Help me with my strokes and NTRP

[Kevinclap]

Hi everybody!

I would like some opinions on my groundstrokes. I have never played an official game or been part of any league. So If you guys can give an estimate NTRP that would be great. I started playing on January of this year. I know this is not the best video but that's what I have for now. My best shot is supposed to be my forehand but my favorite shot is the 1HB. The first video is from 6 months ago. The second one, was a couple of weeks ago after work. So my hitting partner and I had heavy legs; my footwork is a little better than this. Enough with the excuses. Bring it on with the opinions. I will try to make a better video soon. Thanks in advance.

PS: You can skip to 1:32 to avoid seeing my semy wertern serve (awful). haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKppakVgaPY&feature=youtu.be

 

[Lukhas]

Well honestlyfootwork and more footwork. Because the upper body is not too bad, your BH looks cool on its own. You really don't move, you don't splitstep (very important), you look stiff on your legs, you don't stand on the ball of your feet, you don't bent your knees enough to generate power from your lower body and as a result, you swing hard with your arm but you don't get much control from that. Whether you get a high ball or a short ball you neither seem to move forward to catch it early enough nor you seem to move back to hit it at a more comfortable height.

Working on your footwork is what would help your strokes the most. You have the strokes of a tennis player but you do not move like a tennis player.

 

[heninfan99]

The screetching dog was tough to listen to in the first part. :-(
I'd say this is 3.0 tennis but you are young and can probably run around all day. No reason you can't get to 3.5 soon.

The good news is 3.5 & 4.0 levels have tons of players. Easy to get matches and have fun.

 

[Topspin Shot]

If you want to improve, find a coach to teach you proper technique. You seem to be fairly athletic, so you'll improve pretty quickly. Level-wise, you're a beginner right now. Maybe 3.0; if you find you don't have the experience to win there at first, I think you'll catch on quickly enough.

 

[Kevinclap]

Well honestlyfootwork and more footwork. Because the upper body is not too bad, your BH looks cool on its own. You really don't move, you don't splitstep (very important), you look stiff on your legs, you don't stand on the ball of your feet, you don't bent your knees enough to generate power from your lower body and as a result, you swing hard with your arm but you don't get much control from that. Whether you get a high ball or a short ball you neither seem to move forward to catch it early enough nor you seem to move back to hit it at a more comfortable height.

Working on your footwork is what would help your strokes the most. You have the strokes of a tennis player but you do not move like a tennis player.

Thanks for taking the time. Got a few questions.
1- I only splitstep on returns of serves. Should I do it before every shot?
2- You wrote that I should bend my knees more for power. I used to be a boxer. My trainer always told me about punching while using the momentum of the legs. Is it the same for tennis?
3- What would you recommend in general for improving footwork?

 

[Kevinclap]

The screetching dog was tough to listen to in the first part. :-(
I'd say this is 3.0 tennis but you are young and can probably run around all day. No reason you can't get to 3.5 soon.

The good news is 3.5 & 4.0 levels have tons of players. Easy to get matches and have fun.

Yeah. Sorry about that, not my dog. I was thinking about playing 2.5 because I have never played before. But I'll consider starting at 3.0. Thanks for the help.

 

[Kevinclap]

If you want to improve, find a coach to teach you proper technique. You seem to be fairly athletic, so you'll improve pretty quickly. Level-wise, you're a beginner right now. Maybe 3.0; if you find you don't have the experience to win there at first, I think you'll catch on quickly enough.

Right now, I don't really have the money for a coach but I will consider it in the future. Thanks for the help.

 

[Lukhas]

Thanks for taking the time. Got a few questions.
1- I only splitstep on returns of serves. Should I do it before every shot?
2- You wrote that I should bend my knees more for power. I used to be a boxer. My trainer always told me about punching while using the momentum of the legs. Is it the same for tennis?
3- What would you recommend in general for improving footwork?

1) Yes, absolutely.
2) Big, big yes.
3) Try to find group lessons or a coach, maybe a tennis club nearby. And watch YouTube videos of hitting sessions of pros and see how they move. Especially in slow motion. Even in training they make effort to move their feet and bend appropriately. Try to find several NTRP ranked players in your area to hit with. You'll be forced to anticipate, especially if they are better than you are. It's a whole package. The fastest way is to find a coach (individual or/and group sessions) of course and apply what he tells you the rest of the week. Sometimes you can find higher lvl players that can give you a tip or two on your game.

 

[torpantennis]

Thanks for taking the time. Got a few questions.
1- I only splitstep on returns of serves. Should I do it before every shot?
2- You wrote that I should bend my knees more for power. I used to be a boxer. My trainer always told me about punching while using the momentum of the legs. Is it the same for tennis?
3- What would you recommend in general for improving footwork?

WOW, if you've trained punching, then you'll most definitely enjoy tennis also. Actually, punching motion and tennis ground strokes have a lot in common. In a modern tennis ground stroke, you mostly use legs and core rotation to load the power to the swing. The arm does surprisingly little.

My advice would also be to keep yourself focused on the footwork and split stepping, each and every time. But before you know what to do, I'd get some beginner group coachings, so that you learn the proper way of setting up the legs for the strokes, and the proper way of then swinging the racquet from that ready position.

EDIT: I see you don't have money for a coach. In that case I'd just self study some youtube clips on the modern tennis ground strokes. As starters: http://youtu.be/EMNtq393tvo

 

[Kevinclap]

1) Yes, absolutely.
2) Big, big yes.
3) Try to find group lessons or a coach, maybe a tennis club nearby. And watch YouTube videos of hitting sessions of pros and see how they move. Especially in slow motion. Even in training they make effort to move their feet and bend appropriately. Try to find several NTRP ranked players in your area to hit with. You'll be forced to anticipate, especially if they are better than you are. It's a whole package. The fastest way is to find a coach (individual or/and group sessions) of course and apply what he tells you the rest of the week. Sometimes you can find higher lvl players that can give you a tip or two on your game.

Alright. Always splitstep, hit with the whole body and try to find a coach or someone higher level than me to hit with. Thanks for the help. Now is time to apply it.

 

[Kevinclap]

WOW, if you've trained punching, then you'll most definitely enjoy tennis also. Actually, punching motion and tennis ground strokes have a lot in common. In a modern tennis ground stroke, you mostly use legs and core rotation to load the power to the swing. The arm does surprisingly little.

My advice would also be to keep yourself focused on the footwork and split stepping, each and every time. But before you know what to do, I'd get some beginner group coachings, so that you learn the proper way of setting up the legs for the strokes, and the proper way of then swinging the racquet from that ready position.

EDIT: I see you don't have money for a coach. In that case I'd just self study some youtube clips on the modern tennis ground strokes. As starters: http://youtu.be/EMNtq393tvo

Will do! Split stepping, knee bending, etc. Let's see how diffucult it is to apply it. Hopefully not as impossible as relearning my old messed up backhand. Thanks for the tips.

 

[dordor]

not bad at all for less than a year, i am impressed. me and my regular partner are playing for 1.5 years,and took many lessons with a pro,and you look better on camera than both of us.
time to change the grip for your serve. sooner the better.
good luck.

 

[anubis]

Hi everybody!

I would like some opinions on my groundstrokes. I have never played an official game or been part of any league. So If you guys can give an estimate NTRP that would be great. I started playing on January of this year. I know this is not the best video but that's what I have for now. My best shot is supposed to be my forehand but my favorite shot is the 1HB. The first video is from 6 months ago. The second one, was a couple of weeks ago after work. So my hitting partner and I had heavy legs; my footwork is a little better than this. Enough with the excuses. Bring it on with the opinions. I will try to make a better video soon. Thanks in advance.

PS: You can skip to 1:32 to avoid seeing my semy wertern serve (awful). haha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKppakVgaPY&feature=youtu.be

Your strokes look good, but it's almost impossible to give you an NTRP estimation without more information. Whether or not your strokes are "pretty" or "correct" or whatever has little bearing with your performance on the court.

You need to play computer rated 3.0 and 3.5 players in order to figure out where you belong.

If you demolish 3.0s without too much trouble, then you're no 3.0. If you lose consistently 1-1 or 2-1 to 3.5s, then you're no 3.5.

You have to pick a level where you'll be challenged enough. Self rated players are susceptible to disqualifications for performing too well against your opponents. If you self rate too low, you won't be challenged and you'll get DQ'ed, which isn't fun for you, and it's bad for your team because they lose those matches.

So, play some computer rated players and tell us how you do. That's the best way to find out where you belong.

 

[GuyClinch]

I'd go for 3.0. There tend to be not a lot of 2.5 leagues - in a lot of areas 3.0 is pretty much as low as you can go. You game looks pretty good - should make 3.5 in short order.

Your serve might not be proper but it can work at 3.5..

 

[Kevinclap]

not bad at all for less than a year, i am impressed. me and my regular partner are playing for 1.5 years,and took many lessons with a pro,and you look better on camera than both of us.
time to change the grip for your serve. sooner the better.
good luck.

Thank You!
The first clips of the service are from 6 months ago. I already changed to a continental grip on serves. It definitely gave me more consistency but it was a nightmare for the first couple of weeks. I will try upload a better video soon with updated serve.

 

[Kevinclap]

Your strokes look good, but it's almost impossible to give you an NTRP estimation without more information. Whether or not your strokes are "pretty" or "correct" or whatever has little bearing with your performance on the court.

You need to play computer rated 3.0 and 3.5 players in order to figure out where you belong.

If you demolish 3.0s without too much trouble, then you're no 3.0. If you lose consistently 1-1 or 2-1 to 3.5s, then you're no 3.5.

You have to pick a level where you'll be challenged enough. Self rated players are susceptible to disqualifications for performing too well against your opponents. If you self rate too low, you won't be challenged and you'll get DQ'ed, which isn't fun for you, and it's bad for your team because they lose those matches.

So, play some computer rated players and tell us how you do. That's the best way to find out where you belong.

I played with a guy who won his 3.0 league this year. It was a doubles match with another guy of his team. They won 7-5. But when we were up on the scores they started to do lobs all the time to take our rhythm off. Kinda hate those guys still haha. Anyways I will propably try to start at 3.0 to see what happens. Hopefully I will find a team without too much problem.

 

[Kevinclap]

I'd go for 3.0. There tend to be not a lot of 2.5 leagues - in a lot of areas 3.0 is pretty much as low as you can go. You game looks pretty good - should make 3.5 in short order.

Your serve might not be proper but it can work at 3.5..

Thank You!
That sounds like a plan. And I have already changed my serve. Still a work in progress.

 

[beernutz]

Imo you are easily 3.0 now and have the tools, namely youth and an awkward-looking but seemingly effective serve, to be 3.5 or better soon. I don't know how populated your area is but 2.5 may be non-existent and even where I live in a metropolitan area of around 400k there is very little 3.0 USTA or local league play for men though the women's leagues at that level are more popular.

If you can't afford a coach, try to find some youtube instruction videos like FYB or essential tennis and use their tips when you practice. Hit on a wall regularly with a purpose if you have one available. For example, I like to take some blue painters tape and put a 2 foot x 2 foot square target on the wall and see how may balls in a row I can hit in it.

 

[Kevinclap]

Imo you are easily 3.0 now and have the tools, namely youth and an awkward-looking but seemingly effective serve, to be 3.5 or better soon. I don't know how populated your area is but 2.5 may be non-existent and even where I live in a metropolitan area of around 400k there is very little 3.0 USTA or local league play for men though the women's leagues at that level are more popular.

If you can't afford a coach, try to find some youtube instruction videos like FYB or essential tennis and use their tips when you practice. Hit on a wall regularly with a purpose if you have one available. For example, I like to take some blue painters tape and put a 2 foot x 2 foot square target on the wall and see how may balls in a row I can hit in it.

Here (Puerto Rico) we have 2.5 and 3.0 men leagues. Don't how many but we have them. Will try to find a 3.0 team soon.

 

[LeeD]

Is that mid N island, like W of San Juan? Dorado?
I'm heading for a month in SJuan and Fajardo on the 12th of Dec. Stay at both, g/f has a condo in Fajardo and her parents live in Hillside.
We're windsurfers however, and don't usually play tennis in that heat and humidity.

 

[Kevinclap]

Is that mid N island, like W of San Juan? Dorado?
I'm heading for a month in SJuan and Fajardo on the 12th of Dec. Stay at both, g/f has a condo in Fajardo and her parents live in Hillside.
We're windsurfers however, and don't usually play tennis in that heat and humidity.

The video was in Caguas. Is like 30 minutes south of San Juan. If you are interested in playing here, go to Parque Central in SJ. The rain is crazy right now here. So no tennis in almost 2 weeks.