disadvantage of hitting with a wall?

T

thursdayisgod

Rookie
My tennis community is absolutely awful, I have maybe 3-4 players between 3.0-3.5 to hit with, i consider myself approximatley 4.0. I play college tennis where my competition is vastly superior to 3.5, so my local peers really don't imitate my level of competition well.

I hit against a wall a lot and just hit serves with a ball hopper a lot to try to improve. I've noticed that my strokes against a wall are much more abbreviate then when I have a hitting partner. To those that hit against a wall, do you experience this? What can I do to alleviate the damage done by reinforcing a more abbreviated stroke?
 
Take a step or two back from the wall to give yourself some more time.

Focus less on hitting the ball hard and more on controlling the ball.

Quicken your footwork so you can take a full stroke.
 
Hitting against the wall, the ball comes back much faster than you have time to prep which is why we all have abbreviated strokes unless you're willing to take the ball on the 2nd bounce but then there would be no pace.
 
walls made me nuts for a ton of reasons...

so I bought a ball machine.

MUCH happier now. Hope you find some better players. try craig's list or some community exchange board. there has to be a local shop or coach that can hook you up with better players?

ox

how about this place
LINK
 
If you want to take a full cut you're going to have to backup and then let it bounce twice. Unfortunately, this mostly gives you practice hitting slow balls that are low sitting. Purposefully, hit one flat and high off the wall every once in a while to get practice hitting a dip drive or shoulder high drive.

The wall is good for practicing volleys and half-volleys, which should have abbreviated motions anyway. I like to practice quick volleys from forehand to backhand and then in different patterns such as two forehands in a row and then two backhands in a row.
 
I think the wall has more negative impact on footwork than anything else -- definitely leads to lazy feet unless you really make a conscious effort.... If you focus on taking full(er) swings, the wall can give you great practice -- try taking the ball on the rise, too....
 
I found that the backboard at the courts was too low for top spin shots as they would go over the board a lot -- so I find the backside of shopping center buildings and practice on higher walls and stand back far enough I can hit as hard as I want, and I run a lot! .... Because players like Roger and such used to spend hours and hours hitting against a wall, I try to get wall practice in.
 
Hitting against the wall does lend itself to bad habits. I agree with the poster that if you hit with less pace and work on technique and follow-thru, you are much better off. Flayling away at the ball serves very little purpose because it doesn't replicate the real thing. Most of your shots are going to be coming back too hard and you need to work on clearing the net by 3 to 4 feet. Problem is when you do that the ball bouces way way back.

I do hit against the wall about once a month and have found a backboard that is slightly angled back, the balls come off with way less pace and have a nice slow bounce which better replicates an actual shot. I still only hit about 100 FHs and 100 BHs, I don't think it's good practice to hit the groundstrokes against the wall for more than 10 minutes. Besides even 10 minutes of hitting ground strokes is enough boredom.

A variation you might wanna try is the following:

1. 100 FHs and 100BHS
2. Work on your first volley. Do this by hitting like an overhead but lightly so the ball bounces just in front of the backboard and comes back about waist to chest level and hit the first volley. You can work on placement and body positioning, place the ball crosscourt and DTL on forehand or backhand side. Don't try and hit the volley again as the ball is too fast, just hit another light overhead and repeat.
3. Work on your overhead. Hit the ball but much harder so it comes back as an overhead and hit it to the same location and it comes back again like an overhead. Work on crossover step and just setting up for an ovehead. Very good workout.
4. Now once you get the hang of it. Do 10 volleys, then quickly do 10 overheads. Repeat 3 to 4 times.
I have found this to be as good as having a partner hit balls at you for volley and overhead practice.

5. Hit a hopper of serves, but every 2 serves, bounce the ball and nail a forehand or back hand over the net-not the backboard. Work on form and technique.

But, there is no replacement to actually hitting with someone. Good luck and be persistent, you'll soon find a group that will actually want to play tennis.
 
Sometimes I'll even hit with my sister or girlfriend. They don't really know how to play tennis, but at least they get the ball back over the net so I can take a swing.
 
Groundstrokes with wall

I start by hitting the ball with gentle pace and then pound it with proper form/technique. The incoming ball is too fast/deep - so I end up starting over. This is very close to what ball machine feeds.

Alternatively I would defensively slice the faster ball and continue with the rally.
 
OP i know what you mean, but like others have mentioned, forget about the bounce and focus on form and target
i wonder if anyone taped targets on the wall to aim for, you know one center, one left , one right, i think i do this already, aiming at any mark or spot already there
anyways, the wall is also good to start a hitting warmup, i'll hit it before i even start with the ball machine sometimes, i definately use it when i am gonna practise serves, i dont practise serves on it, but i get my body moving before i start swinging hard serves into the open court, my alternative to static exercises
 
try using a foam speedball when hitting against the wall
its the only way you can really take a full swing/follow through
 
I think you're too advanced to improve much from hitting against a wall. Since you're serious enough about tennis to play for a college, get yourself a ball machine. The cost isn't that unreasonable anymore.
 
a little late but i'll chime in, as i use a wall quite a bit and have done so for years. there are several legendary tennis players who used this to groove their strokes. BUT...it's not the same as a ball machine/partner. if you're doing groundstrokes, the shot you hot with a wall is not exactly the same as on court. it can't be. it comes back too fast, different speed, height. the wall does help: conditioning, movement, addressing the ball, getting low, CONTROL, fluidity. when you get onto the court, you will have some adjustments to make regarding depth, pace, and timing, but the wall does help tremendously. do this:
forehand down the line, forehand crosscourt, backhand down the line, backhand cross court (back to the forehand and start again).
do that for an hour. stay low. one bounce (control how high you hit the ball on the wall to control where it comes back)
then do this:
serve, approach and volley crosscourt. repeat.
to do that, you'll need to serve very high on the wall, higher than a real serve. easy to adjust once you get on the court. this is a great exercise.
then go on the court and hit 100+ serves on the real court.
these three together - that's a hell of a workout and i doubt anyone would suggest that it wont help anyone's game.
 
I spent more time hitting against a wall than I did playing matches up until I bought a ball machine 3 months ago. I have surpassed most of the players whom I used to play with (who mostly just play matches) because of this. It all boils down to getting the repetitions and trying to do things as correctly as you can. There are things the wall helps with and things that the wall does not help with. Thats why I bought a ball machine, to help with things that the wall can't do for me.
 
some disadvantages are the wall doesnt drop shot against you nor slice, you cant practice returning serves or smashes and playing against a wall isnt the same as playing with someone. Like the others said get one of those ball machines or look for some good players, theres bound to be some
 
another good thing a wall is great for: changing grips. if you are/or want to experiment with a grip change, a wall is unbeatable for this. no live person is going to stand there while you net balls for a half hour because you've decided you want to use a western grip. a few hours on the wall, though, and you'll be ready for a live person.
 
there are advantages and disadvantages of a wall. I've hit the wall about 4 times in the past 2 weeks and a lot of my game has improved. For one, it definitely makes your hits harder. The problem with that is that many situations in a tennis match have a lot more to do with hitting the ball well and not hard. I played a match the other night and I kept hitting shots into the net. However the shots had a lot more pace than usual.

Walls will definitely help with shots that are perfect opportunity to nail a winner but they are VERY counterproductive with consistency. They also help with serve returns because they make the ball seem slower in your head.

what I would recommend is if you go to a wall for groundstrokes, work on two main things and keep them entirely seperate. For one work on nailing the ball and then setting up to hit another one. (the idea of this is to get a good workout and strengthen your tennis muscles, not help your match play)

The other thing to work on is hitting with consistency. Hit the balls with net clearance and work on taking them on the rise etc.
 
IMO, hitting with walls gives a negative effect on your footwork and your takeback. When I first started out, I would occasionally hit with a backboard, and that messed up my shots when playing against actual people.

*edit* now I only use the backboard to practice serves, as they return the ball back to you.
 
let's say your instructor tells you "you need to rotate your trunk more, you're hitting the ball late, and you need to get lower." you can practice these sorts of things with a wall just as good as with a live person. it's sort of like shadow boxing: you're practicing technique. the ball trajectory and pace will need to be adjusted when you get onto a real court. but you CAN groove your shots and make improvements. and the wall is always available when you are.
 
Meh. I don't like walls. Ball comes back too fast - and you can't help but predict where it's going so it's not good for for your footwork. Your topspin bounces extra low so you either start flattening your strokes or hitting slice.
You don't get feedback if your stroke is in or out.

It's INCREDIBLY boring..

I guess if your a kid and you have nothing better to do it's okay for practicing volley's. I don't see how you can practice serves as you don't know whether they are going in or not.

A ball machine and court is like 10x better. Working with a good pro is the best.. Honestly I would rather just pratice my serve and shots over a net by myself then hit against a wall...

But the main argument against it is that I play tennis for fun and walls are boring.

Pete
 
A ball machine is obviously better but if you don't have one of those the wall can still be useful. Like people have said you can't actually rally against the wall unless you are hitting flat shots aka an awful player, because the ball comes off it too low. But hitting yourself a setup shot so it comes back wherever you want it to and then practicing a legit groundstroke from there is a good drill. From far away following the sequence of setup shot, real shot, setup shot, real shot, is the way to do it.
 
And seriously who cares about the wall always winning. It's a quasi funny line I guess but if a person honestly feels that they are competing with a slab of concrete then they have psychological issues that need to be addressed.
 
The are some designed "walls" where the ball will bounce in various directions, especially up. I have always like hitting against a high plain wall for conditioning and eye/hand coordination.
 
used to hit against wall a lot, But it doesn't in anyway resemble a real player's stroke and return (as well as pace and spin), timing is a lil off playing real person after playing against the wall !!!!
 
You will never win against the wall... Kidding, might want to try some pressureless balls? For me, when I'm hitting the wall, I use the balls in my bag that are flat as hell so it'd be less bouncy.
 
i hate it when i hit the ball over the wall, or hit it bad and have to stop and go pick up
generally i'll have 2 on hand to continue play if above happens
 
I played a lot against a wall as a kid (sometimes a few hours a day). I would say that it helped a lot when I was growing up, but I only practiced groundstrokes on it, both slice and topspin.

The only downside for me has been that my strokes are flatter than I would like (to drive the ball more horizontal to the wall so it comes back to me on one bounce).
 
origmarm said:
I played a lot against a wall as a kid (sometimes a few hours a day). I would say that it helped a lot when I was growing up, but I only practiced groundstrokes on it, both slice and topspin.

The only downside for me has been that my strokes are flatter than I would like (to drive the ball more horizontal to the wall so it comes back to me on one bounce).
Click to expand...

I agree with this fully. I hit against the wall during the first 4 years when I started playing tennis. As a result, my groundstrokes are in general more flat than most others. In fact, I did not know how to hit topspin until 2-3 years ago.
 
Yes there is the abbreviated stroke and you tend not to follow through with your strokes unless you do it slowly.
 
albino smurf said:
I think hitting on the wall makes people follow through less than they should.
Click to expand...

i kind of agree with you on this, but latter on in my years i started to see the benefits of proper form and follow through witch is more about self discipline and not what you hit against
i use the wall alot now, when i first get to the courts i hit the wall first before i start serve practise, all a while consentrating on proper form and follow through, this gets my muscles moving
as a young kid, i hated the wall, grownups used the courts, kids hit the wall, but now i learned to incorporated it to my on court workout
 
Stchamps said:
My problems with hitting a wall is I put a lot of topspin on my shots, so they bounce way too low when coming back.
Click to expand...

if you hit it with enough pace the shot should still come back to you and pretty high too. I stand at the service line when hitting against the wall. it's a bit difficult to practice topspin shots but it can be done. mostly work on my flat shots but I can take full swings at it. I practice hitting certain spots on the wall alternating between forhenad and backhand.

I'll start off the left side and aim for the down the line backhand and forehand down the line and then the same for the right side. The important thing though is you have to have good distance away from the backboard. I used to hate the wall but once I took those steps back it helps a lot more now. Wall is good for volleys too.
 
Last edited:
Rickson said:
The wall is good.
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i dont think so, when ever i (4.5) seem to use the wall and go back to rallying my timings way off. once you pass 3.5 i think the wall doesn't help anymore because you can't use a full swing and follow through, although i have seen some people take full slow swings and practice footwork, that might work, but regular hitting, no
 
i dont think so, when ever i (4.5) seem to use the wall and go back to rallying my timings way off. once you pass 3.5 i think the wall doesn't help anymore because you can't use a full swing and follow through, although i have seen some people take full slow swings and practice footwork, that might work, but regular hitting, no
Click to expand...

I agree for the most part. I think it can help your volleys some - but that's about it.
 
Okay, after seeing this thread pop up a few days ago I've been working out seriously with the wall for the first time in a couple of years since getting my ball machine. Quick conclusion, wow, does it ever mess up my ground stroke timing. Talk about hitting a lot of flat balls long. Be warned. Something to be careful about when using the wall. Mileage will vary; your experience may not be mine. Just saying be on the look-out for a possible problem.

However, as was just brought up, the wall was fantastic for some high-quality work on volleys and half-volleys.

Standing very close to the wall, hitting pretty softly, I got a great knee-bending instead of torso leaning, steady arm-structure, moving/stepping/leaning into the ball, switching from forehand to backhand, racquet in front of you, short swing, down-and-in with the shoulder, drop volley/half-volley, racquet angle, forearm strengthening workout.

I was also surprised to see just how functional those big foam balls were, as someone brought up earlier in the thread. I bought a couple and you can really work up a sweat taking full swings and banging those against the wall. Worth looking into if you're into using a wall. Quiet too, if you're worried about disturbing people around you with the wham-bam-whop of a regular ball against a backboard. Easy to keep the ball in front of you and in play as well. I wouldn't recommend using only them, but they were nice for adding variety and fighting off the boredom that some of us feel when hitting against a backboard.

Good thread.
 
What kind of wall????
There appears to be inconsistancies in our stories. Some are hitting against a backboard wall up against a fence and others are hittiing against large brick walls.

I've hit against a wall for years; both types. The backboards are crap. They are just too short. Now, if you find a big wall like at a school playground or somebody else mentioned behind a shopping center you'll find perfection. These large, high brick walls are fine for hitting all types of shots. You can back up and take balls on multiple bounces and take a full swing or you can move closer for the half-volley. It is up to you. You can practice that topspin lob if the wall his high enough too. I love walls but hate backboards.

Please distinguish the difference!

It's like clay vs. grass errrrrrr wait a minute, those are now the same.......
It's like clay vs. wood!!!!
 
Hitting on the wall is awesome. I am a 4.5 player and it is wall practise that got me here.

You have to practise on the wall with the court in mind. I can tell when a ball I hit on the wall would have gone long if I was on a court. And I mean by inches long. It's all about how grooved my strokes are.
When I am practising on the wall, and I hit such a shot, I immediately stop and start again, like I would on a regular court. In short, I am practising perfectly, not just practising.
If you move back and are hitting the ball consistently in a spot, you can give yourself PLENTY of time to take a full swing if you want to. You can also rush yourself if you want to.

THE BETTER YOU ARE, THE MORE YOU CAN CONTROL THE BALL WHEN HITTING ON THE WALL. IT IS NOT THE OPPOSITE!
I have zero problem transitioning from the wall to the court.

Another example of practising on the wall with the court in mind. When I do overhead drills I don't do the drill where you hit your overheads to the ground so they can ricochet off the wall and back into the air.
It serves no purpose for me because it doesn't translate into the court. At the service line I am not trying to hit an overhead into MY service box.
Instead I feed the first ball into the ground so it ricochets off the wall into the air and THEN I practise my overhead making sure I hit it over the net line.
 
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