Groundstrokes and Serves (video)

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Roger#1

Rookie
Here are a 3 video's of some hitting and serving I did with my brother today. We played basketball for 2 hours before so we were pretty lazy and it was very hot here in Houston today, but if you see anything I need to work on please let me know! I have been playing tennis for about 1 year now, so I can always use some good advice. Thanks.

PS. I will try to post my practice doubles match, that I will be playing in tomorrow, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Y3cE7CJrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqBaRfsJF9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuQ2XePRgs
 
Wheelz

Wheelz

Hall of Fame
I like your service motion, pretty smooth. Your forehand looks natural also, imagine in a few years how solid it will be if you continue to work on your game... Do you have any videos of game rallies ? The true strokes usually appear during games.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
Not yet. I will try to get some up when my matches start on September 9th. What exactly is wrong with the backhand?
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
Right? That was pretty pointless, and I have been told by alot of people that my back in pretty nice so if he thinks something is wrong with it he may need to let me know. Thanks split-step.
 
Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart

Professional
Hi Roger (ahem). :)

It's clear who you have tried to model your strokes after! :) As a Fed groupie, I approve.

Anyway I always enjoy seeing people show off their game so thanks for the vids. On first viewing my feeling is that both your forehand and backhand are wristy and inconsistent. Especially the backhand.

You have no stability on your backhand. You never really get set, you lack core stability, you don't stay down on the shot and your left hand provides no help with balance. As a consequence your backhand is a bit of a mess. Another thing is that although your weight is on your front foot as you prepare to hit, you actually move backwards on the shot. This saps your power. Look again at your videos and you will see this plain as day.

The good news is that there is nothing that can't be fixed!

Your forehand always lands short. You are muscling the shot. No core rotation, no weight transfer and once again you lack core stability. Pronating though the shot (a la Fed) may give you more topspin but what use is that if all your shots end up in the net? :) Still I would take your forehand ahead of your backhand.

I need a better angle on the serve before I can really comment. But looks pretty nice from the angle provided.

I'll let the footwork slide because you were tired. ;)

Sorry if the above sounds a bit mean Roger#1. I promise it isn't meant to be. On the contrary I want to encourage you to work on the parts of your game that are lacking - perhaps in tandem with a coach - so that you can become the best you can be.

I wish you good luck!
 
Z

Zell

Banned
split-step said:
Where is YOUR video? What exactly is the purpose of your post?
You fail!
Click to expand...

I was expressing my reaction after watching the video, you got a problem with that idiot?

Roger#1 said:
Right? That was pretty pointless, and I have been told by alot of people that my back in pretty nice so if he thinks something is wrong with it he may need to let me know. Thanks split-step.
Click to expand...

No it wasn't. LOL! Then those people have been nice to you and lied

Ian Stewart said:
Hi Roger (ahem). :)

It's clear who you have tried to model your strokes after! :) As a Fed groupie, I approve.

Anyway I always enjoy seeing people show off their game so thanks for the vids. On first viewing my feeling is that both your forehand and backhand are wristy and inconsistent. Especially the backhand.

You have no stability on your backhand. You never really get set, you lack core stability, you don't stay down on the shot and your left hand provides no help with balance. As a consequence your backhand is a bit of a mess. Another thing is that although your weight is on your front foot as you prepare to hit, you actually move backwards on the shot. This saps your power. Look again at your videos and you will see this plain as day.

The good news is that there is nothing that can't be fixed!

Your forehand always lands short. You are muscling the shot. No core rotation, no weight transfer and once again you lack core stability. Pronating though the shot (a la Fed) may give you more topspin but what use is that if all your shots end up in the net? :) Still I would take your forehand ahead of your backhand.

I need a better angle on the serve before I can really comment. But looks pretty nice from the angle provided.

I'll let the footwork slide because you were tired. ;)

Sorry if the above sounds a bit mean Roger#1. I promise it isn't meant to be. On the contrary I want to encourage you to work on the parts of your game that are lacking - perhaps in tandem with a coach - so that you can become the best you can be.

I wish you good luck!
Click to expand...

This guy said it all. What do you think now Roger #1?
 
D

drake

Semi-Pro
I'd say for playing 1 year, your pretty good. Your serve is very smooth, probably your best shot. Footwork is ok. Forehand needs more core rotation and less arm, also think about uncoiling your shot by bending your knees more, none the less, good stroke mechanics. Your backhand is your weakest shot. Your grip isn't right causing you to to lead with the elbow. This is VERY common with one-handers. I believe your talented enough to think about using an extreme eastern bh grip or the very least an eastern grip and keep that elbow locked through the stroke. As it is now, your grip is more for a slice.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
drake said:
I'd say for playing 1 year, your pretty good. Your serve is very smooth, probably your best shot. Footwork is ok. Forehand needs more core rotation and less arm, also think about uncoiling your shot by bending your knees more, none the less, good stroke mechanics. Your backhand is your weakest shot. Your grip isn't right causing you to to lead with the elbow. This is VERY common with one-handers. I believe your talented enough to think about using an extreme eastern bh grip or the very least an eastern grip and keep that elbow locked through the stroke. As it is now, your grip is more for a slice.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was being pretty lazy when I was hitting and I knew I wasn't bending my knees at all or uncoiling into my forehand, but I was having a lazy hitting session. I will try to post another video and put more effort and improve on that. My backhand is a little messed up right now, and I have noticed it lately. I knew I was doing something wrong but just didn't know what until now. I will try out an eastern grip and try to keep my elbow locked when I post my next video. I had it right a couple months ago and for some reason I switched my grip some and starting hitting the ball like that. No clue why I did that. Thanks for the good advice and I may go out now and work on that and post another vid.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
Oh, and thank you too Ian Stewart. Good stuff. I will post some serves with a different view and show where the ball is going.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
ramseszerg

ramseszerg

Professional
That's extremely good for playing only one year IMO. I'm guessing you played almost every day with coaching? How are your volleys and overheads? I would focus on repetition drills, especially for the backhand.
 
dr_punk

dr_punk

Professional
Roger#1 said:
Ok, I did a little hitting for about 20 mins. Here are some quick clips. I focused on using the eastern grip on my backhand, keeping my elbow locked, and staying down through the shot. On the forehand I was trying to not arm the ball and use more of me body. I have a couple serves on here too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL9KbbOtGIo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO57CqucqYk I am on the farside, as you probably can tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDmOBULTggI
Click to expand...

lol I like the way you move around that old lady, show her who's the king of the court
 
maverick66

maverick66

Hall of Fame
foot work is really sloppy. i had that problem as a junior to and i went to great lenghts to fix it. chase down everything even if its out go get it. adjustment steps are your friend use them. your planting once and then lunging for the ball thats where the shortness is coming from. your not getting behind it. kinda reminds me of a changeup in baseball were your getting out on your front foot. the balls where you planted the back foot and went through the ball were good but i could tell right away when you were sloppy by location of the ball.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
dr_punk said:
lol I like the way you move around that old lady, show her who's the king of the court
Click to expand...

haha. That's my mom. She has been playing 4.5 doubles for years, and there team actually went to Nationals last year. She doesn't move to well these days though.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
tennisfreak15347 said:
by the way, what racquet is that?
Click to expand...

It is the Dunlop AG100 in the first set of videos and the Babolat Pure Storm Limited in the second set of videos. I am trying to decide which one I like better between the two right now. And I have no clue what that sound is, and I think it happened after I uploaded the videos to youtube.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
maverick66 said:
foot work is really sloppy. i had that problem as a junior to and i went to great lenghts to fix it. chase down everything even if its out go get it. adjustment steps are your friend use them. your planting once and then lunging for the ball thats where the shortness is coming from. your not getting behind it. kinda reminds me of a changeup in baseball were your getting out on your front foot. the balls where you planted the back foot and went through the ball were good but i could tell right away when you were sloppy by location of the ball.
Click to expand...

I noticed that too. It rained all last week and now on the courts I play on there is blue dust from the court all over. So the bounces are like you are playing on clay, and the court is playing faster. So I would set up and then the ball would slide on the court and not bounce so I lunged to hit it.
 
P

pr0n8r

Rookie
You're doing fantastic for one year of playing. In my area in Florida, you would compete well in 3.5 singles. At 4.0, I think you would be a bit outmatched by most of the singles players, although you could play doubles depending on your volleys. At your rate, you'll probably be at the high 4.0 singles level in another year (takes longer at higher levels).

On the backhand, your posture sometimes leans over too much. You should try to be balanced with your head upright. Also, on your finish, your left arm should push back towards the fence to offset the forward momentum of your swing, and help you maintain balance.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
pr0n8r said:
You're doing fantastic for one year of playing. In my area in Florida, you would compete well in 3.5 singles. At 4.0, I think you would be a bit outmatched by most of the singles players, although you could play doubles depending on your volleys. At your rate, you'll probably be at the high 4.0 singles level in another year (takes longer at higher levels).

On the backhand, your posture sometimes leans over too much. You should try to be balanced with your head upright. Also, on your finish, your left arm should push back towards the fence to offset the forward momentum of your swing, and help you maintain balance.
Click to expand...

Well, I played 4.5 singles and doubles with a team about 5 months ago, even though I knew I was going to lose, and lost about 4 doubles matches in third set super tiebreaks, and in the singles I usually lost pretty good but never got bageled. Now I have been playing in alot of practice matches and played in a couple tournaments and will be playing for a really good doubles team here in Houston in the upcoming season. I will also be playing with the same singles team as I did last time. We start on 9/11 with the doubles and I will post up a video of match, if I play since I am new to this team. I am actually from Crystal River, Florida, which is outside of Tampa Bay.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
pr0n8r said:
On the backhand, your posture sometimes leans over too much. You should try to be balanced with your head upright. Also, on your finish, your left arm should push back towards the fence to offset the forward momentum of your swing, and help you maintain balance.
Click to expand...

I will work on this as well. I have trouble with pushing that left arm out for some reason, but the arm needs to go out like it would on a backhand volley? If I keep my head upright and work on that left arm, should that make the shot more stable? Just want to get this all down so when I go out and practice I can focus on exactly what I need to do.
 
N

Nellie

Hall of Fame
You are slow in your preparation and unit turn. In particular, I notice that you do not turn/ weight shift until the ball bounces on your side. I would try to get that turn before that ball crosses the net. On several shots, particularly on the backhand side, the ball is almost past you before you can start swinging, causing you to rush/shorten/hit late.

Likely, you get used a pace, and can do well at that pace. However, you will be in big trouble against a bigger hitter.
 
N

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
You are not a 4.0 or 4.5



A true 4.5 would absolutely crush you. Your technique and footwork all tell me you aren't anywhere close to a 4.5 level.



Yes, your strokes do look "nice". That's fine when you're hitting. Let's see you do it under pressure at a true USTA 4.0 / 4.5 tournament. BungaloBill or anyone else who is a real tennis coach would have a field day with your video.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
NamRanger said:
You are not a 4.0 or 4.5

A true 4.5 would absolutely crush you. Your technique and footwork all tell me you aren't anywhere close to a 4.5 level. Yes, your strokes do look "nice". That's fine when you're hitting. Let's see you do it under pressure at a true USTA 4.0 / 4.5 tournament. BungaloBill or anyone else who is a real tennis coach would have a field day with your video.
Click to expand...

Ok. You seem to have some big problem with me being a 4.5 player. Like I said, I will post some of my matches when the league starts up and provide the results. Some of you people on here are ****ing ****** bags, especially you NamRanger. I posted a video of some hitting to get "advice", and don't really care what NTRP you think I am. Oh, and I will be playing in the Fall Festival tournament here in Houston, so you can see how I play under "pressure".
 
Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart

Professional
Hi Roger#1

Just had a look at your updated serve video. Smooth. :) But, (there's always a but isn't there) if I were playing you I could tell a mile off where you are going to serve from your toss. So you might want to work on trying to disguise your toss. You could improve your trophy position and there are one or two other technical niggles, but overall a very smooth serve. I enjoyed watching it. :)

Again if I were playing you in a match, I would attack your forehand and let your backhand go cold. Then switch wings. I would attack the strength to get to the weakness (and from what I've seen your backhand is a definite weakness - it will absolutely break down under pressure).

Anyway that is what I see. And some pointers as to what you must improve on to progress.

Good Luck!
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
Thanks Ian Stewart. I usually try to toss the ball in the exact same place on my first serves no matter if I go up the T or out wide, so thanks for pointing that out because I never thought my toss gave off where I was going to serve. I am also going to get back with my coach, or the guy I did a lesson with once, and make my backhand more solid. The only reason I stopped that was because it was so damn hot here. I will try to post some real set play this week as well, if I can.
 
Ian Stewart

Ian Stewart

Professional
Roger#1 said:
Thanks Ian Stewart. I usually try to toss the ball in the exact same place on my first serves no matter if I go up the T or out wide, so thanks for pointing that out because I never thought my toss gave off where I was going to serve. I am also going to get back with my coach, or the guy I did a lesson with once, and make my backhand more solid. The only reason I stopped that was because it was so damn hot here. I will try to post some real set play this week as well, if I can.
Click to expand...

Yeah it does get toasty down your way.

Your toss veers a little to the right when serving down the "T" It's more the shape of the toss than anything as I can't actually pick out where the toss ends up because of the light background. I am used to staring at my opponent's toss. :)

Here's a thought. Humans have some difficulty with depth perception. How could you exploit this fact in your serving? In your toss?
 
H

hamzeh

New User
You are very solid considering that you have been playing for a single year. But I doubt that you are a 4.5 player. You will be getting there soon but are by no means a 4.5. If you do play 4.5 tournaments, then those tournament levels are seriously inflated. Come to SoCal where they got the NTRPs right.
 
S

split-step

Professional
If someone posts a vid, tell them what you see so they can improve.

Simply telling them their backhand is a mess or that they aren't a 4.5 is not helping. Especially when we haven't seen your own video.
 
ramseszerg

ramseszerg

Professional
1
I agree. What happened to the thing we said about how you don't know how good a player is unless you play against them? Those videos of ugly strokes of 5.0 players?
 
S

smoothtennis

Hall of Fame
Second vid is an improvement - but one thing to start thinking about is being perfectly loaded down, set, and balanced before coming forward with your stroke. Best I can tell, you are losing some forward energy into the ball at contact because your body is not truly focusing forward into the ball. Keep your weight solid and forward at contact.

I think your strokes look good - but need the usual refinements we all have to go through with time and practice to keep improving.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
smoothtennis said:
Second vid is an improvement - but one thing to start thinking about is being perfectly loaded down, set, and balanced before coming forward with your stroke. Best I can tell, you are losing some forward energy into the ball at contact because your body is not truly focusing forward into the ball. Keep your weight solid and forward at contact.

I think your strokes look good - but need the usual refinements we all have to go through with time and practice to keep improving.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it seems that when I just hit around I am really lazy and don't like to load on my shots or move my feet alot. It's a bad habit that I will fix soon. I played basketball my whole life and am very quick, so I think when I am hitting around that I don't need to move my feet that much because I am quick enough to get there in time. No clue why!?!?! I will work on what you said and get the left arm out on my backhand for balance, and keep my head and torso more upright, and focus on keeping my weight forward through contact.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
hamzeh said:
You are very solid considering that you have been playing for a single year. But I doubt that you are a 4.5 player. You will be getting there soon but are by no means a 4.5. If you do play 4.5 tournaments, then those tournament levels are seriously inflated. Come to SoCal where they got the NTRPs right.
Click to expand...

Again, I never self rated or anything like that. When I was picked up by my first team 5 months ago they wanted me to play on their 4.5 singles and doubles team. Now I will be playing with anothing team, and they are mostly older guys in their 40's and have been playing 4.5 tennis for awhile. They have one of the best teams in Houston, so I think they know what they are talking about when they have seen me play doubles and singles and say that I am a 4.5 player. I think Houston has the NTRP right.:smile:
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
LOL, yeah it was. Hey, that "old lady" is my mom man. Betta watch yo self...haha...well she wanted me to move her around a little bit so I did.
 
Bungalo Bill

Bungalo Bill

G.O.A.T.
Roger#1 said:
Here are a 3 video's of some hitting and serving I did with my brother today. We played basketball for 2 hours before so we were pretty lazy and it was very hot here in Houston today, but if you see anything I need to work on please let me know! I have been playing tennis for about 1 year now, so I can always use some good advice. Thanks.

PS. I will try to post my practice doubles match, that I will be playing in tomorrow, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1Y3cE7CJrc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqBaRfsJF9k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywuQ2XePRgs
Click to expand...

So we are going to comment on lazy strokes and tell you what you need to work on? Normally, if you want to see what you should work on, you would provide how you actually play so that our comments and suggestions can be useful and real.

I havent looked at the videos but since you said the word "lazy", how about movement?
 
4

40lovebaby

Rookie
Bungalo Bill said:
So we are going to comment on lazy strokes and tell you what you need to work on? Normally, if you want to see what you should work on, you would provide how you actually play so that our comments and suggestions can be useful and real.

I havent looked at the videos but since you said the word "lazy", how about movement?
Click to expand...


I have to agree with BB on this.

I think it's great that we can post videos of strokes and ask for help, but I do find that it's tough to help given the circumstance.

I thought your strokes looked fine, and I would believe just looking at the mechanics of them that you could play 4.5 tennis. I play 4.5 tennis and your strokes look as good as mine from a technical standpoint.

I did notice that you left most of them short in the court however, which would get you killed playing a guy like me. Now, this might be because you were just rallying, but the difference is that if you were to rally with me, all of my shots would be landing pretty close to the baseline, so you would either have to take all of them on the short hop, or back up a step or two.

To me, that's the real struggle with these videos - we're all focused on how the swing looks, and not where the ball lands.

So to me your swing is fine, but the question is how your prep and footwork and swing look when you aren't receiving balls in the wheelhouse. That's when breakdown usually happens.
 
N

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
Roger#1 said:
Ok. You seem to have some big problem with me being a 4.5 player. Like I said, I will post some of my matches when the league starts up and provide the results. Some of you people on here are ****ing ****** bags, especially you NamRanger. I posted a video of some hitting to get "advice", and don't really care what NTRP you think I am. Oh, and I will be playing in the Fall Festival tournament here in Houston, so you can see how I play under "pressure".
Click to expand...



Houston is very well known to over inflate their USTA ratings. A 4.5 in Houston would probably get crushed in 4.0 level in California. That's just my experience.


And no, you aren't a 4.5. Anyone who crushes a crosscourt forehand is going to kill you.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgBhHTOI-mw&feature=related


This is a 4.5 match. Highly doubt you can keep up with them.



Even if you can, it's nice when everyone hits a good clean ball to you. Helps alot. There's a reason why it's much easier to play your typical junior then the weekend hacker who can run everything down.
 
Last edited:
R

Roger#1

Rookie
I understand that about posting "lazy" hitting sessions, and that is why I will get a video up of one of my matches when they start up. I usually hit the ball harder and deeper than in the videos when I play but my brother doesn't play too much so I tried to keep the shots consistent for him to hit, and my mom doesn't handle the pace really well so I usually don't hit the balls too deep to her because she will just blast them everywhere. Bungalo Bill you can take a peak at the second set of videos which are a little better, and it wasn't really lazy strokes but more of lazy footwork. If you don't want to look at them that is fine, you can take a look at the match videos instead, when I post them.
 
N

NamRanger

G.O.A.T.
And yes, I do have a problem with people with huge egos that think they are 4.5 players within the span of a year. This is about as bad as that Gee Wilikers kid. Try playing a regular weekend 3.5 hacking pusher, and see how well you do.
 
R

Roger#1

Rookie
LOL. Calm down man. I don't have an ego at all and never have. I never said "I think" I am a 4.5 player, it is just what it is. Have you been to Houston and played? You need some anger management or something dude, and I still don't care what you say about my rating. You haven't even seen me play in a match. Have a nice day.
 
W

willgonase10

Banned
Looking at your video, I think your footwork could be a bit better but this is probably just a hitting session. You will have better footwork under pressure in an actual match.

The forehand is okay. The backhand seems like your falling off your shots but it might be the camera angle.

On the serve, have you considered bringing your feet together and then accelerating into the serve? Also, you might want to work on the trophy position.

From what I have seen I think your in the range of 3.5-4.0; I have to see your overheads, volleys, and more game play to further accurately rate you.
 
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