Videos of my new strokes, incorporating more racquethead speed, please critique

[takeuchi]

Here are a couple clips of my hitting practice yesterday. I am experimenting with trying new things to try to improve to the next level so here I am trying to be a little more whippy with my strokes. I may have been overhitting a bit.

Please comment on what you think I am doing well/right as well as what I could be doing to improve my strokes. (that means constructive criticism please)

http://www.sfu.ca/~krt/TennisStrokes.wmv


I was using a POG mid with quite a bit of lead, and i came to the conclusion that it's still pretty tough for me to use, so I am using a POG OS in this video. Even with the OS I was having some troubles, so i think i need to bring the tension down and add a bit of lead to make it a bit more forgiving.

Note: I edited out a few of the crappy rallies, because they were only like 1 or 2 hits long, I am no means a consistent player. When I become consistent with a shot I usually try to improve my stroke again to get it to the next level.

*UPDATE*
see post #21 for a new video of my strokes
http://www.sfu.ca/~krt/kylestrokes.wmv

*UPDATE 2*
post #48
http://www.sfu.ca/~krt/strokeupdate.wmv

[Solat]

it may just be me but you look late on a lot of strokes, you will make more errors if you have to accelerate your racquet so fast so late.

[ironstring]

Looks good cuz you look relaxed.

But like the above poster pointed out, your take back is slightly slow.
On top of that, you wait too much till you actually start swinging.

Judging from your wiping swing style,
It is always (if the time/distance allows you) better to take the ball in front of your body.
That puts your weight on the shot, making it powerful even in relaxed, controlled swings.

That is all about the timing and your training to make better habits,
so I'll leave it to you.



Another thing,
you are getting lots of low balls. (prolly due to flat practice balls)
With your swing, low balls are harder to hit.
When you deal with those, you have to lean to the ball and LOWER your body.
Lots of forehands in the vid you just lean slightly and use your wrist to wip it.

Not to mention your wrist's health, you won't see a powerful shot coming out of that form.
low skidding ball(especially on the run) is one of the hardest shots for a wiper/western-grip-like swingers.
Cuz you have to run down, and lower your body at the same time.
Unless you instantly change the grip or swing style for those shots,
lowering your body is a must, not to hit the net.

But look like it is a loose warm up vid, so I can't really tell

Good luck and have fun playing!

[takeuchi]

Originally Posted by Solat

it may just be me but you look late on a lot of strokes, you will make more errors if you have to accelerate your racquet so fast so late.

You are definately right....I was late on some. I am not used to the timing of faster balls.

[takeuchi]

Originally Posted by ironstring

Not to mention your wrist's health, you won't see a powerful shot coming out of that form.
low skidding ball(especially on the run) is one of the hardest shots for a wiper/western-grip-like swingers.
Cuz you have to run down, and lower your body at the same time.
Unless you instantly change the grip or swing style for those shots,
lowering your body is a must, not to hit the net.

But look like it is a loose warm up vid, so I can't really tell

Good luck and have fun playing!

thanks for your input. the balls aren't flat, its just that my partner hits hard flat balls and the court is pretty slick.

so are you saying i should have a combo of getting low with my knees and leaning?

[dave333]

I think your partner needs to work on hitting it deep; I didn't see many balls hitting your side.

[Eli]

Takeuchi

Overall looks pretty good. A couple of things on the backswing that make it shaky and loose. First, you take your elbow back and way up. Most pros lead with the racket head on the takeback and keep the elbow down, which makes the backswing tight and efficient. Secondly, you slide the racket back instead of looping, which leads you to do a lot of extra "business" to get the racket into the set position. The loop combined with keeping the elbow down is the way to go. Make these two changes and you'll have a far more reliable forehand under pressure.

[McG]

Enjoyed watching the video -- good strokes. I'll echo the same comments as above, although it looked pretty solid. Perhaps just a little earlier preparation on both sides, tighten up the backswing and execution on the forehand side, and try not to hit so much off-balance leaning backwards. I only watched the video once, but I'm wondering if you could explode a little more on your 2-handed backhand. Looked pretty smooth, but at times it almost looked like you were stopping the follow-through a bit short....

Just observations from a guy who is probably still too insecure to tape myself!

Chris

[Redflea]

Great strokes, really like how relaxed and loose you look (maybe because my biggest issue is tightening up and hitting like a robot).

Particulary like your knee bend...you're doing a great job of getting down to the ball consistently, very nice.

You almost appear to be leaning back when you hit a lot of your backhands...might want to look into that.

Overall very nice stuff.

[chapufo1]

just curious, where are you playing? Those courts look familiar....it wouldn't happen to be Saw Mill Club would it?

[Cavallino]

You looks like a plastic man!!! Nice strokes

[takeuchi]

Originally Posted by dave333

I think your partner needs to work on hitting it deep; I didn't see many balls hitting your side.

He hits with very low margin, but they are very rarely short, they either hit the net or go long.

Originally Posted by Eli

Overall looks pretty good. A couple of things on the backswing that make it shaky and loose. First, you take your elbow back and way up. Most pros lead with the racket head on the takeback and keep the elbow down, which makes the backswing tight and efficient. Secondly, you slide the racket back instead of looping, which leads you to do a lot of extra "business" to get the racket into the set position. The loop combined with keeping the elbow down is the way to go. Make these two changes and you'll have a far more reliable forehand under pressure.

I did not notice this until you posted about it. I will definately try to work on it.

Originally Posted by McG

I only watched the video once, but I'm wondering if you could explode a little more on your 2-handed backhand. Looked pretty smooth, but at times it almost looked like you were stopping the follow-through a bit short....

I rewatched and you are right...it looks like it's not a complete swing.

Originally Posted by Redflea

You almost appear to be leaning back when you hit a lot of your backhands...might want to look into that.

I felt like I was leaning in on the backhands, but not the forehands. Does anyone think i should be stepping in more on the forehand?

Originally Posted by chapufo1

just curious, where are you playing? Those courts look familiar....it wouldn't happen to be Saw Mill Club would it?

No it wasn't. I'm from vancouver, bc.

Originally Posted by Cavallino

You looks like a plastic man!!! Nice strokes

I don't know what a plastic man looks like, but cool!

Keep the comments coming!

[Cavallino]

Originally Posted by takeuchi

I don't know what a plastic man looks like, but cool!

[drakulie]

take, nice vid! The strokes are definitely looking a lot better. Keep it up!

[Trinity TC]

Hi Tak, Nice tempo and rhythm on your strokes. Looking smooth with good power.

Originally Posted by takeuchi

I felt like I was leaning in on the backhands, but not the forehands. Does anyone think i should be stepping in more on the forehand?

You don't have to step in more with your left foot. You're dipping down with your right hip and bending your right knee prematurely which is causing you to put the brakes on the forward weight shift. (Edit: It's most noticable on the shots where you have a lot of time to setup. You're doing an abbreviated version of it on the faster balls and it's making you look a little rushed and late on those shots.)

That's probably what is giving you the sensation that you are not getting as much of your weight into the shot as you are on your backhand. It's stylish looking but it's causing your swing to decelerate when it should be just starting to accelerate.

The fix is minor so don't start messing with other things on your forehand for the time being. You don't have to eliminate the hip drop altogether but gradually reduce it and you should feel more power. One more time...don't worry about stepping in more with your front foot.

[JCo872]

You have very good technique. But I think the notion of "racket head speed" is a terrible one to focus on. I can tell you are trying to have a loose whippy wrist in the beginning of your forehand, but this is not going to add power to your stroke at all. It will just screw up your forehand. You don't see the pros with loose whippy wrists like that.

Here are things you can do to add power to your stroke.

1) Pull to the ball, butt cap first, from farther behind the hip
2) Get more supination in the hand/forearm as you pull forward.
3) Hit the ball farther in front of your body
4) Accelerate hard with your hand and shoulder through the windshield
wiper motion.

[Trinity TC]

Originally Posted by JCo872

...But I think the notion of "racket head speed" is a terrible one to focus on. I can tell you are trying to have a loose whippy wrist in the beginning of your forehand, but this is not going to add power to your stroke at all. It will just screw up your forehand.

Yep, he speaks the truth. It's about smooth acceleration and not, "I gotta get more and more racquet head speed...I just gotta..."

[takeuchi]

Originally Posted by Trinity TC

You don't have to step in more with your left foot. You're dipping down with your right hip and bending your right knee prematurely which is causing you to put the brakes on the forward weight shift. (Edit: It's most noticable on the shots where you have a lot of time to setup. You're doing an abbreviated version of it on the faster balls and it's making you look a little rushed and late on those shots.)

That's probably what is giving you the sensation that you are not getting as much of your weight into the shot as you are on your backhand. It's stylish looking but it's causing your swing to decelerate when it should be just starting to accelerate.

The fix is minor so don't start messing with other things on your forehand for the time being. You don't have to eliminate the hip drop altogether but gradually reduce it and you should feel more power. One more time...don't worry about stepping in more with your front foot.

So you are saying I should bend down more instead of leaning so much, and really get my weight transferring forward (but not necessarily stepping forward though)?

Originally Posted by JCo872

You have very good technique. But I think the notion of "racket head speed" is a terrible one to focus on. I can tell you are trying to have a loose whippy wrist in the beginning of your forehand, but this is not going to add power to your stroke at all. It will just screw up your forehand. You don't see the pros with loose whippy wrists like that.

Here are things you can do to add power to your stroke.

1) Pull to the ball, butt cap first, from farther behind the hip
2) Get more supination in the hand/forearm as you pull forward.
3) Hit the ball farther in front of your body
4) Accelerate hard with your hand and shoulder through the windshield
wiper motion.

Does this relate to what Eli said above? Having to do with my high elbow takeback and trying to accentuate the whippiness. Would you recommend more of a loop and less height with the elbow so the stroke is a bit more linear from the backswing?

I can tell its harder to control the racquet face, so I'll try to make it less whippy. I was kind of experimenting with it and all of a sudden i hit a few nice shots, but a lot of times i was really shanking the ball or sending it really long.

[Trinity TC]

Originally Posted by takeuchi

So you are saying I should bend down more instead of leaning so much, and really get my weight transferring forward (but not necessarily stepping forward though)?

Nope. I'm saying hit with a slightly straighter right leg on your forehand. That should give you a stronger and better timed weight transfer...much like you are doing on the two forehands at the 1:29 and 1:30 mark on your vid. It's a tiny adjustment so don't go overboard with the change as you are pretty solid.

[JCo872]

Originally Posted by takeuchi

So you are saying I should bend down more instead of leaning so much, and really get my weight transferring forward (but not necessarily stepping forward though)?

Does this relate to what Eli said above? Having to do with my high elbow takeback and trying to accentuate the whippiness. Would you recommend more of a loop and less height with the elbow so the stroke is a bit more linear from the backswing?

I can tell its harder to control the racquet face, so I'll try to make it less whippy. I was kind of experimenting with it and all of a sudden i hit a few nice shots, but a lot of times i was really shanking the ball or sending it really long.

Send me an email. I have some ideas for you.