Making a technical change on a stroke, mentaly hard

FiReFTW

FiReFTW

Legend
Im currently making a technical change on my stroke after discussion about it from my coach.
The change will improve my stroke quality.
But as you might imagine, my stroke has fallen from good to horrible from this, completely no feel for timing, contact, no feel for hitting it... it feels like its foreign, something im not used too.

Coach said it will probably take a while to get used too but its quite a hard process.

Im obviously sticking with it, sacrifice short term for long term, but its not easy at all.. infact its extremely frustrating, knowing ur stroke was ok, and currently in shambles.

Any tips how to mentaly keep it together because its really hard after hitting for a while.
 
FiReFTW

FiReFTW

Legend
IowaGuy said:
Which stroke?
Click to expand...

Forehand, which is my strongest groundstroke, but its my strongest groundstroke because ive hit many more than my backhand.
In terms of technique my backhand is extremely sound, my forehand is also technically very good, but theres 1 thing that im missing and losing alot because of it, so thats what I added now.
 
Mongolmike

Mongolmike

Hall of Fame
Biggest issue with learning something new on the court for me is trying to execute the new technique under short reaction time.

For me my latest thing is dealing with high volleys without enough time to overhead them. It is tough to make a reaction to a ball and have enough time to remember to use the new technique AND have time to think "what am I trying to do different in this situation again??"

So it's just repetition and finding ways to practice the shot under pressure.
 
IowaGuy

IowaGuy

Hall of Fame
FiReFTW said:
Forehand, which is my strongest groundstroke, but its my strongest groundstroke because ive hit many more than my backhand.
In terms of technique my backhand is extremely sound, my forehand is also technically very good, but theres 1 thing that im missing and losing alot because of it, so thats what I added now.
Click to expand...

How many reps do you think you'll need, before it will hold up under pressure?
 
TnsGuru

TnsGuru

Professional
It will happen, takes time to reprogram your brain to learn the new stroke. This is why so many people play with ugly ineffective strokes but somehow still hit it alright. To gain confidence you can't keep switching back and forth from old to new stroke....you have to commit to the change and not revert back to what feels comfortable.

Like learning the continental grip for serving, some players start out playing with the eastern FH grip and when it comes time to change to continental it feels too weird and they abandon it because the eastern feels better. Feeling better doesn't equate to having a better serve. Spin can't be produced and their serve will stay stagnant.

A lot of players out there like this, sure the ball will go in but good tennis players don't serve with a FH grip and plus you will never reach your potential.
 
FiReFTW

FiReFTW

Legend
IowaGuy said:
How many reps do you think you'll need, before it will hold up under pressure?
Click to expand...

I have no clue, coach said it might take a few weeks to get the feel and timing down, but thsts theory, practice is different.

But I think in a few weeks i shpuld get some decent feel.
 
FiReFTW

FiReFTW

Legend
IowaGuy said:
Also, why didn't your coach point this out before, haven't you been working with her for like a year or something?!?
Click to expand...

Because I have a ton of things to fix/improve/work on, and this was not a pressing issue compared to other things, because my forehand was decent, its not a big deal and very easy to add later, and now is the perfect time before i start playing alot of matches.
In terms of completeness of my game from all standpoints im probably not even at 20%, theres a TON of things still, it will take around 3-4 years to get all strokes very solid and good according to coach, and after that theres still things to work at.
Tennis is a slow process, specially of your goal is a high level, its even slower then snd takes alot of dedication, sacrifice and patience.. thats why from the very start we agreed that the goal is long term, and im willing to do whatever to reach it.
 
IowaGuy

IowaGuy

Hall of Fame
FiReFTW said:
Because I have a ton of things to fix/improve/work on, and this was not a pressing issue compared to other things, because my forehand was decent, its not a big deal and very easy to add later, and now is the perfect time before i start playing alot of matches.
In terms of completeness of my game from all standpoints im probably not even at 20%, theres a TON of things still, it will take around 3-4 years to get all strokes very solid and good according to coach, and after that theres still things to work at.
Tennis is a slow process, specially of your goal is a high level, its even slower then snd takes alot of dedication, sacrifice and patience.. thats why from the very start we agreed that the goal is long term, and im willing to do whatever to reach it.
Click to expand...

Will be interesting to hear your experiences once you start playing matches/tournaments/league.

IME, it's difficult to play competitive matches and at the same time be working on little details of strokes. Hopefully your newfound FH technique is ingrained by then...

I play my best tennis when I'm not thinking about technique at all!
 
D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
FiReFTW said:
Forehand, which is my strongest groundstroke, but its my strongest groundstroke because ive hit many more than my backhand.
In terms of technique my backhand is extremely sound, my forehand is also technically very good, but theres 1 thing that im missing and losing alot because of it, so thats what I added now.
Click to expand...
what was the change?
i went through a grip change (hawaiian, to extreme eastern).
took me about a year. (2-3mos to make the technical change, 3-4mos to win against guys i used to beat, 3-4 mos to realize the benefits of the new stroke (manifesting themselves as wins against guys i used to lose to)).
just focus on the positives of what it's going to give you that you couldn't do before.
there should be flashes of brilliance of the new stroke, and for me that was enough to keep me going.
 
FiReFTW

FiReFTW

Legend
nytennisaddict said:
what was the change?
i went through a grip change (hawaiian, to extreme eastern).
took me about a year. (2-3mos to make the technical change, 3-4mos to win against guys i used to beat, 3-4 mos to realize the benefits of the new stroke (manifesting themselves as wins against guys i used to lose to)).
just focus on the positives of what it's going to give you that you couldn't do before.
there should be flashes of brilliance of the new stroke, and for me that was enough to keep me going.
Click to expand...

Yeah grip change is supposed to be the hardest thing to change.

Im not going in technical detail here simply because you know how most people here are, dont want ppl to start loooong contradicting arguments about it, bit i will pm you whats it about specifically.
 
TnsGuru

TnsGuru

Professional
When I started playing, I opted for an orthodox classic game without any homemade looking strokes. I read books, watched good players and watched videos and it took me longer to learn everything but my game looks text book, I don't win all the time and I was told I look good hitting but lack the killer instinct to be a really good player. That's ok, I don't get paid to play anyways.

I still play with the classic eastern on FH and BH but have since added the Federer preparation to look more modern. That was a hard change to implement because in reality there was nothing wrong with the old forehand, very consistent but lacked any real power potential. The lag was very hard to learn to time properly and I have it down now but it can go off sometimes when I'm fatigued.

I tend to tweak my game from time to time because I'm sure there is room for improvement and I can be open minded for change if it helps me to play better.
 
Last edited:
P

ptuanminh

Hall of Fame
From my experience, you will need 2-3 years to get to the level such that your same-level opponent won't go there too often. Maybe 5-6 years to make it a weapon.
 
Wise one

Wise one

Hall of Fame
FiReFTW said:
Im currently making a technical change on my stroke after discussion about it from my coach.
The change will improve my stroke quality.
But as you might imagine, my stroke has fallen from good to horrible from this, completely no feel for timing, contact, no feel for hitting it... it feels like its foreign, something im not used too.

Coach said it will probably take a while to get used too but its quite a hard process.

Im obviously sticking with it, sacrifice short term for long term, but its not easy at all.. infact its extremely frustrating, knowing ur stroke was ok, and currently in shambles.

Any tips how to mentaly keep it together because its really hard after hitting for a while.
Click to expand...

What is the change, and why are you making it?
 
D

Deleted member 23235

Guest
rogerroger917 said:
I'm pretty sure no one here cares about your opinion on anything related to tennis technique.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

his default AMA responses are:
*slice approach and s&v
*wood racquets
*watch this 1970s film



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
P

pencilcheck

Hall of Fame
FiReFTW said:
Yeah grip change is supposed to be the hardest thing to change.

Im not going in technical detail here simply because you know how most people here are, dont want ppl to start loooong contradicting arguments about it, bit i will pm you whats it about specifically.
Click to expand...
Can you PM me the details as well? I'm curious :)
 
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