New to tennis - intro

[Dartagnan64]

So as a turning 50 decision my wife and I decided to join a tennis club and take tennis more seriously. For years we'd play each other on public courts about 5-10 times a year, but never that seriously. Since we both hate running and the gym (you can tell I'm sure), we thought we would be more motivated to exercise by chasing a yellow ball.

Above is a video of our play at about 5 months into playing at the club. We've done a few lessons but clearly are a long way from "good". Admittedly physical limitations (unstable surgically repaired shoulder, lazy eye, arthritic big toe, too much weight) probably will put a cap on how good I can get, but I'm always trying to improve a bit.

I apologize for the quality of the video. Couldn't get the camera further back due to the constraints of the dome. Will try to take another video in the spring when the bubble comes off with a bit better angles.

Looking at the video myself i can see some issues with footwork and shoulder turn on the groundstrokes and ball toss, pronation, and weight shift on the serve. Of course in our minds we alsways hit like Federer but it takes one video session and reality sinks in. I notice also my wife struggles with arming the ball and hitting too flat. Without topspin alot of her balls sail. But she's good with placement and hard to read. She does well in her intermediate league. I struggle in mine. No idea what our NTRP is but compared to other videos we'd be in 3.0-3.5 I imagine.

Critiques and comments welcome.

*NEW VIDEO* Feb 8, 2016

Here's an update. Included all shots in a single set. That way i can look at the bad shots, not just the highlight shots. Serve is still a mess but placement is improving. Still need to get my arm away from my body on the forehand. But I'm pleased with shedding a few pounds and gaining back some foot speed.

 

[Aretium]

You are good in fact very good considering how long you have been playing. I see people your age who have been playing for decades and they are not as good. You don't need critiques, what you have is beautiful, I wish my girlfriends where interested in tennis haha. It's very rare to see husband vs wife at my club.

1:02 AMAZING PASSING SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Dartagnan64]

You are good in fact very good considering how long you have been playing. I see people your age who have been playing for decades and they are not as good. You don't need critiques, what you have is beautiful, I wish my girlfriends where interested in tennis haha. It's very rare to see husband vs wife at my club.

1:02 AMAZING PASSING SHOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

yeah she gets me on those quite a bit if I hit to her forehand. lol

 

[Deleted member 23235]

Great hitting, and congrats on taking up tennis more seriously at 50.
Like you I'd rather chase a yellow ball and compete (than just run or just lift).
That said, if you get very serious you'll find that you'll naturally want to do more conditioning as you play others (even at your age), who are beating you just by being in better shape (there's a 50yr old that beats me, mainly because he's a beast conditioning wise).

If I were you, I'd spend my time playing indoors ($$$) just drilling (Personally, this is what I do during the winter since court time is a premium in NYC area - I avoid folks who I know just want to play sets). Take a lesson individually and ask your instructor to give you "homework" (eg. goals, drills, tech changes, etc...), that you can practice for a month,... then by spring, you can get yourself to a solid 3.5 level and join a team. I'd also focus at least 50% of my time practicing doubles drills (which you look like you do by playing s&v). Getting to a decent level of volleying will allow you to get onto a weak 4.0 team (as 3d), and allow you and your wife to play 7.0 mixed (and make your way up to 8.0).

my $0.02

 

[Dartagnan64]

Thanks for the advice. I'm pretty happy just playing in our club leagues and not looking to be that serious for now. But I would like to move up the ladder in the club. I'd agree that the biggest thing holding me back is fitness. I just can't keep up with the 30 and 40 year olds anymore.
I also think its time for some more lessons as I've really got to work on serve and anything overhead (bad shoulder has always limited me there).

Although she doesn't know it, all my play time with my wife is focussed on working on technique. She just likes to try to beat me. i'm just trying to get better so I can beat the men in my league. Sadly she doesn't like to just do drills which would help us both.

 

[Tight Lines]

Your wife's shots are very "handsy" with very little follow through. She needs to have a full follow through. I think the animated GIFs in the following page may help.

http://www.aaswing.com/tennis-for-beginners.html

Harry

 

[Dartagnan64]

Yes she tends arm and "aim" everything rather than swing naturally low to high. She uses her "better than most women" hand eye coordination to win most of her matches. We always work on "pat the dog", "diamonds up" and "put it in the backpack" swing thoughts when we hit, but it doesn't carry through to games. Just hard to retrain her muscle memory. I've had the same difficulties with her golf swing which is essentially her baseball swing from childhood. Some people are good at creating new muscle memory and others not so much.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Just added a new updated video at the top. will be comparing to see if there is much improvement. Still need lots of work on things but I think I'm more consistent.

 

[Dartagnan64]

Can't say after comparing the two videos, much has improved. The first video was a highlight video compilation so its missing all the bad shots. The second video is warts and all. I think we were both off in that first set. With the camera off we were a little looser and getting into better rallies.

I really wasn't getting the ball into the court on the serve toss and that really hurts my serve since I can't really internally rotate my shoulder with any velocity. Need my lower body turn and legs powering me into the court to get any force on first serve. Oh well more to work on.