a better player do you recommend counter punching or being more aggressive when the opportunity presents itself?
Ema
I loved the way you shown who’s boss, women over us/men. That’s awesome. 😁
Please may I know what is the best video(s) to watch to learn how to do a kick serve?
and also stop framing the ball?
Any help would be appreciated.
ua-cam.com/users/live2BGOl9gVvX8?feature=share
Legend, didn't realise you replied, thank you!
Rooting for Sham, he is working hard to improve his game. Can sense his love for Tennis.
From Ema I saw confidence in her strokes. She accelerated through her strokes. From Shamir I saw nerve and a tentative stroke. He didn't push the ball, but he also didn't accelerate as he hit, and it showed. At no point was Ema feeling any danger.
Beautiful park! Cat's arming the ball, spraying shots, no power. Lady has all the energy and aggression.
YESSSS! I was wondering when we we going to get this.
Great match Shamir! Even though it was expected that Emma will win, you looked like you belonged on the same court as her, which is great!
Nick told Shamir to use more body in his pre-game instructions, but mostly I saw poor footwork and flailing away, all arm. This was partly because of all the slices, which weren't really working well, and partly because of poor torso rotation on non-slices. There were a couple of points where Shamir had obvious torso rotation, and those were points I think he managed to control and win, but they were few and far between. Too many arm-only floaters that Ema devoured like she hadn't eaten for a week. Ema uses the full kinetic chain and that's why she could hit it way harder and with more topspin than Shamir, in spite of being about half his weight. Basically it was no contest, and I think the main thing Shamir should have learned was to drop using the floating slices - they have no future against good players - and listen to his coach in warmups! MORE BODY! He basically completely ceded offense to Ema. Again, a strategy with no future against good players. Kill or be killed!
He has a collapsed arch in his foot and can't load up to play his backhand, hence the floating slices
Thanks for posting some match play!
Hey Nick, I have a question. I use the same string setup as you and have 3 rackets and I break a string every week or so. Is it bad to string my racket immediately and then let it sit for a week to two or wait until I have only one racket strung and then string it. My question is actually whether tension loss is common with the Kirshcbaum super smash orange or if it doesn't matter.
Keep up the good work, just watched your podcast with tennisnerd, really enjoyed it! Maybe you should consider making a podcast too.
It’s ok but store the racquet in room temperature away from the sun
Well done both, well all three, great match to see. I think prime Shamir gets a 2-6 2-6 which is v respectable. Looked a bit rusty here. But lots of potential - keep going Shamir 👍🏼
Brave to take that match
This is a nice court, where is this? I'm in the palm springs area
I love 1 camera tennis. It is so relaxing.
This was a tough match up for Shamir. When your opponent is at a higher skill level even your good shots are probably just an average shot that they see all the time. Ema is a lean mean ground stroke machine who can pound from the ground and run around. If you can get practice sets like this they help you understand what skills you need to work on.
Well said 💯
Shamir's 1st serve sliced into the body, was the only shot Ema could not deal with, he should have used it more often, since its easy to produce even for Shamir
Shamir, salute to you!!
Would love to see more matches with Ema! Her game is a great model for middle aged 4.0-4.5 males. (Ema, that's a compliment)
geez, Shamir used to be 4.5 but playing a tough player makes anyone look "worse". The thing that surprised me was Ema's serve. I thought Shamir was backed off too far from the baseline returning.
Looks like about UTR 6.5 vs UTR 9?
Thank you so much
although ema was clearly on another level, I think shamir had good chances at winning at least a game if it weren't for some bad bounces. that clay court looked brutal, maybe someone should have swept it before, but perhaps it was expected going in
Two of the biggest differences is the preparation and the footwork of the pro player.
I like to see Shamir, I have 2 years seing him playing, I love his slices, I know he makes too much slices but they are so good
Goes to show that you need to weaponize your backhand so that you can use it to take control of the point. Defensive slice backhand, when overused, is a huge weakness and causes you to lose control of the point often.
Ooo, finally the match I'm looking for.
Is that Palm Beach Polo Club?
It appears to me that he is barely hitting the his ground strokes and she is hitting every shot as hard as she can and he is not having any trouble with her power at all. Good thing this is clay court because I don’t think that match would be this close if it wasn’t on clay court my friend. This was extremely fun to watch and great video my friend.
💯
I like the view of the palm trees in the background! Great advice!
Ema is brilliant 🙂
Shamir got the Air Jordans :D
🔥
I will always root for Shamir!
Yup Shamir is our everyday hero!
Would be interested to see a match between Emma and Alec
On video the game looks so slow but I'm sure these guys are running around struggling for their breath. Also, Ema is making very few error. Just goes on to show that top ranked players may not always be big hitters but they're much more precise and make fewer errors. Also shot selection is on point. Great video!
how can i play a set against ema i never got to when she was coaching me
great video --- as expected but i think Shamir could have done better --- the foot work and reaction was a bit sluggish which affected his main weapon , his forehand. He was slicing with his BH a lot due to lack of footwork which didn't allow him to hit an actual BH.
I think Shamir should learn the double-handed backhand, and forget about one-handed. It's going to be better for him in the future and maybe this will help him to avoid doing the lazy shot (sliding the ball)
were all here for SHAMIR!
So what was the game plan of Shamir?
I'd seriously consider moving Shamir's backhand grip more toward semi-western. It looks even weaker than eastern right now. Most players I've seen with that grip can only shovel the ball with very little racket head speed because their wrist is in a very weak position when they try to swing upward with the racket face slightly tilted down. Then when they want spin they just chop strait up and hit it super thin. I think that's why he seems unconfident on that side. His mind and wrist simply won't allow him to swing hard because it's protecting him from injury.
There's definitely a large skill level gap but Shamir did a good job. Emma is consistent and has been improving. I would love to see Emma generating more power though.
Where is this place? I wish I can play tennis with nice weather and lots of palm trees.
Florida probably
Can i still go into tennis at my age 23 just planning to start
Of course
Might be projecting here but I felt like I could see Shamir at one point prepare for a topspin backhand and then at the last second bail out and hit a slice, which of course went into the net. Definitely a lack of confidence in that shot. I liked the attacking forehand slices though, that was a nice adjustment that got him a few points.
Also, who was the potty mouth I wonder...?
Shamir stands way back to receive Ema's serves.
great match, Emma will be hard to beat given her level
I would like to see a match between Ema and Wiston Du
Ema would eat Winston alive. But that would be fun to see. He would give her more of a run for her money than Shamir but not much more.
The Slice has a Shamir problem! 😆 Jokes aside, Shamir is playing really well, just have to trust yourself more. Ema improved a lot for sure.
Shamir would be a 3.5 at my club. I’m surprised Ema didn’t destroy him more quickly. I’ve played D3 men and they hit the ball hard with precision. Shamir still needs a lot of help with fundamentals, as do I.
Yeah he looks like a 3.5 to me as well. He would probably lose to most 4.0's that I play with.
I’m not buying it. Shamir looks like a solid 4 to me.
People always say that on these comment sections.
@@devoker666 That's absurd. Show me a video of a 3 that would beat him.
@@gregg9694 he's definitely a 3 without his serve. the serve is the only thing keeping him respectable. any REAL male 4.5-5.0 has a great chance to smoke this girl.
Shamir is pretty good for a 4.0
To my amateur eye, the technique difference wasn't huge gap but Ema's court management and consistency was.
Fun. Shamir's a good sport.
Shamir total points won 7! Oh his serve 5, and on Ema serve 2... Well not bad, shamir return didn't work at all he just overhit many of them. Anyway Shamir did well i think! 😊
Shamir need to consider to switch to 2H backhand. Even the 2HB may still floater and inconsistent like your 1HB, but at least it will give you a bit time to relax your right hand that help preserve your strength for a long game
Can you make a video on eye dominance?
Best way to improve is to play better players! Exposes all your faults. Then you can do 100 drills a day to better yur weak points!!!😂Brilliant video! Gud camera position too.Makes you really observe the game..ps Emma is a great player.👍👍
Props to Shamir ! From my perspective it's not his technique. Ema seems much more agile and energetic. With every hit you get the impression she want to put pressure on. Shamir, on the other hand, was often late, or just "hesitantly defensive". You couldn't really see that he had a goal (apart from getting the ball across) - for me it's mainly a physical problem, i.e. strength, endurance (see also leg work Ema vs Shamir). I would tackle that first if I were Shamir, in my opinion that's where the greatest leverage lies - and with physique / strength comes the self-confidence for a top spin backhand ;-)
I called the match score before the start of play! No disrespect to Shamir, I make the same mistakes. Perhaps longer rallies would have drawn more errors from Ema. Nevertheless, Ema is too strong