Video Update (Advice needed)
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjBUWHlFMyw

Hey guys so here a video update with me playing a set. As many of you said before, I need to step into my shots. Therefore, I've been focusing on that, form, footwork, and working out hopiong to control and dictate the points more.

Advice and criticism appreciated!

your serve - not too sure but is it not into the court enough? you often look like falling backwards, or pushing the ball without time to release the racket.... if you don't hit it, where does it land?

volley - you don't swing at the ball, you basically push the ball to the target, or collide with the ball using a solid arm/racket unit...... if you swing you have no control, and can't really produce penetration.

groundies are ok..... i think the issue is mostly in the footwork.... need to get those tiny adjustment steps going......... on average pros take 10 steps before each shot, most of them are adjustment steps... you plant too early, you end up reaching or get jammed.

good play overall though.

are you in purple?

Blue not purple

what issues do you see for yourself?

serve- i see it too. It looks really unbalanced but many tell me my serve is my best shot. It always puzzled me bc my serve always looked like that even when i serve and volley

volley- i always thought you should "punch" the volley. How would I swing it.

im not quite sure what you're saying after ........... because you said i should swing, but if i swing there's no control

mostly footwork. The shots I missed were due to lazy feet.

regarding forehand:

footwork is so so. not horrible. better than most I see posted here.

so that's all you see that is an issue w/ your forehand? nothing else?

I hit way too open most of the time instead of closing in and stepping into it? I hit too much topspin by the way the ball curves? I know ppl said i have my elbow tucked in too much but I fixed it a little

btw the planting too early that luvforty mentioned is also a very good point

'punch' is a pretty bad analogy.... because it may mislead people into using the arm muscle in a swinging motion.

fh volley - imagine you have a sheet of glass, and you glue your arm and the racket to the back of the glass, and now you are gonna push this entire unit into a collision with the ball.... in order to do this, you do 2 things -

1) you move your body weight forward by stepping, with the left foot, if you have time.

2) you use your chest muscle to move the hitting unit forward.

try to keep the angle of the glass unchanged (should be slightly open).

bh volley is similar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJb95...Xcr3Lw&index=2

there is a part where he talks about 3 types of collisions.... much better picture than a 'punch'.

very good thanks!! my only issue with that guys volley is that he takes it back past his body. Won't that take away a lot of time?

on i/o shots the elbow is too close. on cc and up the middle shots the elbow is way way too close. You're losing leverage, power and control. You also use too much arm during the swing. the body is barely involved. you should be able to hit 10-15mph faster easily with the same basic form you have now.

most of his demos in that video are against medium pace balls so he had time to swing..

taking it back past body is not necessarily bad... actually for 'winning the collision' against a floater, you have to swing bigger.

give it a try, as long as you try to move the glass, instead of the racket head, you will be fine :) ..... this unit is about 20 lbs (arm and racket), so you can produce some explosive volleys by moving such a heavy unit into the ball.

I noticed you're in orange county, if you're ever up for hitting or match play shoot me an email.

yes i am and so is yonexpurestorm, but you have no email to provide

@everyone: thanks for the tips. And about the elbow, I'm not quite sure what to do about it. You should see me before because it was very tucked it. Now its not so much but still, its very hard to fix. :(

Vincetrinh22@yahoo.com. shoot me an email

I used to live in the same area. I still play in OC whenever I'm in the area. Shoot me an email if any of you guys are interested in meeting up and we'll have a hit when I'm in OC.

I think you could definitely work on hitting your spots better on your serve. Have the sliding slice serve, hard topspin, and kicker to multiple spots.

Forehand looks good, most misses are a matter of footwork not technique. Backhand looks pretty good. Maybe work on a slice to add some variety if you think it would suit your style.

Overall, not bad at all.

Since when did you wear glasses?

you remind me of nishikori with that backhand and whippy forehand but like TheCheese said: errors are made because of footwork.

about your forehand: I don't think double bend or straight arm matters, you hit really good with what you have and looking at the past 2 years of trying to change it but can't really. I would just stick to your forehand and work on improving it. You hit a heavy ball with a c#$% load of topspin to the point its spinning sideways but try to hit every ball closed instead of open. I noticed the errors were from bad footwork>>>open stance. Your footwork got slower as compared to several months ago so work on foot speed.


@ your friend: he's a big guy, hits a really heavy ball even when hes off balance. He has a really nice serve, much more pace than you do but you place the ball better. Kudos to you with the kicker to the backhand most of the time. His forehand is very awkward looking and stiff. He needs flow and wristsnap into the ball

But very very entertaining tennis. Its good to see both you of guys going for your shots and not missing so much. Is mostly the other player forcing the error from the other with a good ball.

If anyone wants to play, mssg me through youtube/facebook lol

@everyone: thanks for the tips! I'm going to be working on suicides now haha

also I had surgery (eye tumor) 2 weeks ago so now I wear glasses for 2 months. Its a bother to play (fog up) with and they bruise my ears but 2 months ill be going back to contacts