Forehands inconsistency

[Cap]

Hi folks,

I am back after a while I posted my first thread about my footwork improvement dedication:

Decided working on my movement starting with split step, advices appreciated

Hi guys, I am new to TTW and quite new to tennis as well. I am looking for all your expertise how should I proceed further. Short background: I am 48 now, never played matches, only sporadically rallies (1-2 times a month during summer months). In 2019 I started to take tennis more seriously...

tt.tennis-warehouse.com

I was sick for almost 2 months with some bad flue or RS virus, so footwork got temporary out of my focus. But I will take it to #1 spot in my list soon again.

I was working on my both forehands instead and hope some improvement can be noticed, but there is something wrong (on both wings) that leads to an inconsistency.
Some shots are fine, "fast" and deep with good amount of spin if I want to. Shot goes how I intended.
But some are too high, long or to the net - it is always a surprise, unpredictable.
I cannot fully rely on the shot which drags me down during a match. I usually start quite OK, confident, but after coupe of such inconsistent hitches, I fall apart.

Left hand (non-dominant) has understandably less directional precision, this will improve by hitting and hitting more.
I also understand and immediately feel my mistiming that leads to directional miss. Both, too early or too late.

I suspect lack of footwork is BIG contributor to that, and I am aware of I sometimes:
- elbow goes too high during contact and follow though (typically when trying to apply more spin or kill it)
- pushing some shots for more "control" (bad habit I am work on to remove)
- body over-rotation
- too early weight transfer or lack of it as opposite
- by relaxing my wrist to create a lag feel and smooth swing, it possibly leads to wobly wrist position at contact (not locked properly)

Do you see anything else on following video?

- Warm-up
- 0:25 right hand forehand
- 3:40 left hand forehand
- 5:56 setup points play (rally starts with me aiming back to coach, when he says "now" we free play out)

Your feedback is much appreciated.

 

[washingmachine]

Your preparation is a little slow. You don’t react to the ball being hit to you until it’s just crossing the net.

Also I much prefer when you hit the ball with the closed stance. If you’re not forcing the ball, and you’re hitting it with a closed stance, those balls look like they’re struck authoritatively.

Also I like it when you have a follow-through. Sometimes the follow-through is cut short and the ball has less spin to land into the court.

 

[eah123]

I think you got most of the issues that contribute to your inconsistency.

Number one for me is your swing path is too vertical. A more horizontal swingpath should result in your wrist staying in a more stable position and better consistency.

 

[Cap]

Your preparation is a little slow. You don’t react to the ball being hit to you until it’s just crossing the net.
Also I much prefer when you hit the ball with the closed stance. If you’re not forcing the ball, and you’re hitting it with a closed stance, those balls look like they’re struck authoritatively.
Also I like it when you have a follow-through. Sometimes the follow-through is cut short and the ball has less spin to land into the court.

Agree with all, thanks for pointing it out.
Late reaction is my problem all the time, it is part of my footwork focus - I don't watch my opponent and his strike to time split-step. I tend to stand and admire my shots instead.
Forcing a swing too much (muscling it) destroys the flow and is contra-productive, bad habit.
Short follow through occurs when I push the swing for "control", which doesn't work, bad habit too. I am working on those last too.

I think you got most of the issues that contribute to your inconsistency.
Number one for me is your swing path is too vertical. A more horizontal swing path should result in your wrist staying in a more stable position and better consistency.

Interesting, I will experiment with this. Thanks!

 

[Dragy]

Nice stuff, how you decided to use 2 FHs?

I actually like your left-handed FH better. It's smoother and more fluid. On the right side:
- wrist too stiff
- you underperform with your rotation and meet the ball too far back (and consequently close to your body) - rotate more into the shot before impact, meet ball farther in front with laid back wrist

Just compare you similar shots on both sides (you can find same for higher balls), left is so classy:

The logic is, you speed up your prep (for the right side), you aim to meet the ball earlier. You uncoil smoother and you gain easy punch, which allows you to focus on clean contact and racquet head action for control and confidence. Now you get the ball too close and you "snatch" your racquet to still produce some spin you want and to catch up with stringbed orientation and not fade it to the side, it seems. Get it to a state where you fell like you have easy time making contact the way you want.

Look at Nole, he's facing fast ball, but before contact all is done: chest rotated, RHS built up, it's now all about releasing it through and extending, making clean contact in the most comfortable zone:

 

[Cap]

Nice stuff, how you decided to use 2 FHs?

I actually like your left-handed FH better. It's smoother and more fluid. On the right side:
- wrist too stiff
- you underperform with your rotation and meet the ball too far back (and consequently close to your body) - rotate more into the shot before impact, meet ball farther in front with laid back wrist

Just compare you similar shots on both sides (you can find same for higher balls), left is so classy:

The logic is, you speed up your prep (for the right side), you aim to meet the ball earlier. You uncoil smoother and you gain easy punch, which allows you to focus on clean contact and racquet head action for control and confidence. Now you get the ball too close and you "snatch" your racquet to still produce some spin you want and to catch up with stringbed orientation and not fade it to the side, it seems. Get it to a state where you fell like you have easy time making contact the way you want.

Look at Nole, he's facing fast ball, but before contact all is done: chest rotated, RHS built up, it's now all about releasing it through and extending, making clean contact in the most comfortable zone:

Awesome, thank you! Great analysis.
I will write it down into To-Do list.

You are correct, I am fighting with proper spacing on right side, it is bad habit. The rotation you are mentioning is interesting catch, didn't thought about that way!
There is more baked in there since my childhood when I started hitting balls without any knowledge or teaching, tennis, squash, table tennis. Very difficult to change anything there.
Left hand was fresh, not used at all 2 years ago. I started learning from scratch with good theoretical knowledge from Youtube videos. Of course it was battle to overcome not natural mental state of my brain.
I am still more confident using right hand and it probably always be, despite left stroke looks more clean now and may become more efficient.

Why I decided? Primarily I was very struggling with my 1H backhand, any higher ball was point lost.
I practiced 20 years Teakwondo, where we use every technique symmetrically by both hands / legs, so I thought I am able to learn left tennis too.
And it is good for body health, be in balance, muscles used same on both sides.

Much appreciated!

 

[Cap]

Reporting back with today's practice, when I tried to implement your advises.
No recording today.

Early preparation and focus on creating more distance (spacing) improved my RH forehand tremendously. Not much misses or unpredictable trajectory toady - I felt on time and on spot on most hits.
It takes a lot of repetitions to imprint it into my brain, but seems those two tips are key for me now.
THANK YOU!

LH FH was worse today, I was quite struggling with proper timing of getting into the position and initiate kinetic chain, which led to either late contact or over rotation.
It is a pain, but I love it

What are you saying yourself to get back to a rhytm and timing, when you struggling the particular day? Any kind of internal counting 1-2-3?

I would much appreciate any further inputs from experienced members, I see a lot of technically deep discussion in other threads - very interesting and motivating.

 

[Grafil Injection]

Your 'non-dominant' LH looks better than most people's dominant wing! With this kind of skill, perhaps you should try 2HBH or OHBH on both wings too.

 

[ppma]

I always wonder how does the change of grip look like for people using two one handed fh and bh or two handed fh and bh.

 

[Cap]

Your 'non-dominant' LH looks better than most people's dominant wing! With this kind of skill, perhaps you should try 2HBH or OHBH on both wings too.

Thank you, I doubt that At least what I observed from other posts and member videos.
I used 1HBH with RH , but it is very much weakness. I do hit time to time just for fun 1HBH on both sides, but not planning to really train it.
Maybe if/when I significantly improve my footwork as #1 priority and get bored. I will be too old by that time, I am afraid.

I always wonder how does the change of grip look like for people using two one handed fh and bh or two handed fh and bh.

That is the tricky part, it definitely takes some time off you. I am sure it has limits in effectiveness in higher levels.
I don't know what my level might be now (being based in Europe), maybe 3.5? So I would say it still may work up to 4.5, but 5.0 would struggle.
I am trying to keep both hands on the handle and fingers overlap on top each other in ready position (keeping main hand the one which hit last time).
If I need to switch I just do a little "slip" releasing main hand and squeeze the overlapping one and than correct SW FH grip position by turning the throat.
Rarely when rushed side to side and no time to bring hands back to ready position, I do switch by squeezing unused hand beside the main one (closer to the throat) like for 2HBH and than hit in such shortened length.

 

[FuzzyYellowBalls]

Results are great, I wonder if anyone else sees this, it appears as if your wrist is locked the entire time and you've worked out a way to hit the ball really well using the rest of your body to make this thing happen, as if your hand and wrist was a stiff prosthetic. This is most evident in the first minute, kind of harder to see later on.

Then again, it's working.

 

[Cap]

Results are great, I wonder if anyone else sees this, it appears as if your wrist is locked the entire time and you've worked out a way to hit the ball really well using the rest of your body to make this thing happen, as if your hand and wrist was a stiff prosthetic. This is most evident in the first minute, kind of harder to see later on.

Then again, it's working.

Which side you are referring to? RH? Dragy mentioned it too.
It has to be unconscious, my desire is to relax wrist and hand overall to produce smooth swing.
Interesting, my couch is saying opposite on RH, that my wrist is too lose at the contact, not locked that leads to inconsistency.

But I am aware I am muscling up some shots, desperate attempt to control the shot after previous hiccup. Thing I need to eliminate.
Maybe it is kind of related. Sometimes wrist is stiff to "control" the shot and a minute later when I focus on relaxing, maybe over-relaxing it?

 

[FuzzyYellowBalls]

Which side you are referring to? RH? Dragy mentioned it too.
It has to be unconscious, my desire is to relax wrist and hand overall to produce smooth swing.
Interesting, my couch is saying opposite on RH, that my wrist is too lose at the contact, not locked that leads to inconsistency.

But I am aware I am muscling up some shots, desperate attempt to control the shot after previous hiccup. Thing I need to eliminate.
Maybe it is kind of related. Sometimes wrist is stiff to "control" the shot and a minute later when I focus on relaxing, maybe over-relaxing it?

Left hand side, the right hand side looks like some change in the racket face. Please know I am not a coach, at all, but I am also working on my forehand. It just seems that sometimes and especially the first 30 seconds on that left hand side that the racket face is frozen in one position and you are rotating something besides the hand/wrist to complete a really good shot.

 

[Cap]

Left hand side, the right hand side looks like some change in the racket face. Please know I am not a coach, at all, but I am also working on my forehand. It just seems that sometimes and especially the first 30 seconds on that left hand side that the racket face is frozen in one position and you are rotating something besides the hand/wrist to complete a really good shot.

Interesting, thanks for pointing it out. I will check it frame by frame tomorrow. It's time for bed now

 

[user92626]

Your 'non-dominant' LH looks better than most people's dominant wing! With this kind of skill, perhaps you should try 2HBH or OHBH on both wings too.

I bet he had tried those n found them worse than what he has now. People don't go difficult route to be worse off.