Ballinbob's New Backhand!! (vid)

[mental midget]

bob, do you take lessons? if i were you, i'd see if i could scare up 60 bucks or whatever for one hour with a pro, face to face, in the real world.

i promise you, i'm not being a jerk here, but just watching your stroke, it's obvious you're trying to assimilate a barrage of well-intentioned advice; what you need is somebody standing right next to you, who can start to give you some idea of what it FEELS like to hit it properly.

coming here for advice is great, but tennis isn't air conditioner repair, it's not easy to learn via correspondence course.

[m27]

anyway, if you want to learn a proper backhand, look no further than this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX7CcDIkMhE

[Ballinbob]

Originally Posted by BeHappy

You actually didn't reach an of the positions BallinBob, including the finish, I'm going to post the FAQ sticky post here:



Your takeback was chest high, with a (very!) bent arm

Your follow through was chest high.

So you have a lot of work to do!

Yeah I know, but that just makes me want to work even harder until I get this down.

Originally Posted by mental midget

bob, do you take lessons? if i were you, i'd see if i could scare up 60 bucks or whatever for one hour with a pro, face to face, in the real world.

i promise you, i'm not being a jerk here, but just watching your stroke, it's obvious you're trying to assimilate a barrage of well-intentioned advice; what you need is somebody standing right next to you, who can start to give you some idea of what it FEELS like to hit it properly.

coming here for advice is great, but tennis isn't air conditioner repair, it's not easy to learn via correspondence course.

I actually did take a lesson with a pro last week (around there). This was my first private lesson ever. He noticed I had alot of timing issues, so we went through my forehand,backhand, and serve and fixed the timing problems I had. He gave me a few pointers for my backhand that got me to where I am now, but really we worked on timing. I really liked him though, I'm hitting everything alot more cleanly now and its helped alot. I mean, I realize I have alot of work to do on my backhand, but I'm hitting it alot cleaner than before and it feels great.

edit- There's also this 4.5 player (hes a legit 4.5, he has results at that level), and he's been really nice to me and we hit like once a week and he helps me out. He's not a teaching pro, but he still helps me alot

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by m27

sure they do. they pass it. its a checkpoint. would you advocate someone hit a forehand by starting with the racquet 12 inches back from the contact point? I dont understand why he can't learn an actual backhand without being hobbled by training wheels. tennis is not that difficult. he's clearly got the desire to learn.

It's not a checkpoint, it's the checkpoint. It's where you begin to hit your backhand, everything before that is about getting the racket to that position. It is the point from which you swing forward and up, unlike your forehand analogy in which you mention an intermittent point in the forward swing.

There is an equivelent in the forehand swing of this position, if you go straight to it, it doesn't look pretty, but it works exactly as well. See jim courier,:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCeXFXwUAz0&fmt=18



Or Venus williams' two hander:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8tgrGMnr5g&fmt=18

Or agassi's for that matter.


Or Korda's one hander
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCeXFXwUAz0&fmt=18


Or Rod Laver (5 foot 8 inches tall with a wooden racket ffs!) Hitting the living crap out of the ball

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q13_STOUBc&fmt=18
2nd point

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by Ballinbob

Yeah I know, but that just makes me want to work even harder until I get this down. I'll have another vid up tomorrow afternoon-ish (unless something happens), and hopefully I can get the straight arm thing down. I'm going to work on one thing a day and go from there.



I actually did take a lesson with a pro last week (around there). This was my first private lesson ever. He noticed I had alot of timing issues, so we went through my forehand,backhand, and serve and fixed the timing problems I had. He gave me a few pointers for my backhand that got me to where I am now, but really we worked on timing. I really liked him though, I'm hitting everything alot more cleanly now and its helped alot. I mean, I realize I have alot of work to do on my backhand, but I'm hitting it alot cleaner than before and it feels great.

That's a great attitude. Just go in front of a mirror, get all those positions down and head to the courts, that's really all there is to it. If you head to the courts before getting the positions down you are dooming yourself to failure though!

[Ballinbob]

Behappy, printed the page off with the positions on it and going to practice now. It looks like such a simple stroke on paper, and then when you try it it's a whole different story..

[BeHappy]

Originally Posted by Ballinbob

Behappy, printed the page off with the positions on it and going to practice now. It looks like such a simple stroke on paper, and then when you try it it's a whole different story..

That's great. It's just two positions you have to get down, just practice the two positions in front of the mirror, don't just look at the pictures, read the sentences above them too. it's very important. Once you have the two positions down, slowly swing straight from the first position to the second, then get out on the court and try it. Good luck!

[oneguy21]

Take back looks pretty good, but there's something about the execution that seems awkard. If it works for you I guess it's not that big of a problem.

Are you hitting topspin? It kind of looks like your swing up but your scraping the bottom of the ball so you're imparting underspin.

[Ballinbob]

ugh, m27, I know your trying to help an all, but now Im confused. BB, where are you lol..? Behappy's advice sounds good to me, but m27's makes sense too but in a different way. I wish I knew more about this so I could judge who's right, but honestly I don't know. I think Behappy's approach isn't bad though, just get the basics down and get a consistent backhand going then add the flashy parts later.

Okay yeah Im confused lol....

edit- Behappy, please don't think I'm insulting you or anything. I just find it a little confusing that m27 has a completley different approach to learning the backhand. I don't really like m27, but he seems like he's trying to help. Maybe hes way off and hes wrong, but I dont know. I like the idea of getting the basics down though

[Ballinbob]

Originally Posted by oneguy21

Take back looks pretty good, but there's something about the execution that seems awkard. If it works for you I guess it's not that big of a problem.

Are you hitting topspin? It kind of looks like your swing up but your scraping the bottom of the ball so you're imparting underspin.

I'm hitting flat. I literally have no spin on that thing, I doubt it even has like 1rpm of topspin. I'll have another vid up tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be hitting with more topspin

[mikeler]

Look at Federer's follow through in BeHappy's post, that is what you need to do.

[m27]

Originally Posted by Ballinbob

ugh, m27, I know your trying to help an all, but now Im confused. BB, where are you lol..? Behappy's advice sounds good to me, but m27's makes sense too but in a different way. I wish I knew more about this so I could judge who's right, but honestly I don't know. I think Behappy's approach isn't bad though, just get the basics down and get a consistent backhand going then add the flashy parts later.

Okay yeah Im confused lol....

backswings are not flashy. they're integral to the motion. try hitting a forehand without a backswing and you'll realize how much you're missing.

if you want step by step instructions, here they are.
at the peak of the backswing (starting point of the swing)...
turn your torso counter clockwise as far as you can without straining yourself.
turn your head clockwise until your chin is on center top of your shoulder (not touching, but directly above). it is very important that both eyes can see the ball as you watch it approach (rather than your head being turned sideways so that only your right eye can see it).
your (right) upper arm should be pointing directly at the back fence (or as far backwards as you can comfortably go), with your elbow level with your chest. your arm is bent at the elbow, about 45 degrees above straight.
your left arm is behind you, with your upper arm roughly in line with your shoulders. your left hand is holding onto the throat of the racquet.
knees bent

[The_Steak]

Bob, you back hand looks extremely cramped. Remember to straighten that arm out. Looks like a lot of wrist action, keep that arm nice and firm.

Best thing I would recommend is that you do not listen to m27. Adding that extra loop looks "prettier" but if you are having timing issues like you say, keep it nice and easy and just a straight back backswing.

[oneguy21]

Originally Posted by mikeler

Look at Federer's follow through in BeHappy's post, that is what you need to do.

yes, go to youtube and watch a slow mo video of Federer's backhand. Focus on his follow through and try to imitate. Sorry, but I'm too lazy to post the link.

[Ballinbob]

Originally Posted by The_Steak

Bob, you back hand looks extremely cramped. Remember to straighten that arm out. Looks like a lot of wrist action, keep that arm nice and firm.

Best thing I would recommend is that you do not listen to m27. Adding that extra loop looks "prettier" but if you are having timing issues like you say, keep it nice and easy and just a straight back backswing.

ahh, ok thanks for that. Yes I have timing issues, they've gotten alot better but I still have trouble with timing. I'm going with Behappy's advice then, and I'll practice those positions.

[raiden031]

It looks like you are staying sideways the whole time and not opening up.

I would suggest you watch www.fuzzyyellowballs.com backhand videos and then practice the technique in your house before going out on the court and hitting balls.

[m27]

Originally Posted by Ballinbob

Your telling me it doesn't make sense for you to learn the basics of the 1hbh first then develop them over time? I don't think my backhand will ever be my best stroke, and I just want it to be a consistent shot (which it definitley is NOT right now). I think Behappy's advice will allow for a consistent backhand, I mean, it makes sense

What exactly is wrong with Behappy's advice? It seems to me you just don't like the reduced takeback part? I'll just start out with a reduced takeback then I'll go to a bigger one once I got the basics down.

I think you are going to develop a twitchy, pushy backhand.

[Ballinbob]

Originally Posted by m27

I think you are going to develop a twitchy, pushy backhand.

I guess I'm just going to have to take that risk then

[mental midget]

lessons! stop the madness, seriously. you seem like you're really into it. do yourself a favor and do it right.

[Jonny S&V]

Ok, I'm gonna clear this up once and for all...

To m27, I have actually been hitting the backhand that you describe for a long time but I changed it at my tournament this weekend to a "Kuerten-esque" backhand and my backhand's consistency, pace, and spin went up 10-fold. My coach has tried for the longest time to get me to simplify my game, especially my backhand (he leaves the forehand to me to get what gives me the best results) and now I realize he's right. You DON'T teach beginners/intermediates a shoulder high takeback, no matter how good they are...

To BeHappy, kudos for sticking to your guns, I'm not a fan of flip-floppers (*coughromneycough*).

To BallinBob, you need to work on your backhand technique but:

1. Don't try to implement everything at once.
2. Make sure that it is comfortable to you.
3. Rule #2 takes priority over rule #1

Ahh, I feel better now...