Drill for clean contact

[Potito]

Do you have any drill for improve clean contact and linear interval (increasing hitting zone) in groundstrokes? Or something on put my attention during the training, particularly on forehand side, for improve hitting through and extending on followthrough?
Thank you for your help.

 

[Duzza]

Hmm clean contact is more achieved through practice of technique rather than drills. If i'm wrong I'd love to hear of some good drills.

 

[alan-n]

Work on your volleys, takes the least amount of energy while focusing on hitting through the ball. And yes they can benefit your ground strokes if you understand what you should be focusing on.

 

[Deleted member 13755]

I hit against walls and have the "Federer eye" when practicing strokes to ensure that I see the ball when I make contact.

 

[raiden031]

I strongly believe that hitting against a wall is the absolute best way to develop your strokes. The reason being that you get far more repetitions in less time than you ever would hitting against another person or even a ball machine. Also if you are playing against another player with weak strokes, you will barely ever get clean balls coming at you. One thing I do with the wall to help with hand eye coordination is to volley against the wall and try to hit the sweetspot every time by carefully watching the ball each time. Of course once you have the clean stroke the wall is not as beneficial because you will want to focus on good placement which requires alot of practice on the court. But the wall has been most effective so far in my game.

 

[NapalmEaterDemon]

Just keep praticing. A really important (yet simple) thing to do is keep looking at the ball. Do not take your eyes off it.

 

[JCo872]

Here are two interesting links you might want to check out:
http://www.easitennis2.com/PowerClinic/ContactAndPower.htm
http://www.hi-techtennis.com/forehand/topspin.php

To get a feel for the linear push through contact, get into the correct contact position and have someone push against your racket face. As they push into the sweet spot, you should push back and get the feeling for which muscles you need to use.

 

[Cindysphinx]

One thing I do with the wall to help with hand eye coordination is to volley against the wall and try to hit the sweetspot every time by carefully watching the ball each time.

I don't understand this advice to volley against the wall. I am mystified by it.

Where do you stand? Where do you aim?

I ask because I have tried it, with horrible results. I stand there and try to punch the ball to the wall, stepping into it. Then it comes back, but lower. So I bend down and do a defensive volley. Say this volley makes it back to the wall. The next volley will bounce.

The problem, I suspect, is that volleying against the wall is really different than hitting against a wall because real volleys use the pace on the ball. The wall provides no pace.

So please, can someone explain where one stands and how one aims to sustain a volley wall rally?

Sorry for the mini-hijack . . . Regarding the original question, I was told that you should practice your groundstrokes by keeping your head down and watching the ball into your strings. You do not need to lift your head to see where to direct your shot, as you already know where the opposing baseline, service line and sidelines are. If you can hit without looking up and focusing totally on the ball, you can probably find the sweet spot every time.

Or so I was told.

 

[Potito]

Thank you for your tips. Always I put my attention on eyes on the ball, on wrist laid back until after contact, and my backhand is good, but my forehand instead continue to be unsettled. Sometimes is good, but often doesn’t work. It seems to me that my forehand is better when I drive with shoulder toward right side, pushing buttcap outside. Is almost like hitting the ball toward right side, and I feel more clean contact, and more extension in followthrough. But this sensation is fleeting, and I don’t succed to reproduce it.

 

[raiden031]

I don't understand this advice to volley against the wall. I am mystified by it.

Where do you stand? Where do you aim?

I ask because I have tried it, with horrible results. I stand there and try to punch the ball to the wall, stepping into it. Then it comes back, but lower. So I bend down and do a defensive volley. Say this volley makes it back to the wall. The next volley will bounce.

The problem, I suspect, is that volleying against the wall is really different than hitting against a wall because real volleys use the pace on the ball. The wall provides no pace.

So please, can someone explain where one stands and how one aims to sustain a volley wall rally?

Sorry for the mini-hijack . . . Regarding the original question, I was told that you should practice your groundstrokes by keeping your head down and watching the ball into your strings. You do not need to lift your head to see where to direct your shot, as you already know where the opposing baseline, service line and sidelines are. If you can hit without looking up and focusing totally on the ball, you can probably find the sweet spot every time.

Or so I was told.

Its hard to volley the same off the wall as if you were volleying in a court. I don't practice this in order to practice my court volleys. I only do this for improving hand-eye coordination and I just do whatever it takes to keep the ball from touching the floor, emphasizing the sweet spot and not hitting the frame. It takes alot of practice to sustain a rally like this but it has worked wonders on improving all of my strokes. I shank the ball alot less now.

I think hitting groundstrokes against a wall is mainly good for developing strokes at the lower levels, not for advanced techniques like placement or people trying to deal with real fast pace because too much energy is lost when the ball bounces off the wall.

 

[MordredSJT]

To put my own two cents in about the side conversation about volleying off a wall...I used to do this all the time when a wall was one of my usual practice partners. What I would do was drop hit a ball from a distance that would get me a ball around knee level, step in and volley it just over the line marking net height, and then move forward to volley the next ball out of the air. I would do this repeatedly while constantly closing towards the wall, keeping the ball going until I was practically on top of it. I'm not sure if that really helps with clean contact, but it definately works your volley footwork, helps you keep the ball low over the net, and when you get close definately challenges your reflexes.

As for clean contact...I have found great results both in my own game and the games of my students using a finish out in front of the body as a learning/teaching tool. I've totally ripped it off from Robert Landsdorp, so if you want more info on it look around online for some of the things he has written. Basically you hit a normal forehand, but follow through straight out in front of your body, both arms extended, the hands finishing around eye-level with the racket vertical...no wrapping over your shoulder. I usually do it first from a dropped ball, then a short toss, then a lightly fed ball, and then a full rally. After you do this a little while you then go back to your normal finish. It really emphasizes extension through the hitting zone and clean, square contact with the ball.

 

[JCo872]

Its hard to volley the same off the wall as if you were volleying in a court. I don't practice this in order to practice my court volleys. I only do this for improving hand-eye coordination and I just do whatever it takes to keep the ball from touching the floor, emphasizing the sweet spot and not hitting the frame. It takes alot of practice to sustain a rally like this but it has worked wonders on improving all of my strokes. I shank the ball alot less now.

I think hitting groundstrokes against a wall is mainly good for developing strokes at the lower levels, not for advanced techniques like placement or people trying to deal with real fast pace because too much energy is lost when the ball bounces off the wall.

Raiden,

I think this is great advice. People frequently miss the importance of hitting the sweetspot of the racket. They emphasize things like racket head speed and backswing without seeing just how much pop comes from correctly aligning the sweetspot and the ball. Volleying against a wall is a great way to see just how much pop you can get from proper contact.

That's great that this one drill has improved your entire game. It makes sense to me because proper contact provides the same feeling whether it is volleys or grounstrokes.

Jeff

 

[alan-n]

I don't understand this advice to volley against the wall. I am mystified by it.

Where do you stand? Where do you aim?

Usually volleying off the wall exercises is done at about 5 ft out, you have to have sound technique and repetition to consistently do that exercise as your volleying off the wall with no bounce.

To give yourself more time and more relaxed warm up you work on your basic volleys from about 15ft out or the service line. Volley off after the ball bounces. Or work on your slices if you want.

Either way they are good exercises at focusing on the contact point and understanding clean contact without spending so much energy taking ground strokes. I just don't like ground stroke exercises off the wall since the timing adjustment vs court ground strokes is huge.

 

[Cindysphinx]

Thanks for the clarifications, all. I'll give this a try.

 

[panatta]

For a clean contact? Wash your racquet strings and try to avoid playing on the central court of Riva's Country Club: the ground is always dirty out there and Meme never wash it! (WE wash the ground there and dry it when is wet!) :mrgreen:
P.s.: don't be "spilorch" and pay the subscription this time! Meme always keeps a watch and we cannot jump over the fence furthermore!

 

[Deleted member 13755]

Make a whole in your racket right where the sweet spot is.


When you're striking out like Rob Deer, you know you've just won the point.

 

[fuzz nation]

Sometimes I get too confident and start taking rock star cuts at the ball. Try taking a significantly shorter backswing with the same full follow-thru. As long as you're stepping forward and turning through the stroke, you'll still have good power if you're catching it right on your sweetspot.

 

[Potito]

For a clean contact? Wash your racquet strings and try to avoid playing on the central court of Riva's Country Club: the ground is always dirty out there and Meme never wash it! (WE wash the ground there and dry it when is wet!)
P.s.: don't be "spilorch" and pay the subscription this time! Meme always keeps a watch and we cannot jump over the fence furthermore!

Panatta, you're out like a "terrazzo"!!! And be careful, Meme keep watch on us!! :mrgreen: