Finally got videos of myself, fh, bh, net. Advice is welcome

[Alejandro Lanza]

Hello there,

So finally i got around to taping myself. I started fooling around with tennis around July last year, but it wasn't until Nov that i started to constantly go to a 1hr class once a week. To me the strokes look better than i thought they would, but i can definitely see a large amout of things i need to improve on.
Wish i had used higher res, but i guess these give a good enough idea:

FH: I think there's at least 2 key things where i need improvement and they're probably linked, but i won't mention them so as not to skew opinions. The framing of the video is abismal, so if you're patient enough please refer to the last link of this post for fh's where you can actually see me http://youtu.be/rYqoz1EBkEo

BH: by far this is the one that i think looks much better than i thought it would. I do find a bit odd what my left foot does, I mean i already knew it but seeing it on video made it far more obvious. I wish it would stay more planted especially because i feel it makes me slower in recovering back to ready position, but on the other hand i feel it's a consequence of shifting my weight forward, thoughts? http://youtu.be/8SbHTSMJ-S8

At the net: not sure what to think of these, they probably just need tons of work:

BH volleys: http://youtu.be/AfWDB6hOIw0
FH volleys and overheads: http://youtu.be/nT9cQaIidso

For those patient enough, here's a non edited 20 min video of groundstrokes, i'm pretty tired at this point but i feel like 5% maybe of my forehands here are fundamentally better than in the first video, on the other hand some of my bh's are horrendous but that's definitely due to being tired: http://youtu.be/apqWZRr4pKg EDIT: link is bad, will repost later

I won't post serves just yet, i think i need to digest the videos before i hear others' opinions

Cheers!

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

OK here's the long one with groundstrokes, 20 min if you have the stomach

http://youtu.be/FwSfQxRBF08

 

[Mrfeihung]

Hey A.L., I didn't get to watch all of your videos except for the first forehand one. It seems like you're making clean contact with the ball. It just looks like your weight is going backwards on your shot though. After u hit, your left foot moves backwards. I believe it's usually the right foot that steps forward instead (for righties). I know in the Oscar videos he says to go up and across, but it still shouldn't be so much backwards. At least from what I'd understand and gather. You possibly could be using a large amount of arm as well. That's just my noobie feedback though.

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

Thanks, i agree with what you're saying regarding my feet and weight shift, i think that's one of my main issues. The second one i think is what my left hand is not doing.
About arming it, i'm not so sure, but could be wrong, thanks again!

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

Any other advice? are the videos that poor?

 

[LeeD]

Just watched your forehand volleys.
Stand farther back. You are now slapping at high forehand volleys, all arm, no body tension, no shoulder turn. You should practice volleys closer to the service line, so you get lower volleys AND high volleys, like in real tennis. WAAY too much arm and too flat.
I think I glanced at your groundies. Very loopy, if you can flatten out the loop, you would be OK.

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

Understood on the volleys, thanks.
As for groundies, you mean the take back motion is too loopy?

 

[Avles]

I don't think sliding your left foot on the backhand is a problem. In fact Christophe Delavaut mentions it as a characteristic of pro backhands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Cb90HDjig&t=5m50s

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

Hmm thanks,that's interesting. Seeing those videos, i wonder if i need to use my left hand a bit more in order to feel like i keep balance and then be able to recover quicker. Especially at sec 50: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SbHTSMJ-S8&feature=player_detailpage#t=50s you can see me really losing balance. In that video you posted their left hand has a strong backward motion. I'll give that a shot and see if that makes me feel like i can recover to ready position quicker after ball impact.

 

[Mrfeihung]

I don't think sliding your left foot on the backhand is a problem. In fact Christophe Delavaut mentions it as a characteristic of pro backhands: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Cb90HDjig&t=5m50s

I'm not sure if this was in response to my comment. If its not then just ignore this. But sliding the left foot on a backhand is normal but I don't believe doing it on a forehand is. Just doesn't seem to aid in a forward momentum of the stroke. OP, were you feeling like your left arm just drops instead of swinging around to aid in the unit turn?

 

[Mrfeihung]

I'm not sure if this was in response to my comment. If its not then just ignore this. But sliding the left foot on a backhand is normal but I don't believe doing it on a forehand is. Just doesn't seem to aid in a forward momentum of the stroke. OP, were you feeling like your left arm just drops instead of swinging around to aid in the unit turn?

Nvm. I now see you're addressing OP's description of his BH.

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

OP, were you feeling like your left arm just drops instead of swinging around to aid in the unit turn?

Yeah, in the FH i noticed the left arm mainly just dangles there with not much purpose

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

I've watched these a few times and think i agree with Mrfeihung regarding arming the forehand. As you stated it seems almost always my body is going backwards just prior to contact. I feel if i can turn that around and go a bit more forewards then i may be able to:

- get the right knee to push off instead of both,
- involve the left arm, hips and torso more into the swing ,
- transfer weight forward into my left leg as i swing
- hit more in front

which except for the left arm are things my instructor has told me before, but it's not until now that i understand better what may be happening
Thoughts? advice on how to do this? it will probably be more difficult than it sounds.

 

[sunof tennis]

As far as your groundstrokes go, your forehand is not bad. More unit turn and pushing from the right leg.
Backhand looks strange. Looks like you are trying to copy Gasquet with the very high backswing. However, you don't drop your hands under the ball and it doesn't look like your are getting any top spin.
I would look up Tommy Haas hitting backhands on You Tube. His is a very clean, non-complicated stroke. Then compare what he does versus yours. Actually his forehand is very clean as well.
Interestingly, you form on your backhand volley isn't as bad as your forehand. With your forehand, it looks like half the time you start to take a swing and then catch yourself as you swing forward. Obviously, not correct and wouldn't even be a good swinging volley. Forehand volley is shoulder turn and punch through the ball. On backhand, it looked like your were caught flat footed much of the time. As a result, you took the ball too far behind you.

 

[Alejandro Lanza]

Interesting, thanks so much for your advice. I thought the same regarding my high back swing, i think the reason is that in my mind my take back was weak, so i probably exagerate it. I hadn't thought much about the top spin on my BH, i'll try and pay more attention next time. What i can say though is that as long as i'm not tired, my BH is far more reliable than my FH, but as soon as i start feeling worn out my BHs decline rapidly whereas FHs remain similarish. I'll look up both Gasquet and Haas, haven't seen them much. The OHBHs that i've paid attention to is Wawrinka's and Youzhny's, and evidently Federer's.
On the volleys, i feel a bit lost, but i think i understand what you mean so i'll give that a shot.
Many thanks!