How to get my groove back!

[max8176]

Hey all, a 4.0 player here that play with two-handed on both sides. I would have to say my forehand while not my favorite side has always been my reliable side until recently I have been making lots of errors on it. Either late with the ball so I mishit a lot or dont have enough depth. Dont know if this is lack of confidence or what? But it's very frustrated cause sometimes I will hit balls right into the net which is very unusual for me!!

[TriCitiesTennis]

I would find a partner who is stronger than you to simply hit balls with. If after 2-3 sessions of just hitting has not gotten you back into the groove, then perhaps it's time to tape things to see where the errors are.

If your having trouble with a return of service game, then my advice is to find several variations of hitting partners who want to work on their service game.

Have them hit serves to you and then you return their serves. My advice on this is to go all out. Go for deep balls and cross court angles. Take some balls down the line.

Once you get the hang of that, set up a "dummy" doubles partner for the server. We use a store bought dummy santa claus actually that is 8ft tall and inflats on the court. If we hit the dummy, odds are the ball would have been cut off on the return by the doubles partner. This also allows you from the FH court (for a Right hander) to learn how to open early on a backhand and take that backhand down the line.

[CoconutGT]

I'm a 3.5-3.75 player and what helps me the most when I'm having a horrible week/sessions is to rally with the wall. The errors, for me, would most likely result from bad timing and/or lazy footwork. Taping yourself play is pretty much the best thing to do at any time. Good luck :)

[max8176]

Yeah, lazy footwork might be one of the problems. For one thing I am usually very good with my forehand crosscourt and it has been horrible lately...just unbelievably horrible! Framing the ball, hitting short and sometimes right into the net, or not able to put away balls in mid-court which is one of my best shots. It really frustrates me to the point I might look toward some lessons. Do guys think playing too much game but not just rallying also make it worst? I used to have a regular partner few yrs back and we'll just rack the ball for hrs. Recently, have been just playing doubles and league tennis not to mention captaining teams and thurs really not enough real practice time.

[Tennismastery]

Hey all, a 4.0 player here that play with two-handed on both sides. I would have to say my forehand while not my favorite side has always been my reliable side until recently I have been making lots of errors on it. Either late with the ball so I mishit a lot or dont have enough depth. Dont know if this is lack of confidence or what? But it's very frustrated cause sometimes I will hit balls right into the net which is very unusual for me!!

As with any two handed stroke, make sure you are not manipulating the racquet with the off hand in trying to impart extra spin. And on the two-handed forehand, make sure you are not 'crossing the wrists' on the backswing...this will cause you to open the racquet face and then have to roll the racquet to get it back to perpendicular to closed for your topspin...which usually results in hitting the ball in the net.

One other topic that we use in our academy is the use of Scott Ford's "Parallel Mode Processing" or better known as 'the zone'...the concept, discussed in his excellent DVD "Welcome to the Zone" moves the mind to the contact window using different mental tools. Mainly, focusing on making contact in your hitting window by vocalizing a 'yes' or 'no' if you made contact in the window. This brings your focus to the contact zone where it needs to be for consistency. Adding a 1, 2, or 3, in identfying the contact window more consciously, vocalizing a 1 for a window shot, a 2 or 3 for a ball hit too early or late brings the focus even more to the hitting zone. We have seen beginners to highly advanced players use this with fabulous results. The thing is, however, you need to train yourself in it. As you hit better and better, you will move to a subjective mind set, ("I'm hitting so good!") that you will stop using the tools. We all know what happens when we vocalize that phrase!

Anyway, hope this helps!