finding what we've lost

after a few years of playing tennis (admittedly, entirely recreationally and without much solid skills) and watching others play tennis, i’ve come to a few conclusions about the types of people that play tennis in my classes. not competitively, of course, but more on the beginner side.

1. the slicers. they aren’t bad. but they have to slice everything every single chance they get, as if they want to flex how good they are. they slice their serves, their returns, every hit. this is the opposite of me, since i feel like i might be a bit too reserved and don’t go on the attack enough, but this also means that they’re more prone to making mistakes or getting it out.
2. the smashers. by this i mean the ones who are actually powerful and can hit the ball at you at like five hundred miles per hour. these ones are the worst for me since i really suck at recieving faster balls, espeically since i can never hit them as fast back.
3. the slackers. yo, if you don’t want to play tennis at all, then don’t. if you do, stop complaining about everything that happens and blame it on the coaches. that’s all i have to say.
4. the afraid. this is mostly because they’re newer to tennis, but i feel like there’s people who always look so tentative and scared when they reach out to hit the ball. this maybe causes them to not stretch out their arm enough, i don’t know.
5. the talkers. this is the category i think i fall into. it’s probably annoying, but i can’t help but make noises when i hit the ball or yell “crap” when i don’t make it. or yell across the court to say “nice shot”. i try to shut up a lot of the time but it comes naturally.
6. the flexers. these people usually are really good and then they get really vain about it and start strutting around like they own the place. you know them. we all know them. it’s not just in tennis.
7. the lazy. by this i mean for picking up balls. when we’re in the middle of a warmup drill when we’re just rallying, these people will slowly walk to pick up balls behind them instead of jogging like the rest of us do. or they’re too lazy to even pick up balls from the ground and instead reach for the basket to get more balls, making us do more labor later.
8. the hardworking. same thing about picking up, except they get really excited for the ball machine, or they go picking up in a frenzy and build these huge ball towers at least twice. i like them because they do most of the work. these people are also usually very focused when we’re practicing, and they try to improve. i appreciate them for their diligence.
9. the overconfident. this is different from the flexers in that they usually don’t have any skill whatsoever but feel like they do. they will just swing freely and do whatever they feel like to hit the ball. when it goes way out of the court or doesn’t even make it over the net, they keep smiling as if they couldn’t care less because of course it’s not their fault. they need to get a lesson.