Let’s talk about the wall. Myths and Misconceptions

Obviously there are pros and cons to practicing against a wall.

Cons
1, The ball travels half the distance (to wall and back) than a rally ball.
This in itself had pros and cons. It requires faster reactions, less time
to get in place and set up properly. That can be good if you can do it
and maintain form and consistency, not so good if you feel awkward
and spray balls every which way. One modification is to use an older ball
That will bounce back with less speed/force- allowing extra time to set up.
2, Beginners become frustrated with the wall because they have not yet
acquired the skill to control its bounce and placement- irionic that you need
bacic skill to practice those skill. It may be best to have a friend toss toss
balls to a player just learning.
3, Some walls are not caged in which can become frustrating. Some walls are
long and multiple people use them at the same time- which can be problematic.
4, It takes time to learn the different ways the wall can be used to practice different
strokes.

Pros
1, You may not have access to a ball machine or a partner who can rally,
keep ball in play, hit decent strokes. You have a wall.
2. Once you reach a certain ability level you can practice a variety of strokes-
Volleys- hint: stand back, don't crowd the wall, don't be content to just get the ball
back.
Ground strokes- hint: find the distance from the wall, based on how hard you hit the ball
and where you aim over the net, so that it will bounce back in a predictable manner. If you
hit so the ball alternates to forehand and backhand, it helps with movement and preparation.
Practice "flat" strokes, topspin, slice.
Overheads- hint: stand mid court, hit/place overhead about 3 feet in front of wall- adjust
as needed to get a good overhead "return". This is also a good time to practice your
"backhand" overhead for when you need it someday.
Serve- hint: tape a paper plate or sheet of paper to the wall just above the net line.
Practice serving to that point. Vary by hitting slice, kick... when you get a good
bounce, step in for the half-volley, then closer for a volley, repeat. Not as good as
practicing on a full court, but sometimes they are full.
Lobs- hint: you are going to lose your ball over the wall. Wait and practice on an empty
court.
Dropshots- hint: yes you can practice these on the wall. It helps if you can visualize
the arcing of the ball and where it will land.
I'm sure I left things out, but keep at it, be patient, and the wall will be your friend.
 
Our 10 Hardcourts were reduced to just six. Our walls were removed just to put up four pickleball courts. Worst indignity.........................more pickleball players than tennis players. And they seemed to enjoy being pickled. Noticed all courts are now charcoal black,
 
travlerajm said:
The wall is one of the most productive tools for an adult rec player to improve his/her playing level, but very few take advantage of it.

Pros:
1. Rallying against a wall creates a self-reinforcing feedback loop for both targeting accuracy and depth control. The better you are at hitting the target that results in a bounce location good enough to extend the rally, the more reps per unit time you get. In this way it’s like practicing juggling. You can’t not improve by hitting against a wall, just like you can’t not get better at juggling by practicing juggling.

2. The wall is patient. It won’t get annoyed when you miss. It also won’t get bothered if you want to experiment with different racquet weightings every few minutes. In this way, you can improve rapidly within a single session simply by varying a racquet weighting parameter until it feels optimized.

3. The wall lets you practice all types of shots. Groundstrokes, serves, volleys, overheads. You can get really good at overheads or reaction volleys by practicing them on the wall.

4. You get twice the reps per unit time, because the ball comes back at you twice as fast. This also makes it feel like you have extra time to prep for your shots when you play on an actual court.

Limitations:
1. The wall has a boring personality. While it does give you useful constructive feedback, it does so in a dry and matter of fact way. And it doesn’t give praise when you hit a nice one. It just sends it right back.

2. You don’t get the satisfying feeling of hitting a clean winner, because the wall is a defensive wizard.

3. The wall doesn’t mix up spins. It likes to give you a slight bit of topspin on every shot created by the interaction with the ball and the playing surface.

4. It can be hard to fully simulate movement patterns needed, especially for singles. So it’s best to mix in real tennis with your wall workouts for maximum benefit.
Click to expand...
re point 1. "The better you are at hitting the target that results in a bounce location good enough to extend the rally, the more reps per unit time you get"
this is what i struggle with the most with the wall, how do i know if my shots would be landing in and landing in deep?
 
StringSnapper said:
re point 1. "The better you are at hitting the target that results in a bounce location good enough to extend the rally, the more reps per unit time you get"
this is what i struggle with the most with the wall, how do i know if my shots would be landing in and landing in deep?
Click to expand...
It doesn’t matter if they would have landed in on a real court. What matters is how well you can control your targeting relative to whatever your target is on the wall. I usually like to aim about 6 feet high on the wall, which with moderate pace and moderate topspin, will result in a bounce about 6 feet in front of me (when I’m hitting from about 32 feet from the wall) for an on-the-rise contact point on the next shot.

If you can consistently hit your target, it will translate well to the full court, even if you have to recalibrate the target slightly. You have to recalibrate anyway any time you change conditions (temperature, ball compression, wind, etc).
 
travlerajm said:
Here is an example of a relaxed meditative rhythmic wall work-out.

Click to expand...
whats bad about this example is that your forehand looks very rigid and 'army' - and as you've stated before it doesn't hold up against good players, you revert to slicing all your forehands. Reinforcing that the wall is bad??

re the rushed strokes comment as a con on using the wall, someone on here told me awhile ago its best to let the ball bounce twice so you have enough time for a more normal swing. not that its a bad idea to practice bunty strokes either IMO since the opponent can hit some lasers, or for a 1st serve return.
 
StringSnapper said:
whats bad about this example is that your forehand looks very rigid and 'army' - and as you've stated before it doesn't hold up against good players, you revert to slicing all your forehands. Reinforcing that the wall is bad??

re the rushed strokes comment as a con on using the wall, someone on here told me awhile ago its best to let the ball bounce twice so you have enough time for a more normal swing. not that its a bad idea to practice bunty strokes either IMO since the opponent can hit some lasers, or for a 1st serve return.
Click to expand...
You should have seen how bad my fh was before I started improving it on the wall.
 
StringSnapper said:
whats bad about this example is that your forehand looks very rigid and 'army' - and as you've stated before it doesn't hold up against good players, you revert to slicing all your forehands. Reinforcing that the wall is bad??

re the rushed strokes comment as a con on using the wall, someone on here told me awhile ago its best to let the ball bounce twice so you have enough time for a more normal swing. not that its a bad idea to practice bunty strokes either IMO since the opponent can hit some lasers, or for a 1st serve return.
Click to expand...
This is correct, what you are supposed to do is not groove strokes but rather vary it around appropriate to the incoming ball you gave yourself.
 
And no one in tennis said...

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ChaelAZ said:
And no one in tennis said...

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Click to expand...
I keep losing my wall. I joined my gym in Seattle because they had a wall. Then I had to quit my membership and join the La fitness down the street when they converted the racquetball courts into personal training rooms.

Happened again to me earlier this year in paraguay. My outdoor wall at the tennis club got torn down to expand the personal training space for the gym.
 
tennis3 said:
The wall rewards patient, methodical, consistent hitting. I'd say it's the very rare player that can keep the ball going for a long stretch of time while staying in "perfect" control. If you can do it, you know your shot is rock solid.

In this way, it's better than a machine. Most people I see using a machine just bash the ball as hard as they can and are quite pleased with themselves when they hit "spectacular" winners. I've always told people I see using a machine that one of the things you should be doing with a machine is

  • going for 100% of your balls in play
  • Then going for 100% in play, hitting your targets each time
  • Experiment with different strokes. Here you aren't going for 100% in. But you also aren't just "ball bashing"

It does you no good to ball bash off of a machine. Unless you are just doing it for exercise.
Click to expand...
Why is it useless?
 
Noticed when our public courts were renovated the walls were torn down. They added four pickleball courts.
 
I use serving at the wall to practice desperate defensive slices. So I will serve as an angle and then run the hell over there and get a backhand defensive slice or squash shot on the ball just to get it back into play always aiming cc.

Or I will serve straight ahead and practice picking up a defensive slice off my toes
or using a reverse pivot off my toes.

I like the war for practicing footwork patterns and also that it can give you that rushed feeling of playing a better player.

I don't like that I can't easily practice moon balls or lobs which is an important part of my old man game
 
RyanRF said:
Copying from a post I made a while back:

"Hitting against a wall takes away preparation time and removes the feedback of seeing where your shot would land in a real court.

When a beginner hits against a wall, they realize that sustaining the rally requires them to reduce or eliminate proper preparation, weight transfer, follow-through, etc. because they don't have the time to take a proper full swing and recover for the next ball. Also the relationship between net clearance, spin, and depth is totally lost. The result is the development of bunt/chip style shots to a specific height because those are good for sustaining wall rallies. Wall hitting will reinforce bad habits.

If you're a higher level player with proper strokes, you know all of the above and can appreciate wall hitting despite these limitations. You generally know where your ball would land after hitting it leave your racquet, so you don't need the feedback on depth. You have correct groundstroke prep and follow-though ingrained, so you do the extra work with your feet to make sure you have space/time for the incoming ball."

So better players will talk about how great the wall is... but it's only great if you already know what you are doing.
Click to expand...
I've heard that one should let the ball bounce TWICE when working out by hitting against a wall.
 
A racquetball court is 40 feet long, so I am using hitting from about 32 feet away from the wall.

This is a good distance to rally with a ball that comes back to me on the rise. The slick surface speeds up the bounce, making the bounce speed more similar to a ball from an opponent (offsetting the energy loss from the collision with the wall).
 
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