fuzzybabybunny
Rookie
So after days and days of using the ball machine I'm still having major consistency problems with my forehand.
- For seemingly the exact same swing angle and speed, the ball can easily sail super long or go into the net.
- Sometimes I can feel where I went wrong, but often I don't. It sucks to have a ball sail long and go "well I honestly have no idea what I did wrong there compared to all the other shots that have been landing in."
- The times that I feel where I went wrong, such as having the face too open, I'm still not quite sure how to correct it. The wrist is such a flexible, mobile joint that it's hard to control its position precisely when you've got a lot of other things going on because a forehand has a lot of complex movements all strung together.
- My two-handed backhands are way way way more consistent than my forehands. I think this is because my racquet head angle is much better supported with my two hands and much easier to have a consistent angle from shot to shot.
Out of curiosity I went looking for a ball trajectory simulator and TW has one:
http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/cgi-bin/trajectory_maker.cgi
With all things being equal, the racquet tilt is *by far* the main indicator of how long or short a ball will land. A difference of just 2 degrees on the racquet head tilt can send a ball 12 feet longer, for example, even at an insane 4,000 RPMs:
You can vary your swing angle by 20 degrees and not make as much of an impact in distance as those 2 degrees makes on the racquet tilt angle. So I think I've found my problem. How do you keep your wrist angle consistent from shot to shot? I've thought about locking my wrist but:
- unless it's in the cocked back position, locking the wrist is painful from all the shocks of hitting a ball
- it feels really goofy striking the ball when the wrist is cocked back
If I allow my wrist to relax and move between the time I've wound up my shot and when I strike the ball, the results are not consistent.
- For seemingly the exact same swing angle and speed, the ball can easily sail super long or go into the net.
- Sometimes I can feel where I went wrong, but often I don't. It sucks to have a ball sail long and go "well I honestly have no idea what I did wrong there compared to all the other shots that have been landing in."
- The times that I feel where I went wrong, such as having the face too open, I'm still not quite sure how to correct it. The wrist is such a flexible, mobile joint that it's hard to control its position precisely when you've got a lot of other things going on because a forehand has a lot of complex movements all strung together.
- My two-handed backhands are way way way more consistent than my forehands. I think this is because my racquet head angle is much better supported with my two hands and much easier to have a consistent angle from shot to shot.
Out of curiosity I went looking for a ball trajectory simulator and TW has one:
http://twu.tennis-warehouse.com/cgi-bin/trajectory_maker.cgi
With all things being equal, the racquet tilt is *by far* the main indicator of how long or short a ball will land. A difference of just 2 degrees on the racquet head tilt can send a ball 12 feet longer, for example, even at an insane 4,000 RPMs:

You can vary your swing angle by 20 degrees and not make as much of an impact in distance as those 2 degrees makes on the racquet tilt angle. So I think I've found my problem. How do you keep your wrist angle consistent from shot to shot? I've thought about locking my wrist but:
- unless it's in the cocked back position, locking the wrist is painful from all the shocks of hitting a ball
- it feels really goofy striking the ball when the wrist is cocked back
If I allow my wrist to relax and move between the time I've wound up my shot and when I strike the ball, the results are not consistent.
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