NTRP (estimated) 2.5 Wall Practice (Video)

[TomT]

Originally Posted by sunof tennis

Thanks for posting the match video. Much better for analyzing than hitting agains t a wall. You are absolutely correct on movement and court positioning. A couple of very simple suggestions: (I will leave the more techinical stuff to the coaches). There is nothing even remotely resembling a split step or even being "on your toes". You are completely flat footed, standing and waiting for the ball to come to you before moving. Easy concept to change. Second simple thing. When you serve in the deuce court you are standing way too far to the right or near the sideline. That would be about the place to stand if you were playing doubles. Standing there, you have too much ground to cover to the left.
Good luck with your tennis progress.

Thanks sonof tennis. Your suggestions are noted. I have a match this evening. Will get some video if possible.

[TennisCJC]

Hi TomT,

Wall practice is great - I hit the wall about once a week.

Your game looks better than 2.5.

A couple of thoughts that may help you.

1. Use your left hand better on forehand. On FH, keep it on racket until you start swing and then extend L arm out to side - sort of parallel with baseline. As you rotate upper bottom on FH, your left arm will pull back into your trunk and tuck beside your right hip.
2. Keep chest facing side fence on 1 HBH. You are rotating your shoulders a bit more than a 1 hander shoulder. Your chest should stay pointing to the side fence.
3. Keep you L arm back on your 1 hbh. Even pull back a bit as your racket arm goes foreward. You are letting the L arm go forward with the rotation at times. Using the left arm to pull back will also help with keeping chest toward side fence.

Have fun, keep practicing.

Do you know how to practice overheads on the wall? Drive the ball down so it strikes the court in front of the wall and the ball should bounce up hit the wall and then go high into the air and you can hit forehand and backhand overheads.

[TomT]

Originally Posted by TennisCJC

Hi TomT,

Wall practice is great - I hit the wall about once a week.

Your game looks better than 2.5.

A couple of thoughts that may help you.

1. Use your left hand better on forehand. On FH, keep it on racket until you start swing and then extend L arm out to side - sort of parallel with baseline. As you rotate upper bottom on FH, your left arm will pull back into your trunk and tuck beside your right hip.
2. Keep chest facing side fence on 1 HBH. You are rotating your shoulders a bit more than a 1 hander shoulder. Your chest should stay pointing to the side fence.
3. Keep you L arm back on your 1 hbh. Even pull back a bit as your racket arm goes foreward. You are letting the L arm go forward with the rotation at times. Using the left arm to pull back will also help with keeping chest toward side fence.

Have fun, keep practicing.

Do you know how to practice overheads on the wall? Drive the ball down so it strikes the court in front of the wall and the ball should bounce up hit the wall and then go high into the air and you can hit forehand and backhand overheads.

Thanks TennisCJC, your comments are noted and appreciated. Yes, I think my actual skill level is above 3.0, but my competitive level is 3.0 or lower. Age, conditioning, etc. Makes all the difference.

Anyway, thanks for your comments and insights. They are noted and I hope to implement your suggestions. And yes, tennis is fun, and I'll keep practicing, and thanks for your input.

[TomT]

A bit more video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocNF-...ature=youtu.be

This was after a match that my opponent won 10-7 (pro set). A few days later I lost a pro set to a 3.5 lady. Of course, I'm completely confident that I'm going to beat these players in our return matches.

[Sky_Boy]

Tom.. do u do consistent rallies down the middle with a partner? i do suggest that u do that if u d want to improve your strokes.. of cuz u need to know the technical aspects of the individual stokes to practice it... my point being dun do too much match-play do more consistent rallies maybe 1 set at the end of the session would be good

[TomT]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boy

Tom.. do u do consistent rallies down the middle with a partner? i do suggest that u do that if u d want to improve your strokes.. of cuz u need to know the technical aspects of the individual stokes to practice it... my point being dun do too much match-play do more consistent rallies maybe 1 set at the end of the session would be good

Good point(s) I think. Unfortuately, my two regular hitting partners are away from tennis for a while. I'm in a local league and most of my court time is spent in actual competition. The only recent rallying aimed at hitting consistently to a partner has been during warmups before matches, and sometimes after the match. Other than that my rallying practice has been limited to htting against the wall.

Below is another recent video of wall practice. In this one I'm trying to come over the ball with the backhand on as many shots as I can. After recording this I did another one where my racquet preparation is higher, earlier and more pronounced (on both backhand and forehand), and it resulted in better shotmaking. Unfortunately, the second video was really blurry for some reason that I'm still trying to figure out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE6SFXZDsc0

[TomT]

Originally Posted by NTRPolice

And OP (TomT) looks good for 2.5, but you might have problems finding a team that low. There's no reason why you cant rate 2.5 though, but id count adult/senior leagues out in most places in the country because there wont be enough people. I wouldnt go higher than 3.0 though, unless you have more footage to show.

Thanks for the comments NTRPolice. Yeah, there's no USTA leagues around here that go as low as 3.0 as far as I have been able to find out. So, I'm currently in this TLN (see sig, tennisftlauderdale.com) flex league which has 17 guys and 2 women in the Fall Season (from 3.0 to 4.0). It's just getting started in Fort Lauderdale, and so far it's been very enjoyable for me ... even though I'm arguably the worst player.

[Sky_Boy]

BH looks like it has improved a little from last video.. u did hit a good top spin on your bh when the ball is in your strike zone but when the ball is low i realise u kinda hit a mix slice .. for low balls u have to bend your knee low so that your contact point will be low ...the key is to bend your knees much more..

[TomT]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boy

BH looks like it has improved a little from last video.. u did hit a good top spin on your bh when the ball is in your strike zone but when the ball is low i realise u kinda hit a mix slice .. for low balls u have to bend your knee low so that your contact point will be low ...the key is to bend your knees much more..

Thanks Sky_Boy. That low knee bending is difficult ... for me. Anyway, I don't see how anybody can hit over the ball when it's real low.

EDIT: A lot of the problem is due to sheer laziness on my part, I think. I'll make a video with more pronounced racquet preparation (describing a "C" instead of a "U"). Doing the "C" prep also seems to make me move my feet better. Is that possible?

[Sky_Boy]

Originally Posted by TomT

Thanks Sky_Boy. That low knee bending is difficult ... for me. Anyway, I don't see how anybody can hit over the ball when it's real low.

EDIT: A lot of the problem is due to sheer laziness on my part, I think. I'll make a video with more pronounced racquet preparation (describing a "C" instead of a "U"). Doing the "C" prep also seems to make me move my feet better. Is that possible?

For racquet preparation.. with both feet side by side at the ready position take left feet 1 step back directly behind right feet and there u have your body automatically turn side ways.. u can also take right feet 1 step directly infront of left feet and u get the same thing... swing path is to let racquet drop to low and hit it upwards and u have your top spin BH drive.. dun worry too much on racquet drop as long as u start from low and finish off high.. make sure the grip u use is correct..bevel 1 is the recommended grip or some call it eastern BH grip...

I understand that when contact point is high or very low it's diffcult to execute your BH.. it's easily to use to slice for those shots something i see u use for high balls which is correct...

[Sky_Boy]

Originally Posted by TomT

Thanks Sky_Boy. That low knee bending is difficult ... for me. Anyway, I don't see how anybody can hit over the ball when it's real low.

EDIT: A lot of the problem is due to sheer laziness on my part, I think. I'll make a video with more pronounced racquet preparation (describing a "C" instead of a "U"). Doing the "C" prep also seems to make me move my feet better. Is that possible?

Low ball are generally more difficult to hit... timing and knee bend is crucial.. at first it will be difficult but when u have hit 300 of it, it wouldn't be that difficult anymore.. easier way out slice it..

[NTRPolice]

If your whole game is as consistent and controlled as your latest video I dont see why you couldnt even play 4.0 seniors. You definitely have control and accuracy. Depending on how you move you might be able to play 3.5 adult league.

Hitting with the wall is pretty hard, especially when you use only one bounce. If your whole game is like that in an actual rally I dont see why 4.0 senior would be out of the question. 4.0 adult might be pushing it, but depends on the level of competition in your area, how young and experienced the players are, ect.

The problem with NTRP is that you never want to guess too high.

Id still go with 3.0 adult or 3.5 senior and (more than likely) murder people and move up.

That is definitely not a 3.0 level of consistency for an adult player. If you're decently mobile and the rest of your game is about that level I can see you going on a rampage in 3.0 and possibly 3.5 senior. With all those things considered, 4.0 senior is probably where you will meet opposition, or 3.5 adult because players start to hit dramatically harder than the level below.

[TomT]

Thanks for the encouragement NTRPolice. It does help to motivate. Unfortunately, there's no seniors singles leagues (USTA or otherwise) close enough to where I live. It's all just adult leagues. There's USTA 3.5, 4.0, and 4.5, which I might never be ready to compete in (definitely not the 4.5). Then there's a couple of non-USTA flex leagues that do have a number of players in the NTRP 3.0 range. I have a 3 - 22 record in the (fairly new, it just started this past spring ... I started in it this past summer) Fort Lauderdale chapter of the Tennis League Network -- playing against 3.0, 3.25, 3.5, 3.75, 4.0 men, and one 3.5 woman.

Anyway, I'm not consistent. I would call that latest video I posted a good example of inconsistency, due to bad footwork and bad racquet preparation. I think, given my mobility issues, that in order to be consistently competitive at anything above the 3.0 level, then I should be hitting 50, 100, an indefinite number of balls in a row off one bounce at that wall. But I can't do that yet.

I do appreciate your (perhaps somewhat unrealistic but nonetheless encouraging) comments, however I'm currently playing hacker, dinker, lazy old man, cupcake tennis. It's disgusting ... and embarrassing. Below is a video of the latest example. It was shot the day before the latest wall video. Hopefully, subsequent wall and match play videos will show some improvement. (I'm giving myself about a year, playing on average, say, 3 or 4 times per week, to fully incorporate stuff I've learned here at the TT forums, and to be approaching being competitive at ~ 3.25 to 3.5 level -- but some of it depends on how my legs and feet progress, and not having another flare up of my Crohn's disease.)

By the way, post something of your most recent stuff when you have time. I enjoyed your other videos, especially those exhausting groundstroke drills.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAMB20pUFiQ&feature=plcp

[TomT]

Sky Boy, thanks for the tips.

[TomT]

Here's another fairly recent video. My opponent is a 4.0. I didn't play too bad, by my standards, but he bageled me (6-0, 6-0) with no trouble. About half the games did go to multiple deuces. Pretty clean match actually (again, by my standards), as I only had one double fault and he had none -- and, I really didn't make a whole lot of unforced errors like I usually do. He just hit lots of shots that I couldn't get to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jobr83EQJA8

[Sky_Boy]

Hi Tom

Can i check what did u say to opponent whenever he lobs u?

[TomT]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boy

Hi Tom

Can i check what did u say to opponent whenever he lobs u?

Hi Sky Boy. Not sure exactly what you're referring to, but usually I just say nice shot or something like that.

[TomT]

Here's another video of some points from recent play. My opponent in this vid is about the same competitive level as me, ~ 3.0.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJz6xczsXZc

[Sky_Boy]

Hi Tom.. for first video, your standing to near the net after u hit your approach shots.. i know your preparing to volley but if your standing too near the net your only inviting your opp to lob u.. optimum distance should roughly be half way from net and service line..

And i notice that u dun keep your other free hand on the throat of the racquet.. try to do this as it helps with grip change when u hit your top spin BH... at the ready postion free hand should be on throat of racquet

[TomT]

Originally Posted by Sky_Boy

Hi Tom.. for first video, your standing to near the net after u hit your approach shots.. i know your preparing to volley but if your standing too near the net your only inviting your opp to lob u.. optimum distance should roughly be half way from net and service line..

And i notice that u dun keep your other free hand on the throat of the racquet.. try to do this as it helps with grip change when u hit your top spin BH... at the ready postion free hand should be on throat of racquet

Thanks Sky Boy. Will keep these tips in mind. I have been, well, at times anyway, trying to concentrate on keeping left (free) hand on throat of racquet in preparation for all shots. It's just a matter of practice and repitition, repitition .... etc.

Also appreciate your suggestions regarding court positioning. I know you're right, but for an old and not very experienced player like me some of this stuff is actually hard to do.

Hey, post some vids of your play so I can see who I'm talking to.