Back to courts. I need your thoughts

[sheq]

Hello to everyone. I have been in this forum for 6 or more years. Let me give some information about me first of all.

I am from Turkey and i was at top 30 in my country at junior levels. I have been playing tennis since i was 9 years old and now i am 27 years old. However i couldnt keep going and had to quit my career when i was 17 years old. Since then i kept on playing tennis at amateur level. Furthermore, i have had to give a huge break almost 4 years. It was till last week thanks to god.

I know there are some really good tennis experts in this forum, and i need your thoughts about my game. My aim is playing medium-high level tennis again. After that i will think about tournements or more. In order to take your opinions, i will upload short and informative videos on youtube time to time.

This my first video. After all the years outside of the court i decided to star playing alone for couple of times to feel the game again. This is a short clip of my second serve training. Yea i know i have just 3 balls, but everything will be better i hope Let me take your opinions guys.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUcLUMTBkC0&feature=youtu.be

 

[Chas Tennis]

I compare videos to those of high level servers and point out differences. You should also compare these points on your own.

Your camera has a reasonably fast shutter and the motion blur is not too bad. It looks like 30 fps which is not adequate to see the faster parts of the serve, particularly internal shoulder rotation. The camera is too far away and your image is much smaller than it could be. Take all videos in bright sunlight as you did. More light gets a fast shutter.

The camera viewing angle is not what I usually use for comparisons - behind viewing along the ball's trajectory and the side view viewing perpendicular to the ball's trajectory are very useful viewpoints.

All frames from the serve around 41 seconds.

In this frame, I would say that your racket dropped down and back too much before your legs had thrust up. You don't get external shoulder rotation when this happens.

Thread on Trophy Position and racket drop
http://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/showthread.php?t=475036&highlight=racket+drop+trophy


In this frame, I would guess that your racket is more facing the ball than edge-on to the ball. Bad camera angle for seeing this? Probably indicates a Waiter's Tray type serve with more of an Eastern Forehand grip than an internal shoulder rotation type serve with a Continental Grip. The basic motion is probably wrong.

In this frame, the wrist looks at a stressful angle but I can't be sure due to the camera angle. Frame rate too slow to see the acceleration, whether the arm is rotating, etc.

These serving issues have been discussed in other posters videos.

Waiter's Tray Serve
Racket "leaking" behind back, Jay Berger
racket and wrist at impact

Search TW: camera behind Chas Tennis

For discussions of these issues and some information on placing the camera.

You need high speed video, best 240 fps, to see the faster part of your serve.

See the Ellenbecker video on the shoulder, the high level serve motion at the shoulder, and the shoulder orientation to minimize the risk of impingement. Search TW for the video.

The reference book, Technique Development for Tennis Stroke Production, B. Elliott, Reid, Crespo is an excellent reference book on strokes.

 

[sheq]

I recorded this video with my iphone 5s Actually it looks better on my pc, but it seems youtube lower the resolution automatically. Thanks for your advices Chas. I reailezed my racket get down early too, i will try to get rid of it. I use basic continental grip for serve dont worry, but i feel like i dont have enough wrist movement to give the ball more spin and hit the targets more accurate. Thats the second point ill try to improve. Still, as i said these are my first serves after four years Actually, i still liked my legs movement, breaking legs and final body bounce. Surely, i dont want to load on my serve too much at this point because we all know that back muscles are so sensitive. Even at this 45 minutes light serve training i felt the pain towards to the end. Tomorrow, i will load a new video showing my groundstrokes. And i ll record it from the back side of the court, so that it will be closer and better hopefully.

 

[Chas Tennis]

You may be in luck. I believe that the iPhone 5s has 120 fps!
http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/935220-iphone-5s-120fps-camera/

You can download the full camera owner's manual if you don't have it.

One good approach to using video for the serve is to get as large an image as possible while still covering the necessary body parts, ball and racket. Also, the camera should be far enough away that you are comfortable while serving. If you don't get the full racket in the frame when it strikes the ball, repeat the video. Overall videos are needed for the whole body motion.

If you have 120 fps, use it. Place the camera behind looking along the trajectory and frame from the knees or waist to up above the racket tip.

I don't know the capabilities of the 5s, editing on the camera, whether it has a delayed trigger to allow you to get in front of the camera, etc. It might save a lot of time doing high speed editing if someone can video you. They sell low cost adapters to hold smartphones on tripods or tripods for smartphones.

If you want to video your serve the most important objective is to see your internal shoulder rotation just before impact. Judging by how often posters are comfortable using the term in replies, probably the majority of TW readers don't understand what ISR is. Search TW forum, Internet, etc.

For ground strokes, camera outside the fence or off to the side.