Andrew just goes to show you that you don't need to have gorgeous technique and start playing this game at age 4 to be a good competitive player. RUclips haters will always crap on his style but that's just a super athletic, hard working guy who has figured out how to play this game on his own at an extremely high level and that's nothing short of amazing.
Thanks for sharing this match! Your friend has reached an amazing level given that he's self-taught. He definitely wins a lot of points using his feet. It might be helpful to let him know that he foot faults with his right foot very frequently. It won't bother most opponents but you never know who he might come across.
Thanks for the watching and commenting! It's pretty impressive and goes to show that there is more than one way to reach a 5.0 level. I'll share that with him. I'm sure someone will bug him eventually. :)
I am not familiar with the USTA rating system but to even consider Andrew a 10 UTR is blasphemy. Many of the commenters are mentioning his "high IQ" and "big forehand" when he really possesses neither. He presents himself as a very mediocre tennis player who lacks the very basic understanding of tennis and its technical aspect. Throughout the set he is seen making very poor shot making that are overlooked by Sam's inability to recognize and capitalize on these poor decisions. A perfect example of Andrews lack of tennis IQ is when you look at where his shots are actually going. He seems to have no purpose in applying basic tennis patterns but rather hit one to the forehand then one to the backhand and vice versa. The issue here is the false representation of what a 10 UTR actually is. A UTR 10 represents a very very difficult level to obtain in the tennis world. It presents a player that has confidence in all areas of their game including mental, physical, technical and tactical which Andrew lacks heavily. If Andrew was placed against a regular UTR 10 all of the faults in his game would be severely exposed. This says nothing about Andrew as a person but is more of an informative comment for those who come to the comment section and don't fully understand tennis at a high level.
Thanks for the comment! You can look at his matches on UTR. He’s a verified player. If you’ve ever recorded yourself playing, you’ll understand that the game looks and feels totally different in person than on camera.
Andrew’s name on the score card is constantly highlighted, so I kept thinking whoever was serving was Andrew until I noticed it was like that for both players.
I have played Andrew several times over the years and he is very good bc of several reasons. Very high IQ on the court, big forehand and really fast. It is hard to get it to his backhand bc he is so quick with his footwork.
His serve looks a bit "wild" but packs a good punch. If the return comes back his forehand often finished with a serve+1. You only won 3 receiving points.
Definitely the worst looking technique from any 10 UTR I have ever seen, so much that makes us doubt that rating (his technique "looks" bad even for a 7UTR, IMO). But if it works, it works. Nothing like playing and getting your ass handed to you by someone you think you "should" beat in order to focus on your improvements, consistency and depth.
His technique looks bad but if you just look at the shots off the racquet he looks pretty impressive. I do feel like he could make some small adjustments to his serve and get even more out of it.
His forehand is so flat! It would be a nightmare to play him, I wonder why you didn’t go for his backhand as much, as it’s clearly weaker than his forehand, he seems to be very fast an able to cover his backhand so I feel like you should have tried to go a little flatter and harder at his backhand to put pressure on him.
Thanks for watching. He is a nightmare to play for me. Low, fast balls mixed with off pace short angles. I'm rarely in position to hit the shot I want so it makes it tough for me to be aggressive. I try to get to his backhand but he is quick to run around it... he covers the court very well. I think high and heavy balls to the backhand are the ideal shot but that gives him time. I'll try flatter attacking shots but he tends to redirect them a bit easier. Thanks again!
You should be able to hit winners on every return. I’m a 2.5 and serve better than him. Absolutely horrendous technique. However, he’s clearly in great shape and can see how he grinds to win a lot of points. Cool video
Its not that easy. The serve is low and short. It brings you into the court and out of position. It's closer to the net and doesn't bounce above the net so you have to hit topspin. Also, the harder you hit the return, the faster it comes back and then you get caught in no mans land. It looks easy until you try to play it.
From my opinion, you have great techniques than your opponent. But you just need a little bit more anticipation on each shot and shots connections. Because your opponent tried to variate the plays to make you uncomfortable while you were trying to be more consistent on each shot. Without good anticipation, you can’t do that. My suggestion is for each shot holding your trigger little longer and preparing it early. Do not dive into the short balls.
Interesting watch. As some other comments have noted, technique wise the "5.0" looks absolutely terrible; I've seen 3.0s that have better technique. With that said, he is still hitting some solid shots, although it definitely looks like he has some issues with consistency. This looks more like a 4.25 against a borderline 4.5 than a 4.5 against a 5.0 to my eye. Andrew has obvious flaws in his game: namely an inconsistent first serve, a weak flat second serve, and shaky return of serve. His backhand looked very weak for his apparent level as well, but he was running around it pretty effectively. In his defense, Andrew did have excellent placement and decent power on his groundstrokes, as well as solid footwork and very good movement around the court. I do have a really hard time believing he's 10 UTR, particularly when I look at strong 5.0s like Mark Sansait, who appears to be better in virtually every aspect of the game (maybe his placement on groundstrokes isn't quite as good) than Andrew here but is rated 8.42 UTR. Would certainly be interesting to see them play a match
Hey, thanks for watching and leaving the comment! Andrew played a 8.88 UTR player a couple of weeks ago and won 6-3 6-4 so he's probably pretty close to the UTR 10 level. I am working to set up a match against Mark (we have pretty close UTR's) so maybe that will give you a look at how he'd match up against Andrew. I'm not sure Mark is a strong 5.0 but he's definitely in the 5.0 range from what I can tell. Hard to know when watching video :)
@@samcpage Thanks for responding! That is very interesting. Apologies if I was overly critical, I do understand that video may not entirely accurately represent how people play. With that said Mark is clearly a strong 5.0 imo, particularly considering how he has beaten dillplays (5.0 national champion last year). You can watch their match on real tennis if you're interested. I would love to see you play against him, as well as him against Andrew, think that would be great content all around. It's possible that his UTR may be underrepresenting his strength atm, and that Andrew's may be overrepresenting his. Again, just what the eye test indicates to me from what I've seen of both of their skillsets. Regardless, thanks for posting this match and hope to see you collabing with other high level tennis content creators soon! cheers
Sam, you have very good serve. Unfortunately you have problem to move low balls above the net. I suggest to increase string tension. It will help you to raise a ball above the net. Maybe the power will be lower but you regain control.
This is a really interesting thought. I think I'll try bumping up the tension a little bit. I don't seem to have much problems in rally's with depth or power but I agree about not getting the ball up and down on short balls.Thanks for watching and for the feedback!
No disrespect but in my experience Andrew cannot be UTR 10. Again he seems to be a decent club / recreational player. I would rate him somewhere UTR 6-7. Otherwise there is a problem with UTR rating system. Maybe US rates more generous-
Hey, no problem. His UTR did drop down some. He's now a 100% verified 9.24. He has a winning record at 5.0. No disrespect, you can't argue with his results. He is self taught so the camera might make him look weaker than a traditional 5.0 or utr 9.24.
@@samcpage well done to him. he is an athletic grinder and difficult to deal with. but he has a waiters tray serve and many other fundametal deficiencies (again no disrespect!) I have seen several UTR 8 players these are high level competitive club players. they would consistently bagel or breadstick utr 6s or even 7s. UTR 10 cannot be this cheap. Maybe there is a loophole in the system or this has something to do with the players or events he attends. Very strange. Come on pros are on 14-15 levels. By the way your technique is way better than him and you would be a solid UTR 7. in my humble opinion
You know, I thought you were right but it looks like I made 3 UE's (still probably too many) at net. Thanks to www.tennisbull.com/match/2354/stats for sharing the stats.
That is one of the weirdest forehands ever seen. Every joint I have hurts watching this. This guy is going to have some serious arm shoulder and wrist pain when he gets old. The motion is entirely forced and muscled instead of the correct motion. He better be ready for doctor bills. You can't arm the ball this much with out any set back to health.
Andrew just goes to show you that you don't need to have gorgeous technique and start playing this game at age 4 to be a good competitive player. RUclips haters will always crap on his style but that's just a super athletic, hard working guy who has figured out how to play this game on his own at an extremely high level and that's nothing short of amazing.
Spot on assessment! He's also very smart :) Thanks for being complimentary of his game. People don't respect it enough, in my opinion.
Thanks for sharing this match! Your friend has reached an amazing level given that he's self-taught. He definitely wins a lot of points using his feet. It might be helpful to let him know that he foot faults with his right foot very frequently. It won't bother most opponents but you never know who he might come across.
Thanks for the watching and commenting! It's pretty impressive and goes to show that there is more than one way to reach a 5.0 level. I'll share that with him. I'm sure someone will bug him eventually. :)
I am not familiar with the USTA rating system but to even consider Andrew a 10 UTR is blasphemy. Many of the commenters are mentioning his "high IQ" and "big forehand" when he really possesses neither. He presents himself as a very mediocre tennis player who lacks the very basic understanding of tennis and its technical aspect. Throughout the set he is seen making very poor shot making that are overlooked by Sam's inability to recognize and capitalize on these poor decisions. A perfect example of Andrews lack of tennis IQ is when you look at where his shots are actually going. He seems to have no purpose in applying basic tennis patterns but rather hit one to the forehand then one to the backhand and vice versa. The issue here is the false representation of what a 10 UTR actually is. A UTR 10 represents a very very difficult level to obtain in the tennis world. It presents a player that has confidence in all areas of their game including mental, physical, technical and tactical which Andrew lacks heavily. If Andrew was placed against a regular UTR 10 all of the faults in his game would be severely exposed. This says nothing about Andrew as a person but is more of an informative comment for those who come to the comment section and don't fully understand tennis at a high level.
Thanks for the comment! You can look at his matches on UTR. He’s a verified player. If you’ve ever recorded yourself playing, you’ll understand that the game looks and feels totally different in person than on camera.
The one thing I can say is that he is extremely accurate. I’m not an expert in UTR ratings, but his accuracy is elite
Andrew’s name on the score card is constantly highlighted, so I kept thinking whoever was serving was Andrew until I noticed it was like that for both players.
I have played Andrew several times over the years and he is very good bc of several reasons. Very high IQ on the court, big forehand and really fast. It is hard to get it to his backhand bc he is so quick with his footwork.
@7:35 the footwork / movement to come in to the net needs improvement. Proper split step would have resulted in a more solid volley / approach shot.
His serve looks a bit "wild" but packs a good punch. If the return comes back his forehand often finished with a serve+1. You only won 3 receiving points.
Oh wow! I thought I played better return games than that. Thanks for the comment!
Definitely the worst looking technique from any 10 UTR I have ever seen, so much that makes us doubt that rating (his technique "looks" bad even for a 7UTR, IMO). But if it works, it works. Nothing like playing and getting your ass handed to you by someone you think you "should" beat in order to focus on your improvements, consistency and depth.
His technique looks bad but if you just look at the shots off the racquet he looks pretty impressive. I do feel like he could make some small adjustments to his serve and get even more out of it.
His forehand is so flat! It would be a nightmare to play him, I wonder why you didn’t go for his backhand as much, as it’s clearly weaker than his forehand, he seems to be very fast an able to cover his backhand so I feel like you should have tried to go a little flatter and harder at his backhand to put pressure on him.
Thanks for watching. He is a nightmare to play for me. Low, fast balls mixed with off pace short angles. I'm rarely in position to hit the shot I want so it makes it tough for me to be aggressive. I try to get to his backhand but he is quick to run around it... he covers the court very well. I think high and heavy balls to the backhand are the ideal shot but that gives him time. I'll try flatter attacking shots but he tends to redirect them a bit easier. Thanks again!
You should be able to hit winners on every return. I’m a 2.5 and serve better than him. Absolutely horrendous technique. However, he’s clearly in great shape and can see how he grinds to win a lot of points. Cool video
Its not that easy. The serve is low and short. It brings you into the court and out of position. It's closer to the net and doesn't bounce above the net so you have to hit topspin. Also, the harder you hit the return, the faster it comes back and then you get caught in no mans land. It looks easy until you try to play it.
From my opinion, you have great techniques than your opponent. But you just need a little bit more anticipation on each shot and shots connections. Because your opponent tried to variate the plays to make you uncomfortable while you were trying to be more consistent on each shot. Without good anticipation, you can’t do that. My suggestion is for each shot holding your trigger little longer and preparing it early. Do not dive into the short balls.
Interesting watch. As some other comments have noted, technique wise the "5.0" looks absolutely terrible; I've seen 3.0s that have better technique. With that said, he is still hitting some solid shots, although it definitely looks like he has some issues with consistency. This looks more like a 4.25 against a borderline 4.5 than a 4.5 against a 5.0 to my eye. Andrew has obvious flaws in his game: namely an inconsistent first serve, a weak flat second serve, and shaky return of serve. His backhand looked very weak for his apparent level as well, but he was running around it pretty effectively. In his defense, Andrew did have excellent placement and decent power on his groundstrokes, as well as solid footwork and very good movement around the court. I do have a really hard time believing he's 10 UTR, particularly when I look at strong 5.0s like Mark Sansait, who appears to be better in virtually every aspect of the game (maybe his placement on groundstrokes isn't quite as good) than Andrew here but is rated 8.42 UTR. Would certainly be interesting to see them play a match
Hey, thanks for watching and leaving the comment! Andrew played a 8.88 UTR player a couple of weeks ago and won 6-3 6-4 so he's probably pretty close to the UTR 10 level. I am working to set up a match against Mark (we have pretty close UTR's) so maybe that will give you a look at how he'd match up against Andrew. I'm not sure Mark is a strong 5.0 but he's definitely in the 5.0 range from what I can tell. Hard to know when watching video :)
@@samcpage Thanks for responding! That is very interesting. Apologies if I was overly critical, I do understand that video may not entirely accurately represent how people play. With that said Mark is clearly a strong 5.0 imo, particularly considering how he has beaten dillplays (5.0 national champion last year). You can watch their match on real tennis if you're interested. I would love to see you play against him, as well as him against Andrew, think that would be great content all around. It's possible that his UTR may be underrepresenting his strength atm, and that Andrew's may be overrepresenting his. Again, just what the eye test indicates to me from what I've seen of both of their skillsets. Regardless, thanks for posting this match and hope to see you collabing with other high level tennis content creators soon! cheers
Sam, you have very good serve. Unfortunately you have problem to move low balls above the net. I suggest to increase string tension. It will help you to raise a ball above the net. Maybe the power will be lower but you regain control.
This is a really interesting thought. I think I'll try bumping up the tension a little bit. I don't seem to have much problems in rally's with depth or power but I agree about not getting the ball up and down on short balls.Thanks for watching and for the feedback!
I like low tension for low balls lmao
ah yes .. those forehand volley smashes from Andrew. Takes so much time away from opponent.
And he’s getting better with them! Sounds like you know them well too 😂🤣
@@samcpage all too well. Suffered a few times on the opposite side when playing doubles against him
No disrespect but in my experience Andrew cannot be UTR 10. Again he seems to be a decent club / recreational player. I would rate him somewhere UTR 6-7. Otherwise there is a problem with UTR rating system. Maybe US rates more generous-
Hey, no problem. His UTR did drop down some. He's now a 100% verified 9.24. He has a winning record at 5.0. No disrespect, you can't argue with his results. He is self taught so the camera might make him look weaker than a traditional 5.0 or utr 9.24.
@@samcpage well done to him. he is an athletic grinder and difficult to deal with. but he has a waiters tray serve and many other fundametal deficiencies (again no disrespect!) I have seen several UTR 8 players these are high level competitive club players. they would consistently bagel or breadstick utr 6s or even 7s. UTR 10 cannot be this cheap. Maybe there is a loophole in the system or this has something to do with the players or events he attends. Very strange. Come on pros are on 14-15 levels. By the way your technique is way better than him and you would be a solid UTR 7. in my humble opinion
@@uedemirtas7030 Yep. He's not a traditional style player and that is what makes him tough, IMO. Thanks for watching!
@@samcpage He is consistent in his own way! You made too many easy mistakes. Built the points nicely but missed at the net.
too many unforce errors at net. You will get a better score without these unforce errors at net.
You know, I thought you were right but it looks like I made 3 UE's (still probably too many) at net. Thanks to www.tennisbull.com/match/2354/stats for sharing the stats.
Sorry, I lost 7 and only won 6 but only had 3 UE at net. So yes, losing 7 points at net is too many.
If he’s a 5.0 I’m a 15.0
This is not a discussion of IQ points.
@@samcpage hahaha
That is one of the weirdest forehands ever seen.
Every joint I have hurts watching this. This guy is going to have some serious arm shoulder and wrist pain when he gets old. The motion is entirely forced and muscled instead of the correct motion.
He better be ready for doctor bills. You can't arm the ball this much with out any set back to health.
If Andrew is a 5.0, then I am Roger Federer