Critique my warmup plz. ( video)

[w00gy]

Hey all,

Youtube seems to be down for maintenance so i have to put my movie on my personal site. www.morman.nl/tennis It's a freaking 48 MB so be patient plz. It is not really a representation of my skill level because i look kinda stiff on the movement but you can see me warming up. it starts after 20 secs, i fall down ( not on camera) @ 1 min due to a slippery court and it ends @ 1.55 min. enjoy. I'll put another one up thursday! At the end there is a glimps of my PS in close-up.

All balls except for a my first backhand (hits the fence) land within 10 inches from the baseline. This is ok i guess. But i'm swinging like a m****rf****r and that's where it all goes wrong.

I'm about to begin group lessons in september via university ( europe). So that option is well coverd. But i have to say my teachers told me to move to a more skilled group after about 20 lessons last season. The story is:

Basically there used to be 3 groups. Beginner/intermediate/advanced. I did 10 lessons in "beginner" with the PD and a noob coach. Switched racquets and after a mere 3 lessons in the "intermediate" group they told me it was better to switch to the advanced group because i entered the group being most skilled. I had only been playing 3 months and was practicing with the advanced players... that's where the story ended one year ago.

I videotaped my warmup and was shoked. My mechanics are horrible.
Need help! I came to one conclusion.
Maybe i should switch to racquets which allows me to swing a bit easier????
Help me??

 

[JCo872]

Hey all,

Youtube seems to be down for maintenance so i have to put my movie on my personal site. www.morman.nl/tennis It's a freaking 48 MB so be patient plz. It is not really a representation of my skill level because i look kinda stiff on the movement but you can see me warming up. it starts after 20 secs, i fall down ( not on camera) @ 1 min due to a slippery court and it ends @ 1.55 min. enjoy. I'll put another one up thursday! At the end there is a glimps of my PS in close-up.

All balls except for a my first backhand (hits the fence) land within 10 inches from the baseline. This is ok i guess. But i'm swinging like a m****rf****r and that's where it all goes wrong.

I'm about to begin group lessons in september via university ( europe). So that option is well coverd. But i have to say my teachers told me to move to a more skilled group after about 20 lessons last season. The story is:

Basically there used to be 3 groups. Beginner/intermediate/advanced. I did 10 lessons in "beginner" with the PD and a noob coach. Switched racquets and after a mere 3 lessons in the "intermediate" group they told me it was better to switch to the advanced group because i entered the group being most skilled. I had only been playing 3 months and was practicing with the advanced players... that's where the story ended one year ago.

I videotaped my warmup and was shoked. My mechanics are horrible.
Need help! I came to one conclusion.
Maybe i should switch to racquets which allows me to swing a bit easier????
Help me??

Hey,

I took a look at your strokes. You actually have a very nice foundation, in my opinion. You just need to add structure to your strokes. You look stiff because your preparation (the unit turn) isn't allowing you to develop good rhythm and timing. I will post some pro comparisons if you'd like on my site http://www.hi-techtennis.com. Then you can see how you can get much smoother and more natural prepration for your shots.

As a preview, you need to get your hitting hand about 2 feet higher on your forehand as you complete your unit turn, and you need to coil your upper body more. You need to have a much slower and smoother takeback so you can time the ball better. With a higher takeback, you can let gravity do the work letting the racket and hitting arm fall and you can use this "free momentum" to really rip the ball with better timing.

Study Safin's preparation and takeback here and you will see what I mean:
http://www.hi-techtennis.com/forehand/videos/

Jeff

 

[looseswing]

Try staying lower to the ground when moving. It looks like you are galluping when you move instead of shuffling. Also, don't gallop foreward but instead run and approach with smaller steps, then set and hit.

 

[w00gy]

The court was a bit slippery! My ass hits the ground at 58 seconds. At 205 lbs shuffling on a slippery court would send me to the ground at least 5 more times But thanx for the advice

u2 jeff. thanx very much. Great site tbh.

 

[Londonfields]

NIce speed on that link tho... Getting nearly 400kb...

 

[Deleted member 6835]

sorry but i liked watching the guys in the background playing ping pong.. i love ping pong...

 

[Ten.Is]

OMG...i just waited like 15 minutes for the clip to play and it doesn't.

 

[noobplayer]

omg on youtube plz...48mb takes me 10mins to dl....

 

[FH2FH]

I agree with looseswing. Work on your movement. Shuffle your feet and stay low.

For a 2.5 your forehand looks pretty good. On the backhand it looks like you're leaving the racquet face too open. Do those balls go out often?

On one backhand shot behind the baseline(?) your right shoulder was way too high. Keep the shoulder down and swing through the ball. Don't "scoop" it or wait for it to come down unless you're trying to lob. You might as well learn to hit the ball with a flat or closed racquet face and take the ball on the rise now. You certainly should be coordinated enough since you play w/ a PS 85!

Good luck!

 

[w00gy]

Hi,

My forehand is my best shot. I can rally with anyone on the forehand side.

Backhand is more of a defense shot which lacks pace. Nice observation, the first backhand hits the fence but the rest of them were in the court near the basline. It's so inconsistent when under pressure.

Coordination is a huge problem. The raquet forces me to swing at a high pace though i'd like to swing a litte slower. If i do swing it slower the balls land in mid-court leaving my opponent with an easy put-away. So there's the problem. I'm holding myself back as long as i use this racquet i think!

Don't you?

 

[FH2FH]

I'm holding myself back as long as i use this racquet i think!

Don't you?

Probably, but the racquet is only part of the equation (I made some suggestions in the racquet thread). Get some lessons on just the backhand, so you can get consistent with it. If the ball is going really high on the defensive shots, close the racquet face. If it's staying low, but only going to the service line try slicing. I think dumping the PS 85 will allow you to get away with more control on weak shots, but if you were to take lessons I would only address the backhand for now.

 

[w00gy]

Probably, but the racquet is only part of the equation (I made some suggestions in the racquet thread). Get some lessons on just the backhand, so you can get consistent with it. If the ball is going really high on the defensive shots, close the racquet face. If it's staying low, but only going to the service line try slicing. I think dumping the PS 85 will allow you to get away with more control on weak shots, but if you were to take lessons I would only address the backhand for now.

Thanx!

On my upcoming set of lessons i will let my pro pay some extra attention