Short video of some forehands

[loosegroove]

Originally Posted by Power Player

This is not completely true. You can take the ball out of the air with a sw grip as well. That is what i have been saying. I was shown how to do it by a coach at my club who is a top 500 atp player. It is not that difficult once you practice it and it punishes topspin balls. It is basially setting your point of contact higher.

Strange that people think a continental grip would be the most beneficial to combat this type of player. Your "standard" modern tennis stroke (ie windshield wiper sw forehand) excels at hitting these types of balls. Unlike a classic continental with a more linear forward path, with the windshield stroke you can create contact on a higher ball since the swing path already has a natural upward trajectory in a relatively short span, so as PP said, you're just hitting at a higher contact point for the most part. I'm not sure if that makes sense or not. As someone with a modern sw ww forehand, I can unload against most topspin shots...it's the hard flat hitters that give me more trouble.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by Power Player

Show us the back angle next time.

Here are a couple from the back. I don't see were I am off balance that much. I know that I am lazy when hitting with the ball machine, I just don't get in a rhythm like in a rally.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc-kJbwdxss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS4JcLJ5u3c

[tlm]

Originally Posted by loosegroove

Thanks for posting. Those are some wanky looking strokes for sure. Though I can see how the loopy topspin can certainly be effective at the 4.0 level. I feel like you could achieve the same effect with a more fluid motion and less effort...your shots are all arm. And if those shots land short they would be perfect sitters, since the ball would be bouncing up and not though the court, no? I have to agree your footwork looks pretty stiff, and you look off-balance on many of your shots hitting a fade-away off the back foot.

Are these all off the back foot and all arm?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ55yV8kTzs

[loosegroove]

Originally Posted by tlm

Are these all off the back foot and all arm?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJ55yV8kTzs

No, of course not. Actually the interesting thing is how you are one extreme or the other. Either you are completely on your back foot fading away, or you're stepping forward and then hitting a shot off of your front foot. From the short clip you posted, I didnt' see any shot where you're loading up your outside (back) foot, and then hitting through the ball while transferring your weight to your front foot. Given your style of play and the stroke you prefer, I feel like that would be something to work on.

[Power Player]

They look off balance to me. You want to be leaning into the court and hitting a recovery step after contact. The first thing that sticks out is your feet never move between balls. So if you ever play someone with a lot of experience, you are not going to be in position to hit the balls you want.

You need to get in the habit of always moving your feet between balls, even on a ball machine. What that will do is help you setup properly and get the balance fixed.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by Power Player

They look off balance to me. You want to be leaning into the court and hitting a recovery step after contact. The first thing that sticks out is your feet never move between balls. So if you ever play someone with a lot of experience, you are not going to be in position to hit the balls you want.

You need to get in the habit of always moving your feet between balls, even on a ball machine. What that will do is help you setup properly and get the balance fixed.

I agree that I need to get into the habit of moving my feet between shots, which I do much more when playing but not with the ball machine.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by loosegroove

No, of course not. Actually the interesting thing is how you are one extreme or the other. Either you are completely on your back foot fading away, or you're stepping forward and then hitting a shot off of your front foot. From the short clip you posted, I didnt' see any shot where you're loading up your outside (back) foot, and then hitting through the ball while transferring your weight to your front foot. Given your style of play and the stroke you prefer, I feel like that would be something to work on.

I play a conservative grinding style from the back court, but when I get in the court with time I will attack with more weight into the shot and flatter trajectory.

[Power Player]

Yeah its tough. You want to make it so you are doing it every time you play no matter what. You need to be split stepping and basically you should fix your footwork. I spent a lot of time on that and everything else clicked into place. People are going to focus on what your arm is doing..etc, but if you start with the feet, you will see a lot of improvements.

Right now it looks like the game is too fast for you and you are trying to catch up. The reason is because your footwork is not there and you are not anticipating the next ball. Even if you are, you are not able to get prepared for it in time.

I love this guy's website for footwork. It is a lot of stuff, but if you just start with the basics and only focus on that, you will see a difference.

http://www.thebaileymethod.com/

[5263]

Originally Posted by tlm

Here are a couple from the back. I don't see were I am off balance that much. I know that I am lazy when hitting with the ball machine, I just don't get in a rhythm like in a rally.

You are right, not all that much for a rec player, but it is low hanging fruit for
you to improve. Ur Balance is not terrible, but you are not stable enough for your
best control or focusing your easy power.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by Power Player

Yeah its tough. You want to make it so you are doing it every time you play no matter what. You need to be split stepping and basically you should fix your footwork. I spent a lot of time on that and everything else clicked into place. People are going to focus on what your arm is doing..etc, but if you start with the feet, you will see a lot of improvements.

Right now it looks like the game is too fast for you and you are trying to catch up. The reason is because your footwork is not there and you are not anticipating the next ball. Even if you are, you are not able to get prepared for it in time.

I love this guy's website for footwork. It is a lot of stuff, but if you just start with the basics and only focus on that, you will see a difference.

http://www.thebaileymethod.com/

Great points PP and thanks for the clip.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by 5263

You are right, not all that much for a rec player, but it is low hanging fruit for
you to improve. Ur Balance is not terrible, but you are not stable enough for your
best control or focusing your easy power.

Ya your right, its a good thing I take some video once in a while otherwise I would not see these faults that I need to work on.

[5263]

Originally Posted by tlm

Ya your right, its a good thing I take some video once in a while otherwise I would not see these faults that I need to work on.

It's one of the things I see on my own video as well...
Something we all have to stay after...all the time really.

[Cheetah]

Well I have to admit those balls are not as powder puffy as I thought they would be. Not bad. You seem to have good clearance and penetration when hitting with the machine. Off balance though and I think you'd get broken down against someone that could make you run side to side and up and back. It looks like you have more control than what you had in your vids from last year too.

But man... what a waste.
You would be able to hit soooo much better with just a few mods mainly to the footwork and a little swing adjustment. If you had better footwork and weight transfer you'd be able to make those shots sound like a rifle. Using less arm would give you higher rhs too.

[tlm]

Originally Posted by Cheetah

Well I have to admit those balls are not as powder puffy as I thought they would be. Not bad. You seem to have good clearance and penetration when hitting with the machine. Off balance though and I think you'd get broken down against someone that could make you run side to side and up and back. It looks like you have more control than what you had in your vids from last year too.

But man... what a waste.
You would be able to hit soooo much better with just a few mods mainly to the footwork and a little swing adjustment. If you had better footwork and weight transfer you'd be able to make those shots sound like a rifle. Using less arm would give you higher rhs too.

Well Cheetah I am going to take you and Power Players advise and really work on the footwork.