My strokes on camera
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Dreamer
Professional
To clarify
Here's Roddick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUKEtYsVA-k
Tell me if you see a difference in use of arm vs shoulder.
Here's Roddick. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUKEtYsVA-k
Tell me if you see a difference in use of arm vs shoulder.
Remember this when you check out his vid again. He is not your average player. He has potential for main draws in real tournaments in big cities.
His feet barely get 3" off the ground! Even Dr.Ivo, Isner, and company (big tall guys), get 7" off the ground at the impact.
He barely gets his left foot 8" inside the baseline. Some less, some more.
Yes, he's tall, plays well, serves hard, but can improve by quite a bit if he cares to.
If he doesn't, then it's just another wasted potential.
His feet barely get 3" off the ground! Even Dr.Ivo, Isner, and company (big tall guys), get 7" off the ground at the impact.
He barely gets his left foot 8" inside the baseline. Some less, some more.
Yes, he's tall, plays well, serves hard, but can improve by quite a bit if he cares to.
If he doesn't, then it's just another wasted potential.
HunterST
Hall of Fame
Well, not really? I mean they have very different motions.
Look at Tsonga's serve http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brFM9HXHJj8
I think it looks pretty similar to the OPs.
Dreamer
Professional
Sorry, I can clearly see a stronger shoulder rotation driving the stroke. Haha, let's just forget it. I don't mean to be ambiguous, it's just not something you can easily describe. I can just tell by seeing it and this comes from too much time analyzing strokes.
Very good vid for comparison, HunterST.
Very similar service motion and effort.
In defense of TennisBalla, he IS 6'4" tall, plays better than most of us, and can hit some awesome serves when he wants to.
I just can't see someone his skill level being happy and complacent with his skill set. What, give up maybe 10% of service speed, and easily that much in service ANGLE, but not rising up to hit the ball due to laziness?
There's some ad somewhere expouting..." be all you can be"... not ..."be whatever you happen to fall into"....
Very similar service motion and effort.
In defense of TennisBalla, he IS 6'4" tall, plays better than most of us, and can hit some awesome serves when he wants to.
I just can't see someone his skill level being happy and complacent with his skill set. What, give up maybe 10% of service speed, and easily that much in service ANGLE, but not rising up to hit the ball due to laziness?
There's some ad somewhere expouting..." be all you can be"... not ..."be whatever you happen to fall into"....
HunterST
Hall of Fame
Yeah, I'm sure he's not accomplishing these things as well as the pros. Pretty good for a rec player though.
LeeD, I'm not sure OP is THAT good. I mean don't get me wrong, he looks like a great player, but I'm not sure he's soon to be winning qualies at challengers. I think he's a little older than you think.
RoddickAce
Hall of Fame
HunterST
Hall of Fame
You could be right. For some reason, I thought tennis balla told me he was getting close to 30. I could be wrong though.
Dreamer
Professional
A focus on shoulder rotation is something well within this player. Many strong recreational players will have this. It's obvious OP is a strong player with possibly a strong serve. It can be better.
I'm not brave enough to measure exactly where his potential lies, but this is a shot than can get better.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I'm 30 years old, play 2 maybe 3x a week nowadays if I'm lucky and coach for a living and haven't played a tournament in about 5 years. I'm pretty sure I've said this before in the thread but anyways.
Dreamer
Professional
Wow. So where is this fountain of youth?
So how old are the vids?
Guy I play with, actually several, have kids who graduated from top Div1 programs, tried out Q's, got injured, and now teaching in Arizona or NewMexico, Texas, and Colorado.
Some of the guys I play with have kids currently playing singles in Div1, and one in IvyLeague. They give their kids no chance to make the pros.
BUT....only one of the kids is 6'6", and injuries were his bane during his Q years.
Hope your life is as good as you want, you certainly play tennis well enough.
Guy I play with, actually several, have kids who graduated from top Div1 programs, tried out Q's, got injured, and now teaching in Arizona or NewMexico, Texas, and Colorado.
Some of the guys I play with have kids currently playing singles in Div1, and one in IvyLeague. They give their kids no chance to make the pros.
BUT....only one of the kids is 6'6", and injuries were his bane during his Q years.
Hope your life is as good as you want, you certainly play tennis well enough.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
The vids are posted the same day on Youtube as they were taped. The playing vid where I'm hitting groundstrokes was Dec. 17th I believe and the serving one was shot today at a friends indoor court that he built himself and turned it into a training centre for juniors and adults. Would be cool to build something like that one day.
Djokovicfan4life
Legend
Remember this when you check out his vid again. He is not your average player. He has potential for main draws in real tournaments in big cities.
His feet barely get 3" off the ground! Even Dr.Ivo, Isner, and company (big tall guys), get 7" off the ground at the impact.
He barely gets his left foot 8" inside the baseline. Some less, some more.
Yes, he's tall, plays well, serves hard, but can improve by quite a bit if he cares to.
If he doesn't, then it's just another wasted potential.
Tell me how high this guy clears the ground.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVv6jvD1W-0
Good point and one I've been trying to incorporate as I lose my leg spring.
Taylor is pivoting on his left leg, leaning his body over slightly to get the high strikepoint without raising BOTH feet off the ground. He's already an established pro, and doesn't need the volleyball serve, or can't.
One advantage of platform serve motion is that you CAN pivot on the oft leg, allowing for high strikepoint without jumping.
But OP didn't pivot on the left leg, instead adopting a two footed jump, which mimics the pinpoint style of serving.
Remember all my posts about me losing my hops? Like in the '70's, my toes would be easily 9" to a foot off the ground at impact on first flats? Now my toe (right foot, me goof) barely skims the ground! I can feel it dragging just before and after impact. And I lost easily 25 mph in service speed.
Then again there's this Tanner dude. Yes, he jumped lots in the late '70's. Now, his serve is almost the same speed, and he drags his feet at impact. He's making up for less height strikepoint by moving forwards more efficiently than before.
Notice also the body build of Dent and Tanner.
Not exactly like the long and lean of OP, ..or me at 5'11" and 144 lbs.
Different body build needs different mechanics, and you know that.
Taylor is pivoting on his left leg, leaning his body over slightly to get the high strikepoint without raising BOTH feet off the ground. He's already an established pro, and doesn't need the volleyball serve, or can't.
One advantage of platform serve motion is that you CAN pivot on the oft leg, allowing for high strikepoint without jumping.
But OP didn't pivot on the left leg, instead adopting a two footed jump, which mimics the pinpoint style of serving.
Remember all my posts about me losing my hops? Like in the '70's, my toes would be easily 9" to a foot off the ground at impact on first flats? Now my toe (right foot, me goof) barely skims the ground! I can feel it dragging just before and after impact. And I lost easily 25 mph in service speed.
Then again there's this Tanner dude. Yes, he jumped lots in the late '70's. Now, his serve is almost the same speed, and he drags his feet at impact. He's making up for less height strikepoint by moving forwards more efficiently than before.
Notice also the body build of Dent and Tanner.
Not exactly like the long and lean of OP, ..or me at 5'11" and 144 lbs.
Different body build needs different mechanics, and you know that.
pushing_wins
Hall of Fame
did anyone play cedar springs?
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I've played at Cedar Springs before, nice club.
pushing_wins
Hall of Fame
what i meant was, did anyone play the dec open tourney?
check out the draw. given that we are a metro of only 5 million and we are snowed under half of the year, the competition here is respectable.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
FYI LeeD can serve 115 mph plus even 120 mph on some of them. LeeD used to play qualifiers and got well into rounds of them. He even played in the LA OPE.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Come on Lee, don't over exaggerate
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I never mentioned thats how people should serve. Everyone has their own technique in doing things. I bet you if Del Potro posted a video of his forehand on here and no one knew who he was, you'd have all the so called experts come out of the wood work and tell him what they think he should be doing. Would it be bad advice? No of course not, and I do agree I should get a bit more height on my serve however everyone has their style and to say you don't have a good serve unless you pop them in at 135mph and jump 5in+ in the air is crazy.
Well, at 6'4" or close to, you can decide what serve works for you the best, as it don't matter that much if you jump or not.
But someone like LeytonHewitt HAS to have a top level form, to serve even to start the point level with his competition! If he doesn't jump, the DelPos and Isner's would just hammer the return every time.
Then you aim a little lower to a Barasetechi, and he stays back, for sure, upon serving, but would like a free point once every tournament, so he has to jump!
But someone like LeytonHewitt HAS to have a top level form, to serve even to start the point level with his competition! If he doesn't jump, the DelPos and Isner's would just hammer the return every time.
Then you aim a little lower to a Barasetechi, and he stays back, for sure, upon serving, but would like a free point once every tournament, so he has to jump!
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Yea without a doubt, you wanna make sure you get up there. Someone like a Hewitt will need to use his legs a lot more then lets say a Goran or someone over 6'2. Naming Isner and Karlovic is insane cause they are freaks
meltphace 6
Hall of Fame
Nice serve. As far as I can tell, balla's leg push results in full racket drop. I mean, it's not like he's trying to become a volleyball player, is he?
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
I wouldn't mind it, I mean have you seen those half naked chics play pro beach volleyball?!?!
meltphace 6
Hall of Fame
Good point. Found a pic of my favorite women's volleyball team; no, not Brazil but Poland: http://www.betscorer.com/images/pictures/poland.jpg (no beach, not half naked though)
pushing_wins
Hall of Fame
bumping your thread
my educated guess.
inconsistent player. mental skills trail physical skills.
could push a solid open player, but could also get frustrated by the play of A/B players. players you feel you should own.
doesnt stand a chance in future qualifying.
my educated guess.
inconsistent player. mental skills trail physical skills.
could push a solid open player, but could also get frustrated by the play of A/B players. players you feel you should own.
doesnt stand a chance in future qualifying.
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tennis_pr0
Semi-Pro
Nice strokes, only thing I saw is on your backhand, you could try to get your weight planted on your left foot more and than be able to launch your weight forward from that leg into the ball, would give you some more power on the backhand.
tennis_pr0
Semi-Pro
You do it on some of your backhands, but a lot of them you don't, I see you waiting in the closed stance for the ball. You want to step to your left with your left foot first, getting the weight anchored on that foot, and then from that point step across your body with your right foot and explode into the ball. Step with the left, across with the right and hit...step step hit.
He says it on like...the 4th page of the thread. It's a Yonex, you'll have to go find out yourself though.
Devilito
Legend
like your strokes, very clean. Nice to see you're a coach so your students can learn a smooth technically sound game from you. Maybe you’ll start tournaments again in your 30s. I got the itch again after a 10 year long layoff and looking forward to playing 35s. I find that mid 30s is about the time good ex-juniors come back for seconds.
1st Seed
Professional
Hey Balla Your a Sponsered player or a Yonex Rep.?I know they send you sticks every year.
My local Yonex store mentioned to me That Yonex Canada has asked them to find someone to be a Rep for them.They'll supply me with Vcore's new strings ETC.I told them I'll gladly take the job.What exactly is expected from you.If you're a Rep that is.Cheers.Thanks TB.
My local Yonex store mentioned to me That Yonex Canada has asked them to find someone to be a Rep for them.They'll supply me with Vcore's new strings ETC.I told them I'll gladly take the job.What exactly is expected from you.If you're a Rep that is.Cheers.Thanks TB.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Just sponsored, not a rep. Not sure what job is being offered, but I know that being the Yonex rep isn't about getting new strings. Your business will be 90% badminton rackets as their market is massive and the revenue they generate off badminton is insane. A rep for another racket company I know in this area (going to keep it nameless ) would kill to be the big rep for Yonex because the amount they make off badminton like I said is very very big as are the rewards. Getting a job like that isn't offered to just anyone and a lot would be dying to get it. Maybe they meant rep as in coach + sell rackets as well I dunno.
) would kill to be the big rep for Yonex because the amount they make off badminton like I said is very very big as are the rewards. Getting a job like that isn't offered to just anyone and a lot would be dying to get it. Maybe they meant rep as in coach + sell rackets as well I dunno.
1st Seed
Professional
Supposedly I'm perfect for the job they said.Not going to lean in to it to much,Figured you being sponsored would have better info.The store is 99%Badminton.But enough Tennis gear for an Avid Player.They have my mail.
Went to pick up new 307's started talking,Didn't want them to see I was doing my happy dance inside.Anyways I'll let you know if any of this testing or promoting they've got me lined up for pans out.The look on my face must have been something. Thanks TB" keep knockin"
Went to pick up new 307's started talking,Didn't want them to see I was doing my happy dance inside.Anyways I'll let you know if any of this testing or promoting they've got me lined up for pans out.The look on my face must have been something. Thanks TB" keep knockin"
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Good luck in getting it, its definitely one of the good rep jobs to have cause everyone wants Yonex rackets for bandminton, so much so that they'd rather play with a Yonex fake than anything else real. Looks like they want a rep in your area, if badminton is big where you live expect to be busy and make some good $$. Hope you get the job man.
Its funny with Yonex because some people in tennis bash them and say no one uses them etc etc, well they're the only ones left who make rackets outside of China and at a competitive price with the rest of them. Quality wise I think they are unsurpassed. They make such a killing in badminton that I don't think it really matters to them if they are #1 in tennis. They are certainly up there though, and keep putting out quality gear thats not gimmicky unlike Head for example.
Its funny with Yonex because some people in tennis bash them and say no one uses them etc etc, well they're the only ones left who make rackets outside of China and at a competitive price with the rest of them. Quality wise I think they are unsurpassed. They make such a killing in badminton that I don't think it really matters to them if they are #1 in tennis. They are certainly up there though, and keep putting out quality gear thats not gimmicky unlike Head for example.
tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Nope, haven't yet. Not really liking the specs to be honest or the cosmetics. Now, the URD Ti-80 looks nice in both categories!
5263
G.O.A.T.
Excellent hitting. I just took the time to note what others were saying about your TS Bh looking like a slice on tkback. I agree that it has a little of that look to it.
Also couldn't help but notice on all 5 Fh's I stopped to look at where you were at the bounce, and in all 5 you did not have your racket back fully yet, as the ball came up from the bounce. Interesting to note.
I also notice a quite pronounced, find the ball, accel up and across the contact as well.
nice hitting,
especially when you really let one go!
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tennis_balla
Hall of Fame
Yea, thats pretty much right. I trying and find the ball with my racket or just overall (with my shoulders, racket, feet and left arm working together) and adjust the speed of my backswing according to the flight of the ball. If its slow for example I don't take the racket back and wait there. When I do this I feel 'disconnected' from the ball. Rather I read the ball as its coming to me and take each ball individually without stopping and starting my swing again, one fluid motion. This is what I also teach in my lessons as well.
Too many people learn the forehand, or backhand doesn't matter and have one backswing. If the ball has the right speed, height and depth they connect well but any deviations from that and they're screwed. Players should be taught early to learn to adjust to each ball and learn to adapt their stroke because no two balls will be the same. They hit well when a consistent ball is being fed to them by a coach but once they are rallying or playing a match they're done.
5263
G.O.A.T.
Very well said, and clearly it works well for you. It is tough to express this perfectly, so I guess when Oscar speaks of delaying the commitment till around the bounce, it can easily get misunderstood. You say it pretty nicely here.
Th part about being disconnected is his main point about this situation.
