Critique needed! Video of groundies/serves!

[Bubbagumptennis]

Hey guys, it's Babolatbarry here in a new account.

Been working hard to try to get better and took some videos of myself! Input would be greatly appreciated. Also: I have no idea what my NTRP would be.. so if you could give me a range of just what I should register myself as, that would be great!

Groundstrokes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pm3Uq2KFzw

Serves:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXJIPPa-xZw

Personally I consider my backhand to be my best shot, and my forehand the worst. I'm no expert though!

Thank you guys for watching

[luvforty]

actually -

the serve - this is your best stroke.. lots of good stuff there.. i like your loading and coiling... but you can make it better. you leave lots of RHS on the table by accelerating the head and the handle together... if you try the other extreme by exaggerating accelerating the head while SLOWING down the handle, you will feel what it's like to dump all the momentum on the head, and achieve the tell-tale high hand high elbow finish.

the FH - it's serviceable, I'd say the room for improvement is more in the footwork than in the stroke itself.

the BH - it still looks disconnected to me.... how does it hold up during match when they pound your BH? don't worry much about staying sideways... let the arm stay connected to the chest and rotate your core thru the contact.

you (accidentally) showed 1 volley and it was miserable... gotta shore that up, otherwise they will pull you to the net and undress you naked there

[Bubbagumptennis]

Thank you for the response! My serve I have been doing a lot of tinkering with over the last year and right now it is at it's best but I definitely think it needs improvement. I will try what you said to!
My footwork definitely needs to improve, I have lazy feet -_-
My backhand holds up in matches, but you're right when it gets a hard flattish ball hit to it, you can basically kiss the point goodbye for me!
My volleys..yeah...I have no volley skills whatsoever!

[Bubbagumptennis]

Oh I forgot to mention! My forehand has been dissected a lot too over probably the last 3 to 4 months, hopefully the form is okay, it holds up in matches pretty well now.

[ATP100]

Hit your groundies higher. This will help you learn faster.

[Cheetah]

post a vid taken from behind

[Bubbagumptennis]

Thanks lol

[dizzlmcwizzl]

Well ... I wont comment on your strokes as they are better than mine. I will say that as far as NTRP range that is hard to judge without seeing match play.

I will say that I am a 4.5 and I would not be scared of you in a doubles match based on what I see. In your rally shots you simply dont move your feet. I have 100 pounds on you and I still move my feet to hit balls occasionally. And the one volley we see would scare no one. Perhaps in singles being young and quick (which all young people are aren't they?) would help you considerably.

So if you were playing doubles exclusively I would say no higher than 3.5. But you could be as high as a 4.0 in singles provided your quickness made up for other deficiencies.

[luvforty]

OP you can play 4.0 ball alright... the 4.5 people will quickly figure out you don't have a volley lol.

[NLBwell]

First hints:
Forehand - think back quicker, forward slower. If you get your racket back sooner, you can have a more gradual acceleration to the ball and less of a fast swat.
Backhand - get contact point consistently in front of you. Looks like it is often at your hip or even behind it.
Serve - Get elbow up more and racket head down more.

[dlesser13]

Forget NTRP, junior tournaments don't use it. You don't need a rating until you're 19.

[Bubbagumptennis]

Do you guys think I should try to change the grip on my fh?

[isilra]

First i thought you have a very nice whipping action but now i see that you lock your wrist back when you take your backswing. This is okay but mostly WTA players and classic hitters use that technique called a push forehand. Your takeback trajectory is more suitable to a pull style modern forehand and you can achieve this by pronating your forearm and leeding with your elbow during the backswing. When you pronate, you need to supinate to hit the ball and that supination will leave the racquet behind and create the lag effect if it is started with a strong body turn. Somebody explains it like pulling the racquet butt towards the ball. Fed and most of the ATP players excluding delpo using that technique. Especially Mardy Fish one explains the action very well and simple. Look how the racquet goes behind when he supinates his forearm back;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ImeQaAyFPc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huDPxUj8yLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1Qt1lQ2fv0

Of course you can choose to stay with your own technique but if you do that, i suggest you to take a bigger and continuous loop to gain more momentum and racquet head speed. Your stroke is something like a WTA stroke with an ATP takeback. Choose either WTA or ATP and continue your way.

[luvforty]

OP what's your goal - you want to win in competitions.... shore up your weakness first...

fh grip is not gonna matter if you can't volley.... right now your serve and fh are both serviceable... you bh needs a little work.. but you need a net game... it's the low hanging fruit for you... volleys are lot easier to learn than groundies.

[Bubbagumptennis]

Yeah my overall goal is to play college ball somewhere, and thank you isilra for the videos!

[luvforty]

good goal -

yeah, shore up the weaknesses, get involved in jr tournaments, varsity ball, and see how your game stack up.

[Bubbagumptennis]

I played 5th/4th on varsity for my team last year as a freshman, lost 6-1 6-1 to a guy ranked top 30 in NC now. So hopefully thats something that I can use as motivation. Will definitely take everything that was said into account

[Bubbagumptennis]

In NC there was a team last year that had all of their top 6 in the top 40 in the state lmao

[UCSF2012]

Shots look flanky and shaky. Emphasis on shaky, esp on the backhand. You don't have the racket control in your hands.

You're still young and growing, so it'll come with time. For now, grip the racket a bit tighter, and practice generating RHS. You'll grow into that racket.

[Bubbagumptennis]

I was actually debating on going to an easier racquet to play with for a while but figured "I'm growing so why switch"